Mirena Coil - tell me it wasn't all in vain!

[LittleGreenDuck]

I had a Mirena coil fitted at the beginning of November, in an attempt to stop, or at the very least reduce my horrific perimenopausal periods. The flooding and clots had left me unable to function in a normal way for 2-3 days every month. Everyone I spoke to waxed lyrical about how they'd been period free for years. I put it off for ages as I was quite nervous about insertion, but finally bit the bullet in an attempt to live normally again.

Unfortunately insertion was every bit as traumatic as I feared, I felt quite upset for a few days, but kept thinking of the end goal. I was warned that bleeding might be erratic for a couple of months and in fact I have bled every day since. Not loads, but enough to need a pad. Again - eyes on the prize, I've just put up with it until over the last couple of weeks the blood has turned brownish and gradually petered out. I've had no bleeding at all for the past three days - yippee! Miracle cure, life begins here.

Nope. Today, bright red period blood again. No clots or flooding (yet) but pretty damned heavy. I feel so disheartened. Is this it? Is there still a chance that things are settling down and periods might stop, or have I gone through the last few months for very little, if any, gain?

Any beacon of hope stories would be much appreciated. But I also need to know if, realistically, I'm stuck with periods.

Hey I fit coils for a living and this is quite normal/common especially with women suffering with periods. The stats say (and experience backs up) it reduced overall bleeding by 96% by 6 months so hang tight- for you if bleeds are very heavy you may find you get more than the average person (ie the odd light bleed). Can you feel the threads? The only thing I’d may be worth checking is that it’s not partially expelled (you’d just need a quick ultrasound).

It took five months for my bleeding (on/off mostly light spotting) to completely stop after insertion. After three months I even asked my gynae if they would take it out again (I had heavy but regular periods before, but this was driving me crazy) they encouraged me to stick it out another couple of months as it often takes a while to settle down. Glad about that now as have been totally period free for four years and it's also helping perimenopause symptoms.

As annoying as it is, it will be worth it and hopefully quicker than in my experience!

I had mine fitted a few years ago (recently removed too) and agree that insertion isn't the most enjoyable experience!

For me, I found that the bleeding took a good 3 months to settle. My periods never went away after and were irregular, but they were a lot lighter after the initial insertion/ settling bleeding. Since my periods were so light, I didn't mind too much but did feel like I was sold short since everyone else I knew said that their periods had stopped!

It may be worth asking your doctor if they can prescribe some vitamin K? I trialled the implant before deciding to get the coil and really struggled with persistent spotting/ bleeding, so was given a short dose of Vitamin K which did help!

Thank you both, this is reassuring. Sounds like I just need to be patient. @SneakyLilNameChange I haven't actually tried to feel the threads. I assume I would have noticed if it had fallen out?! Perhaps I'll have a rummage later.

Oh the joys of womanhood, eh?

Thank you. I'm sorry that you feel miss sold. I know what you mean, pinning all hopes on a miracle cure that doesn't happen.

Insertion is brutal! Apparently my cervix is at a weird angle (I've had three babies and it's never been mentioned before, but here we are), the nurse couldn't get the coil in so had to fetch the doctor to help. Said doctor helpfully demonstrated that she should simply "grab hold of the cervix and YANK". It worked, but jeez...

I had mine inserted in the autumn and was really counting on it for HRT because I can't cope with oral progesterone. I bled every day for 8 weeks and was utterly fed up with the damned thing! Then, the bleeding just stopped. Until I think I then had a very light period a few weeks later. I'm hoping that's it for heavier periods now.
I guess I'm saying, stick with it!

I had one years ago, bled for over six weeks to start, then it all stopped, never had a period for six years.best thing ever.

implantation was very painful, removal was a doddle

Negative story here but I had one fitted - was horrendous and took three tries - but didn’t stop bleeding for 8 mths so had it removed. Was also gutted as really hoped it would remove my periods!

@Trampolineissues Oh no! Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. I'm keeping positive - for now.

2 months is no time. It took a year for my periods to slow to a day every 5/6 weeks, where they stayed for a couple more years, until they stopped altogether. 6 years into my mirena now and I haven't had any bleeding since last feb, and before that it was very sporadic. I'd say I'm mostly period free.