New to Mirena

Hello,

I am 47 and had a tubal after the birth of my last child over 7 years ago so birth control has not been an issue for me.  However, after MANY years of long, heavy periods and anemia that is not improving, even with high doses of iron pills I was told by my doctor to get my periods stopped.  I liked the idea of having no periods, but getting to that point before menopause, well that I didn't know much about my options until recently.

My Gynecologist gave me the choice of the following to stop my periods:

1.     Birth Control Pills 

2.     Mirena UID

3.     Novasure

The first option was definitely out for me. I am a former smoker with a family history of heart disease and blood clots. Call me cautious and you'd be right.  That left me with the Mirena or Novasure. I read the pamphlets and they both have their advantages and disadvantages.  Either way I did have to have a pelvic sonogram beforehand to check everything out. I found out I had 3 fibroids but they were on the outer edges of my uterus. It is my understanding that if fibroids are located on the uterus then the Novasure procedure is not recommended. However I am not a doctor, nurse, etc. or in any way experienced in any area of the medical field so I have no advice.  I am in no way qualified to give medical advice. This blog is just a record of my thoughts, experiences, etc a  so I recommend checking out all of your options and doing research.  

I read a lot of information and other's personal experiences on both Mirena and Novasure. Lots of scary stuff for both options. However I think people are quick to talk about and share bad experiences and not so quick to share the good experiences. Not sure why that is but that is my thought.

Anyway, I decided to go with the less invasive option: Mirena. I checked out their website http://www.mirena-us.com/index.php along with lots of other sites so I could know about side-effects and what to expect with Mirena.

I took 800 Mg of Ibuprofen 1 hour before my appointment for insertion.  I was a bit nervous about pain during insertion. I felt a quick and intense pain for a moment, no worse then labor I would say. Then I felt very minor discomfort during the rest of the process. After it was over I could sense the Mirena inside of me, it felt creepy. I felt discomfort on my left side, like gas. I felt like crying when I left the office. However I was in no pain. I was pretty tired from being up late the night before so I went home and slept for 2 hours. Sweet!

I was towards the end of my period so I expected heavy bleeding but that did not happen. In fact my period pretty much stopped except for some minor spotting a few times over the next couple of days. Shortest period ever.

It sounds gross to get the Mirena inserted during your period but I was told that it actually makes the insertion process less painful. My cervix is about 1 cm dilated during my period as noted in the sonogram so maybe that had something to do with it.

Since then I have had no pain, just some minor sensations but nothing out of the ordinary or at least I don't think that is the case.

So far I am happy with the Mirena. I've read a lot of the positive reviews and a lot of negative reviews. I hope this continues to be a positive experience and I especially hope this stops my periods.

I'd love to hear more positive experiences of Mirena, I'm sure there are more out there then what I have read thus far.

Now I just have to figure out this whole checking the strings thing.