IUD keeping your weight up?

klemear

To all the ladies out there with an IUD,
Are any of you struggling with weight loss? I had my son 2 years ago and had lost all of the baby weight, plus an additional 5 pounds. Shortly after I had an IUD placed, and from that moment on, I gained 15 pounds. I work out 3 times a week (not to mention chasing a toddler around must count for something extra), and I have also been counting calories and at one point had joined weight watchers. My weight still keeps increasing. I am eating and exercising better than ever, but the scale keeps telling me differently. I was just tested for thyroid.....still waiting on the results. It just seems uncanny that the weight started to increase when I got the Mirena IUD. Has anyone else had difficulty with weight loss and Mirena?
~Truly discouraged

Dtrmnd86

I have the non hormonal IUD and haven't noticed a difference. I do, however, know a lot of moms who have had similar issues with the Mirena. Things like weight gain, pregnancy like symptoms, and more. Maybe talk to your dr about it.. I decided on the non hormonal because artificial hormones cause all sorts of problems with my body. good luck.

TheKitsune6

The weight gain is not a direct side effect of any type of birth control. What happens is hormones are released that make your body think you are pregnant therefore causing you to have pregnancy symptoms. These symptoms vary from person to person, some women get moody, some get cravings, some get nauseous, etc etc. If you are the type to get cravings you are more likely to binge therefore gain weight. HOWEVER - because you are exercising and counting calories you know you aren't over eating and you are still getting this drastic weight gain. I would highly suggest seeing your doctor because there might be something more serious at work here.

((Spoke to my doctor about birth control options and their side effects at length before I started to get depo shots))

icerose137

If the thyroid tests come back negative I'd suggest having it taken out and see if things change. If not, keep looking.

I did the non hormonal IUD but it didn't do me any good because it inserted itself through my uterus wall. Though I got off lucky, my poor sister's migrated to her liver somehow after bouncing all around her insides they finally took it out via surgery.

Swimgoddess

No increase with Paraguard here. There was a study though showing on average a 6lb increase in 5 years and an 8.5lb increase in 7 years, which I think can be better attributed to just getting older than the IUD. 6lbs in 5 years or 8.5lbs in 7 years is nothing. That essentially boils down to an "excess" of TWELVE calories/day. I'll throw in 10 jumping jacks a day and leave one bite on my plate.

Now you're on Mirena which is a WHOLE other ballgame. Those "tiny localized hormones" as your OB probably put it are tricking your body into thinking you're pregnant so you won't ovulate and what do pregnant women do? Pack on the pounds baby! Of course you're having a hard time. Now get angry at all those drug reps who sent your doc on an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii to push their product to cover-up and do damage control since Mirena has faced class-action lawsuits for causing otherwise unexplained secondary infertility. Oh, bet you didn't know about that either... um, ouch.

Here's the Paraguard study:

1. Weight Variation In A Cohort Of Women Using Copper
    IUD For Contraception.


Objective:
The objective of this study was to assess weight changes over time in reproductive-age women using non-hormonal contraception [copper intrauterine device (IUD) users]. Baseline variables recorded included age, parity, decade when the IUD was inserted and the presence of hypertension.

A total of 1,697 IUD users were followed for 7 years of use. The mean age (+/- SD) of the women at the beginning of follow-up was 27.6 +/- 5.8 years and the mean height (+/- SD) was 150 +/- 10 cm.

The mean weight (+/- SD) at the time of IUD insertion was 58.5 +/- 0.30 kg. After 5 and 7 years of follow-up, the mean weight (+/- SD) was 61.2 +/- 0.33 kg and 62.4 +/- 0.51 kg, respectively.

At insertion, the body mass index mean (+/- SD) was 24.5 +/- 0.12 and after 3 years it was 25 +/- 0.14, remaining above 25 up to the 7th year of observation. During the 7 years of follow-up, older women gained more weight than younger women.

Parity, decade of IUD insertion, and hypertension were not noted to be significant determinants of weight variation.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, this cohort of lower and middle class Brazilian copper IUD users tended to gain weight during their reproductive life, independent of other factors. These observations may improve counseling of women regarding the prevention of age-related obesity.

Reference


Hassan DF, Petta CA, Aldrighi JM, Bahamondes L, Perrotti M. "Weight variation in a cohort of women using copper IUD for contraception." Contraception. 2003 Jul; 68(1):27-30. Human Reproduction Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Caixa Postal 6181, 13084-971, SP, Campinas, Brazil.

cthorn6720

I've had the Mirena IUD since December 2010. I did notice a slight weight gain in January. But I started working out in Feb. and have been able to lose 11 lbs and 3". The weight lose is slower than it has been in the past...maybe it's the IUD...or being older! Just keep it up and take one day at a time!!!!!!!! Good luck on the test results...I know it's frustrating to wait when your looking for answers.