Weight Gain/ Difficulty Losing With Mirena IUD?

Carrieendar

I love my mirena! I had it placed after my 4 th child and weighed 155 at that appointment. I am 118 now, so I did lose weight with it. I also no longer have much of a period (one day of spotting) and no cramps. I am a big fan!

manicautumn

I gained 5-7lbs since Mirena and I've lost 18lbs with it.

13 lbs were without any real effort and 5 were within a month of trying.

Even though I did gain, I'm not blaming my birth control for it. I ate like **** and drank too much beer. I was also stressed out. There were so many other things going on that explain weight gain.

If you eat at a deficit and can't lose weight, you're either not calculating correctly or you need to legitimately talk to a doctor.

37lbs_to_go

I've had Mirena put in after both my kids. I had side effects both times including pain with intercourse, rubbing nerves and difficulty losing weight. There was an ultrasound after it was put in to make sure it was properly placed.

The end of last year I weighed 178 lbs and started working with a personal trainer 2x-3X a week. After 6 weeks I weighed and measured the exact same. My endurance was way up and didn't really change my diet. Still not one pound budged off I then went through some very expensive thyroid testing thinking that might be it. I truly felt there was something medical causing the inability to lose weight. All thyroid tests came back normal. My doctor's advice was: eat less, work out more, get more sleep. I took this to heart and made massive efforts in all 3 areas. One month later and still no weight loss so I called my OB and got the Mirena out. With in one month I lost almost 10 lbs. This was making the same efforts I had been doing. Once I hit 167lbs I joined MFP and have had no trouble keeping the weight loss going.

FYI I'm currently on genertic Ortho Tri-cyclen. Minimal side effects so far. I loved the Mirenas at first but for me the side effects started snowballing. I won't get another one.

stephb130181

I've just had my Mirena changed. Had the first one in for 5 years and got on with it brilliantly. Towards the end of the coil life, I had lost just over a stone. Had a new one put in last Wednesday and this week I put on weight, I'm hoping that its just getting the hormones settled down. But reading other posts and people having increased weight gain is worrying me a little.

I'm really into the new lifestyle and getting fit and don't want anything to ruin this for me. I will give it a few months and see how I go I guess.

dmt4641

I got my Mirena out a few months ago. Acne, very irregular and frequent periods, hard to lose weight. The acne has cleared up (my dermatologist said Mirena can cause it), my periods are normal again, and I am starting to see the scale move finally. I am on nuvaring now, which I have liked more so far.

ETA: my Mirena also came out of place 2 times in the few years I had it in and had to go back into the doctor to get it put in place again. The second time it was painful and I was so worried it was puncturing my insides, so I got it out.

Blueseraphchaos

I had a Mirena for 5 years, gained 60 lbs in 5 years, had it taken out, lost 25 lbs in a few months without doing anything different, went on depo, gained it all back and then some, quit the depo in January and am now working very hard to lose the weight. I'm on a low-dose bc now, but at least I'm seeing progress.

My doctor insisted that the Mirena wasn't what made me gain weight, but I'd love to know why i almost instantly lost all that weight when i had it taken out until i got put on depo. It was convenient, but it and the depo, no matter what i did, short of eating like 1,000 calories a day, i couldn't lose weight.

Just my experience.

ETA: i, too, saw a dietician for a year because what i was doing on my own wasn't working. I lost all of 1 lb in that year and my dietician couldn't explain the lack of results either. Stopped wasting my time and money on the dietician, started doing what i always did, and didn't gain a single lb, either. Pretty much the same experience as someone above me...

SezxyStef

I have used Mirena and depo exclusively for about 18 years.

I did research on Mirena after my aunt (an ob/gyn) suggested it due to my age.

Based on that research and knowing how the tests are done I did find this

out of the 94000 test subjects less than 5% of them reported weight gain as a side effect...that being said it's about 4800....but this was not a controlled study to see if weight gain was a side effect so the testers had to report anything unusual...no guarantee they were eating at maitenance.

Mirena actually releases less hormones a day than most BC pills...20mg vs 150 a day...of loest.

Increased appetite does account for weight gain.

As will some water retention due to hormonal changes...but you do not retain 40-50lbs of water and if you gained that much weight you need to look at your intake.

As for the other side effects could be...but 40+lbs of weight gain...no one can convince me that it is due to mirena. Science does not support it at all.

I have lost all my weight while using Mirena and depo..the two most notorious forms of BC out there...how? CICO.

As for weight going away...your appetite has decreased...probably 10lbs of water weight...

Most people eat a lot more than they think....if they weigh solids, measure liquids and log accurately and consistently and stayed in a reasonable deficit they would lose weight too...

Blueseraphchaos

One of the requirements my dietician had was logging everything i ate, drank, did. I think any hormone can have ridiculous side effects and they definitely vary widely from person to person. Depo and mirena were the worst for me. I absolutely busted my *kitten* to lose weight on the depo and got absolutely nowhere. It was ridiculous.

But it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks the reasons for my troubles were. I'm just giving my experience and what i myself think the reasons were. Getting older may have played a part too, but I'm only 34, got the iud when i was 25. The most telling thing to me it's that I'm losing weight now, albeit slowly, when I'm not doing ANYTHING any differently than i was before i ditched the depo. Same thing when i ditched the Mirena before i got on depo and lost all that weight. I have no explanation besides the things that changed, i.e. bc.

Shebri11

Very pleased to hear that you are starting to lose some weight now Blueseraphcha. I will be getting my Mirena removed on 4 August & can't wait. I am hoping that my weight will start to drop also. I have been off my diet now for 3 weeks and my weight hasn't changed!!! I will continue to do my workouts as I do definitely feel the benefit of doing them & hopefully that combined with getting back on my diet once the Mirena is taken out I should definitely start to lose weight. I will post my result once I get the Mirena taken out. Good luck!

jenmarnold

I'm having the same problem and it is very frustrating because i need to lose the weight.

SezxyStef

My question would be how many are logging accurately, which means weighing solids and measuring liquids and accounting for normal flucuations etc?

As well exercise calories are they all being eaten?

Basic science you will lose weight if you consume less calories than you burn and if you are not losing and or gaining a significant amount of weight there is an issue in that calculation.

There is no medication on the market the changes how our body metabolizes calories or forces our body to create fat from nothing...the law of thermodynamics is pretty solid...and sorry but personal experience without being in a controlled study does not mean your body is doing weird and wonky things because you are using a medication

bramirez23

I had the mirena for 3 years. I had thought it was affecting my weight that I was not able to lose it, but I was wrong. I have not had any side effects with it. I did love it! As far as my weight, I had gained about 20 lbs but that was more on me then the mirena. I was at 222, I have lost 12 lbs since then but that was due to getting back to the gym and eating right. I started strength training and ive been on track since then!! And yes its taken me about 3 months to lose the weight than before when I could lose almost 10lbs in a month but that was when I was 20-22, Im 25. I know metabolism changes as we age, but im going to keep going with the weight training and eating right, Im positive the results will be awesome! Good luck!

leahanmatt

I have been on the mirena over four years close to five ,....Ready to take it out next week I am going in ..can't waits ..I've had nothing but issues cramps in the beginning were hell ..they subsided great no actual bleeding anymore periods were random in the beginning .well bad things I could say is I have grown a beard like long hairs all over my chin I do the waxing thing but what a pain and it's totally embarrassing cystic acne all around my chin line really bad ..didn't have a problem with acne prior so pist.. Weight gain eww just so annoyed I have gained as much as if I where pregnant again I have allways been thick but this is just to thick for my liking .modd swings what I have felt like the devil lol just wanted to share hope my experience helps

pamcris

This is my story:

I'm 28 y/o right now. Before I got pregnant for the first time in 2011 I was a solid 140. I never worked out, ate fast food pretty much every day and drank a lot. After I had my daughter in 2012 I started losing the baby weight pretty quickly. 3 weeks postpartum I was already at 150 and almost at my pre-pregnancy weight. Then, I started going through a heavy pp depression and started gaining weight like crazy. Obviously I noticed that my body could not process the foods I was eating before the pregnancy the same way, and within months I was the biggest I've ever been at 205lbs (I'm only 5'2" btw). During that time I got pregnant again and because of severe nausea and GD, I ended up losing weight. When the baby was born I was 190lbs. After the second pregnancy I felt a lot better than I did after the fist one and started cooking cleaner and healthier.

By the time I got the Mirena inserted (3 months pp) I was at 150lbs and a month after that I was 143lbs. In January this year I decided to join a gym to help with the weight loss and toning of my body. I started going 5x a week to do an hour of cardio, which meant about 350 calories per workout. I kept with the healthy eating 6 days a week and had one cheat day. After the first few weeks I noticed I was not losing any weight, so I decided to talk to one of the trainers and see what he suggested. I started adding strength exercises 3x a week, and to my surprise, instead of helping with the weight loss, I started gaining weight. At the beginning I thought it was muscle, but by July I was at 160lbs...

I decided to get my Mirena removed (mostly because it was giving me horrible acne and causing GERD) and talked to my OB about it. She removed it last week (Tuesday) and that day, I weighted 161 (with tennis shoes) at her office. As of yesterday, a whole week later, I weighted 154.8 (with shoes) at the gym. For the past few months I've been going to the gym 5-6x a week, walking/running 5 to 6 miles, doing 5x5 stronglift 3x a week (up to 100lbs squats, 60 overhead, 65 bench...) and still cooking healthy at home. Nothing has changed since I got the Mirena removed lifestyle wise.

My acne is still the same, but hopefully it'll start getting better soon. The biggest change though is that my reflux is almost completely gone and my mood is a lot better. It sucks not having the security of the Mirena as birth control, but I'll set the alarm for my pills every day and wont have to deal with the side effects that it had on me. I was on the pill since I was 17 until I got pregnant with my first, so I already know how my body reacts to it and I can handle it better than the Mirena for sure.

Of course, this was my personal experience and every body reacts to hormones and birth control in different ways. If you are having issues with yours or are simply not happy with it, the first thing you need to do is call your doctor and discuss it with him/her.

bmele0

I had lost about 60+ or so pounds when I had the mirena inserted. The doctor assured me I wouldn't gain weight. Well, I didn't gain weight, but I could not see to lose anything. My weight would not budge.

I started tracking more closely, weighing my food, exercising harder- even picked an HRM up to better calculate my calories burned. This went on for a month and not only did I have acne flare ups, but I was moody. I was so upset, I could not lose a pound.

I thought maybe I hit a natural plateau, but I didn't want to deal with it anymore and decided I'd wait to get back on birth control when I get down to maintenance. I had the mirena taken out and I lost two lbs by the next week. I've continued losing since then.

Hormones act differently in everyone's body, listen to your gut. If you know you are logging everything, aren't over-eating, etc and it's not budging- try a different birth control or go hormone-free BC.

pamcris

I agree with you. It seemed crazy to me that the Mirena was what had stopped my weight loss or I would have asked my doctor to remove it earlier. And yes, everybody knows their own body and will know if something is off, and if so try other methods!