Mirena IUD and Weight Gain

Yes, this is exactly what's been happening to me! Having a cheat day can cause me to gain about 2-3 pounds! Like a fool, I've been on Mirena for 5 years and I've been having issues for the same amount of time.

You might consider looking into a copper iud like Paraguard. They are good for 10 years but can be removed at any time. No hormones to mess up your body. That's what I'm getting at my next appointment. I hate the pill and saw lots of people unhappy with weight gain on mirena.

I have copper iud no weight gain.. Great.

I can completely agree with you! after giving birth to my twins I weighed 135 which was due to breastfeeding but as soon as I got my iud inserted and decided to cut out breastfeeding I gained an excessive amount of weight!!! now I have had mine for coming close to three years and during this time I've gained FIFTY freakin pounds I want to have it removed but I am worried about the pain! I am determined to lose this weight I've put on it is depressing.

I might be the only one who doesn't mind my Mirena. Huh.

I've had it for a year and a bit and while I did gain weight during that time, it was my own fault and most of that came off after I spent a week drinking liquid food post-wisdom teeth.

Lower sex drive, yeah- but it's worth barely having a period and 5 year protection that was all covered under my medical insurance.

I've been also having problems that come and go after gettign my mirena.

The video here explains mirena IUD and weight gain in a way that's very easy to understand:

http://mirenadetox.com/mirena-weight-gain/

Like hell I'm paying $100 for some "detox" from birth control. All your posts are sharing this. That's pretty spammy.

And, I hardly believe that stuff in there about early menopause in 50% of women. Nice try.

I used to be in the "nah, it can't be the Mirena" camp. I had it for nearly seven years (5-7 years is the range, in the US they suggest 5 but I knew about the 7 so had let it slide...)
Then I had mine removed 4 days ago and my tubes tied at the same time (I'm 47, two kids).
I'm pretty sure it was the Mirena.

The second morning after surgery I woke up feeling very different - more energetic and less foggy, less anxious feeling body. I don't have an anxious personality or very stressful life but my body just felt stressed. And then I just ..didn't! I have felt pregnant the last several years and was not attributing all of this business to the Mirena - just to getting older, not being as active as I was before two kids etc (but, mind you, in the last several years I have run marathons, the Grand Canyon rim to rim, adventure raced, and other stuff so it's not like I'm a couch potato!!!).

The weight just steadily added on and it would never budge more than a few pounds. I could add muscle and that would help a little but mainly I just added muscle under the fat. And my abdomen just looked and felt pregnant! My body felt pregnant. My boobs felt pregnant. Just UGH. But seriously I just thought it was just middle age finally catching up with me.

I still have some puffiness from the tubal ligation and I have not stepped on the scale, but my lower abdomen is def. smaller since removal - my jeans are looser in the waist and below. My brain feels very different. I didn't even really realize so many women were having all of these problems until I just googled trying to find out what to expect after Mirena and tubal ligation - just wondering if there were any adjustment periods (heh) with either from a woman's point of view, because my doctor is a man and has clearly not experienced any of this stuff first hand.

I found all of these stories by women on Mirena and recognized so many of the symptoms - wow ! If I had googled this a couple of years ago I'd have had it removed immediately. Now I'm pissed I didn't. I was just being lazy and hoping to talk my husband into a vasectomy.

We'll see now what changes over the next few weeks and I will post back here and another Mirena thread here.

Even if it's just water weight (and I'm sure all of what's disappeared in four days is water - but there is some chub left that MUST GO!) - that's some significant frickin' water weight and bloat to carry around for years. A change in mood, decrease bloat, and ability to reasonably loose weight, plus what I'm pretty sure is an increase in libido would be great. ( libido seriously tanked w/Mirena but I attributed it to other stuff - but that feels different in last few days, too - haven't really felt like it though with stitches and bleeding).

Now, I have a friend who LOVES hers. Another who hated hers. Both slightly younger and thinner body types, the one who hated it gained weight, had it removed, lost weight.

Clearly it works for some gals, not for others, and Bayer has not figured that out or has not owned up to it - but gals if you feel like yours isn't working - have it removed. You can always have it replaced. If your doctor doesn't to remove it - can't see where that's any of their business - it's your body. You'll know within a few weeks, I expect, maybe days (as I did) if it's the Mirena or something else making you feel funky. Use condoms for a while, not hormones, as BC, they work and I promise your partner can just get over his bad self and use them.

Just because your doctor, Bayer, and some gals here say there is no way Mirena can be causing problems, doesn't mean it's not Mirena. To me it seems very clear that for some of us it may work in that it prevents pregnancy, but just does not work well with our bodies for whatever reason. I envy those of you who have loved it with no side effects. But I'm old and wise enough to know that doctors don't know everything, and drug companies are in it for the $$. You have to trust yourself sometimes, too!

PseudonymMom you do realize it takes anywhere from 6-18months for things to go back to normal after stopping mirena right...not 2 days...

And you didn't add muscle...sorry it's very hard for a woman to do that...you need to eat a calorie surplus and lift heavy weights to do that....and if you are eating at a calorie surplus you are adding fat too.

If you can get in at the 4 -4.5 year mark do it then..I waited 5 years and it wasn't fun the last 6 months..my husband said never again...moods...my period came back...ick

Oooo good to know!

Paraguard IUD has no hormones and lasts twice as long - way better than Mirena for me

And you didn't add muscle...sorry it's very hard for a woman to do that...you need to eat a calorie surplus and lift heavy weights to do that....and if you are eating at a calorie surplus you are adding fat too.

+1. And to the user with the blank profile just created this month with 3 forum posts all pertaining to the Mirena IUD calling SezxyStef a troll... :huh:

I am having my Mirena removed after18 months.
I LOVE the Mirena! I love not menstrating or worrying about pills.
However I am a personal trainer, I have my BA in Health and Exercise. I have gained 25 lbs since having it inserted. I have taken oral birth control my whole life for cystic ovaries without an issue.
I have done everything that had always worked and tried new techniques to lose. I will lose 3-5 and plateau. I KNOW what I am doing. I KNOW what needs to be done to lose the weight.
It is a chicken or egg type of scenario. Am I gaining weight now bc I am older and my metabolism slowed down or bc the hormone fluctuations caused by the Mirena? I am also now craving CRAP that I never even ate before! I always ate as healthy as possible. I never had a sweet tooth and can't stand the smell of fried foods now I will suddenly have an intense craving for sweets or fried foods. Most the time I can surpress but no doubt the weight gain is from one of those occasional binges (that usually ends up running through me anyway!) And there in lies the problem, the Mirena could be causing the cravings that will go away when it goes away.Or it could be causing the wt gain bc the hormones, or it could be causing the chemical inbalance that affects my emotions causing me to stress eat.
But I am not one to place blame, my bottom line for removing it....it is a foreign object in my body secreting artificial hormones. We all avoid certain foods bc of 'artificial' this or 'artificial' that, why would we willing place something that intentionally secretes artificicial chemicals? not worth the risk to me, bc I sure the hell ain't benefiting! I am going to get back to natural as much as possible. Hubby is getting a vasectomy and I will have peace of mind and my health and my body back.

SezxyStef ....
1) I know my body and what I have experienced. You know neither. While you are an expert on you, you cannot tell me that I have not experienced something that I have. Why would I lie? I'm just offering support where it seems the kneejerk reaction is to scoff in disbelief at something you have not experienced... I didn't have to put myself out there to support anyone, but I thought it might help someone else. I'm not anti medicine or science. I think vaccinations are good, for example. But I know that doctors and big-pharma can be wrong. Very wrong. Because they don't know everything and the human body is a complicated machine.

2) You can definitely lose water weight in two days. With a hormone and foreign object removed from my body... why would I NOT be able to notice a difference? I never said I was back to normal - I just said I noticed a distinct difference. I KNOW I noticed this. I have not been attributing these things to Mirena all along. Only in the last couple of days did things begin to click into place.

3) And, yes, women can gain muscle. We don't look like the Incredible Hulk, but we can gain muscle. And it's noticeable. Too bad for you I guess if you have not, because muscles rock. Different body types respond to strength training in different ways.

4) I've been an athlete for years, on and off - since high school and I'm 47 now. Biking, running, ultra distance running, crossfit, adventure racing, hiking, rugby, ultimate. If there is one thing I know, it's how my body responds to food, stress, exercise, pregnancy, muscle building, injury, and so on. Two new unknowns happened at the same time for me which made figuring out the cause of something difficult - Mirena and middle age. I attributed at bunch of stuff to middle age that in retrospect may have been the fault of Mirena, and I stand by my current observations and will let things play out to see what changes.

Please keep your scoffing judginess to yourself. You don't know me, you probably don't know any of these ladies, and just because your body responded differently to something than mine and other gals' did, doesn't mean we are wrong. Why be a troll? Geesh. I wouldn't do that to you! Life is hard enough without complete strangers trying to put you down!

Any of my information comes directly from a very good ob/gyn who has taught in medical schools so has to stay current and wouldn't give me false information as she only has my best interest in heart as she is family.

As for gaining muscle yes woman can gain muscle at a calorie surplus or if you are in a defict they are very new to lifting (noob gains which don't last long and end up being a couple oz) or if you are obese. Otherwise muscle definition comes from losing the fat over it...my muscles rock trust me, I lift heavy and do quite well and if I ever decide to do a bulk I will gain muscle then ...not before...I haven't gained yet as I am not new to lifting and I wasn't obese...and no woman in this thread unless the above is true has gained muscle either including you...we woman gain on a bulk on average 1/2-1lb a muscle if we are lucky a month...that is with optimal conditions.

As for this statement

Why be a troll? Geesh. I wouldn't do that to you! Life is hard enough without complete strangers trying to put you down!

that is exactly what you are doing...

I would rather lay out science then "personal experience" so that some of these woman might take a look at the science and say...wait ..maybe I need to try this..and then they lose the weight as opposed to hearing "oh don't worry it's not your fault" when in all probability it's about the amount being eaten.

I never once said it doesn't have side effects...it does but gaining 50lbs is not the fault of a tiny plastic coil inserted...it is from over eating.

btw building strength and having your muscles be defined <>muscle gains and the longer you argue you can gain muscle at a deficit (esp you considering you are a life long athlete) the more you look like a troll yourself and continue to discredit anything and everything you say. So you have at...keep saying you can build muscle while eating at a deficit.:flowerforyou:

And you didn't add muscle...sorry it's very hard for a woman to do that...you need to eat a calorie surplus and lift heavy weights to do that....and if you are eating at a calorie surplus you are adding fat too.

+1. And to the user with the blank profile just created this month with 3 forum posts all pertaining to the Mirena IUD calling SezxyStef a troll... :huh:

yes and in order to find these threads cause you posted in two of them..you had to "search" which is interesting that a new user who hasn't filled in their profile and it's so new would know to search and you would search for these in particular...hmmm I have a bridge.

+1

I'm sick of seeing fake accounts berating this form of birth control. I don't know what the angle is, but Mirena is a completely valid option and does not directly cause weight gain. Yes, you can gain weight on it as with any other form of birth control or even with no birth control. Men can gain just as much in the same time period.

Water retention, yes.
Cravings, maybe.

But Mirena doesn't guarantee weight gain or prevent loss. I've lost 15 pounds over the last year on Mirena.

Stop spreading misinformation.

After being called a troll I had some information sent to me...I posted it in the other thread...yes where the same person is posting

here is that information

10lbs accounts for most water...hence the warning "may cause weight gain"...women see that and freak..cortisol levels go up...causing more water retention....masking weight loss even more. The increased appetite is what affects the main part of the weight gain if it's over 10lbs...barring the cortisol level....

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html#more-9313

I too was in the military so I am very very familiar with what they do....

eating healthy and exercise does not guarantee weight loss...

The difference in hormones still doesn't explain people claiming 50lbs of weight gain as there are very few methods of oral BC, injections or implants that do not have hormones...the difference with MIrena is that the hormones are centralized in the area it is needed as opposed to going through the entire body before reaching where it is needed....so if in fact women are sensitive to hormones in Mirena then logic says hormonal BC in general will cause similar reactions...but nope...lots say the pill or the shot or the implant doesn't affect them at all.

As well side effects listed on any drug are due to the trials and anything "unusal" that happens during trials is to be reported. So there is no guarnatee that the women who reported weight gain during the trials can say for sure it was mirena as we don't know if they were on a calorie reduced diet or eating at maitenance...

and a lot of women here have stated the Mirena "mimics" pregnancy which it does not...it actually alters the way the uterus behaves...although exactly what it does is not totally defined there are three things

Thickening the mucus on the cervical wall to prevent sperm from entering the uterus.
Altering the wall of the uterus.
Inhibiting survival of sperm.



QUOTE from Study

Mirena works by slowly releasing 20 mcg of levonorgestrel into the uterus each day. Throughout the course of 5 years, this dose decreases while still remaining effective. In contrast, birth control pills typically release 150mcg into the body. The dose of hormones is higher in oral contraceptives because they must first be digested before the hormones can become effective and act on the uterus. Mirena works by directly releasing the hormone into the uterus.

and in the clinical trials >5% of the 92000 women reported weight gain...so less than 4200 women...and again these were not "controlled" studies where the participants were in a lab the entire time.

I went through this phase of blaming the mirena for not being able to lose weight. Forgotten all about it actually. I was just training wrong to be honest killing myself with dieting and cardio. Been training with a PT this year have built loads of muscle and hadn't thought about my mirena for ages. yes its still hard to lose weight but now I attribute that more to my bodytype and small frame (meaning I really don't need many calories so tend to maintain on 1200 a day).
It is scary that when you google it you find a site by ErinBrokovich even about it. I think if you really think that might be it take it out for a year and see where you are then. You can always have one put back in again.