question for the ladies - IUD

I've had IUD's since after my 16 year old was born...never gotten pregnant with one and have never had any problems with the IUD's. I did try the hormone treated one but had to change it back to a regular old fashioned copper one because my migraines got worse due to the hormones. I am unable to take the pill for the same reason.

I have an IUD, Mirena.

I have not gotten pregnant yet. (Better effen not, my girls are 21 & 14!)

However, I have a friend who had a "regular" IUD and did get pregnant while the IUD was in. So it's not 100%.

I do like my Mirena, the only problem I had is that it fell out and I had a nasty little infection because of it, but that's like really rare, and when I had my D&C the doc put another one in, no problems since.

ETA: My friend did not have any complications with her pregnancy. But yes, like an above poster said, if you think you are, go see your OB.

I've had an iud for almost 2 years now. The strings are lost, but I can still feel the tip of it. I'm not really worried because I'm not having any pain.

I've had an iud for almost 2 years now. The strings are lost, but I can still feel the tip of it. I'm not really worried because I'm not having any pain.

How can you feel the tip of it? It shouldnt be poking out from your cervix...that seems odd

I had the copper IUD. I pretty much spotted constantly, after 6 months of that I had it removed. I have 3 friends using I think the hormone kind and they have all had more positive experiences.

I love my IUD, I have had it for 3 years, never gotten prego and never heard of a friend getting prego, good for you for doing your own research...

this might be off the subject but for those who have the Mirena have you had periods with it? ive had my IUD for a yr now and i still get periods and just wondering if its normal?

Oh, keeping your periods with the plain copper IUD is totally normal. Mines like clockwork.

I did have a bleeding issue when I first got it in, but that was because of several things actually:
In order to get it, your doctor must first make sure that you are not pregnant, and cannot get that way before you have the IUD put in. Which means if you're having it put in after having a baby, you have to be on birth control for the 6 weeks between the birth, and having the IUD put in. I opted for the Depo shot, and apparently, its a pretty common side effect of Depo/IUD combination for you to bleed or spot continually for "a while." In my case, that was about 6 months. I got tired of it after three and my OB put me on additional BC pills to even out my hormones and stop the bleeding. But that still took 3 months, so if your hormones have ever been the slightest bit odd, this could happen. Nothing painful, but you'll spend a lot of money on pads and tampons.

I had the Merena put in the begining of July. The first 2 months were awful. I had symptoms of pregnancy for almost 3 months that eventually went away. Only problem now besides being irregular is my face breaks out constantly. Ive never had skin problems in my life not even as a teenager so its very frustrating. I also put on 20lbs and it seems to be extra hard to try to lose it. I regret having it put in. But mostly because of the weight issue.

With Mirena, or any progestin only birth control, your body will experience an excess of androgens. When the body has an excess of androgens (progestin / progesterone) it converts it to dihydrogen testosterone, which causes the acne. If you experience this reaction, you might want to avoid progestin only bc in the future.

For myself, I worked with my dermatologist and take an androgen inhibitor to manage the acne. It worked like a charm. It's called aldactone, and I was on it for a year before being able to taper off. Eventually, the time released progestin in Mirena gets to lower levels, and you have less symptoms (like acne).

I can't explain the weight gain, however. That never happened to me on any bc.