IUD and Spotting and No Period
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IUD and Spotting and No Period
| Sat, 10-23-2004 - 2:49am |
Ok I posted a few days ago about how my gf was having her period well it turns out she was spotting really heavy and getting cramps bc she has an IUD in her. This is around the time of the month that she usually gets her period. She has been spotting light for like the last week or so and on the 20th it was alot heavier with some cramping. Then she said it went back to light spotting with no cramping. Is it possible she can miss a period and just spot all the time or will her period come eventually? She has been eating alot more too she has the mirena IUD in so I'm sure that some weight gain is possible. But then again she goes without smoking for a few days too so I guess that's normal haha. Anyway if for some reason she was pregnant which I doubt is the case would she still be spotting like she has been? Do girls even bleed when they are pregnant? Only reason I'm asking this is because her full period has not come yet. She got this IUD in her on her last period so this is gonna be the full month now. I know that when you first have it in that your body takes time to get use to it and i'm just worrying just because I care that's all. If anyone can help me or share stories please help a loving guy out here.

It's extremely unlikely that she could get pregnant while using Mirena. Mirena causes many women to not have periods at all, so the only way she would know for sure if she was pregnant would be to do a home pregnancy test.
Weight gain is not supposed to be a side effect. A study between women with the Mirena IUD and the non-hormonal copper IUD show no difference between weight gain between the two groups.
One thing to remember is that some women's bodies are really sensitive to disturbance and sometimes ovulation can be delayed by physical stress. If ovulation is delayed, her period will be delayed, and that typical bleeding pattern can be complicated by a progestin-secreting foreign body in her uterus. The foreign body part makes her spot, but the progestin secreted in the uterus tends to restrict the growth of the lining of her uterus so that her period may be different the next time she has one, but she may not know for sure because of the spotting. I think I might throw up my hands and not try to figure it out, but I don't like mulling things over too much!
Some women will have spotting in early pregnancy. Some women will even have light periods in early pregnancy. But IUD is such an effective method of contraception that I don't think I'd worry about it. It's protection that you KNOW is there, and it's impossible for you to screw it up (unlike the pill), and it's about as effective as you can get and still have sex.
I hope that helps! I'm not sure if it does, but I think at this point I'd just expect weird bleeding to continue for a while and the period thing should sort itself out if given enough time. If she wants to know when she's ovulating (which will help predict her next period), she can start charting her basal body temperature (her other fertility indicators of cervical mucuous and position might be unavailable right now), and if either of you wants information on that, you can recommend the book "Taking Control of Your Fertility" by Toni Weschler as an excellent reference on women's menstrual cycles.
Hang in there!
Co-cl for Birth Control