Frustrated - Anyone got any suggestions?

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-10-2003
Frustrated - Anyone got any suggestions?
1
Sun, 10-24-2004 - 12:58pm
Hi am a lurker here (sometimes, when I have a few minutes), but I am very frustrated with my birth control situation and was wondering is anyone had any suggestions. I am 24, married for 3 years and have a 18 month old daughter. I have had the Mirena IUD since June 2003 and have gained atleast 15 pounds since then. The nurse at the OBs office that put my IUD swears that it has nothing to do with my weight gain. I disagree. My basis for that is some posts here that I have read, stories from friends, and the fact that I have never been able to be on ANY kind of birth control that had ANY kind or amount of hormones in them that didn't make me gain atleast 10 pounds. I am looking for alternative birth control that is extremely effective but won't make me gain weight either. Any comments/suggestions? Can anyone relate? I am so frustrated - I felt like telling that nurse, so basically what you are telling me is I have to either be fat or pregnant?!?!??! The only 2 non hormonal extremely effective methods of birth control that I can come up with is the Paraguard IUD and the diaphragm (sp).



 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Mon, 10-25-2004 - 7:21am
For your situation, you might be best off with a Paragard, depending on what your doctor says. And if your insurance will cover it, I can't imagine getting two IUDs in a short period of time!

It's possible that a diaphragm or cap would work for you, but you'd have to make sure your fitter was very experienced with fitting women post-childbirth. A vaginal delivery can make fitting a cervical cap much more difficult if there has been damage to the cervix, but a diaphragm might still be okay. The effectiveness, though, is going to be much more dependent upon how well you wear it, and that might not be something you want to deal with with an 18 month old.

I've heard nurses and doctors swear up and down about a lot of things, and just because they do doesn't make them right. While weight gain is definitely not a common side effect of the Mirena, I don't see how they can say it's not a side effect at all! Particularly considering your history with pills. Though the progestin isn't supposed to be systemic, I'm thinking that it'd be pretty hard to prevent it from being that way--if we can transmit hormones through our skin and vaginal mucosa into our bloodstream, what's the difference when it's endometrial tissue? If the tissue is at all similar to skin and vaginal epithelium....it doesn't seem like such a stretch.

Good luck Tara! I hope at least they'll listen....

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control