Mirena & AF questions

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Mirena & AF questions
21
Mon, 03-27-2006 - 2:41pm
Hello ladies! I am new to this board and need a little help. Maybe someone can answer my questions! (Sorry this may be a little long)
So first, I will give you some background...
I became pregnant with my son in Nov. 03 while on the pill. I gave birth Sept 04 and had a mirena put in on Oct. 10th at my check up. I am still breastfeeding my son (now 18 months) and my period returned in Nov. 05. My body immediately went back to a 28 day cycle however a few times I had a light spotting in the middle of the month. My cramping and everything have been the same as before pregnancy. Well, this month I was due to start my period on the 20th. I started getting cramps the week before like normal. Now the 20th has come and gone and I still have not had a period, however the cramps linger. I am having the normal symptoms, however nothing is happening... no spotting or anything! I know that the mirena can cause lighter periods and eventually some women stop having it altogether, however my period has been normal up to this point. I wouldn't think that it would just stop! I am now 7 days late and am getting rather worried. I have not taken a pregnancy test because I have been too paranoid in the past and have taken probably 30 in the past 18 months. Getting pregnant while on the pill really did a number on me :) Anyway, I don't feel like I am pregnant. I knew right away with my son and I don't feel like that at all. I feel like af should be starting any minute! Has anyone had a problem like this? Any ideas what could be causing it? I really do not think that I am pregnant so there has to be another explanation. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
TIA!
K

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-26-2005
Mon, 03-27-2006 - 6:18pm
so if I understand you,you've had your mirena IUD since oct 2004-right??? The mirena can cause periods to become irregular=meaning you might keep having them or you might not-you might have them for a few months more and then you might stop having then suddenly....I went from having periods to spotting a few days for a period to where at about 1 year didn't have any periods.I haven't had a period in over 1 1/2 years now.I've had the mirena for about 3 years.I went from having periods that lasted 16+ days and came every 2 weeks(this lasted 3-4 months after I first got the IUD) to having 7 days of spotting to having 3 days of spotting to just one day of spotting and it just stopped all together....I love it.Sometimes I'll get cramping (not bad in a while now) like I'm about to start a period but then nothing happens....It sounds somewhat normal.You never know how your body will react to it.It affects each woman differently.((HUGS)) good luck.....
Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Mon, 03-27-2006 - 8:47pm
Thank you for the reply! Yes, I did get the IUD in oct 2004, but did not get af back until nov. of 2005 because I was/am breastfeeding. I know that it can stop and can become irregular. The only thing that I worry about is that it has been very regular up until now and there was no lightening of the flow or anything. Last month I had my usual af and then she just never came back! I have always been very regular, even after af came back with the IUD in place. I am just not sure what is going on and it is really making me nervous.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-28-2005
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 1:36pm

I had the Mirena for 2 1/2 years (before my monogamous relationship ended and I had it removed). I was one of the women whose periods went away after a few months. My OB/GYN told me to take a pregnancy test after my first missed period and as long as 1) it was negative and 2) I could feel the strings - then I was fine. Since I checked my strings every month - I knew they were in place - so I took the preg. test and *whew* it was negative.

So - that's what I would suggest. Feel for your strings - if you can feel them - then do a preg. test - if it's negative - you're good!
If you can't feel the strings and/or the preg test is positive -get to the doctor asap.

Good luck.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 2:53pm
I took a pregnancy test and it was neg and I can still feel the strings but I am still worried about it ending so abruptly, kwim? I think I am going to have it removed and switch bc anyway because I am seeing a lot of info about people getting pregnant with mirena (way more than should be). Thanks!
K
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 5:07pm

How we metabolize hormones can change from cycle to cycle so I don't really think an abrupt stop should be all that alarming especially with Mirena. Mirena can suppress ovulation but it doesn't necessarily do it all the time. It may just be for this month and AF will reappear next month.

A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do, but I hope you will reconsider. The marina is the most effective of all the reversible methods of contraception and over all there is very little trouble with it. There is a lot of misinformation available so be very sure you are getting the correct story before you make your decision, ok?

THanks for the update. Let us know what you decide and how you're doing.

Good luck,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 5:25pm
Hi Jill-
Thanks for the reply. After a lot of research, I have found out that the mirena statistics are very misleading and that it is really only about 96% effective. I guess there are a lot of women that are putting together a lawsuit because mirena isn't as effective as they have been advertising. They have been petitioning the FDA and everything as well. A large portion of these women have suffered miscarriage and all sorts of medical problems because of the IUD. Because it really is a new device, I am thinking they may have overestimated it's effectiveness. In any event, all of the research that I have been doing the past few days has caused major pause. My husband and I will have to seriously discuss this though because we still want another so I don't want him to get a vasectomy and we have had the pill fail before so are very weary of using that. I am also not sure of my other options at this point as I am still breastfeeding.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 5:58pm

Also keep in mind that when you are online searching for info on a subject like this, people who love it and are content generally don't go online looking for answers or just telling

 Jenn 

Mommy to Megan 1/20/01 & Sean 11/11/03

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 6:32pm
Hi Jenn-
Thank you for the reply :)
I know that there is a lot of information out there and I am very educated in how to find "good" information. Although a lot of the sites that I came across are not the most reliable. A lot of them were from places like Planned Pregnancy. Also, I have came across numerous women whom became pregnant while using the IUD. There has been a total of 7 million IUDs sold in the 14 years that it has been available. If it has a success rate of greater than 99.9% effective like Berlex has claimed, that would mean that less than 500 women worldwide would become pregnant yearly while using the IUD. On one site alone there were instances of over 50 women in the US alone getting pregnant and this was all in a 3 month period! One of the women on a site that I had visited was a neonatal nurse and had 2 women within a week give birth to babies with an IUD. That alone should not be possible if less than 500 women worldwide per year will get pregnant with an IUD.
Aside from the pregnancy thing, I have had a lot of problems with cramping since having the IUD, as well as acne and weight gain. I am also continuously paranoid about getting pregnant. The more I think about it, the more I am rethinking having it in place. Like my mom always says "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is"
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 7:19pm

>> I have found out that the mirena statistics are very misleading and that it is really only about 96% effective. I guess there are a lot of women that are putting together a lawsuit because mirena isn't as effective as they have been advertising. They have been petitioning the FDA and everything as well. <<

This board has a lot of Mirena users and we have seen very few complaints about Mirena effectiveness, actually, none that I can recall. We have gotten complaints about problems with Depo and Ortho Evra which tracks with the information recently available about them from the FDA and in the Media. I have heard nothing about problems with the Mirena and it doesn't seem to be in the mainstream media like Ortho-Evra and Depo-Provera have been in the recent past, so I would really appreciate your providing links to the sites from which you are getting your information.

Thanks for posting. Wishing you all the best with whatever decision you make.

Take care,

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-05-2004
Tue, 03-28-2006 - 9:40pm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7243051&dopt=Abstract

An article discussing IUD failure and giving the failure rate as 1-3.8%, effectiveness is actually determined by size and shape of uterus. It appears the greater number of children you have, the greater the failure rate due to the changes in the uterus.

http://www.pregnancy-info.net/QA/answers-IUD_Pregnancy/
A discussion board full of women whom became pregnant with an IUD in place
(also on this site is a discussion entitled "IUD Malfunction" which has even more women that became pregnant with IUD in place

http://www.sex-project.com/contraception.shtml#iud
Gives the stats for different forms of birth control
Ideal failure rate: 1-2%. Typical failure rate: 4%.

Here are a couple.

Pages