IUD - To Get Hormones or Not?

I had a horrible time with the Paraguard. Non stop periods and bad cramps and weight gain. I was told later that you should never get the paraguard if you have a history of heavy periods. I had it removed and a mirena put in. The first year was great and then I started with spotting, weight gain and bad acne. I was never one not to get a period. All things considered, its better that the paraguard for me.

I was on the pill for a long time, and I always suffered from migranes. In talking with my OB, he said there was no reason to chose the mirena over copper unless you wanted lighter periods. The downside was that some people "spot" for up to one year until their periods really lighten up and become predictable. No thanks! I went with the paragard and really haven't had any problems at all. Yes, my periods are a little heavier than they used to be, but only for about 2 days. I don't have bad cramping at all, and whatever I do have can be resolved with Advil.

Yes, the mirena does protect you against cancers, but only when it is in. Once you become post-menopausal, you would go off the mirena, and your chances of cancer become the same as anyone else's. Unless you have family history of early onset uterine, breast, or ovarian cancer, I wouldn't factor that hugely into your decision. The mirena does also actually increase your likelihood of heart attack and stroke. but again, only while you have it in. If you have low risk factors for those things, I wouldn't worry too much about those either.

Finally, yes, the Mirena could help with ovarian cysts. It would prevent you from ovulating, which would prevent the cysts, which generally aren't a medical cause for concern, although painful (I get them too). My personal feeling was that I didn't want to do hormones 24/7 for something that popped up once every other month and, while painful, could be addressed with advil.

Obviously I preferred the paragard and that's why. The really good thing is that you can try one, and if for whatever reason it doesn't work for you, you can switch to the other. It's nice that it's not a permanent solution. Good luck with your decision.

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I was on the pill for a long time, and I always suffered from migranes. In talking with my OB, he said there was no reason to chose the mirena over copper unless you wanted lighter periods. The downside was that some people "spot" for up to one year until their periods really lighten up and become predictable. No thanks! I went with the paragard and really haven't had any problems at all. Yes, my periods are a little heavier than they used to be, but only for about 2 days. I don't have bad cramping at all, and whatever I do have can be resolved with Advil.

Yes, the mirena does protect you against cancers, but only when it is in. Once you become post-menopausal, you would go off the mirena, and your chances of cancer become the same as anyone else's. Unless you have family history of early onset uterine, breast, or ovarian cancer, I wouldn't factor that hugely into your decision. The mirena does also actually increase your likelihood of heart attack and stroke. but again, only while you have it in. If you have low risk factors for those things, I wouldn't worry too much about those either.

Finally, yes, the Mirena could help with ovarian cysts. It would prevent you from ovulating, which would prevent the cysts, which generally aren't a medical cause for concern, although painful (I get them too). My personal feeling was that I didn't want to do hormones 24/7 for something that popped up once every other month and, while painful, could be addressed with advil.

Obviously I preferred the paragard and that's why. The really good thing is that you can try one, and if for whatever reason it doesn't work for you, you can switch to the other. It's nice that it's not a permanent solution. Good luck with your decision.

I have issues with hormones too and I recently was at the gyno for my first check up after giving birth. He offered Paragard. There was one interesting one which was a very tiny sponge they insert to block the ovaries that didn't have hormones called Essure. http://www.essure.com/

I got pregnant with the iud and I miscarried. When my ob took it out the iud tore a tiny hole in my uterus. I have the mirena now and I love it, I have no period... only a little spotting when its that time of the month and Ive actually dropped about 10 lbs. Its a little painful when inserted and mildly painful the first day or so after but, I wouldnt trade it for any other birth control. Hope that helps :)

I have the Paragard. It is great, I didn't need the extra hormones.

i vote no hormones. I was very happy with my paraguard. Nothing right now because we are ttc, but once we get this baby I plan to get it back in

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I have had Mirena for over 2 years now. I am happy with it and do not suffer the side effects from the hormones in the pill and patch, nor the shot (even though the shot and Mirena are the same hormone, it is lower dose and localized in Mirena so I don't notice any negative side effects). The one side effect I love about Mirena is no menstrual cycle after about the first year. I get spotting from time to time, but not much.

If you get it, ask your doctor for pain killers. I didn't do that, and was in extreme pain for the first three days. I had cramping and contractions as my body was apparently trying to push it out. I wish I would have had someone drive me, because it was hard to drive home with the intense cramps. Also, I had more spotting in the first year, which was inconvenient. Overall, though, I'd do it again.

I currently have the Paragard IUD which is the nonhormonal IUD. I had heard how it could cause really bad cramps and heavy periods - my periods are heavier but nothing that I can not manage. I was on BC pills for 15 years and never really knew what my body was like off of them but after having children I learned I like my body a lot more with out the pills - as you mentioned I never knew it affected my libido so much but it did and I also think caused dryness. I feel like I have already received benefits of taking the pills for 15 yrs which yes they do say it prevents some cancers but later in life I think can cause some. I have a family history of cancer so I did not want to go back on hormones. I researched and researched and feel the paragard was the best nonhormonal option. It is good for 10 yrs. Please feel free to email me if you have any questions or just want some support - it was a very difficult decision time for me.

I don't do well on hormones either, which is why I stopped the pill long ago. I did Fertility Awareness (NFP but you use condoms during fertile windows basically) for a long time but it got hard to keep up with when having two kids. I also tried the diaphragm, but it was messy and annoying to have to go put in "in the heat of the moment" and then you had to time when you were going to take it out and it usually was during work which was just a pain. I initially wanted the no hormone IUD (paraguard) but I am sensitive to copper, which is what it is made of, so Dr. said a big no no for that (my skin breaks out so I can't imagine what would happen if I put it inside LOL).

I have had a great experience with the Mirena. I do not have the mood swings or big PMS problems I had with the pill. It does release hormones, but it isn't alot, and it is delivered locally instead of circulating through your whole blood system. I don't know much about the cancer take on it, but it has worked wonderfully for us. Also, Mirena lasts 5 years, Paraguard 10 and it is more expensive. So if you think you may want to remove it in less than 5 years, it just makes sense to go Mirena instead cause otherwise you are kind of "wasting" the rest of the time left on it. My midwife said though that I needed to want to prevent pregnancy at least 3 years for it to be really cost effective. I had a little discomfort/cramping and some spotting off and on, but no big deal. I haven't had my period really at all since I had my son (I had it put in when I was about 11-12 m PP and I was nursing and hadn't gotten my cycle back) and he is now 2 1/2! Paraguard can initially make your period heavier, but that supposedly goes away after a while.

Hi SM
I have the Mirena and have been pretty happy with it. Just to clear up something I read in pps, the hormone in the Mirena is NOT the same hormone as in your birth control pills. It doesn't really stop you from ovulating. It thins out the lining of your uterus (hence the disappearing periods... you're still kind of having one, but there's less there to slough off). But progestins actually combat some of the estrogen side effects, so if estrogen dominance is making your cysts develop, it could really help (like it did for my migraines) I had terrible migraines for years and don't have them on Mirena (3 years).

My only complaint is that my periods (well more like spotting once a month) are starting to return. That's not really a side effect as much as the no-period side effect wearing off, but I got so used to not having them and not having to plan around them that it's a little annoying. That wouldn't be avoided with the Paragaurd accept that you wouldn't get spoiled in the first place :)

I haven't noticed any weight gain issues since getting Mirena. I've gained and lost weight just like I always have (I'll gain 5 lbs over the summer when I'm on vacation eating out all the time and drop is when I come home and get back to my normal habits).

HTH
T.