Mirena coil any good experiences?

[Anniekat]

Hi there, I'm 36 with 2 children. I've had pretty severe endo and pcos since a teenager. i had surgery In 2004 and managed to conceive the year after. Since I stopped breast feeding my youngest this april the endo has come back aggressively. I'm due to have a Mirena coil put in next week as my doctor believes the low dose of progesterone and lighter periods will ease symptoms. I'd be interested in hearing your experiences. Many thanks xx

[jalo69]

Hi lots of fors and against on this one but I've posted a few times about the mirena coil and its a thumbs up! Gotta be patient at least 6 months for spotting to stop but hopefully after this you will be period free. I was for 4 years but now 3 wks post hysterectomy. Never forget tho, if you have success and are lucky enough to be pain free, it doesn't mean endo stops. It's a cruel disease and it continued to work its evil with me quietly in the background. Saying that I would definitely do the coil again if I had my time over. It also helped with the Horrible PMT outbursts, they scared me but it put Evil Edna to bed thangod she's was nasty!! Good luck with it. Give it a go it can always be taken out! ;)) xx J

[Chrissie66]

Best thing I've ever done! I have to say though, mine was used to control the bleeding rather than the pain; I still get the pain but the bleeding has gone from a torrent to a couple of pink drops a month, or at most a light tampon's worth.

I'm on my second one now and my gynae says it will see me through the menopause, but if I was younger and needed a third one I'd have it in a heartbeat. And I have no children and had it put in under local anaesthetic, even that didn't put me off!

As Jolo said, you need to give it at least 6 months to settle but if after that it's not working out for you they can easily whip it out again

Good luck!

C x

[Impatient]

Life changing for me too...awesome to be liberated from periods, bleeding and pain and not hve to worry about booking anything or taking the kiddies anywhere because i would be 'on' in pain ad flooding.

So massive thumbs up from me too.

If you are not getting it put in with General Anaesthetic as part of an operation, then I would suggest taking strong pain relief before the procedure so that has kicked in.

Many ladies report is it a very uncomfy /painful experience getting it inserted without anaesthetic.

there are occsional niggly side effects, but nothing, nothing at all to compare with painful periods.

Also it does take 4 to 5 months to start working, all that time it is building up coating of layers of goop in the uterus and eventually there is enough goop stuck to it to hold it in place and stop the uterus lining shedding each month with a period.

This is not done overnight, so you must be prepared to hang in there with a few more periods will it gets to work.

after it starts working you can occasionally get spotting or even a light period as sometimes small parts of the uterus lining can come away and escape, but these are niggles and not on the scale of a normal period, never mind a full blown endo period.

And ofcourse you will save a fortune in tampons towels, painkillers and so on over the years it is working.

The average life span of the coil is about 5 years and that does mean sometimes they run out of steam earlier than that. Just bad luck if that happens. Equally some ladies report it still working for them longer than 5 years.

I had it installed in mid-July, and my last period was December same year, then nothing for ages (bliss) this year I had a period out of the blue (not as bad as in the past) and a month later another one, so I asked the GP if I could have it replaced thinking it had run out early, but the 3rd one was very light and none since then, so I'm thinking perhaps I might hve been spared and it didn't run out afterall, and hs now built up or rebuilt up a goop layer and is working again. fingers crossed on that score.

it isn't nice being put in, but if it's in the right place (properly inserted) and you give it a chance to work, then it really can transform life for you.

If you are one of the unfortunate ladies who find the niggly side effects or hormone changes too much to bear till it settles down, or it doesn't settle down, then you can have it pulled out. The coming out part is apparantly much better than the going in part... but I haven't been there yet.

Whatever you do do, please give it a chance to start working. You owe it to yourself to see what good it can do for you. Best of Luck.

[Katt]

Hi, I had the mirena put in 2 years ago and like the other ladies said it took quite a while to settle and for the first month probably made things slightly worse but my periods became much lighter, although never disappeared. I was still in some pain but overall things improved. The biggest problem I had was continuous bacterial and yeast infections with it. So much so that I had it removed last week. For the past few days I have been in a lot of pain and now realise how much good it was doing! Already thinking of having another put in when i have my lap in next few months. Not sure if that helps you x

[kyla78]

Hi, I had a mirena coil put in during my lap and although it took months to settle as I was very ill and bleeding daily! How ever it's the best thing I ever did, as the pill never worked for me.

I don't have any kids.

I don't have periods at all with it which is amazing! I still get some pain at times but I suspect that's the endo back. I havnt had any infections with the coil yet Ive had it ver two years. When's your next lap? Maybe you could give it another go?

[lorna3000]

I have had the mirena coil for about 5 years. Absolutely no weight gain at all in fact i have probably lost a little weight over time. Was having very heavy periods but these have been reduced to light spotting each month. Am due to have it replaced in the next few week and although it is uncomfortable when inserted the benefits completely outweigh any pain involved. It changed my life and left me free to get on without the disruption of very heavy periods. Definitely go for it!!