Oil slick symptoms and conditions

I'm 28, and I had my mirena inserted back in May, 2007. The initial insertion was uncomfortable, and I experienced pain and nausea for a few weeks afterwards, but those symptoms eventually went away. I was relatively happy with my mirena for the first year, despite the fact that I was extremely moody and had no desire to have sex (I was taking more than the recommended course load at university, so not wanting to have anything to do with anyone meant that I had more time for study - my marks certainly didn't suffer!). During the second year, however, things started to change. I found that my skin became incredibly greasy. I'd wake up every morning feeling like an oil slick. I started developing lots acne on my back, chest, neck and chin, and the acne on my back and chin was the cystic, painful sort that generally leaves scars. I began experiencing cramps and severe depression during the week leading up to my period, which I was still getting, even though I'd been told to expect that it would stop. Half the time I felt too big for my skin, especially around my thighs, and when this was bad it was so bad that wearing pants drove me crazy. I started getting a weird sensation in my chest every now and then, like my heart was missing a beat, sort of a tingly weird feeling, and for a second or two I couldn't draw a breath. I have no idea if that's what a panic attack feels like, or if it was some sort of hair problem. My hair, which used to be fairly thick at the back, started thinning out to the point where I started wearing clip-in hair extensions to mask things. The texture of my hair changed - instead of the occasional coarse, kinky piece in amongst the finer, smooth strands, almost all the hair growing from the crown of my head is kinky. I experienced cramps and discomfort every time I had an orgasm! My weight, which has hovered around 110-115 for my entire adult life, began climbing, despite little change in my diet and exercise routine (I'm now 125, and all that weight is around my waist and hips). This last winter I had no energy for anything, and slept ten hours every night, and napped between classes as well. In the last two months my breasts have grown more than a cup size, and feel swollen and tender to the touch.

I had my mirena removed yesterday, and I feel like it was a good decision. The removal was only slightly painful, no worse than a single bad cramp, and I've had no bleeding so far. The doctor was very sweet about it, agreeing that it just wasn't working for me. She had me count to three and then cough during the removal, a technique she said she'd come up with to make the procedure as painless as possible. I agree that it helped - coughing took my mind off my cervix = )

I held on to my IUD for so long because it cost me a lot of money, but I finally decided that the continuing decline in my self-confidence wasn't worth it. I don't know if all the changes in my body over the last two years can be chalked up to the IUD, but I'm fairly sure a lot of them can. I'll post again in a few weeks to share my experiences post-removal.