Twelve months symptoms and conditions

Hello everyone. Like most of you, I have been glad to have found this site and realized that there are so many other women experiencing the same symptoms as me and I am therefore justified to come to the conclusion it may be my Mirena causing these problems.
I had mine inserted in September 2005 for contraception. I am divorced and my ex-husband had had a vasectomy after our third child arrived in 1998. I had never been any good at remembering to take the pill and having always fallen pregnant very easily, I was after a reliable fuss-free birth control. I was a single mum dating a fellow on and off and couldn't afford the risk of an unwanted pregnancy.
Everything was just fine after the inital settling in period of about six months as suggested by the Gyno who put it in. Several of my friends had had them and we all seemed to have pretty much the same feed back. Lighter periods, breasts that we had never had before (I went from a lifetime of being an A cup to being a C cup almost over night and am now a D cup!). I had always suffered from really bad PMS - cramps, mood swings, etc. One great effect of the Mirena was I didn't have these mood swings and things were great with the kids not having to duck for cover every three weeks and lay low! I have suffered depression over the years, post-natally and after my marriage break down. I was more positive and started to enjoy life. I slowly went off anti-depressants and coped quite fine.
I am now 41 and have had the Mirena on board for almost 3.5 years. I remarried last year but also in the past twelve months symptoms have started the same as most of you have described. I am back on anti-depressants - only a low dose but my GP believed I needed it just to keep me "stable" - that is working. But the worst thing for me is the weight gain. I have always been reasonably slim, never had any problem losing weight after each of my three children. I am active and eat well. In the last year I have cut out so much fat and sugar in my diet, I walk 4 days/wk, swim once a week and was (until recently) going to the gym several days a week also, yet I just keep putting on weight. I feel bloated all the time, have fluid retention in my ankles and feet and I have this horrible gut - I have never had a gut! I've always had this lovely flat tummy. I know you put on weight once you hit your 40's but this is ridiculous. It is now starting to get me really down.
I am so glad to have come across all these postings because I know I'm not the only one. The other thing I have noticed is that my old pre-mirena premenstrual symptoms have returned - cramps, bad moods, dragon-like behavior, lower back ache, etc. All these went initially with Mirena - and I sang its praises to everyone and convinced several of my friends to consider one - now I think I better warn them of what they could be in for and to visit this site for themselves.
A lot of my other symptoms I have related to my under-active thyroid and have been considering returning to my GP for blood tests (although they were normal 6 months ago). I get dizzy, like a feeling of low blood sugar, get the shakes, heart palpitations (all normal hypothyroidism symptoms). I read with interest though about the thrist issues - I get really thirsty, especially during the night and now suffer really bad breath, mainly in the morning. And the comments about changes in eye sight I can also relate to. And forgetful!! I just thought it was motherhood, teenagers and age! I have also had a decline in libido - and I'm a newly wed - that can't be healthy! And I get pins and needles a lot - especially in my arms and feet - they often wake me at night.
Maybe Mirena has other things to answer for! That's why I am booked in next week to have it removed. This sight has convinced me its the right decision. I will re-post in a month or two and update you. Lots of girls ask for feedback on how long it takes to get back to normal - I will try to remember to leave some feedback.
Thank you to you all who have taken the time to share their experiences.

coincidentally, i have had two mirena put in, one five years ago then had it removed three years later, then another in august 2007. and within twelve months ended up on antidepressants. with severe depression. i have the hair loss, bloating, cramping, sooo tired all the time, i thought i had glandular fever again as i had it in highschool. but was tested and result was negative. anxiety,heart palpitations, weight gain, (lots) previously ii have never had problems with my weight. i just attributed it to body changes after having children? antidepressants helped with the depression and the moodiness, but not the heart palpitations. have worn a heart monitor several times with inconclusive results, no explanation. my friend was talking to her friend and she is a pediatric nurse, she was describing the same symptoms as me. and put me onto this forum and also a website showing all the side effects from mirena. if this info is correct, it attributes all of my symptoms to the mirena. i had it removed on December 12 2008. no significant changes yet but am hoping for some changes shortly! i know everyone reacts differently to things, but we all have very similar things,in common. so this has to show something if anyone has any suggestions on what we may be able to do about this, let me know. i would be interested in helping others withe same situation. the link on this page about side effects , rates them from very common, to rare. and most of these symptoms we are describing are common. so how safe can this devise really be??? anyway thats my story hope it helps someone, even just for the realization of "it's not me!!"

I was 50 and the doctor prescribed lipitor 10mg since my cholesterol had doubled in the past twelve months to 300. I took it for four months and began to have pain in one leg just below the knee. I had talked to a woman about 65 years old once who was walking on the sides of her feet and I had asked her what medical problem she had. She explained that her Lipitor had caused this terrible pain. You would think that I would have refused to take this drug. You see the doctor had already prescribed a very large dose of fish oil per day and the cholesterol had not fallen. However, I began taking it. About two weeks before my enzyme checkup I began to notice the pain in the leg just below my knee and I stopped taking the Lipitor. I expected the pain to subside, but it did not. My cholesterol level had risen and my doctor asked me if I was still taking the Lipitor. I explained that I had been of it for about two weeks. The doctor insisted that the pain probably wasn't associated with the Lipitor. The reason being my enzyme level was within the range of acceptable. I began taking it again. The doctor wanted to have another test within four weeks to check enzyme levels again. This time the enzyme levels were borderline high. So the doc recommended stopping the Lipitor for a while and then another enzyme level check. You see, my body was telling me something. The only new factor in my medications other than blood pressure was the Lipitor. It has been about three weeks since I stopped the Lipitor, yet I am continuing with even more pain in tops of feet and above one knee a know seems to have appeared. It is sore and feels like it is bruised. I am not a doctor, but I had done some investigating Lipitor on the internet and read that in some patients the Lipitor actually causes small to large fissures in the arteries of the heart. Also, the muscles begin to attack themselves, thus the pain and atrophy. I am going to start taking flax oil. One cardiologist reported that he two cases a week of heart attacks due to Lipitor. He was enraged that Lipitor is still being prescribed and manufactured. I just hope it doesn't take years to regain my original self without pain. I am an active person who likes to work outside, garden, snow-ski, and anything else I want to do. I am trying to search for a detox program for Lipitor overdose, not that I have overdosed. According to my body's signals, I have overdosed on a toxic drug. I pray that returning to normal won't take as long as I have heard some people say it has taken them. Please try some other alternative to Lipitor and the other debilitating statin drugs. I will have to start an exercise program, even though I have put it off for years. I hope my laziness about my physical fitness hasn't crippled me for life. I am 20 lbs overweight and never took it seriously. I hope others will discontinue to take this life-threatening and debilitating drug!!!!!!!!!!1

I cant thank you all enough THANK YOU. I am 45, have 4 older children and have had the mirena for twelve months. the nurse who encouraged me to have the mirena and fitted it told me to ignore the booklet , that side effects were very rare as the drugs don't go into your blood stream. I cant believe i fell for that, i mean it doesn't make sense. since having it in i haven't stopped bleeding bits,im covered in a rash that the doc says is a viral infection, i have incredible mood swings, joint pains, cramps, depression which i have been taking st johns wort for, shakes,headaches,dermatitis on my hands, forgetfulness, crying, numb hands and feet,weak ankles that tend to just go all of a sudden which makes me feel really stupid. Blurry vision and feeling a inner hotness behind my eyes,some mornings i feel like ive got a hangover even though i don't drink. As for sex forget it i mean why would my hubby want me!! and its the last thing i feel like. I cant believe hes put up with me and my nasty moods. Ive been married for 24 years. I never thought that all these systems were due to the mirena, until i looked it up and stumbled onto this site, i must of read all of the posts, and look twice a day to see if there are any new ones.I have had to wait 2 weeks to get an appointment to have it taken out, but thank god i had it taken out this morning. I couldn't believe how easy, quick and painless it was, maybe i was lucky that the strings were easily found. I feel sooo relieved to finally have it out and only feel slightly crampy. I cant wait to get back to normal. This is the fist time i have ever posted anything on the internet so please forgive me if my typing isnt up tp scratch, its taken half an hour to write this. I feel i have a lot to make up for with my family and my very lovely hubby and hope that these systems go quickly. I will let you know and please keep up the posts i need the encouragement, and im sure others do too.!!

I would be interested to know how many of those who took Singulair needed to take antibiotics more frequently than they did before they took Singulair. I'll see the response then I will tell you why if it turns out that is a predictable side effect.