Unwanted pregnancy symptoms and conditions

I had mirena put in October 2008, A total of 17 months. I am a 31 yr. old mother of 4. And I have experienced many side effects. First, of all the non stop bleeding for the first 15 months I bleed over half the month. And my periods prior to this was always short 3 days at the most. Now I would bleed 15 or 16 days at a time. I suffered hair loss, it has fell out in patches is some spots. But, luckily for me I have very thick hair so other people wont notice. But, I know its there. I have also gained weight about 20 pounds. I have lower back pains shooting pains in my lower back, I have had blurry vision at times. And that funny fluttering feeling in my stomach like a baby kicking, tenderness in my breast. But I will say that the bleeding is what that bothered me the most. I have had the brown discharge, the funny odor. But now after 17 months the bleeding has slowed down a little but its a very bright red color which is so weird. Looks like you just cut yourself, not like period blood. I have also experienced depression, and emotional rollercosters from happy to mad to excited to sad in 0 - 60 seconds flat. I was not like this before I had this inserted. Its just that I have 4 children and I went in to get a tubal ligation and i let my obgyn talk me out of it because my uterus is retroverted and supposedly I would have a greater risk of having a tubal done with complications. And she talked me in to this Mirena Now, I am second guessing myself. My breast hurt like Im still pregnant. But, I have problems with the patch, the pills so its like is there any bc that will work for me. And don't want to remove this without some other plan ready. I do not want to have any more children. But I am seriously contemplating TAKING THIS DAMN THING OUT!

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.

Now that I have had mine removed and can think clearly again, I just realized that I had anxiety at work all year long and felt so overwhelmed with everything coming at me all the time, feeling like I had developed Adult ADD and scared I would lose my job because I couldn't keep up or kept screwing up little things with my foggy brain. WOW - it was this IUD messing up my body and my mind the whole time. Why won't doctors listen to us and hear our cry for help???

\ i had mirena 9 months and that was enough i know myself very good, so when i started changing i knew it was mirena. i almost ruin my marriage, with my bad moods. but what worry me later was that if YOU BREASTFEED IT WAS WOREST, THIS IS WHAT I FOUND ON BEWARE REPORT ON MIRENA. I WAS VERY UPSET CAUSE I BREAST FEED MY CHILD AND MY DR. DID NOT INFORM ME THIS!

could find that followed breastfeeding infants exposed to levonorgestrel (Norplant) was done in Norway and found that they had higher incidence rates of respiratory infections, skin conditions and eye infections than the control group, and later were found to have a higher proportion of “neurological conditions.”

To me it’s unthinkable to even consider exposing a nursing infant to any type of progestin. I would call this a form of corporate sociopathy—marketing without a conscience to unwitting, under-informed women who are just trying to responsibly avoid an unwanted pregnancy. Since the FDA is unlikely to take action against this practice it’s up to the rest of us to spread the word.
IF YOU BREASTFEED AND HAVE MIRENA READ THIS ABOVE

I am on my 5th pack of Loestrin 24. This is my first time on birth control. I was worried about weight gain b/c a lot of my friends on various pill have gained a bit. But I, however, have lost about 10 pounds since starting Loestrin. I have been very sick to my stomach and have had no appetite. My periods have been very irregular and have yet to have a period on the brown pills. I notice that I have been fatigued and moody. I went to the doctor and asked if this was normal. He gave the typical response..."there is no normal. Everyone reacts differently" speech. So he scheduled me for a ultrasound and blood-work to see if there is an underlying problem before we decide to go pill hopping. This isn't fun, but the other option ( ie an unwanted pregnancy ) is really not fun.

i have been on the nuvaring about 2yrs give or take. Just about 2mths ago i discovered having head aches. They have not gone away ever since. I have have blood work done, and mri. the mri showed i my jaw pops out of place when i open my mouth to wide. The doctor says that it looked lik TMJ but there to independent things. So he suggested to stop using my birth control. I called my gyno, she said that people have had cases of getting migraines but its unusual to be on it for so long and suddenly develop migraines. I have been on lots of medication nothing seems to work. She told me to stop taking it after my next menstrual cycle, im praying that this will cure my migraines.

I had my MIRENA put in 2 months ago. Since then, even with the holidays, I have lost 11 lbs. (bringing me to 15lbs underwt.) I have had no appetite, acid reflux, extreme nausea, esophageal spasms, diarrhea, stomach cramps, headaches, and weakness. I am also still breastfeeding, so my once fatty milk now looks like water. My husband's starting thinking it was the MIRENA, because my body must think I'm pregnant again. I am going to the MD tomorrow to talk about have it taken out.

I have been on the NuvaRing for about 6 months now. I have endometriosis and I'm anemic both run in my family on both sides. I went to my doctor to ask what birth control method would be better for me than the pill because my hectic life doesn't have a set schedule and she recommended the depo shot or the NuvaRing. After hearing about the pros and cons of both forms of birth control I opted for the NuvaRing.
I love it! I don't have to worry about taking a pill every day and I don't have to worry about getting a shot every 3 months. I use the NuvaRing to stop my periods, which stops the progression of the endometriosis, which will lessen my chances of becoming infertile by the time I want to have children.
I have had no negative side affects from the NuvaRing. I have had some breast tenderness but I'm only 19 and I think it is due to my breasts growing and not the NuvaRing. My mother's breasts grew until she was about 21 or 22.
My sex drive is actually greater than it was before because I don't have to worry and my long term boyfriend loves it! Neither one of us have to worry about an unwanted pregnancy and I would recommend this method of birth control to anyone, especially someone who's life is as hectic as mine!

Hi everyone

Have decided to quit taking Yasmin after reading all your comments. I was due to start a new cycle today but after finally talking with my husband about how I am on this pill and putting it all together with the help of this site I have decided that this is not the one for me! I have a problem in that I live in a country where I barely speak the language and BCP is bought over the counter. I have no idea what to do in terms of trying another pill or what pill people might suggest??

Last week my mood has been horrific (work has been stressful and I put my snapping and bad mood down to that but its no less stressful today and I feel fine) I have had a fairly laid back weekend and feel more energetic (or is this due to being free of the pill for a week??)

My sex drive is still nill so the chances of unwanted pregnancy at this stage is negligable and I feel that I should make the right decision next time.

Any ideas??????

it's the first day of my period (on the 4th day of the pill-free week) following my first pack of yasmin (after 3 unsuccessful months with nordette). i began the pill 4 months ago after an unfortunately unwanted pregnancy, and have been having trouble finding one that my body accepts. compared to the last one, yasmin seems much better so far (except for the price differential). because i live on an island, nausea/sea-sickness is a HUGE nuisance... but so far, i feel ok. the past few days, however, i have been feeling very sleepy and tired, not much energy to even walk my dog. i sleep at least 10 hours a night, sometimes with a 1 hour nap during the day.

the vaginal dryness, however, creates problems. although my sex drive hasn't exactly dissipated, the dryness is another nuisance. i have some irritation, also, which probably became infection.

because it's so early in my experience with yasmin, i'm not sure if i'm really gaining weight, and if i am, is it because of the pill or my inactivity (or both)? as of the past few days also, however, my appetite has taken a very noticeable nosedive.

my period used to last for 7 long and heavy days. since i started the pill, it still lasts for 7 days but is amazingly lighter. the cramps aren't so bad with yasmin; much more bearable than with nordette and without BCPs.

so far, it hasn't been so bad... but i realize it's still early. i will keep my eyes open. thanks for all the posts from other yasmin users (and former users)!