I'll just reiterate what everyone else here is saying. I've had M...

I'll just reiterate what everyone else here is saying. I've had Mirena in since April 2004 after my first child was born. For three years, everything was fine (at least I thought so. I was diagnosed with depression one year later), but last summer, my periods returned, I spotted a lot in between, my weight began to increase despite significant exercise, acne, facial hair, irritability. When this all began, I was training for a half marathon and was running daily between 4 and 10 miles a day. In November, I ran that half marathon, then decided it was the running that had whacked my system. In December, I started working with a trainer to help me figure it all out. I've lost inches in my hips and legs while my stomach continues to pudge and my body fat continues to rise. I eat egg whites, low-carb protein shakes, uncooked rolled oats, tuna, chicken breasts, grapefruit and fresh spinach almost exclusively. I've forgotten what it's like to eat like a normal person even occasionally or not think about everything that goes into my mouth. In utter frustration, I went to the GYN to have blood drawn and battery of hormone and thyroid, etc., tests. Everything came back normal. Except for pap. Could it be the IUD, I asked her. No. Definitely not the IUD, she said. I took her word. She shrugged and suggested I see an endocrinologist. After putting my symptoms (only the symptoms and NOT the words "Mirena" or "IUD") into a search engine and getting page after page after page of message boards filled with Mirena horror stories, I'm trying to figure out how to get the thing out ASAP. Does anyone know if so-called "doc in-a-box" doctors at med clinics can remove these hideous things or do they have to specially trained to remove like they do to insert? And finally, why are doctors dismissing our symptoms? I'm furious!