I'm not looking to offend anyone, but if you look up the FDA info...

Actually, if you look in the FDA website, you see that the package labeling document was changed on July 21, 2008....so not that long ago. If you read the accompanying letter, you will see that they also updated the patient insert. Seeing as I had mine installed in Sept of 2007, this was NOT available to me. Further, the side effect of dizziness (one of my main side effects) is listed as something that happens immediately after insertion only....I had it the whole time I had the Mirena and it left once I had it removed. There is also NO mention of the possibility of being thrust into premature menopause, as happened to me and as has been documented by various studies.

The Mirena patient info also says that if you go without a period for a month, you should see your doctor....it says this the page after you see a reference to how you may stop having your period altogether...well, which is OK???

Please don't think that all of us here blindly accepted our doctor's recommendation. While some might not have done much research, I am anal about that and did plenty, as I know many others did. All we ask is for fair, complete information. We should have ALWAYS had the same patient info as the women in Canada did. For example, the original US patient info made NO mention of hair loss....but that tidbit is there now. While I personally did not suffer this one side effect -- I think it's the only one that I didn't have -- it would have been most disturbing to be told by your doctor that it could in no way be the Mirena....but now we see it in black and white!!

I'm sorry but I most definatly checked the FDA website before accepting this mirena as I do with all medications I'm prescribed. This information was not available in 2005. Nor was there any complaint web sites for me to compare. Not only that but as my symptoms appeared and increased I saw many different drs to find the source and was never informed of even the possibility. Flagging a dr as a used car salesman is very scary. Drs are supposed to be someone we can trust to administer help in an educated fashion. Thats why they are paid hundreds of dollars an hour. If looking at the information pamplets and talking to your trained profesional and looking at the companies web site is lack of effort, just what are we doing? Choosing a medication should not be about untangeling a web of decietful half truths told to gain money. I am not sparring with my drs. I am counting on the to help me.

Alright, you guys got me on the updated FDA pamphlet. I must have read the same one red1964 did. I looked it again recently, and I guess didn't notice any radical changes from the last time I saw it. Sorry.

I agree comparing doctors to car salesmen is pretty bad, and I agree that we should be able to trust them. I just feel that all too often, your best interests are not number one concern.

You want to hear a horror story? My mother was diagnosed with a second ectopic pregnancy. She was given a drug to abort the pregnancy. Her doctor swore it was 100% effective. It had never once failed anyone. Time passed and she knew something was wrong, but her doctor told her she was just being a baby. Well, her pregnancy continued, her only remaining fallopian tube exploded, and that left her incapable of conceiving naturally ever again.

I don't know, maybe this doctor, and your doctors, simply didn't know that these things could happen. But even so, don't you think they should have taken your concerns a little more seriously? I think they should do the job they were paid to do, and that I should be able to trust them, just like you do. It seems like you think I condone deceitful behavoir from our doctors. I absolutely do not! But I know that it's not a perfect, rosy world out there, and that I need to look out for myself.

Can yuo PLEASE provide me with the link from the FDA stating " If you would like your hair to fall out, bleed 15 days out of 30, gain weight, loss of libido, EXTREME fatigue, achy joints, lower back pain, mood swings, SEVERE headaches, HORRIBLE cramps, and the list goes on and on, then Mirena is right for YOU". I would like to know where I could find the truth about this device other than from sites like these.. My gyno is ALL for Mirena and when I had it removed on Friday he informed me that extenstive studies have show that NONE of the symptoms I've listed above are associated with Mirena. I've checked FDA's website can't seem to find the site that mentions ALL of these side effects..

P.S. You logged onto this site for some reason or another and I HONESTLY don't think it was to tell the whole world how wonderful MIRENA is to you, and how the rest of us haven't done adequate research regarding Mirena. I did the research when I got the Mirena 2 yrs ago and NEVER once found anything that would suggest that this THING would rob me of everything that makes me a great mom and a great wife!

I'm sorry to hear about you Mom, however that was how many years ago??? I'm sure there wasn't a forum like this for her to tell her story and I'm sure she wasn't able sit at a computer and do adequate research regarding the drug she was perscribed to take. So have you heckled your Mother for not properly informing herself on the drug before taking it? If not why heckle us? My point is....... If ALL the information is not readily available then HOW are we supposed to find it??

I don't think my doctor was withholding any info from me. I have been seeing him since my early 20s and I'm now 43. He is the head of the local women's hospital and not only very well respected but a good man. I have always felt that I could talk to him and even disagree....he has never made me feel like my feelings or symptoms were wrong or all in my mind....never. With me, I am to the age where birth control pills are no longer advised and he knows that I am sensitive to progestins....he felt strongly that this small, local dose would not be a problem for me.

When I asked to have it removed after just 5 months, he didn't say a word to dissuade me or try to change my mind. What he said was "A year ago I was pretty high on the Mirena....now, not so much, because I am hearing a LOT of the same thing that you are telling me from my other patients". Sure, there are probably some doctors who refuse to accept that this device could cause these side effects....my doctor is not one of them. I just feel that the manufacturer should be more forthcoming with potential and current patients. If you ask Bayer, they will tell you that they don't have any long term post removal studies....that's pretty shocking....this device has been around (in Europe) for a while.

I'm really sorry at what your Mom had to go through. A classic example of a doctor not taking his/her patient's concerns seriously. My doctor is not like that at all. I consider myself very lucky because many of the women on this site have doctors that really aren't listening to them at all.