I am so relieved to have found this web site! I had my Mirena IUD...

I am so relieved to have found this web site! I had my Mirena IUD placed in early October 2008. It hurt a bit when they put it in like birthing cramps. I had some cramping for about a week but it was tolerable. I had spotting for about 3 1/2 months. I had one period about a month after placement which I experienced the worse cramps than ever before. Since then no periods and no cramps. Every now and then I will get some spotting, but no big deal. I have noticed an increase in acne but it's livable. I have had headaches of which I never got before. I haven't slept soundly for the past 10 years after my husband died because I know I am the only one here to protect my children should anything happen during the night. So I wake at every sound and make sure all is ok then go back to sleep. It's been different since the Mirena IUD. It's gotten much worse. It takes me a LONG time to get to sleep and when I do, my night is filled with intense, long-lived, vivid nightmares! (up to 4 a night) After which it again takes me a while to get back to sleep. What I am incredibly concerned about, though, is the emotional side effects that I have experienced! I have slowly become a basket-case. I have at different times experienced the following side-effects : anxiety, minor paranoia, racing heartbeat, MOOD SWINGS! unexplained crying episodes, foggy thinking, and panicky feelings. They don't all come at once and when one would occur, I dismissed it as weird or due to stress or whatever. I am not sure how long I have been experiencing them because it happened so slowly. It sort of all snuck up on me. However, in the last week or two, they have really made an impact! Two weeks ago, I remember telling a friend at work that something was wrong with me. She said "Oh you are probably just stressed or something. Don't worry about it." I said "No! I really think something is really wrong with me." I was scared to push it because, I don't know, I didn't want to sound like a freak. Then came this last Friday. At work, on my lunch hour, I just sat and cried for no good reason! Friday night it was unbearable. I HAVE NO REAON TO BE DEPRESSED! Saturday really scared me! I felt like I couldn't live this life! I was a mess!!! Thank God for my friend whom I called out of sheer desperation and who talked me through it! I had previously wondered about the effects of the Merina IUD but Saturday evening I immediately began to do the research (in between my crying fits that I had no control over). I found a little bit of info but just basic stuff like it can cause "depression and other mood changes." I knew something was terribly wrong with me and I needed to find more detailed info! (I am normally a fun, happy, in-control, go get 'em kind of person. I have to be. My husband died 10 years ago and I have had to raise my three children completely alone. A person has to have it "all together" to accomplish what I have accomplished! Let there be no question about that.) Now it's Sunday and I woke up this morning no better off. The crying fits have been even more often and all day long! My children have been scared for me because they know this is NOT my normal behavior! I just told them I would be ok. They have hung in there with me all day! I knew I had to just roll with it until I could get to my doctor tomorrow because there is no controlling them. I finally came upon this website this morning! OH! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES! I thought I was going crazy! I will be on my doctor's door step first thing in the morning to have this beastly contraption removed! They WILL fit me in their schedule because I WILL NOT leave their office with this IUD in my body! Sadly...Valentine's Day is around the corner so too bad for me and my boyfriend! I can't handle another week with this...so I have to do what I have to do! I understand that some women have good stories to tell about their Mirena IUDs but they seem to be few! If a woman was contemplating it and asked my opinion, it would be this.."Do what you think is best, but weigh the consequences first! I personally regret having it! It's been hell!" All I hope now is that it doesn't take much longer to get back to normal after the IUD is removed because I can't live like this! I hope I have helped another woman like me in writing this.