About three and a half years ago, I was having extremely heavy periods that were causing anemia. My truly wonderful, trustworthy, kind GYN suggested the Mirena because it would lessen/delete my periods. I had 3 days of severe cramping after insertion, but within a month - no periods! At all! For just over three years! This was fabulous, I thought.
Over time, I began to wonder if my weight gain was related, but could find nothing online and the doc said absolutely not. I weighed 156 back then, weigh 173 now no matter what I do. Hmmm.
Then, about 4 months ago, I got my first period sort of thing. Mostly, it was 16 days of sticky, gunky brown smudges on light pads. Very odd. Next period included huge "flakes" of gummy brown stuff - still no reed or pink blood. Really unsettling. It lasted 12 days. Made GYN appt. A week later, my "period" began again - erratic - had 7 days of brown gunk. Asked GYN to remove the Mirena.
That was 10 days ago. I have three children - I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I have passed dozens of blood clots, and put together they'd EASILY weigh as much as a placenta and a half!!! Some look like cow's liver and are just as big, others are like huge night crawler worms or the size of fried eggs! I can't go out in public because they are so heavy, they fall out of the pad and slide down my leg! (Although I can hold the larger ones in until I get to the toilet now - not a skill I wanted to learn!) The bleeding is intense - a 100% soaked pad every 2-3 hours except when sleeping, when it slows a bit.
Called the nurse today and she said, "It just sounds like your period." Uh, no, it doesn't. It sounds like I've lost a gallon of blood. I've been dizzy and tired - got myself started on Burdock Root from the healthfood store and I'm slowly stabilizing my iron levels - but the blood loss and the huge clots (8-10 per day!) are really freaking me out. I was a BIG fan of the Mirena IUD until I got this one taken out. Just freaky, scary, odd. What the heck was it doing in there? Holding all that old blood inside me? Blood clots take time to form. What are these clots? Self-aborting would-be babies? If the IUD works by agitating the uterine wall, how in the world did all these huge clots get stuck in me? Why weren't they reabsorbed or "agitated" right out? They are not water soluble - I can hold one under running water and it doesn't dissolve or leak red. They have significant weight and mass. It's the most unsettling thing I've ever experienced - I really suspect this is blood/tissue my body couldn't remove while I was using the Mirena, or else partially formed embryos. Really creepy whatever they are. IF they are damaged embryos, then I've technically been pregnant many times in the last 3 yrs. IUDs don't prevent pregnancy, they prevent impregnated embryos from embedding in the uterine wall. That's why I suspect that's what these all are.
I wish there was more research than the pamphlet they gave me on "Choosing the Mirena" before insertion.
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