Mirena and heart problems

I'm almost 25 years old and just had my 2nd child in February. I'm diabetic and also have heart problems and my doctor HIGHLY recommended Mirena. I got it in April 2008. For awhile, I didn't realize how tired and moody I was. Then my husband started commenting on how I never get up in the middle of the night anymore when the baby wakes up, and it's always him doing it. I told him that I was always completely exhausted, and thought maybe it was from all the bleeding I was experiencing. Since I had it put it, I bled for over 2 months. I also started experiencing migraine headaches, severe cramping, and hair loss. I could shower and wash my hair and look at my hands and see large amounts of hair tangled around my fingers. I called my doctor about the excessive bleeding, and they said it's "normal" and will get better. I kept telling myself that... "this can only get better". I also haven't been able to lose a single pound since I started the Mirena. I stay at a consistent 167 pounds (LITERALLY). No matter what I did, or how I ate, I wouldn't gain or lose weight! So, I'd finally had enough with the headaches, the extreme fatigue, and inability to lose weight. I went to my primary care physician and they did blood work to check my thyroid, my liver, kidneys, blood sugars, everything that would typically cause these symptoms. Everything came back normal. So my doctor said it could be that my pituitary gland is enlarged. So I had to do a CT scan and a sinus scan. They told me that I have a sinus infection and gave me amoxicillin. Well, obviously that didn't make most of my problems go away. I'd also been getting into a lot of fights with my husband over the stupidest things, and I didn't even know why! So I decided to take the Mirena out. When I called my dr's office to request to have it removed, my nurse's exact words were "I speak from experience..it gets better" I told her I don't care, I want it out. And that was that. The SAME night after I had it removed my husband commented on my behavior...that I seemed happier and more energetic. And today is even better! I feel like a whole new person! Ladies... if you are experiencing these effects, get it out. It's not worth changing your life around. Good luck to everyone.

Hi, I had mirena placed two months ago after giving birth to my 3rd child. I wish I would've seen this site before I make my decision of using Mirena. My first symptom was chest pain and it was followed by heart palpitations, lower back pain, dizziness, heart burn, etc...... I asked my obgyn and he said "IS NOT MIRENA" the cause of your symptoms. I had to see a Cardiologist because I felt that I was going to die in any minute from a heart attack. My Cardiologist said you are to young to have heart problems. I had an ekg, blood work, echo, and stress test done. nothing seems to be wrong with me "Medical terms" you are fine. But I knew something was wrong, I got my own diagnosis "MIRENA" was the cause of all my symptoms. I have it removed about two weeks ago and I finally feel normal again. No more side effects. Please ladies do your own research really good before using this or any other medication that your doctor gives you and please DON'T trust your Dr. 100%, they are not always right. Good luck to all of you.

I have been having the same problems for about two months. Heart palpitations, chest pain, left arm numbness, spouts of rapid heart beat (up to 150 beats a minute) while laying in bed. Other things that I have started putting with this is I broke out in hives several months ago, I had yeast infections every month for a year, I have had dark hair pop up on my face that was never there before. I have been to the ER many times, I have had an EKG, the whole blood work done, chest x-ray, stress test, and a holter monitor. They did catch PVCs and a few other irregular heat beats on the monitor and EKG but no one seems concerned about. I have been at my wits in and like you felt like a horrible mom and wife. Not hardly any to function. I finally thought to look up IUD and heart palpitations and BOOM....there was pages and pages of women talking about this. I am relieved in some ways but still not convinced! I just don't know if it could actually cause PVCs or other irregular heart beats but I guess it could. I hope this was the problem. I got the IUD out last Friday and I seem to feel a little better each day, although last night I did have another attack of racing heart-147 bpm. I'm 27 years old, with not family history of heart problems, I am thin, I have low resting pulse and have always had low blood pressure. I guess the IUD makes more sense than a heart problem. It's just very scary when you have two small children at home and you're afraid you might not wake up the next day! I have never been a fearful person, I am very laid back so when the docs kept throwing the anxiety and stress thing at me, it REALLY didn't make sense! I have been under way more stress several years ago than I am now and this has never happened. I have had the IUD for two years. I have researched hormone imbalance and it does add up to the same. I think it's possible for the IUD to malfunction and instead of squirting out a small amount of the hormone daily it could be giving way to much which gives us a hormone imbalance. Let me know how you are doing and if your symptoms have gotten better with time and thanks for sharing your story.

I had my Mirena for 18 months (12/07-4/3/08). My Doctor urged me to keep it in and when I finally went to get it removed, I had retained the strings and the pain when he dilated my cervix was so painful I had to get anesthesia to get it removed.

After about 6 months of the iud, I started experiencing heart palpitations and shortness of breath. And for the last few months and even two weeks post removal I am experiencing shortness of breath at rest. And tightness in my chest. It's very scary. ALSO, I only have heart palpitations mid-cycle (ovulation) and during my period. And my shortness of breath gets worse during that time also. It is painful to exercise bc I can't breathe, I actually got a bronchial inhaler from my doctor and it's helped SO much during exercise. I would be yawning and have so much extra saliva and after 50 running paces I'd have to stop to rest because my chest would be so tight and burning. I was tested for asthma and do not have asthma. That isn't to say I don't have exercise induced asthma. I never ever had problems before this Mirena.

I haven't had any hair loss or trouble sleeping that I can pinpoint either. Mostly I looked 3 months pregnant and haven't been able to drop 5 lbs. I'm ideal weight for my height and have cut out most sugar and limited carbs and nothing has changed even with exercise. I DO notice that I was soooo nasty and couldn't control my temper. I can't positively contribute that to the Mirena but I'll see as time goes on and this wears away.

I wouldn't advise the Mirena to anyone. Not with all these women and myself having the same effects. The Dr tried to tell me that it couldn't be the Mirena causing heart palpitations but I'm 28 years old and entirely healthy.

I also felt when I was ovulating that I was having contractions. My Dr kept telling me it's not supposed to help cramping but won't make it worse and I must have said 100 times that I NEVER HAD CRAMPS before in my life. My ovulation/periods were always very uneventful and painless. And the pain I had during ovulation and my period wasn't traditional cramping. It was a wave of extreme sharp shooting pain that would shoot down my thigh and I'd actually do careful, controlled breathing during that pain. The pain would be so intense I'd stop in my tracks and grip whatever was nearest to me while standing perfectly still and doing breathing exercises.

Also, I should note I have never been pregnant before and my midwife that I go to now was saying that my body could have been trying to expel the iud bc I had never had anything pass through or in my cervix before and that the pain during ovulation and period could actually have been my uterus contracting because it was trying to get the iud out!

I hope that the chest tightness and shortness of breath go away. It's very alarming.

: Hey, I'm 32, got mirena 1 1/2 months ago. Have had palpitation during this time.
I just had it removed yesterday. I would rather have bad periods.
No previous heart problems, I'm sure its the hormones, Doctor would not confirm this. I've done some research on the net, and this is happening to women with mirena.

Hello,

My name is Danielle, I am a 27 year old with 2 boys 6yrs and 8 months, I am happily married and have always been quite happy and relaxed until I had the Mirena IUD put in. I had the IUD placed at the end of October with advice from a friend and my ob of 7 years. Big mistake, here is my story, I hope it help someone.

4 Saturdays ago at work I felt pain in my ovaries, I chalked it up to ovulating, Sunday morning I felt a bit better, I got out of the bath on Sunday night and I felt weak, dizzy, like I was going to pass out, my heart was beating so fast, I placed an emergency call into my ob, she basically told me the IUD was not the cause for these symptoms and to relax and try to get rest...(she basically told me it was in my head) Monday morning I was terrible, nausea, anxiety, nervousness, depression, rapid heart rate... I called my ob and demanded an appointment to get the IUD taken out, as I had never felt that way in my life! I was able to get in that afternoon, however when I got there I was seen by a nurse that I have not seen in the office ever, and I have been with them for 7 years, this I thought was odd but I went with it, she brought me into the room and told me there is no chance that the IUD was causing my symptoms, I was very emotional over the situation, she told me to give it a bit longer and she gave me packets of Lexapro a depression/anxiety med. Me like a fool went along with it, I took a Lexapro when I got home at noon or so and at 7:30pm I thought I was having a heart attack, I came down stairs and my husband immediately knew something was wrong, I was crying, my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, my arms and fingers on my left side were numb and I was freezing and could not stop moving! I went to th ER and was treated for an anxiety attack and I had the ER DR take the IUD out, from here I was hit with the infamous "Mirena crash" the next two days I was sick but nothing I could not handle, on Thursday I was so sick I could not move off of the couch, I mean sick, nausea to the point it was hard for me to sip water, I had to have a relative come to watch the kids while my husband brought me to the ER once again, I was treated for dehydration and nausea, during all of this I was still depressed and anxious which made it all the worse, my 3rd and final trip to the ER was this past Sunday the 8th, I was so depressed and sick, I made an emergency call into my family physician this time and he told me it sounded like the anxiety was getting the best of me to take a half of Lexapro to calm myself down and to schedule an appointment with him in the morning, I did and 6 hours or so later I was in the ER again, heart palpitations, anxiety, depressed so bad I hated my self and thought I was going crazy, I felt like I could not take care of my own kids, like a terrible wife, and the list goes on, this attack was so bad my hands formed into fist and would not release, at the ER all of my blood work came back fine, EKG fine, chest x-rays fine??? they gave me Loranzapam which has helped quite a bit. it has been about a week since then and I am beginning to feel better, each day seems to get better, I still have some nervousness(kind of feels the I was just told I had to go in for a major surgery) and some nausea through out the day, but overall I feel better. I do not wish what I and many women have been through on my worst enemy. Please all of you that think you are going crazy you are NOT, and believe me I was bad, I was on the internet every 10 minutes looking different things up about depression, anxiety, everything, it makes you go nuts, please remember that even after you get the IUD out that you may still feel yucky, I did and still do somewhat, you have to give your body time to produce it's own hormones and not synthetic ones from the IUD, keep in mind that some times you will feel like everything is ok and other times you will feel crazy again, it is the nasty remnants of the IUD. Good luck to all of you who are going through this now. God Bless you all. Danielle