Mirena and mammogram

Wow! I really wished I looked into this prior to getting the Mirena. I have two boys and due to one having medical issues, I was wanting to wait a long time before considering having another child. My sister-n-law was telling me how great this was and it sound great too especially since my insurance covered it 100%. In April 2009, after my husband finding out he had cancer, I had the Mirena inserted. It HURT! and hurt all day. Afterwards I did not bleed much, though I never was a heavy bleeder during my periods, but the acne was bad. That was my biggest complaint the first few months. It was nice not having to worry about taking the pill every day but by July I started to feel a lot of pain in my right breast. I tried to believe it was from all the stress from hubbys cancer and our son's medical issues but the pain was getting worse. By August I was scared that the pain was cancer but after my first mammogram at 29, it showed all clear. I do have a lot of stress from what our family was going through last year but in October I started to have a lot of pain in my lower abdomen, nausea and feeling like I have to pee all the time. Doctor treated me for UTI but the problems were still there. Had an ultrasound and found a large cyst on my ovary. By December the cyst was gone but still had pain in my breast and bad cramping without bleeding. The acne was so bad I didn't want to go out of my house. Finally today I got the Mirena removed. It felt like such a relief when she removed it. The cramping I felt changed to a very slight cramp and I am hoping this acne and pain in my breast will go away now.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

I posted my concerns at the beginning of the month concerning anxiety while having my Mirena. I had it taken out about 3 weeks ago after having it in for over a year and feel much better. The anxiety went away and my other side effects. I did bleed very heavy and clot for 12 days but it stopped.

I was reading that the Mirena can cause breast cancer. I have had a mammogram for the past 12 years and everything is clear until the last one that I had done last Wednesday. I was called the next day as they found a Focal Assymetric Density in my upper left breast. Having my diagnostic done on Tuesday a week after my mammogram as it was not there a year ago.

Anyone else had this issue arise from Mirena.

Travelbug47

I have had my Mirena in for about 6 1/2 months (after my second baby), and am still breastfeeding. Insertion was fairly easy, with a little dizziness and some cramping. Normal. I experienced spotting for a couple of months soon after, no big deal, it was expected. But for the past couple of months, I've had some pain on the upper right side of my groin and it gets worse with a lot of movement and is especially painful when I push on it. This is not a normal menstrual cramp! It feels like a stitch you get in your side after running for a long time, only in my groin area. I'm worried about ectopic pregnancy, although in the past two months, I have taken pregnancy tests while experiencing this, and they have come back negative. My doctor did find a cyst on one of my ovaries when I was pregnant with my first son. Could I be getting endometriosis or something frightening like that? Would anyone else out there go to the doctor if they were me? We are not done having children.

my mirena experience was a nightmare to say the least. i had it inserted about 1.5 years ago and finally had it removed last week. the insertion itself was a nightmare. i passed out. i had horrid pain but then was fine within a day or two. the following week, i near passed out. then, i felt lightheaded for about 6 weeks and was convinced it was mirena. i went for my followup. I was feeling better so i decided to keep going.

in the "getting used" to period i had very painful breasts. eventually i had a painful breast lump that stuck around for a few months. off to the doctor for mammogram and ultrasound. they found it was not the bad kind of lump. it cleared up in a couple months.

about 4 months after insertion, i had a couple of near passing out incidents. off to the doctor again - this time for EKG, echo cardiogram, holter monitor. all normal. they suggested i had either panic attacks or vasovagal syndrome.

i also found that i was extremely alcohol sensitive. one drink was a huge problem for me! (in retrospect, i believe the near passing out and alcohol sensitivity were due to becoming hypoglycemic. it turns out progesterone is tightly coupled to insulin response! who knew!).

my next problem was cystic acne. this is really bad acne that goes deep in the skin and is impossible to get rid of (never had that before!). so i was off to the dermatologist.

oh and did i mention that all this passing out ended up giving me terrible anxiety? so now off to the shrink.

overall, it has been 1 year of a near constant feeling of lightheadedness, numerous near passing out / vasovagal type of episodes (probably due to low blood sugar), anxiety about passing out, throbbing head feeling (which i just realized is a migraine), unable to sleep through the night, mid cycle cyst pain, terribly tender breasts just before my period, did i miss anything?

now, let me mention that all the doctors to whom i mentioned that maybe mirena is the cause of my problems said "nah, that is not it." i also mentioned blood sugar and no one bought that either - "nah, you are too physically fit, eat too healthfully, and your blood test from last year is normal."

finally, the psych nurse believed me. she said to get the mirena removed since it appeared all my problems started after the insertion. if it was psychological or if it was physical didn't matter. just get it out!

i've had it out about 6 days now and i would say i feel 70% better. the throbbing head sensation at night is gone and i am sleeping much better. the lightheadedness is improved. i feel much less hungry than i did on mirena so i can only guess my hypoglycemia is improving.

only time will tell if my problems were caused by mirena!

This is my less than 24 hour update from yesterday since I had my Mirena removed. I had my yearly appt. yesterday and explained to my dr. all the problems I've been having over the last year. I thought he would try to talk me out of having it removed but he was very sympathetic and removed it without question. So, I'm definitely relieved about having it out. I'm sure it will be a while before I will be able to notice any changes that I can directly relate to the Mirena coming out. But, I can tell you that my husband and I can already tell the difference during intercourse without the Mirena. It is so much more comfortable so, we are very excited about that! I requested Yaz for birth control since I've been on it before and never had these emotional issues while on it. He also gave me a brochure and DVD on the Essure which is the in-office permanent sterilization procedure. So, I'll be doing research on that to see if that will be a good thing for me to do.
Another thing, too, during my gyno exam, he found a lump in my left breast. I have never had any problems and definitely no history of any kind of cysts. I'm not blaming the Mirena but all of this is just way too coincidental. Now at 35, I'll be having a mammogram and ultrasound to determine what this lump is. I'm just praying hard that it won't be anything and definitely trying to stay positive. I'm just very relieved to have the Mirena out and I will stay posted as to any additional changes in the future.

I am 40 and done having kids. I had the Mirena put in in Jan 2008 to help with heavy periods. Within 3 months I started to feel numbness in my left arm. It would come and go over the next couple of months. Then the numbness and burning spread to my left breast. I developed a breast lump in Nov.08 which was determined to be thickening of the breast tissue (through mammogram and ultrasound) The breast continued to be very sensitive and the arm pain became worse. In March Through a pelvic ultrasound 2 "tumors" were discovered on my left ovary. The doctor wanted to remove only the ovary. Once in the operating room he decided to do a complete hysterectomy. The tumor was a benign blood fill cyst witch burst and also endometriosis was bad enough to remove everything including the Mirena!! Its been two months now and the numbness and burning are still there! I am going to a neurologist to see what is going on. I always felt like the Mirena had something to do with all of this. Maybe I have irreversible nerve damage?

Hi Everyone! I am a 40 year old mother of 6 that has just had her second Mirena IUD put into place on April 10th, 2009. On Easter Sunday (April 12th) I woke with a lot of joint pain, back pain, breast pain, severe nausea, headache, dizziness, faintness and extremely low blood pressure (87/54). My first Mirena was placed in October of 2001, 6 months after the birth of my last child. All went pretty well with no real bad complaints the first time other than the normal cramping and bleeding. I didn't even have headaches or moodiness (my doctor thinks it was because I was breast feeding at the time and the body produces a lot of natural progesterone during this). Things took a turn for me in 2003 though and have progressively gotten worse since; I have had so many crazy ailments (everything from muscle spasms, thinning hair to stabbing pains behind the eye) , that even I was beginning to think it was all in my head! It all started with an ovarian cyst that had to be surgically removed in Dec. 2003, from there I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and an extremely high heart beat rate in Sept. 2004 (on meds to current date). I get sick very easily now and I had gotten strep 3 times in the winter of 2006, so I had to have my tonsils and adenoids removed in March 2007. I have now been diagnosed with Raynauds Phenomenon and Glaucoma and suffer from an array of symptoms. My most recent mammogram showed that I have a lot of breast cysts now as well. I have been tested for MS, Lupus, Lime Disease, RA and many other things; everything comes up negative. Due to the current symptoms and symptoms I have had during the first Mirena (never made the connection until now) it prompted me to do some research. What I found was just shocking to me! The Mirena is made with a synthetic progesterone (progestin) called levonorgestrel. If you research this, you will find a huge list of possible adverse side effects; many of which I have suffered from. I have read many different sites and posts from countless people that have been affected by the Mirena. Most of these stories have a huge similarity to each other. I am now 10 days into these symptoms; yesterday I went to my Dr. because the symptoms were not getting any better and I wanted to discuss the possibility that most of my problems since 2003 may have been caused by the Mirena. My doctor did not confirm my suspicions, but she did not deny that it could be a possibility either. What occurred to both her and I was that I had left the first Mirena in longer than suggested; it should have been replaced around late 2006 to early 2007, but I was sick and had other surgery, so I just kept putting it off. Due to this, the effectiveness of the hormone progestin was wearing off over the past year or so; in the past 6 months (until now) I have been pretty much symptom free (that was why I had the Mirena replaced). The fact that my symptoms are suddenly back and in full force only 2 days after the insertion of the new Mirena, strongly suggests that the Mirena is responsible for most if not all my ailments. Over the last 6 months, even my blood pressure had gotten better and I had to lower my dosage of meds to compensate for the change; now my blood pressure is jumping all over the place again. I am now considering having the Mirena removed before it causes any other symptoms and completely ruins my life! It horrifies me to think that the Mirena is still on the market considering the potential it has to cause havoc on other peoples lives as it has mine.

I had Mirena put out at my six weeks check up after my second baby. I liked and have really enjoyed the fact that you do not have to visit the doctor every three months for a shot like was the case when I had depo.

I have been having a lot of issues which I am beginning to think are effect of having mirena. The main issue was my weight. I have put on over 40lbs and now weighing 213lbs as against 180lbs I weighed at pregnancy. I have been suffering dome depression bouts which I concluded was caused by the fact that I have been trying to get a job.

The most scaring thing now is that I have breast milk leaking out of my breasts that is over 9 months after I stopped breast feeding. I am scared, my doctor has scheduled some tests and I am having a mammogram later this month.

I am wondering if any body has had this issues of breast milk coming out of breast with no pregnancy. I have scheduled an appointment to remove the mirena. I am forgetful when it comes to medications hence I am scared the oills will not be good for me. I ma have to go back to the depo, i only gain a little weight with that.

***Update*** I have posted previously. I am now 6 weeks post removal of the IUD. I have had two normal periods 28 days apart. They were a little heavier than usual but other than that, very normal. All my symptoms are gone. And now that the weather will be getting nice soon, I will start my exercise and diet regime and see if THIS time I actually get results. I just cant wait to lose this weight!
OH, I just got a mammogram and had a normal one last year but this time, apparently something doesn't look right so I have to go back for another mammogram. As swollen and tender as my breasts were all year and as bad as we all got cycts on our ovaries from the Mirena, I wouldn't be surprised if whatever is showing up on the mammogram was caused by the Mirena as well!

Im so glad this thing is out. Hello hair (stopped falling out), hello sex life, hello energy, hello brain, etc.

I had Mirena inserted in July, 2008. I was feeling pretty good about it, but have come to realize I am experiencing some side effects. Right now, I can say the side effects are worth it compared to the horrific periods I was having for the past 6 years. I have extreme breast tenderness and need to get a Mammogram anyway. I'm sure when the results come back normal, my mind will rest at ease and I will know for sure it is a side effect from Mirena. I've been extremely fatigued, however I used to get the same effect the week before my period. So I'm not sure it's a side effect or normal. I do experience waves of nausea but they pass and I eventually feel better and get back to normal. Other than that, I'm okay. I just hope I continue on this path. I'm sure I'll know after a couple more months.

Ok, I am glad I found this site! I have been having constant breast pain. on only my right side on top of my breast and on the side near my arm pit. It is only the right breast/right side. I think it is my Mirena too, but I have had the thing over a year. I am so afraid of having/getting Breast Cancer. I am a 26 yr old mommy of two little boys 5 and 1, plus a 12 yr old stepson who lives with me and my hubby. I called the Dr. today to make an appointment to have my breast checked.

I didn't read every single post, but **Is anyone else having breast pain like I explained? Mine started about two months ago...(right after my last pap/physical). I am so nervous. I have gained so much weight. I am bigger now than right after I delivered my 17 month old. Its all in my stomach. I have no sex drive and my BOOB hurts!!!!!

please let me know if any one else is experiencing this.
thanks!!!