Mirena and severe lower back pain

After reading all of these posts, I realize I'm not alone. Mirena was the perfect option for me because I'm very forgetful when it comes to medications. What sold me was when I was told it has a 99.9% effectiveness against getting pregnant. I was only told of the good things. After it was inserted i was in SEVERE pain from the cramping, it reminded me of labor contractions. I took 600mg of ibuprofen then layed down and cried myself to sleep. I got it July 28th, 2008. Since then I've been bleeding on and off but more bleeding than not. I get sharp, cramp-like pains in my lower stomach and sometimes vaginal area. I also suffer severe lower back pain. I was bleeding so bad at one point and it was very different from any period I'd ever had so I thought maybe I was miscarrying. I called the doctor and it was rather blown off and I actually got kind of laughed at, saying it's just your body adjusting. I have restless nights and wake up exhausted. I have those far out dreams like you do when you're pregnant, except I'm not. I also get bloated and uncomfortable at times. I've been bleeding now for almost a month straight. It comes and goes, which is very aggravating. I'd almost just thought about getting it taken out and just going with oral birth control that way I'd have a normal period but I love not having the boundaries in the bedroom. I'm giving it the 6months, like they told me it'd take and if all my symptoms are still present I'm considering removal.

I had mine removed last month and still enjoying the NEW ME! I am so happy and cheerful now without the back pain and achy joints and anxiety attacks. Still getting rid of acne, chin hair and 40 lbs but WOW I am so grateful I found this site to validate that I wasn't losing my mind. There seems to be 1% of the population who have no problems at all with this IUD but for the other 99% of us ... BE CAREFUL and REMOVE IT ASAP! By the way, I still have not had a cycle since the 2 days of spotting after it was removed ... and the removal pain is ZERO compared to the insertion. I am also changing to a female holistic obgyn since my male doc refused to acknowledge my valid side effects - ARGH!!!

It's been a week now since I got mine removed and on a scale of 1-10 my severe lower back pain has gone from a 15 to a 2 in one week!! I used to take tylenol every night to wake up pain free and I haven't had to do that anymore. I am still trying to clear up the acne but overall I am soooooo happy to have the IUD removed. As much as I hate condoms, I would rather use those instead of this IUD - it's just sad that our doctors don't believe the connection with these wild side effects.

I finally had mine removed last Thursday and it was quick and painless. The doc still refused to believe any of my side effects were from the IUD - needless to say he is now on my EX-DOCTOR list! I should have printed this website for him. I had a very light cycle on Sun/Mon and then it stopped. I mentally and physically feel better. Now I can focus on losing the 40 lbs I gained over 1 year on the IUD without severe lower back pain, achy joints, bloating and acne in the way. My best friend has an IUD and 3 kids and loves it ... so go figure!! She is one of the few lucky ones.

I can't believe I didn't google this stuff before i got the IUD. well I had mine painfully inserted in April 07 and have gained 40 lbs since then. I also have severe lower back pain, achy knees, lack of sex drive, anxiety, acne from outer space, severe sugar cravings and bloating. I am soooo relieved to know I am not going crazy when in fact my MALE doctor told me the same thing that the IUD shouldn't have caused any of these side effects. on that note, I am scheduled to have it removed in 3 days and see how things go. I am so tired of people telling me to just eat right and exercise, all the time I knew I wasn't doing anything out of the norm to gain this much. thank you all for sharing and helping me to see the light!!!

Back to report for those interested in post removal stories/experiences - 3 months post removal here. The first 2 months were so much better - I was back to my normal self, running each morning, working and then having enough energy for my kids and husband. Periods were normal 5-6 days like before and 25-28 day cycles. This month period was much heavier, with many more clots. I had to change tampons every 2 hours just to be sure that overflow didn't happen. It actually caught me off guard since the previous months were so normal. Weight is slowly coming off which confirms to me that Mirena was cause since I'm not doing anything any differently exercise/food wise. Will continue to update as life goes on......

Like most of you state in your posts.........I cannot begin to describe how relieved I am to have found this site. I honestly thought I was losing my mind. I had Mirena placed in December '06. It was uncomfortable during the actual procedure, but not too bad. Then within a day or two I was in severe pain and bleeding like crazy with severe lower back pain. I was told to take ibuprofen and allow my body to "adjust". I went for my follow-up ultrasound and the placement looked fine although I was still bleeding like crazy and very uncomfortable. After several more calls they brought be back in for another ultrasound, told me that my uterus must have gotten bacteria in it during placement and that I had an infection. They sent me home on antibiotics and pain medicine. I bled pretty regularly for 6 months straight accompanied by lower back pain, fatigue, and headaches. Finally the bleeding let up only to be followed by a multitude of other nasty side effects. Depression, anxiety, fogginess, forgetfulness (severe), waking up with headaches every morning, nausea (to the point that I can't tell you how many pregnancy tests I've taken), weight change (redistribution, thicker waist, tummy, and hips even though actual number only changed by about 5 pounds), feeling swollen and bloated when I wake up in the morning, NO libido whatsoever and feel like crying during sex because it's nearly impossible to reach orgasm (this has never been a problem previously), hair loss (becoming more noticeable over time), dandruff, boil-like acne on my face and back, dry eyes and blurred/double vision, chronic yeast infections and dryness in that area too. The list goes on and on. I went to three different doctors and had tons of bloodwork done, all came back normal (thyroid, hormones etc....) I was told over and over that it couldn't be the Mirena. HA! How can this many women be delusional? I called last week and got an appointment for May 20 to get it removed. After reading this forum my husband called the doctor himself and I don't know what he said, or how he managed to do it.........but I'm going in tomorrow morning at 10:20 am to get it removed and you better believe I'm going in armed with this website and others I've found. Physicians need to be more aware of this! Even if it's not common, it's miserable for the 1 in 1,000 woman who gets the worst of the side effects. It's literally ruining my life and my marriage. It's impossible to be a good wife and mother when you feel terrible everyday.

-Amanda

I got my Mirena put in may 07. it was so painful i was crying on the table while my OB was putting it in. i had NON STOP bleeding till about september then it finally went away. but the past couple of months i have been having SEVERE lower back pain. actually my whole entire back was in pain, and i thought my ob had something to do with it, but when i went to the doc he told me it could DEF be mirena. And mood swings like CRAZY. one minute i was nice and friendly the next i was a huge bitch. so Yesterday i got it removed a little cramping while she was taking out but it only took about 3 minutes no blood bo cramps after. Im SO happy its gone, and i feel like a new woman today. and hopefully ill lose some weight.