Mirena Birth Control Pills, Numbness on Right Side of Body, Hellish Nightmare, Spotting Period, Pieces of the Puzzle

My nightmare began Feb 24, 2009 when I had the Mirena IUD inserted. Amazing how crazy we all are! I have an almost 3 year old daughter and my husband and I are pretty certain that we are just having one child, but just in case we changed our minds, we wanted a form of birth control that was not permanent. Before I had this IUD placed in I talked to my ob/gyn about the Mirena vs the Paragard, I decided to go with the Mirena because my ob/gyn explained to me that because of the low level of hormone that would be absorbed into my bloodstream, that I should be okay and not have any side effects and I would have a very light period. I have tried other birth control pills and the nuvaring and all of them have affected me from anxiety to headaches to cold sores.

I have experienced the same symptoms as all of you. dizziness, foggy brain, numbness on right side of body, anxiety, acne, irritable, moody, bloated, headaches, weight gain (although I do exercise 3-4x/wk I gained 5 pounds in 2 mos.), hives( I have a history of allergies which I have been able to control with antihistamines 2x/wk and then all of a sudden I could not control it--saw my allergist who switched my meds), GERD which I was diagnosed with 10 years ago and had successfully arrested the symptoms after treatment), spotting, period every 3 weeks, etc.

I called my ob/gyn a couple of months later to tell her about my symptoms especially the anxiety and was told that it was probably related to my cycle and for me to chart my symptoms and to let her know how I was feeling a month later if things did not improve. Well after putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together, I figured it out that it was the Mirena that has been causing me this hellish nightmare.

On June 15, 2009 I went to go see my pcp to address my GERD issue and to start meds again. I told her that I was considering having my IUD removed because of all of the side effects that I was having. I told her that I was going to go home later and call my ob/gyn to make an appt. She told me that she would be able to remove it for me and so she did.

I instantly felt better--it seems like all of my symptoms have lessend or disappeared, and I had a bit of spotting which my pcp I was a happy person again--I was nice to my husband and was actually laughing when my 2 year old was having a tantrum in the bathtub! About 2 days later I began to bleed heavily and began to feel lightheaded, heart palpitations, cold sweat, and I felt like my legs were going to give from under me. I was thinking that I needed to go to the er. This occurred at 11:00 pm. I called my pcp and spoke to the on-call doc and he told me that if the symptoms continued that I should go to the er; I also called my ob/gyn on call doc (answering service) that I needed to have the symptoms addressed by the doctor who removed it and not my ob/gyn ( I was livid because I have been her patient for 10 years). Anyhow today I called my ob/gyn and spoke to the np who I am not very fond of and she told me that only the bleeding is expected and that all of the other symptoms are related to something else and that I should see my pcp for those. I disagree with her and believe in my heart that all of the symptoms are related to the removal of the IUD. Unfortunately I was not able to talk to my ob/gyn because she is off today. Anyhow I feel like I am feeling better although I feel like it will be a slow recovery and hope that there are no long term side effects.

What makes me the most upset is that the drug manufacture does not disclose all of the side effects, which I am sure that they are all very aware of. There are thousands of women with the same complaints and yet this birth control is still allowed to be distributed to women. Shame on them.

To all of you considering the Mirena: DO NOT HAVE IT INSERTED