Mirena IUD experiences

[Ashley&Scott]

My obgyn suggested Mirena to help with my extremely heavy periods that were causing iron deficiency. It was placed on Dec. 14. It's been 36 days now & I've had some sort of bleeding almost every single day. (TMI  - 5 medium days, 16 light days & 13 spotting days & just 2 days of no bleeding.) While the flow is significantly less than it was pre-IUD this is nuts.  I just had my 1 month checkup with my doctor, she said to hang in there a bit longer & most of her patients see an improvement by 12 weeks. 

Someone please tell me you had a similar experience & things will get better.

[Saudade]

I tell my patients up to 6 months before it truly regulates. My own personal experience was one year but that’s not the norm. It will get better. I’m now 4 years out from this current one and I usually have no period whatsoever. Occasionally I’m have a month with one day of spotting, not even enough for a liner.

[starburst604]

It definitely took more than a month for the bleeding/spotting to stop for me. It's been a couple of years now so I don't remember exactly, but I do recall wondering if it would ever stop. It did and haven't bled a drop since then.

[mel]

That's pretty normal. Mine took a "cycle" or two to stop. Although my periods never fully stopped, I still have a couple of days of spotting, but it's very much like clockwork when that happens.

[womet]

I had a mirena inserted after having extremely heavy bleeding that put me in the ER. IIRC, I'd been prescribed progesterone in the ER to stop the bleeding. And then had the mirena inserted. I don't recall having any bleeding after a few weeks.

[NewGirlNic]

It was so long ago since I had my first one, so my memory is foggy. But I remember having random bleeding for at least a few months, on and off. Like a heavy/normal period for a day or 2, then nothing for a week, then spotting for 2 weeks straight. Stuff like that. 

Now I'm on my second Mirena and I haven't had a period in years and years. Just some occasional spotting... but not even enough to need a panty liner. 

[wanderingback]

Yeah I tell my patients before insertion it can take up to 2-6 months for the irregular bleeding to stop. I let them know we can take the iud out at anytime and also that the irregular bleeding is not medically harmful. So then they can decide what they want to do.

[al dente]

I had bleeding and super bad cramps for awhile when I first got a Mirena. Like I almost got it taken out because it had been a few months, and then one day it just suddenly stopped and I never had a period again.

[gault]

Normal. I had the same issue with both iud insertions. It'll normalize.

[shauni27]

Jan 18, 2024 13:10:56 GMT -5 NewGirlNic said:

It was so long ago since I had my first one, so my memory is foggy. But I remember having random bleeding for at least a few months, on and off. Like a heavy/normal period for a day or 2, then nothing for a week, then spotting for 2 weeks straight. Stuff like that. 

Now I'm on my second Mirena and I haven't had a period in years and years. Just some occasional spotting... but not even enough to need a panty liner. 

this was word for word my experience. Some days heavy, then weeks of spotting, repeat for a few months at least. But within that first year that all stopped and since then I have not had my period ever. It has been 5 years.

[atarianna]

I had a horrific experience with mirena and after we were done pro-creating, I had an ablation. I recommend it to anyone who will listen because it’s been life changing for me. I had horribly heavy and debilitating periods that lasted 6-7 days and now I might spot for a single day a month.

Also, before I pulled the trigger on the ablation, my OBGYN prescribed something called Tranexamic acid which I took 3 times a day for 4 days; it cut my period by 3/4 and was life changing in its own way. I wish I would have known about it sooner and don’t know why it is not more wildly used for women.

[onthemove]

Same as everyone. 1 day thinking I would die, a month regretting it, a few more weeks annoyed. Then 4.5 years of never worrying about a period. The next two after babies never had any bleeding.

[circa1978]

My first one I didn't have much spotting. My second one I got in April ended up getting an ultrasound after six months because I was still randomly spotting. Fingers crossed it SEEMS to have leveled out to now spotting at roughly a period interval. (ETA: My GYN is hard to faze in my experience and I think she mostly ran bloodwork and did the ultrasound so I would stop freaking out. She told me flat out she was very not concerned about the spotting.) 

[Ashley&Scott]

Thanks ladies, good to hear that others have had similar experiences. I will be patient & hope I will soon be joining the ranks of the period free.

[EvieEthelGarland]

I spotted for 6-8 weeks and haven't had a period since. I was not going to replace it after the 5 years because my husband had a vasectomy. The two periods I had after that were unlike anything I ever experienced and we discussed ablation. I chose to get another Mirena because of the pain and cost of the ablation. I am now on my 3rd and final Mirena and except for those two months, have not had a period since 2008.

Fingers crossed the spotting is near the end!

[jaylea]

It took me a while to settle out but now I’ve not had a period for over a year.

Before that I was going through a super plus per hour, sometimes more, for days on end. It has made a huge difference in quality of life for me. I couldn’t leave the house and was basically wearing diapers when I had to travel for work on my period on flights.

Good luck, I hope it gets better soon for you.

[macmars45]

I'm 7.5 months in. The first 4(ish) months were so much spotting and heavy periods. Heavier than my normal. Now I'm on a 28-30 day cycle with a 6 day period with a tiny bit of spotting the day before it starts. My very favorite thing is I have 0 cramps. None. It's life changing. I'm still hoping I'll get to no period eventually. That remains to be seen.

[vmars]

I bled on and off for 6 months. It sucked. I am almost 4 years in and I get a light period every 4-6 weeks. Maybe 1-2 days of bleeding. After this is done I am probably going to do an ablation. I am done with hormonal birth control and not having any more kids.

[steph2008]

Jan 18, 2024 12:55:53 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

My obgyn suggested Mirena to help with my extremely heavy periods that were causing iron deficiency. It was placed on Dec. 14. It's been 36 days now & I've had some sort of bleeding almost every single day. (TMI  - 5 medium days, 16 light days & 13 spotting days & just 2 days of no bleeding.) While the flow is significantly less than it was pre-IUD this is nuts.  I just had my 1 month checkup with my doctor, she said to hang in there a bit longer & most of her patients see an improvement by 12 weeks. 

Someone please tell me you had a similar experience & things will get better.

Ugh I had a similar experience and I am apparently the very small percentage this doesn't work for. I had my period for basically 2 years. It would go away for a week and a half, then be back for ten days. They kept telling me to wait, it would get better, but after 2 years I had it removed. I bled for 3-4 months initially, and then got my period CONSTANTLY. I wish it worked for me.

[wanderingback]

Jan 18, 2024 20:49:36 GMT -5 vmars said:

I bled on and off for 6 months. It sucked. I am almost 4 years in and I get a light period every 4-6 weeks. Maybe 1-2 days of bleeding. After this is done I am probably going to do an ablation. I am done with hormonal birth control and not having any more kids.

I don’t know how old you are but fyi an ablation isn’t birth control. I have seen people pregnant with them.

[kitty]

I was one of the lucky ones that had bleeding/spotting off and on for the first 5-6 months but I'd make the decision to get it again. I stuck with it because I felt like it was by far my best option for contraception and eventually it got better. I have never had no period at all but it got to the point after a year or two where it would mostly be spotting for a few days, with some actual light flow maybe 3-4x per year. I pretty much only ever use panty liners now with maybe a few regular size tampons mixed in over the course of the year. I was using many super/super plus every month before so this is a huge decrease for me.

Next month is the five year mark and I feel like the periods are starting to slightly increase over the last few months from spotting to an actual light flow but still handled with a panty liner. I have a feeling I'm going to ask to have it replaced before the 8 years because of the period thing even if it is still effective for contraception. Once I get to needing to use a tampon every month, I'll probably reach my limit after being spoiled for so long lol. I've been working from the same box of tampons for the past 5 years and haven't even finished it yet!

[vmars]

Jan 18, 2024 21:51:09 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Jan 18, 2024 20:49:36 GMT -5 vmars said:

I bled on and off for 6 months. It sucked. I am almost 4 years in and I get a light period every 4-6 weeks. Maybe 1-2 days of bleeding. After this is done I am probably going to do an ablation. I am done with hormonal birth control and not having any more kids.

I don’t know how old you are but fyi an ablation isn’t birth control. I have seen people pregnant with them.

I am 38, but the time I would even consider doing it I’d be 42/43. If I did that husband would get a vasectomy too.

[zarapipe]

I also spotted for probably 3-6 months but 3 years later I have zero spotting and zero period. It’s incredible.