If you’ve ever had an IUD placed, what was it like for you, mentally, those days or weeks after the placement?
For me, the first week or so, I couldn’t touch myself (even wiping felt odd): there was a mental blockade of my brain having experienced a slightly painful and invasive procedure, and my brain was scared of that pain, that discomfort, for at least the first week after the placement.
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my experience with an IUD & hormonal birth control
disclaimer: i am not a licensed health professional. i am only making this post to share my experience with hormonal birth control in the hopes that it will educate and empower other individuals who are thinking about starting / stopping it.
i have been on and off hormonal birth control since i was 16. when i was 16, i started taking birth control pills for the first time because i was sexually active and wanted to stay protected. i don’t remember if my doctor at the time told me about any side effects, but i do know that i did a bit of research and knew that depression and weight gain were common ones. during this time, my breasts grew 2 cup sizes and my acne cleared. i wasn’t in tune with my mind or body enough to understand any other effects it had on me at the time. i took the pills for around 3 months and stopped because i felt that they were making me moody.
when i was 20, i started taking birth control pills again because my period was late but i wasn’t pregnant and my doctor wanted me to be protected for the future. i told her i was concerned with starting hormonal birth control again because i had just been diagnosed with major depression a few months ago and my mood was finally starting to stabilize so i was afraid taking birth control pills would trigger additional changes in mood. she told me not to worry and sent me along my merry way with a new bc prescription. i don’t remember what pill i was on this time but it definitely gave me intense mood swings and triggered a depressive episode that lasted around 3 months even though i stopped taking the pills after 6 weeks since the depression was too much for me to handle.
it wasn’t until 2018 when i was 23 that i considered starting hormonal contraception again since my boyfriend and i were moving in together and weren’t planning on having kids anytime soon. this time i wanted to try an IUD since 2 of my other friends had one and said the only bad part about having it was the insertion. i was still pretty wary about hormonal contraception affecting my overall mood and mental health but i did my research on the different kinds of IUDs out there and decided that i wanted the kyleena because it had the lowest dosage of hormones out of all the IUDs that lasted for 5 years. the insertion took around 3 minutes and felt like a sharp pain, then a bunch of induced cramps from the IUD being inserted. it cost me around $300 after my insurance but you can get one for free from planned parenthood if you can’t afford to pay that much. i spotted/bled a little immediately after the insertion.
my first couple of periods after the IUD insertion were a lot heavier than normal and i experienced different cramps than the ones i normally had. i started getting cramps in my lower back instead of my lower abdomen area and they were a lot more crippling/painful too. my mood also varied for the first 2 weeks after but the moodiness gradually went away. i didn’t experience any weight gain or acne. after 3 months, my period almost went away except for some spotting once a month preceded by period symptoms such as acne, bloating, cramping, and occasionally breast tenderness. i knew my “period” was about to come when started to develop cramps in my lower back once a month. over time, i also noticed that my sex drive went away and i also sometimes felt a dull pain in my cervix while having sex. it definitely affected my confidence and mood in the bedroom.
after a bunch of internal debating, i ultimately decided to get it removed after 1.5 years mostly due to the back cramping but also because i felt like it was a barrier to me being able to fully understand my body and its signals. i was torn because i loved the convenience of being able to have sex without worrying about pregnancy but at the same time i wanted even more to get back in touch with my hormonal cycles and i actually missed having a period. so i got my IUD removed last week and it was a super quick and easy process. the removal took probably 15 seconds and only felt like a small pinch when my doctor took it out. my back cramps immediately went away and i got my period 4 days later as expected from my estimated cycles. my sex drive also returned along with a lot of my confidence. now i’m focusing on listening to my body and understanding the signals it sends me without any sort of added hormonal interference.
in writing this post, i realize that i am super fortunate and grateful to be able to have all these choices i can make for my body. i wanted to share my experience because this is all information i wish i had before i made the decision to get an IUD or any sort of hormonal birth control method. i hope this post inspires/empowers you to make conscious choices for your body. i am in no way against IUDs or hormonal contraception and may even consider another method in the future if i see it fit. for now, i’m embracing my body as it is and am glad i made the choice to remove my IUD.
I got an IUD today and it wasn't super terrible, I'm in pain tbh but the insertion wasn't that bad. I'll update in 24 hours. Just want to be open for those are either considering getting one or are just curious about the process 💗
Ah okay I’m so sorry that it took this long to send it in! I’m the anon (who’s now not an anon) who wanted to share her IUD story.
So it was inserted on July 4, 2019 and I’ve now had it for two weeks. I live in Alberta Canada and with my insurance (thanks to my father who loves me) it only cost $80 to get the device and about $5 for the medication that would help soften my cervix.
The doctor was super nice considering I was a new referral. She answered all my questions during my referral appointment and the day of. If you live in Calgary, you should PM me if you want a recommendation for a clinic.
So, I got the Kyleena because ever since I first got my period (at 8 years old) I have had pretty heavy periods. They weren’t always painful but as I got older it was common to see me with a heating pad on my back or popping Tylenol on a regular basis for cramps and back pain. My insurance covered 80% of the $400 it costs in Alberta by the way.
I’ve been on the pill, the patch, the ring, and the patch again since I was 13. Too many issues with the pill, the patch was great but hurt because of the adhesive (then, after the ring, found out I was allergic to the adhesive.) and the ring just caused some irritation that messed up my sex life with my boyfriend of 4 years.
So, I go in on the day of after my class, shaking and kind of freaking out as I don’t do well with pain. I had been reading stories online and psyching myself out. I had to take a urine test to triple check I wasn’t pregnant. I get called into the room and I have to strip from the waist down, get on the bed and then cover myself. As always, the doctor takes forever to come into the room and by that point I was on the verge of an anxiety attack. She finally comes in, has me sign a paper stating I knew the risks and what not (she went over them again and what to expect). She tells me she won’t open the packaging for the advice until she knows for sure she can get it in. She asks if I’d like her to tell me what she was doing, I said yes.
So, she starts the process and does a routine pelvic exam and then grabs the tool to hold your cervix in place. She says I’ll feel some cramping and I did. Thankfully, my boyfriend was allowed to be in the room and was holding my hand and showing me dogs on Reddit. Highly recommend that.
She opens the package after cleaning my cervix with a form of iodine and tells me to relax more and that this is probably going to be the worst part. It hurt, i won’t lie but it wasn’t the worst pain I’ve had. It felt like terrible cramps that would make you double over but are then gone in a few minutes. It also probably helped that my boyfriend had dropped his phone on my face during this. What are the odds. She pulls the inserter out (which honestly, it felt like I was going to pee because it felt like a weird burning sensation) and says “I’m done.” She tells me that I’ll probably feel the cramping for a bit and that I might feel a bit dizzy but to take however long I need to get up and get out of the room.
I took maybe 10 minutes and I was just really tired afterwords. I was on the last day of my period when I went in. We got into the car and I was mainly just nauseous and my back was killing me (I’ve got mild scoliosis so this is no surprise). Blasted the heated seats and drank a ton of water. Had some food, went to bed when I got home. Went to class the next day and I was in a bit of pain from my back but there was no spotting and next to no cramps.
It’s been two weeks and I haven’t bled yet (my period should be here in the first week of August, I can update if needed. Sometimes you get it, sometimes you do and it may be lighter or heavier for the first couple months).
I love it so far, I haven’t felt odd and I haven’t felt any pain associated with it yet. I recommend it if you can afford it.
Also, please don’t read all the horror stories before you get it, it does nothing. :)
I got my Mirena four years ago. Right now the Mirena is approved for five years and they are currently working on approving it for more. I chose to get mine replaced a little early because my periods were starting to come back. It’s relatively common for your periods or spotting to start back up on the four or five year mark. Because I have really bad periods and experience gender dysphoria during my periods I wanted to get a new one in ASAP.
If you’d like to read my guide to getting an IUD inserted you can read it here. The procedure for getting it taken out is very similar and many of the same recommendations still apply. I’d definitely still recommend having a buddy, although it isn’t necessarily as bad coming out as it is going in.
At the clinic I went to they didn’t have the Mirena available, only the Liletta and Kyleena. Liletta is approved for 4 years, Kyleena for 5. They are also currently working on approving Liletta for longer so my doctor said that by the time the 4 years are up they’ll probably have it approved for longer. Despite only being recommended for Liletta, and it being a little bigger than Kyleena, is because Liletta has a higher amount of hormones that more closely resemble Mirena. Because I use the IUD to end my periods and I know the Mirena does that I was hoping to get the IUD that most closely matches it.
Below is a detailed recount of my experience. It can get a bit graphic, if you’d like I put the main steps in bold so you can get the gist by just reading that
Once we got the preliminary pregnancy test and consultation over with I was left to take off my pants and get ready for a pelvic exam. It is important for the doctor to take a look and see if they think you may have a vaginal infection before insertion so let them know if you have had any symptoms! This is because if there is an infection while putting in the IUD there is a chance of the infection to spread to the uterus. Turns out I had a yeast infection. Because it had been so hot and muggy apparently a bunch of people had come in with yeast infections so it wasn’t a big surprise. What that meant though was I had to come back a couple weeks after I took antifungals to get rid of the infection.
A couple weeks later I went back and we were finally ready for the insertion. The doctor asked if I was okay having a student come in to observe the process. I said yes because of course I am all about that learning. Know that you should always let your doctor know if you are uncomfortable. My doctor let me know that she likes using the smaller speculums and trying to be as careful as possible. It’s a good idea to tell your doctor if you experience vaginal pain easily, if you’ve experienced any trauma, or if you’re nervous so that they can help you out.
One thing I liked about having a student attend is that the doctor detailed everything going on. That was a fun thing for me, but I know that wouldn’t have been fun for a lot of people. The disadvantage to the student is that the doctor wanted her to try some things on me to learn which meant some things happened twice. The actual taking out and putting the IUD in was handled by the doctor though which was very good.
First the doctor and student checked on my uterus and pelvis by inserting two fingers into the vagina and pressing on various points on my belly/pelvic bone to see if there was any tenderness.
Then the doctor inserted the speculum and located the cervix. On the student’s turn they had trouble finding it which meant they moved the speculum quite a lot and that was not pleasant. Once the doctor helped her find my cervix I breathed again. So far, not much different than a regular pelvic exam.
After they located my cervix they inserted a device to clamp down on the cervix to hold it in place. This is what felt like a pinch. They put on the stuff to numb the cervix and waited a bit before going on. I was told later that the clamping can cause the cervix to bleed a bit, so this can cause some of the irritation you’ll feel later.
Using the strings they were able to pull the IUD out. She showed it to me. I am sad I didn’t think to keep it. You could definitely feel the arms of the “T” come down and then the IUD slide out. It’s not exactly painful, but really weird feeling. If you’re just getting the IUD removed this is as far as you go. They unclamp your cervix and you should probably sit back and relax for a minute before standing up and going about your day.
If you’re getting a new one inserted the next step is to put a sound into the cervix. A sound is a tiny cylandrical object that helps dilate the uterus a tiny bit to help insert it. Sometimes they’ll need to use other methods to help dilate you, but sometimes that is enough. Another reason they use this is that it can go through the cervix into the uterus and it helps them measure the uterus to know where to place the IUD. I found out my uterus is 8 cm, which is perfectly average. Not gonna lie, this part was uncomfortable. The actual going in the uterus wasn’t bad, but once it reached the top of my uterus it kind of hurt and the sensation kind of spread like a wave. What sucked for me is I had to go through it twice, first the doctor did it, then the student. The student apparently didn’t go in far enough so the doctor basically told her to shove it in more and that didn’t feel good. Pretty sure I made a little sound at that point.
When they are able to get an accurate measure of the uterus they use the applicator device to put the IUD in. This is really the most painful part in my opinion, it just feels really weird and like something is definitely trying to move around in your uterus.
After that they cut the strings that hang into the vagina so that they aren’t super long. If you find once you go home the strings are longer than you’d like you can go back and request they trim them a little more. Once you’ve had it for a year or so the strings tend to curl around your cervix out of the way.
This time around I knew what to expect and I stayed laying down. The doctors let me be for a while to let me lay down a bit then with their help sit up. I sat for a while before eventually cleaning up, getting dressed, and sitting back down again. I wore loose pants but where it lay against my belly still hurt. Definitely if you can, wear a dress. Had to hold the seat belt away from my belly while riding home too. Just take it easy and don’t plan to do anything strenuous for a day after. I spotted a bit for a day and I’m still a little sore but it is definitely worth it!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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