Quote Originally Posted by CA_in_NC View Post
I had mine for ~6 months, I would guess. I didn't experience any of the above. I think since the hormones are more localized, you're much less likely to have side effects. Of course, my body then rejected mine...
I think CA is exactly right. I've had mine for exactly 3 years now (weird timing!) and I can say that I still have MUCH less hormonal issues than I had with the pill. I had some serious facial discoloration from the homones in the pill and that's all gone now. I also had pretty wicked mood swings and those are definitely a thing of the past. My acne is the same as it was prior to going on the pill. Many women report worse acne on an IUD, but the same women would likely also report worse acne for just going off the pill. The pill regulates your hormones so that acne flare ups tend to be less. Remove those hormones, and old acne issue often arise. I don't think you can blame the IUD for that, though.

I do question whether or not I'm seeing a loss of libido and weight gain. I have no way to link these two things to the IUD specifically or if they are just related to my current situation. Because I did not notice these things right away after insertion, my guess is that they are NOT related to the Mirena. I plan to have mine removed in January (or shortly thereafter) so if I find that my weight gain reverses and my libido returns, then I'll start pointing fingers. Until then, I'm reserving judgement.