Just wanted to say thanks to you all for sharing this info. I'm on the pill (and at age 42 have been for .. well far too many years). With my sometimes working nights, and sometimes days, my "routine" has faltered in many ways, including taking my pill and my vitamins.
Mirena may be a good option. I will ask at my next appointment. I think that they want me to keep on some type of hormones due to the extensive network of fibroids I am carrying around (can I blame weight gain on those?) Supposedly the hormone will help keep that bleeding under control until I hit menopause.
It would be nice not to have so many hormones streaming through my bloodstream, and have less breakthrough bleeding due to forgetting a pill for a day (ie, sleeping thru that day!). lately I feel like I've been constantly on my period. YIKE.
THANKS AGAIN!
Everyone Deserves a Lifetime
They say Mirena's good for 3 years (I guess they impregnate it with progesterone and can only last so long). I've heard of doctors leaving copper IUDs in longer than 5 years, but I guess they don't want the liability of pregnancies.
If I wasn't so psycho on the pill, I would get Mirena in a heartbeat - to not have the monthly visits by aunt flow would be so liberating!
Jes, I would imagine Mirena may help you with your fibroids as the progesterone will thin the uterine wall, hence the lack of bleeding after about 6 months.
Isn't peri-menopause fun? I started using progesterone (wild yam) cream for my night sweats; they went away!
I had the Mirena IUD and I absolutely hated it. The insertion was incredibly painful, and I felt really awful for weeks. They warned me about the side effects, but I really couldn't handle it. I went in to have it removed, and they told me that my body was rejecting it and it has almost come completely out anyhow.
No IUD's for me. I hate taking the pill, but I don't have a choice right now. The husband and I did condoms for a while, but it's just a hassle, we had much less sex! So, i will continue the pill until i'm ready to have a baby, and then after that, he's getting snipped.
--Coral
yeah, i was pretty bummed that it didn't work out :\
--Coral