Mirena IUS coil experience.

I have just gotten the Mirena IUS coil fitted, and since I hadn’t heard of it before two friends mentioned that they had it, I thought I’d use my experience with it to make others aware of it as a contraceptive option.

I used to take the contraceptive pill everyday whilst I was in a long term relationship but found that it made me hungry all the time, and if I didn’t eat *a lot* almost constantly, I would feel sick and get terrible acid reflux. It got to the point that it would often wake me in the night, and when I awoke in the morning I would almost always feel sick.
Which, as you can imagine, was not great.
Aside from the physical side effects, emotionally I was a mess. I suffer from depression anyway, but the pill made it much worse.

As soon as I stopped taking the pill I noticed these side effects begin to wear off, and over the last 9 months I feel like my body and mind are my own again. I can’t put into words how good that feels.

I was talking to a couple of friends about sex, as you do, and they mentioned that they both had the
Mirena coil, and that they loved it. The main reason being that it generally means your periods are very light, if in fact you get them at all over the five years that you have the device implanted.

No periods for five years sounded just fine to me.

So I went to go get it fitted yesterday, here’s a run down of what happened.

I went to the Chalmers clinic, had to give in a wee form to say that I’d watched a short film explaining what was going to happen (I’d actually watched several on YouTube as well as what was offered on the Chalmers website, and did some reading as well). As well as this, I’d also had to say that I’d eaten and taken some painkillers an hour before.
There are a few other things that I can’t remember, but basically just accepting that you’ve been given all the information you need before you have the device implanted.

The doctor goes through all these points with you before the procedure anyway.

After handing in my form, came the waiting.

Oh the waiting.

I took a friend with me, one of the ladies who told me about the coil, it was good to have someone to chat to as I was quite nervous, and she was there to make sure I got home ok. Both my friends suffered a lot of pain on their relatively short journeys home, (about 15 and 30 minutes respectively) so I wanted to make sure I had someone to look after me.

I went in and had a chat with the doctor giving my recent sexual history, why I had chosen to try the coil and if I had ever been tested for STI’s and if there was any chance I was pregnant.

Whilst you’re getting the coil fitted they can also take a swab for chlamydia and gonorrhoea, and do a smear test if you’re not up to date. So handy! Three birds, one stone! Let’s face it, no one likes being naked from the waist down being prodded with a cotton wool bud, might as well get it all over and done with in one go!

So I find these things quite embarrassing, but the female doctor and nurse were both lovely and put me totally at ease, I had to just remember that they both do this every day, and my fanny is nothing special to them.

So the doctor went over what was gonna happen, and I went to go get my pants and shoes off and lie down in the stirrups.

One the best pieces of advice that my eldest sister ever gave me is this; “Always wear a skirt for these things.”
You’re welcome.

I hoiked my skirt up and laid down. They raised the bed up so that I was at eye level with the doctor, and started the procedure.

First the doctor has to physically feel which way your womb lies, you feel her touching inside, and also your stomach. Then they have to open you up a wee bit with that funny looking clamp thing that I seem to remember someone making quack like a duck in an episode of ‘Friends’…

Then you get three jags with a local anaesthetic to numb the opening to your cervix. The first one was like a sore pinch, the second one less so, and the third I didn’t feel at all as it had already started to take effect.

Next the doctor has to grab the opening to the cervix and pull it to open it, I felt a pressure like a full period cramp, but it wasn’t too sore. The doctor then inserts a measuring device to tell how deep your cervix is, so that she knows how to place the coil. This was quite sore, it made me wince and draw in breath, it was just like a bad cramp, it’s over quickly and the nurse was right there making sure I kept breathing.

The nurse and doctor were both great at making small talk and taking my mind off of what was happening. We talked about the World Cup and how I glad I am that it’s over.

Finally the Mirena is inserted, it felt just the same as when the measure was inserted, just a bad cramp. Again, it was over quickly, and probably only lasted for 5-10 seconds.
The Mirena has two tiny wires that extend from the base of the T shaped coil and descend from the opening of your cervix into your vagina. These you check to make sure the device is still in place on a regular basis. When the device is inserted, these are cut and you’ll see the excess when you get up.
It’s weird.

The clamp was removed from inside me, and I bled a little from the anaesthetic jags, the doctor cleaned that up and gave me a second to get up slowly and get dressed.
I felt absolutely fine.
And at this point was super grateful I could just drop my skirt back down instead of fannying around with trousers!

Another piece of advice I would give is to take a sanitary pad with you, or else you’ll get get given one from the clinic, which is practical, but feels like a brick in your pants.

The nurse left and I had another wee chat with the doctor to make sure I was ok. I felt absolutely fine, not even a little sore.
I went out and met my friend, and we walked back to my flat in the beautiful pouring rain.
Edinburgh. Standard.

It’s about a ten minute walk to my flat, and I felt a little weird, I could feel that there was a foreign object inside me, but it didn’t hurt. It was a little sore towards the end of the walk, but I still felt fine.

It really didn’t begin to hurt for at least an hour or two. Then I had bad periods like cramps for the rest of the day, and some light spotting.
Over the course of the day I lay on my bed with my friend, took 6 nurofen and two paracetamol and utilised a hot water bottle.

I slept fine, woke up after a good long sleep, and feel totally normal today.

I’ll keep you updated as time goes on, and I hope that this is helpful.

Feel free to ask me anything!

–Kate – 25