My 9 years with Mirena! What was I thinking?

In early 2007, I decided to give Mirena a try.  The thought of life without periods and not worrying about birth control for 5 years at a time seemed quite enticing.  I had just started dating my husband who was my boyfriend back then.  We both knew that we didn’t want children as I had two of my own and he had five.  Before Mirena, I was a size 12 (167 pounds) and had already had a diagnosis of Medullary Sponge Kidney which contributes to my blood pressure always being high.  Nevertheless, I was sold.

Shortly after getting the Mirena put into place, I gained weight.  I ballooned instantly to a size 14.  I was feeling bad, but never thought it was Mirena.  I literally had to buy all new size 14 clothes at the end of 2007 and shortly after saw my size bloom up even more.  I was also experiencing hair falling out in the shower in what seemed to be large quantities.  My hair is now thinner than it was 9 years ago, though I am not bald. 

I also have had terrible cystic acne on my neck.  I have had heart palpitations, numbness in feet and hands, bad smelling vaginal discharge, memory issues, thick black hair growing under my chin, but even still in 2011, I yet again placed another Mirena in and currently (2016) am now a size 20 and 245 pounds. 

It wasn’t until this past year that I come to realize after thinking about it that maybe just maybe Mirena was the culprit for all my woes.  I started searching and found numerous other women with similar experiences.  I spoke with my husband, but he wasn’t set on me removing Mirena because he was worried we would get pregnant.  It wasn’t until I told him that I feel that Mirena is hurting my body and it could possibly cause my kidneys to have more trouble that he finally felt that I needed to get it out.  So after 9 years, I made my appointment to get it removed on July 15^th, 2016.