Implanon, Mirena, Depo

[Scarlet Thunder]

i have implanon and its fine, I can even do a teddy with that arm. It will take a week or two where it might be a little sore but I'm happy with mine and doesnt cause me any problems. See what the other ladies here think too.

[Dancing Paws]

Did you have any side effects?

[PoleFitMom]

UGH. WARNING – THIS POST WILL HAVE HONEST INFO AND MAY BE TOO MUCH INFO FOR THE WEAK HEARTED::::: Depo messed me up like CRAZY. It sounded great, but my body didn't react well to it. I had my first shot and was on my period for a month straight. Then had 2 weeks off, and then had a 2 week period. Not light either. Super Heavy, and once soaked through a super plus tampon in 5 minutes – NO JOKE. My Dr (at the time) said it was normal and that the 2nd round was the depo usually regulated everything. NO! I went through the same thing. After that I didn't try it again and went without a period for 8 months. After doing the depo shot I tried getting on the pill again – I want to point out that I never had a problem with being on the pill in the beginning, just thought that only having to take BC once every 3 months sounded great instead of everyday. Well, I tried going on the pill after depo and the pill did the same thing. Super heavy flow, for weeks at a time. I quit taking it after that and never went on anything else. It took me another 6 – 9 months to even get a period I could count on, and then another several to become regular. IT SUCKED! About the weight, I never gained anything during this entire process.

Good Luck! I hope this doesn't scare you away from anything – just wanted to give you my story!

xoxo,

PoleFitMom

[Dancing Paws]

WOW! That is AWFUL! It is a lot of hormone to get all at once, that is another reason I am leaning towards the implanon. It secretes the hormone slowly over several years. 

[HilaryKate aka LolaSlaytor]

I have the Mirena, and I was super creeped out about IUD's for a long time – which is why I never had it before.  But some of my girlfriends got them and they convinced me to get a Mirena.
BEST THING EVER!
I speak as someone who has one as well as a health professional (and I've heard a lot of my attending physicians say similar things).  Mirena is good for up to 5 years so even though it does suck when you get it put in, you only have to go through 5 minutes of pain for 5 years of not thinking about a pill or thinking twice about your birth control.  I'm not gonna lie here – it hurts when it's inserted, but if you've had kids then it's not so bad I've heard. 

And the majority of women will get much lighter periods or stop having periods after the first 6-12 months.  For the first 6 months or so, you might have irregular periods but they don't tend to get heavier.

The Mirena only secrets a small amount of progesterone – not even detectable in the blood! Because of that there are fewer side effects.  In fact, most women have no side effects (me for example).

It only affects your ability to get pregnant while it is in place – you could take it out and start trying to get pregnant the next day if you wanted. And even though it lasts 5 years, you don't NEED to keep it in that long. You could get it one day, a month later decide you want to have a baby, and then get pregnant as easily as you would have before Mirena. But it is the most effective method of birth control (except abstinence if you wanna get picky) -99.9% effective from the moment is it inserted.

Depo is not a great option in my opinion, a lot of women really don't tolerate it well.  It does work for some people, but I find they're the minority.  You also are not supposed to be it on more than a total (lifetime) of 5 years because it has a high risk of causing osteoporosis.

I don't really know much about Implanon – not used much in Canada I don't think, at least on the east coast it's not.

SO, IN SUMMARY (pros+ and cons-):

MIRENA

+ the most effective form of birth control (99.9%)

+ lasts up to 5 years

+ works immediately and stops immediately when removed

+ less/lighter/no periods!

+ very few side effects

– briefly painful when being inserted

– irregular periods for the first 6-12 months

– expensive up front (but one cost for 5 years, add up your pill over that time and compare)

DEPO 

+ once every 3 months

+ not that painful (unless you find needles really painful)

– REAL RISK OF OSTEOPOROSIS (if you take it more than 5 years total, you need to get regular bone scans)

– lots of girls have problems with heavy/irregular periods

– side effects

– takes a long time to get your cycles normalized and fertility back after stopping it

 

So that's my huge response to this! Haha

@sensualscimitar – don't hesitate to message me if you have any more questions, nothing too explicit or weird!

[Dancing Paws]

Are the pokey wire annoying with mirena? The doc said that the men could feel them. The nurse wants me to get mirena out of all of them. It seems like it would be a pain to have to check to make sure it's in place, but I guess that's only once a month…

I have never had a baby, and I have a tilted cervix, so I know the insertion would be a painful process. 🙁 So NOT something I look forward to.

[lilblondie]

I've only known one of my friends who had Implanon and she had it in her outer arm, not the inner arm where you do a Teddy/Gemini.  I don't know if she asked for it there specifically, because she was a pole dancer too … but it worked fine!  I never noticed she had it until she pointed it out.

[Dancing Paws]

I'll have to ask about maybe putting it in a slightly different spot. That's interesting.

[Rose1983]

I’m surprised they even offered Mirena to someone who has never had children because one of the risks of it is that it could puncture your uterus and cause permanent infertility. Also my friend that had it said her bf could feel it during sex and it was sharp and painful. I used depo and actually lost weight because it made me nauseous and I had light bleeding the entire time and when I stopped it I had no period for an entire year. I never took implanlon but I imagine you can get it in your non dominate arm so you are less likely to irritate it. It sounds like they all have downsides the trick is finding what works for you. I use the nuvaring and I love it. Good luck choosing.

[chemgoddess1]

I have had 2 Mirenas and have never had children.

 

I have not had a period in about 6 years.  Well, every once in while I will get light spotting for a day but besides that nothing.  The first one I cramped like crazy for a few days and then for the first 4-5 months I had HORRIBLE cramps when I normally would have had my period.  I had major cramping prior to this but this laid me up on some days.  I will say that there are some positions that are worse for feeling it by my husband but for the most part he feels nothing.  If your man is well endowed this may be different.

 

Now my second one was a totally different story.  First of all they could not get my first one out.  I will add that the OB/GYN was not my normal doc and I really do not have faith in her.  She was only a few years out of medical school and she was skittish even giving me my yearly exam.  Then when she went to put the second one in she screwed it up and destroyed it.  I had to wait a few weeks before they could get a replacement.  They also put me on a pill that opened my cervix which was awful again with cramping.  Both times I cried on the table and I am not one who cries easily. 

 

There are actually 2 painful instances in getting the IUD placed…first they have to measure the depth of your uterus which involves inserting a thin rod through your cervix until it hits the back of your uterus.  This for me caused quite a bit of cramping and I had to breathe and let the pain subside before I would even let them continue.  Then of course the placement of the IUD itself.  That being said I would still do it again.  But I am not going to lie that if you have not had children it can be extremely painful.

 

Any birth control can cause issues.  There are pages upon pages of websites that talk about side effects of BC.  Do your research and study what has happened to others.

 

Are your headaches directly related to estrogen?

 

And one last note…your should not be squeezing the pole with your arm in gemini.

 

 

[DedeJoy]

I was on Depo for ten years (from age 25 to 35) and loved it. The only negative for me was weight gain of about 2 pounds per year. Yes, that meant that I put on 20 pounds. Couple that with quitting smoking and you'll understand why I started poling: I'd put on 40 pounds! Which is all gone and now I weigh less than I did in college (from pole). Yea me. Not everyone can take Depo and the real disadvantage is: if you can't tolerate it, it's already in your system. There's nothing you can do about it until it wears off in three months. None of the docs required bone scans and nobody suggested the osteoporosis problem was an issue with me. I was also told it could be 6 months to a year before my cycles would return. No. The very next stupid month, I got my period. Grrr. I was all, "WHAT? I only got 23 days off? WTF?" Anyway, if your concern is weight gain, then I'd probably keep looking for something else.

 

Now I have a Mirena and love it. Mine is just about to expire, so I will be getting a new one in the spring (and I'll be 47 or 48 when that comes out, so hopefully it'll be my last). I had just about two very light 1-day periods and then nothing for the last five years. Once in a while, I'll spot a little bit, but that's not even worth a tampon. My body still goes through PMS symptoms (not badly though, but I've never had bad PMS) but I rarely bleed.

 

Nobody I've been with has been able to feel the wire/string thingy and I can't feel it myself whenever I go fishing to check for it. You're supposed to stick a finger up there once and month and feel for it to make sure it's still where it's supposed to be. I've never managed to find it, haven't bothered, and the doc isn't concerned about it at all. In fact, my OB/Gyn can't find it either. Sometimes they migrate a little bit. This will probably mean that removal will be tricky and a bit painful, but I pole dance; I have a very high pain tolerance. ;>) My point being, your doctor can trim it really closely so it can't be felt. I'll also say this: insertion is very painful, and disturbing your cervix by forcing dilation like that makes you not want to have sex for a while. It took me about three weeks before I was ready to get back in the saddle and even then, certain positions had to be done very gently and carefully. There was no slammin' monkey sex for about two months. Sorry if that was TMI, but I think you should get full details. ;>)

 

Regarding the Mirena and not having had children: My doctor told me that the risk is uterine perforation but that she's put hundreds of them into women who had never had kids and she'd never seen a uterine perf. That is extremely rare. Having your cervix dilated is what is so painful and the sounding they do when they measure the depth of your uterus. Use yoga breathing, hold the nurse's hand, go to your happy place… it's over in five minutes. They are also extremely expensive. My doc's office makes me pay cash up front so I got a price quote for my replacement next year and it's around $700 plus a $125 insertion fee, some of which my insurance covers, but not much. Insurance will cover the pill and depo but some insurances will not cover the Mirena. So the cost is a factor to consider, but you won't spend a dime on BC and you won't spend much on tampons/pads/what have you for the next five years after that so it evens out.

 

If you decide a Mirena is what you want, call around to different clinics to check on the price and check with your insurance company to see how much of what is covered. You should definitely do your homework with any form of birth control and remember: You are not the same as all other random women on the internet. Everyone is different and everyone tolerates different kinds of BC differently. Please take all our advice with many large grains of salt.

[Dancing Paws]

I am doing all of this through planned parenthood. I am low income, so I qualify for free birth control. I am hoping that these 3 forms qualify as part of the "free" portion as well. If I can get the devices inserted for free, then I'll be set. I need to call planned parenthood again because I don't think they really understood what my need is. In addition to being a birth control, I need these as a seizure therapy. Progesterone helps my seizrues. When I was on ortho tri cycline lo, the progessterone level was too low (like 0.25 mg was the highest in the pills) and I was still having seizures.) I am now on yasmin, which is 3 mgs of progesterone per pill and I am seizure free. I was looking at mirena (20 MICROgrams), and it seems like the hormone level is really low, and may not be a good seizure therapy option. Implanon might be good. 

[DedeJoy]

That's interesting. My BF has a seizure disorder resulting from brain surgery. Is there some reason you don't take Keppra or Dilantin? (If this is too personal, feel free to ignore. I was just curious if BC could help him. LOL)

[Dancing Paws]

I did take keppra. I took it for about 4 years actually, but I got so sick of the side effects. It made me CRAZY and I was constipated for those 4 years. Now that I stopped I have normal bowels again (THANK GOODNESS!) My moods were insane. I was either pissy or depressed. They have coined the term keppra rage for the people who really react badly to it. It also killed my sex drive COMPLETELY. I am trying new drugs to try to get it back. My girly parts couldn't even enjoy play time. It's like the keppra would let me get to a certain point, then say "you're done; you don't get to have any more fun." It's really frustrating. I also kept gaining weight. I always felt like I was hungry. People say "well don't eat and you won't gan weight." It's not so easy when you are shaking and feel like you are STARVING! I put on 25 pounds! I also tried lamictal for 2 days, but it gave me a phantom itchiness that was really annoying. There was no rash, just a weird neurological itch. My doc probably didn't put me on dilantin because I told him I didn't want to gain any more weight and because I was ranting about my lack of a sex drive. https://www.studioveena.com/img/smilies/icon_evil.gif

[chemgoddess1]

If you are looking for progesterone for other issues then Mirena will not be an option for you.  The progesterone that it releases is a very small quantity and just enough to keep the lining thinned.  It is not the main control of pregnancy; the IUD itself is.