By nature, I tend to overshare just a tad; I’m not afraid to talk about things others are–including birth control. Seeing as we are Mrs. & the Misc., this is def. a topic for any Mrs. (or Miss), but still, I’ll be brief on this more personal topic.
Mirena, is a hormone-releasing IUD placed in your uterus to prevent pregnancy for as long as you want up to 5 years.
Five years ago, on Dec. 12th, I got one.
It’s been absolutely the most amazing birth control for me. And I’ll quickly bullet point why:
- I knew I absolutely did not want kids for the first five years of my new marriage, so I wanted the strongest thing they could give me. The most effective. Apparently, per my Dr., Mirena is more effective by a slim margin than a woman getting her tubes tied! When she told me that, I was sold. But wait, there’s more:
- In case three years in I changed my mind, I wanted a quick return-to-fertility option (you can take Mirena out as early as you want or wait the entire 5 years). You don’t have to wait for a ton of hormones to leave your system.
- I knew I would forget to take the pill, and wanted something that I couldn’t forget to take or misuse–I wanted the thing with the most room for personal error, and my Dr. recommended this.
- I wanted the lowest dose of hormones I could get while still getting the strongest form of birth control I could get. Again, my Dr. recommended Mirena.
- It’s crazy cheap. Depending on your insurance or even if you don’t have it, the most you’d pay is like $600. I paid $40 co-pay when I got it, but I recently inquired about getting another one and it was going to cost me $300 on my new insurance. If you do the math on $600/5 years worth of birth control $10/month. If you pay $300, it’s $5/month. Or if you pay just a co-pay at say $40 like I did five years ago … that’s like $0.67/month.
- I saved even more money because I haven’t bought tampons in over three years. I had no need for them. Think about the money savings and hassle savings of virtually-no-period in five years.
- You cannot feel it in there. At all. Ever.
- The only negatives were short lived years ago when I first got it, including more painful cramps than before and longer periods. But in less than a year, you virtually have no period or cramps. MIRACLE!
- PS: When I got it put in, they said to get it checked once a year. Oops. I forgot. I totally skipped that and it has all gone terrific. I did go to my lady dr. annually (save for one year), so I suppose they’d have said something if anything with the IUD was off.
Mirena v. other forms of birth control
Recently, I heard a commercial for a lawyer who was seeking women who’d had problems with their Mirena and I’ve read a few things on Google, but I would say I’m an average American woman and it worked really well with no problems whatsoever for me.
Why bring this all up on the blog today? Well, my five years is up. And, on Wednesday, I’m off to get it removed and am a little nervous about what happens next. Nevertheless, I’m still in shock that five years has come and gone. I guess now I need a new plan! 🙂
Let me know if you have any questions, I’d be happy to share more about my experience if you’re interested.
mrs. and the misc. 
Very informative, thank you. Worth checking with my doctor about this 🙂
You’re so welcome. I recently moved and got a new lady dr. and she was shocked to see I’ve had it 5 years … apparently I am among the first generation of mirena users haha. Kind of cool. Mirena has gotten more popular since then and so I wanted to share my experience. I highly recommend it. Let me know how it goes!
I think this may be useful to many women. My fear is that it changes the natural functioning of the body, and changing one parts has unintended consequences for other parts. What I want is that when you and your beloved want, you can have a healthy baby. The problem or potential problem is that we won’t know if we have a problem until it’s too late to avoid it. A simple Google shows that Mirena has lawsuits against it claiming that Bayer didn’t properly test the product before marketing it. Thalimoide also had this problem, so I’ll worry about you until we can all congratulate you on that beautiful first (and 2nd, et al. :-)) child. In the meantime, I love hearing from you whenever you post. I owe you a splending rave on Linked In. I SHALL do it; you know I want to and love and respect you. Right now I’m buying a house and a rent house in Ormond Beach, up the road 260 miles but still on the Atlantic. Keep in touch and send me a copy of your resume to gmail.
I forgot to post this, which I think you’ll enjoy: Alexander Pope
“In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold;
Alike fantastic, if too new, or old:
Be not the first by whom the new are tried,
Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.”
― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
You’re right, it is a little odd not having a period really. It makes u wonder. But I’m not worried about it. The positives for me really shine – at least they have for the past 5 years. Anyway, it’s SO good to hear from you Dr. Montgomery! How exciting about u buying a house there. So glad you r well. My LinkedIn profile is pretty much an up-to-date resume but would love to send u some copies of my latest magazine issues. Xoxo
I’ve been on the pill for nearly 7 years, taking it everyday at the same time. I have an alarm that goes off on my phone everyday and that made the difference of taking it everyday. I’m on it because of cysts that need to be controlled but I would love to get off of it and on to a lower maintenance option so thanks for this info. I’m going to consider it but I don’t know if it’ll work for my particular issues (more than avoiding pregnancy!)
I’d love to hear what your doctor says
i am new to this wonderful blog & don’t want to chime in where I shouldn’t, but I do want to say just a few thing 🙂
I had Mirena as my bc when my oldest turned 8 months old…. My doctor didn’t inform me that i needed to check the stings once a month to make sure it is still in place….. it migrated. It was the worst experience of my life. not being over dramatic. I know that there are some class action lawsuits going on right now against mirena &some dr’s are refusing to offer it. If it works for you, that’s awesome, I just had a horrible experience with it. I feel like I need to shout this stuff from the rooftops and warn people. I really do NOT mean to overstep my bounds on your blog or anything. I just wanted to say be careful & maybe read some of the recent events going on with this form of BC. lovelovelove this blog!
{I had it put in when Masyn was about 8 months old and I had an emergency visit to have it removed when she was 23 months old}
Yikes! I am horrified to hear that and am SO so sorry you went through that! That must hVe been scary. I know things work differently for people, so thank you for commenting. I never ever checked my strings but it all worked out ok. Maybe they move/migrate easier if u have had a kid? Dunno. But I’m going to ask my dr. Cause I had planned to get it again after my first child is born. Anyway, thanks for sharing ur side! And thanks for following the bLog. 🙂