I had my Mirena put in on the 10th of October (so very short time ago) and had several side effects since then. When I spoke to my doctor about it, I was bascially told that it must be something else going on in my life affecting me, that what I was experiencing was all in my head and had NO relation to the Mirena.

I'm 33 years old, I think I know my body quite well by now. I've been married for almost 10 years and we've been together for a total of 14 1/2 years. We've always had a terrific sex life. We have two young boys and I switched to the Mirena after having the copper in for just over a year. I was getting some dark brown spotting before getting my period, and she suggested the Mirena, as it would eventually make my periods stop... and hey, let's face it, that's a huge attraction for any woman.

Upon having it put in, I spotted for the rest of the day (bled quite a bit on the table after insertion), and then stopped spotting for two days. Then, because I was due for my period a few days after that, I started my period. It lasted two whole weeks, no breaks. Then I went almost a week (5 or 6 days, tops) without any spotting or bleeding. Then I started again, which shocked me because I had just bled for two weeks.. how could I possibly build up enough of a uterine lining to shed??? Anyway... whatever. I'm nearing another two week-long period, and while I expected to the spotting, I was under the impression it would jsut be spotting, not two weeks of continuous bleeding. It's okay.. it could be worse. If it weren't for menstrual cups, I wouldn't have any sex life at all.

A couple of my major side effects were the bleeding, loss of appetite (therefore, weight loss... I lost 7 lbs in two weeks), and most importantly, loss of libido and inability to climax during intercourse. Upon trying a number of times, both with my husband, and on my own, I was totally unable to have an orgasm, and honestly, this has never happened to me before.

I called my gyno the first chance I got to inform her of this and her assistant called me back to tell me that the hormones in the Mirena are so minute, they couldn't possibly be affecting anything outside of my uterus. As for my sexual issue, something else happening in my life is obviously responsible for that, because it simply wasn't the Mirena... no one else has ever reported that problem, so clearly, I was wrong. I hadn't been on any kind of hormones, birth control or otherwise for over two years, as I had been pregnant with our second child and breastfeeding after that for over a year. I knew she wasn't being totally honest with me, and if the Mirena couldn't be responsible for anything outside my uterus, how come I lost so much weight? I knew better.

Since then, my appetite has improved, I've gained the weight back that I lost, and my sex life is much better. The only issue I'm having is periods that are two weeks long, and the cramping is unbelievable. I know I need to give it a few months before I see any real differences, but I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

I also noticed pain in my hips while I'm walking... never noticed that before the Mirena. But I'm sure THAT's all in my head too... whatever.