Hi everyone. I just thought I would relate what just happened to me and why you should NOT choose Mirena as your birth control.

I had Mirena originally inserted as my choice of birth control back in early 2004. After having my daughter I had the Mirena inserted at my 6 week check up and never thought twice. I read all the disclosures, reports on side effects, statistics on other forms of birth control and felt I had made the best choice. I never had cramps and was one of the lucky ones that never had a period either. I was so happy that I recommended Mirena to many women. Almost four years later I have nothing but regrets!

Three weeks ago (out of the blue) I came down with severe cramping and immediately started bleeding. I thought that perhaps after all those years that maybe the hormones had finally worn off and I was having a period. I was a little nauseous but didn't think much beyond it being contributed to the "period". After nearly a week of zero changes I just knew something was wrong. Call it womans' intuition but I knew. I made an immediate appointment to see the Ob/GYN. After telling her everything, a basic exam and urine test I had some answers. She could not locate the strings and I was very pregnant!

After an immediate ultrasound was performed she located both the IUD and the baby but that was not to be the end of my tale. Not only was I pregnant but they could not leave the IUD in place nor could they remove it. You see, the IUD had perforated the embryonic sac! The baby's heartbeat was only 90 bpm and by that time should have been at least 150 and I was severely hemorrhaging due to the damage. The doctor was wonderful and tried as best she could to save the baby but no luck. They tried an ultrasound guided removal of the Mirena but she could not even reach the strings since they were so far up into the cervix. There was nothing she could do but give us our choices. Either go home, pray for the best and probably end up back within hours due to the hemorrhaging or go ahead and perform a D&C. We chose the D&C under much duress. The procedure went fine and I am recovering well but NEVER in our wildest dreams did we imagine we would be faced with this dilemma.

If I would have ever seen this type of event having happened to another woman who had used Mirena I would NOT have chosen it as my birth control. My husband and I having to make the choice of my health and being faced with a baby that had little to no chance of survival, due to the IUD, was a nightmare.

I did contact Bayer and the Federal Drug Administration and reported what happened but I feel that it will probably just get filed away. I know what happened to me is rare but I feel that women should now ALL the risks of Mirena. I would never want anyone else to have to go through what we did.