And I forgot to mention my hair is falling out by the handfuls!!!!!

Dear Scatts,
you are not losing your mind. I had a mirena and had all the side effects that you have listed. I am so pleased that you are having it removed. I have had mine out for 8 weeks now and cannot believe the difference. I was seeing my natropath and after I had mine removed he gave me natural supplements to help cleanse my liver and remove it from my body as quickly as possible. So maybe this could be an avenue you might like to try. Believe me when I tell you that the joy of your children will return and dont let people tell you different. Listen to your body and you wont be let down. Sadly I listened to my doctor and not myself and had this thing in me for 5 years - always being told I a mother of four my life was busy - but always knowing that it was more to it than that. So have faith in yourself that you will return to find yourself. Be aware that a lot of people experence a 'crash' after having it removed after 5 days and this will last about 3 days. Just keep reading this site and it will give you most of the answers your seeking. all the very best.In my thoughts

i have some encouragement to offer. i am 32 mother of three. i am now 7 months post removal. my mind and body went to hell on mirena!!! i was an impatient, raving b**** and i felt like i was 80 all the time on mirena. i was bi-polar/schizophrenic and always in pain. i no longer feel that way!!!! i am now very patient, i talk to my children instead of yelling, my body is healthy, couldnt even imagine committing suicide anymore and couldnt care less if the roll of toilet paper is sitting on the back of the toilet instead of on the roll where it goes! lol. i enjoy my children and laugh at my husband's dumb jokes. life is no longer an annoyance. it took my body six months to have no side effects, even during pms. i have had post partum Depression with all my children when they turned four months old. kind of ironic that started within a month of me getting back on hormonal birth control each time. i figured out i am not crazy, i believe i allowed myself to be a victim of my side effects because i blindly believed my doctor "like a good little girl." i do not believe mirena caused all of my problems, but it exaggerated mine by about 90%. i had absolutely no support from my husband when i found this forum. he agreed with the doctor. now he feels like a fool. just a tidbit, my sex drive came back with a vengeance post removal!!!! my husband is ecstatic!!! lol. it took me about 11 days post removal to really seeing changes for the better. that 11th night i slept better than i have slept in years!!! good luck, please do not expect to magically be better post removal. it takes time. things i did to feel better post removal were: i am 215 lbs now, did i mention the 40 lbs weight loss in four months? i drank about a gallon of water a day, my theory is that water cleanses our system. i also took a liquid B vitamin, pills do not absorb into the body as well as liquid. i also worked out daily. i made sure i at least took a 10 minute walk a day to get the feel good endorphins going, especially if i was grouchy or feeling crappy. i did have a few times i "crashed" and thought i was never going to get better.

Your not going crazy,i had the Mirena in for 6 months and had to get it out because of the same problems.You will start to feel better when you get it out but you wil problet still get some symtoms but they to go way.I have had my Mirena outnow for 9 weeks and im not feeling to bad ussaly when your periods due you will feel a bit worse i think it takes 6 months to a year to get it all out of your sistem but ive beentold it does go way.Good Luck.

I think that if you are feeling all of these symptoms since having the Mirena inserted, it is worth listening to your intuition.

That said, it is possible that you are actually experiencing postpartum depression. From experience, PPD can strike anyone (even those who have children and are longing for their new ones to arrive). PPD isn't about how you feel towards your children. Often PPD doesn't present until several weeks after delivery.

Now, even if it is PPD, if you look at the possible side effects of Mirena, mood swings are high on the list. It is also not recommend for people with a history of depression.

I hope that you are soon feeling better.

I'm glad you are taking action and getting the mirena out, that way, after a few months you can se if the symptoms improve. Since you had it in pretty shortly after the baby, thee might be some normal postpartum blues issues going on too -- so it would be hard for anyone to know exactly what was due to the mirena, and what was a due to a different reaction to the last birth -- but since I had my Mirena in last year, I believe that the mirena might have had a lot to do with it. Maybe the progesterone in the mirena never let you recover back to a non-pregnant hormone state - I'm not an endrocrinologist, so I don't know.

I do have the weight gain, loss of sex drive, fuzzy thinking and hair loss that many women complain about and I'm getting mine out. i hope your mood improves after the mirena is out. if it doesn't improve as much as you want -- please think about seeing a counselor and talking about whatever is bothering you. That always pulls me back when I am getting really down.

You are not a bad mother. Just bad hormones! Good luck.