Hey there,

I am six months post removal and just finished my 5th post-removal period. Yikes! I'm glad that I am ovulating, and know that with every period my body is getting well, but ever since getting Mirena removed, my periods have been really heavy and painful, seem to last forever, and the PMS has been ridiculous!

Anyways, feeling pretty frustrated. Things were going really well until right before this period. Not sure if it's the hormones or something I ate, but my IBS returned with a vengeance a couple weeks before this period and hasn't really improved. Which means I'm constantly running to the bathroom, but worse, my stomach feels sick all the time. I'm especially worried that I'll go through another cycle of the horrible nausea and heartburn I experienced a few months post-removal. That was so scary and one of the worst periods of time in this whole saga!

Very weirdly, one symptom that I thought was gone for good came back this period. I started having joint pain in my hands on the first day of my cycle. I know for a fact this is related to hormones and will subside, but I was hopeful this was one symptom I'd never have to experience again. My reflux returned very suddenly on the first day of my period and has thankfully mostly faded away now that my period is ending.

Over the last week I've also become totally exhausted and want to sleep all the time. I suppose I should be thankful for this, since Mirena made me feel too anxious to sleep and one of my more irritating symptoms was insomnia. My brain feels foggy which is annoying. My eyes feel okay, which is a blessing. These days it seems like either my eyes or my stomach are bothering me, but thankfully not at the same time. During Mirena I got hit with both all the time, which was utterly miserable.

Anyways, just needed to vent! Very hopeful that this will resolve itself in the next couple months, but right now this seems like it's lasting forever! I'm also pretty ticked off since I'll be leaving on a road trip with my girlfriends next week and was hoping againt all hope that I wouldn't feel like complete crap. Sigh . . . still hoping.