4 months post Mirena, reflux and dry eye in battle!

Hi all,

I thought I post because I am at the notorious 4-month post mark, and the physical effects of hormone rebalancing are almost comically extreme. I also thought I'd write because I'm finally (FINALLY, as if it were not already really really obvious) sure that the Mirena has cause ALL my problems these past few years.

Firstly, the rebalancing mark. My worst symptoms are really strange, and when they are bad REALLY bad, and don't fade in and out, but turn off and on suddnely, like a light switch. When I had the Mirena in, I was battling with severe dry eye to the point of corneal ulceration and repeated rounds of topical steroids and Antibiotics , not to mention 24/7 misery and pain. By far the worst thing I have ever experienced. When the Mirena came out, my dry eyes got better very suddenly. My opthalmologists were baffled, I think they figured me for a lifetime patient! I was relieved and felt like I had my life back UNTIL I developed crazy heartburn and acid reflux, which like my eyes, was 24/7. Well, this week my period came early and I noticed waking up that my eyes were suddenly dry, red and painful like during the worst weeks with Mirena in, BUT, my reflux had completely disappeared. This is the boat I am in now and can only imagine how the hormones are flowing in my body to create these extreme and extremely odd symptoms.
But because I've now seen both symptoms come and go, I'm a lot more optimistic that eventually my body will get things right and they will both resolve. (This winter and for awhile post-Mirena I'd been feeling like I might be stuck this way forever).

I am also fortunate to have a wonderful Naturopath specializing in hormone balance who has had some pretty good advice. I'm on Progesterone cream for two weeks out of my cycle (this has helped with my other myriad symptoms significantly), and she said that because of the early period I may still be deficient in Progesterone, so I'm taking a little more to see if it helps. We are also focusing on adrenal support. I've done the saliva/urine hormone and neurotransmitter test and my cortisol and and adrenal function (as well as progesterone/estrogen) are all out of whack. According to my doctor, adrenals regulate the production of all other hormones, so once these fall in line, and with more months of normal cycles, things should regulate. So that's comforting.

And finally, I am -- yes-- SURE that Mirena has caused all this. Which is a big "duh" moment, but there were some questions. Earlier this year I was having major GI issues, and tested for food allergies and had a stool test done for parasites/bacteria/yeast. Test result showed many, many food allergies (all which I have since avoided), bacterial and parasitic infections (worms and amoebas! no joke!) and yest. I've spent most of 2009 being treated and retested for all these bad guys while not being completely sure that they were causing any of my problems or not. Once I got the Mirena removed however, I noticed that my GI symptoms, (as well as a lot of other symptoms: anxiety, night sweats, acne, insomnia, etc.) instead of occuring at random would line up with my cycle. This was a big AHA! moment, but I still wanted to clean up any bugs in my system to be sure. Well, I got back the last in my series of allergy and stool tests which show that I have not developed any new allergies, and that my stool is CLEAR of infection of any kind. Hallelujiah. And since I am continuuing to have symptoms on a cyclic basis, ALL of this has most likely been caused by Mirena. I should feel silly for pursuing the stomach infection route so dilligently, but mostly I feel relieved to know what REALLY has been causing all of this, and hopeful that with time I will get over it.

Sorry for the length of this message. Thanks everybody for your posts, I don't know how I'd get through this without this community, and will keep you all updated as my body figures things out.