Re: Mirena ruining my life?

I'm 28 years old. I'd been on Mirena for a year and a half. I stopped getting regular Periods.
The hair loss isn't super noticeable for me because I've always had a thick head of hair, but the Acne and anxiety for the last 3 months I was on it was horrible. I was - and still was until today - constantly thirsty, and my skin was always dry despite the fact I supplement magnesium, zinc, Vit D, Vit C, Biotin, a women's multi, fish oil, etc and drink around 200oz of water daily.
My breasts had shrunk, though I'd attributed that to my weight loss as I'd been working on that with diet and exercise since before Mirena. Except all told I've only lost 5 lbs body weight, thanks to muscle gain. (Which I now wonder if this has more to do with hormones than my lifestyle changes).
I had to convince my primary to remove it, though she was unconvinced the Mirena was causing the anxiety, palpitations, and mood swings. Oh, and hair growth on my face that still hasn't gone away.
I followed up with an endocrinologist a month after Mirena removal and the blood work revealed the only abnornalities were high DHEA, DHEA-S, and high Testosterone levels in my blood. Like, Normal for a man levels, normally indicating an adrenal growth.
I'm not paying for a CAT scan - because health insurance won't cover all of it - out of pocket when I'm 99% certain it's the Mirena.
It's been 3 months, and each month I'm feeling a bit better. My periods are regular, but shorter than they were before the Mirena. Seem to get longer by 1 day each month. Last month (month 2) I used wild yam progesterone cream, which helped my mood but made me super bloated and gassy, and left me in pain during intercourse around ovulation. I suspect I had an ovarian cyst.
I've cut all caffeine, including green tea. I've normalized my sleep schedule, 9-11p until 6-7am.
Still I was constantly tired, have terrible Acne including cystic (which I never had prior to the Mirena), and have anxiety and Depression intermittently, and irritability.
At least the palpitations are gone, as well as the elevated heart rate.
Working out helps then leaves me tired sore and achy, with cramps.
I started tracking my meals using SHealth and noticed that my Potassium intake was super low. Within a day of getting 5000mg+ of it spread out with every meal, my Acne is clearing up. Like, overnight.
I'm less achy, I woke up energized. Dropped 6 lbs in water weight, far less bloated.
You shouldn't supplement potassium, but I'd recommend reworking your diet to include way more. Daily recommended Intake is 4700mg, I'd been getting less than 1000mg even eating "healthy."
(Complex carbs, fruits, veggies, lean meat and poultry, kefir, higher protein intake, etc).
Mirena is KNOWN to mess with Potassium levels, and these strongly correlate with Progesterone.
Just something I've learned.
I wish you all a swift recovery!
Tweet