Wow! I thought I just had gingivitis. I had the Mirena IUD inserted in May 2005. My mother passed away a month later. I was passing all my symptoms off as a sign of mourning. When I do a timeline of events however, everything seems to coincide with the iud. I have weight gain, fatigue, occasional cramping. I have also been having joint swelling and pain in my fingers. I'm so glad all this is really not in my head. I've been tryng to attribute the weight gain to my age, 36. I sure hope I'm wrong. If they say you have to be on your period to get this removed, what happens if you don't really have a period anymore because of the device? Will they have to dilate the cervix again? Thanks.