Testimonials
Read what real women have shared about their birth control side effects from the copper IUD, hormonal IUD, vaginal ring, or other contraceptives.
Stories submitted via this website are published without editing or alteration and represent the experiences and views of the writers, not necessarily the views of IUDalert.com.
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I went from being a happy , optimistic, pain free person , to depressed, crippling anxiety attacks, severe abdominal pains and migraines. The last two months have been torture. I am very in tune with my body, and I know without a doubt that this is being caused by the mirena iud I am scheduled to have it removed January 21 and I cannot wait. I do not recommend this iud for anyone. It’s not worth it.

I believe I gained weight around my stomach along with the normal effects of copper IUD.

I have paragard the copper implanted in the summer of 2007 after the birth of my daughter. I kept it for 10 years, and during those ten years I experienced many side effects.

I wish doctors would inform people of the possible side effects. The fact that my symptoms got worse over time leads me to believe the copper was building up too much in my body.

I would just cry and scream to my husband that he needed to admit me to a mental hospital if it continued much longer.

I had to stop working and stop driving. It led to dark throughts , laying on the couch 24/7, panic attacks, weight gain, insulin rejection, IBS to only name a few.

I am determined to get my life back. 1.5 years of this living hell but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I had a Mirena IUD inserted back in 2016 and the first 2 years were great. It wasn’t until the 3rd year did I begin to have so many weird symptoms. Such as painful breast cysts, migraines, insomnia, anxiety, hair loss and depression.

This was my fourth copper IUD. I had several health problems during my twenty-five years with the coil, mainly migraines, persistent aura, IBS and anxiety, but not once did I think that the coil was causing these health problems.

I had Liletta for 3 months and suffered in so many ways. I ended up with a blood clot behind my knee, gained weight, brain fog, headaches, heavy bleeding, nonstop periods, severe pain in my legs, and an infection. I had never had so many health problems in my life.

Extremely bad depression, anxiety and mood swings-which I rarely had before and a huge weight gain. 220 to 279. Had it removed because of all the side effects

Finally, a few months later, I was diagnosed with Premenstrual Dyphoric Disorder (PMDD), to which I credit pumping synthetic carcinogenic hormones under the alias of “Contraception”.

Headaches, intense brain fog where I can’t focus for the life of me, intense fatigue, arms going numb, forgetfulness, irritability, pelvic pain, abdominal pain and get this – MULTIPLE UTIS. We (partner and I) paid a visit to a urologist and when it came up I had an IUD, he immediately said to get it removed.

My dilemma here is I’m not sure if I should be blaming the Kyleena for the hair loss or if my hair is returning back to its normal thickness (or thinness) that it was before I had the NuvaRing.

I had the Mirena. The first thing I noticed when I knew something was wrong was my hair loss. This was the first of many horrible symptoms that led me to 12 different doctors and spending over $8,000 in a year.

I had the mirena for 5.5 years when it was removed. Its been a year and a year since removal and my hair never came back not even a little bit

My doctor knew I was 35 and I smoked she never mentioned the risks. On September 29 I had a stroke and was rushed to the hospital and put in a medically induced coma.

I’ve had dense, thick hair all my life and to experience this amount of thinning in such a short time felt off. I firmly believe it has something to do with the Mirena.

I starting using nuvaring after a miscarriage. I didn’t want to get pregnant without planning. After aprox 3 years using it with no side effects I had a schemic stroke. I was 28 years old. Almost killed me,

I know my story may not be like yours but I hope some of my testimony will help you realize that yes we are not crazy , and even if your ultrasounds are “fine” and your pelvic exams are “fine” your pain and suffering is your body telling you something.

At the end of the three year period, my IUD started rejecting and I had to get it removed. Within a month of removal, I started to notice a new engagement in my environment.

My gynecologist told me about the Mirena and he explained to me that it would be 5 years without period, obviously after suffering from heavy periods and cramps that would take me down, it was like a dream coming true!!!

My world will never be the same. I’m a different person. I’m not who I was and my confidence is gone. I now bleed all month long again and I’m looking for a new Gynae. Do your research girls because this device is lethal. No one should have to go through this rubbish, ever! 2 years of suffering and it was all unnecessary. Speak up for your body!

My symptoms were long and unnoticed by all who know me. I have been having pelvic pain/bladder/urethra for 5 months. I am finally realizing it’s my iud

September 30, 2013 is the day the doctor told me and my husband that I shouldn’t be sitting here listening to what happens next. My doctor looked me in the eyes, and said you should be dead……..He stated you must have a strong heart and God must really want you to live. He then explained to us, together, that the NuvaRing that I have had been on for 3 years now had cause me to have bilateral pulmonary embolism. Each one of the embolisms, that were the size of a baseball, went though my heart and landed in each of my lungs. The road to recovery was a long one.

I had a copper iud inserted immediately after having a termination 19 years ago I am know 56 years old.Nothing really physical changed other than slightly heavier periods.But I became very depressed which hasn’t left me in all that time I have tried numerous antidepressant medication over the years.

It is time for me to share my story about what happened to my Daughter, Lyla June. The good, the bad and the ugly truth. You’ve probably heard it from my friends and family, maybe my ex in his own words, acquaintances or the bits and pieces I have shared over the last two years. This post is not to bash any doctors, or to place blame on anyone, but to really bring awareness of this silent killer many people may not be aware of. I have felt compelled and inspired by many women to finally share my story.

February is when all hell broke loose. Two emergency room visits in one week with racing off the chart heart rate, skyrocketing blood pressure, nausea, diarrhea, hot flashes, loss of appetite. It was just chalked up to anxiety, and I was prescribed anti anxiety medications. These episodes have continued since then. I’ve never dealt with anxiety before and it is by far the worst feeling in the world, I do not wish this on anyone.

My OBGYN recommended the Mirena to try and stop extremely heavy bleeding during my periods. They were occurring so frequently and I was loosing so much blood that I was in and out of the ER due to severe anemia.

So I got my Skyla about 14 months ago (June 2019). The insertion was just about the worst pain I’ve ever experienced… until the debilitating, now chronic, low back pain set in. The cramping was godawful for many days/weeks/months after, but I kept telling myself my body just needed to adjust. About 5 months after insertion, during which I had…

…the nurse practitioner had been pulling on the unwound copper wire that had worked its way through my cervix and into my vaginal cavity!

I have a very long iud story. It started 2 1/2 years ago when I went to go have my IUD inserted three weeks after having my daughter. I have had an emergency C-section, that C-section had abscessed and created a 5 inch deep wound in my stomach. My doctor assured me it was OK to go ahead and insert…

I got my IUD place on March 1st of 2017 by the end of April I had lost somewhere between 15-20 lbs. we had just found out that our house that we were renting had sold and we were very stressed finding somewhere else to live. We were blessed with a friend who opened his home to us in this…

After being on the pill for years, I started going to a new gyno who told me I couldn’t be on that pill because of my migraine and headaches and the risk that poses for having a stroke. He also told me I couldn’t be put on anything hormone related, come to find out from a second opinion 2.5 years…

When I got my hormonal IUD put in two years ago I felt a sharp pain on the right side of my body. My doctor told me an “expert” would be inserting it when really she was a student. I had the IUD for five weeks and multiple doctors later before it was taken out. I went for an ultrasound,…

I got my first Hormonal IUD 2 months before I turned 19. Getting it in was the most painful experience I’ve even had. It felt like someone blew my up with air and I couldn’t breath. As soon as I left I had severe pain and heavy bleeding to the point where I couldn’t do anything but lay in…

My first round with Paragard, I expelled it after only a few months and was in the ER with horrible pain as one arm was expelled from my cervix. Being someone that doesn’t do well with hormones, I tried it again. I have had this one for 18 months and my periods are so sporadic and so heavy that I…

My Copper IUD experience… I had my IUD fixed in 2015 after my third child. I had it for 4years and 6 months. I was only told about about cramps and heavier bleeding, which was okay by me. I felt good with it up until about two years after, when I noticed my sense of intelligence was diminishing, I was…

After suffering a miscarriage in July 2018,My fiancé and I decided to put me on birth control as I did not want to get pregnant because I was heartbroken from my miscarriage.I chose to get the Liletta IUD and that was a huge mistake! It is now June 2020 and have been on it for almost 2 years.My anxiety and…

I had the paragraph iud, and no one told me the side effects or risks. I made an appointment and within the week I went to get it inserted. At the appointment the doctor couldn’t get it in right so she was pulling out and putting it back in until it was right. It was the most painful experience of…

2018 & 2019 The 2 years I lost. The 2 years I worried my friends and family and the 2 years I sometimes thought not waking up wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I was 40 years and had never had anxiety or depression in my life. I was known as the happy person, the girl who would go to…

I had Mirena put in July of 2019. One day in October out of nowhere I started feeling dizzy, like I was going to faint, crazy high heart rate, trouble breathing and intense fear. I thought I was having a heart attack and called 911. I thought I was going to die. They said it was a panic attack. All…

I started the pill when I was 13 years old due to acne. A few months after I got diagnosed with a panick disorder. I didn’t make the connection since I was so young. Especially particular about this anxiety was a sort of dark OCD thought pattern that arose. I never had experienced a feeling of having thoughts that aren’t…

The Summer of 2017 was ‘when I got ill’, for three years. It was also when my copper coil was inserted. It started with strange feelings in my hands that were difficult to describe; a sort of numbness, tingling, heavy, aching feeling. I also started feeling sluggish throughout the day and completely exhausted in the evenings. The exhaustion always took…

Hello I had the merina in for 8 months and it was the worst experience I’ve ever had. I bled for the full 8 months in and out of the hospital, losing golf ball blood clots and I always had a dizzy head. I have gained 25 pounds in weight and my breast and always sore to the point I…

Well, I started with Mirena on october 2018. I bleed for 1 or 2 months. But the worst was the anxiety and depresssion. I felt like I was Always under stress and alert. My mind couldn’t rest. So I read a paper linking Mirena to cortisol. That was Enough for me. After almost 2 years having drugs for depression and…

I let my OBGYN talk me into getting an IUD to manage my heavy bleeding caused by fibroids. My body can’t tolerate birth control pills, and I’m not ready for a hysterectomy, so an IUD felt like the only option. Insertion was painful, but bearable. The months of severe pain that followed were not. My doctor repeatedly dismissed my pain,…

I was convinced by my doctor to do the Mirena since I was done having children but not ready for either my spouse or myself to be permanently “fixed”. I spotted on and off for a couple months after placement but never actually got my period. A month after it was put in, I attempted to jump out of a…

I got my IUD 8 weeks after giving birth to my youngest child. Everyone was pushing for it. I saw ads for it, people made tshirts and kooky little art of IUD’s being women’s liberation. Every appointment leading to the birth, I was asked by nurses and Drs if I was going to get the IUD, anything but “yes” was…

I couldnt even keep my copper IUD in for a month. I started experiencing deep depression, anxiety, mental fog, and felt as if I was watching myself do some things. I had problems with memory and focus and trouble feeling in the moment. I felt a disconnect from things around me. I also could no longer exercise because i became…

I thought this was the best birth control option for me but if i knew what I know now I would have never chose to use liletta. I had it for 2.5 years and at th1 year mark I noticed the change in my stomach, constantly bloated my stomach would be flat in the morning and by 12pm I looked…

I got the iud 6 weeks after the birth of my first son because I was recommended to by the doctor and my fiancé so I took the chance. A couple of weeks after I got it inserted I felt a sharp pain in my side and after talking to my doctor he decided to see my 2 weeks later…

I wanted to share my story because I was told by doctors that my symptoms were not related to my birth control and that what was happening to me was just part of getting older. I want to share this in hopes that someone experiencing any or all of the things I did know that they are not alone. In…

The IUD was hell. I call it the devil. Firstly loss of libido, hair loss, weight gain, then increasing depression and anxiety, then sleep deterioration and heart palpitations, a sense of depersonalisatiin etc, insomnia ….All ignored by the doctors and made me feel like I was making it up. I am sure big pharmaceuticalsmaking $$$$ out of making us so…

Paraguard was the worst decision I have ever made in my life! I’ll start out by saying I am a registered nurse with a lot of experience in health care. I got it placed April 3, 2019. I wasn’t experiencing too many side effects other than pain in my abdomen and spotting which is normal. Fast forward to late August,…

I had Liletta placed almost a year ago. It was a painful experience and on top of that I started having yeast infection a week after. Bled for 6 months and after that I bleed every often (several times in a month) dr said this is normal and should wait a year until my body gets used to this. It’s…

I’ve had mood swings and very blurry vision and dizzy spells. I got my mirena 1/23/2020 for endometriosis and still currently have it but am considering getting it removed. I’ve also passed large masses. I even took pictures of them but the doctor didn’t seem concerned at all. Read more testimonials.

My name is Szilvia. I am a 40-year-old quality manager and mother of two little children, living in Germany. Not long ago I found the Natural Womanhood site when searching birth-control side effects while on the copper IUD. I found so much important information in an article by Kathleen Taylor, who cited the podcast of Julie Casper on the topic.…

I was doing what thousands of women do daily—perhaps even what you’re doing right now: late at night, Googling another symptom that I was sure was tied to the new form of birth control I was on. . . After my daughter was born, my midwives encouraged me to try a copper IUD ParaGard as a hormone-free method of birth…

All I can say in a nutshell about life: You do not know what life is until death comes knocking at your door. Back in my home country of Malaysia, I used to work in the TV and advertising industry. But now living in South Africa I cannot work because of my Visa, even though I am married to a…