Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Never Again... Public Service Announcement

The past couple of months has been a bit of a world wind for me.  I had been pretty sick off and on, and just didn't feel right!
As a woman, you know your body, and know when something is wrong, so i made and appointment with Dr. B. 

I explained her that my normally regular cycles were now totally out of whack.


a little history....
I have had crazy hormone levels since i was a kid, so i started taking meds pretty early to control them.  My OB is also a hormone and weight loss specialist, so she has been  my medical guru since i was about 14. 

After I had Lani, we decided to try a Mirena IUD, since we knew we would want to wait a few years, before having kids again.  Its a tiny implant that lasts up to 5 years, and i could have it implanted at my 6 weeks check up.


Dr B shared all the pros and cons of switching, and we decided this would be a great fit, and at first it was.

FAST FORWARD 2 years:

Everything had been going pretty well since Lani was born, but starting January things started getting a little crazy.

I became very irregular and being the over analyzer that i am, was totally freaking out.

In June my doctor decided to do a sonogram just to check things out.  Turns out, while my IUD was in, it had shifted and was basically non functional.  I had also developed a functional cyst right ovary.

 

Functional cysts often form at the end of ovulation or during very early pregnancy as a result of the hormones produced by the body. The Dr was able to tell that I was currently ovulating, and we would have to wait a few weeks to see if there was a pregnancy or if the cyst would shrink.  (note: these cysts don't normally form when you are on birth control, meaning my IUD was probably inactive for a while).


For the next 2 weeks everything went well, the but starting the 3rd week, things changed.  Suddenly I
 had lost all forms of an appetite, became extremely bloated, gained 5 lbs, low grade fever and had a missed cycle. Now with Lani I had no early symptoms of pregnancy but a missed cycle, so this is where our minds went.  However, I was still unaware that these are also the symptoms of a ruptured cyst.

Saturday evening I began to experience excruciating pain. I have to admit that i was heartbroken knowing that if  I was pregnant this was the end of it. So I took some pain medicine and decided to lay down and rest.  I knew i had a follow up drs appointment on Tuesday, and would wait until then to go to the Dr.

After seeing the dr, doing blood work, and a new sono, it was verified that i had a ruptured cyst.

With that said, I began to research Mirena failures. i was amazed by the number of people who experienced similar issues. And after talking to friends and family, found 5 people that had similar
experiances. 

I will never use a Mirena IUD again, and i suggest you research Mirena Failure, before you do too

4 comments:

  1. Yikeesss...thanks for sharing. I'm glad you're okay.

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  2. Hi ashley, i remember you from college and saw ur pics on instagram, and i saw u had a fam blog. Clicked on it! And bam this is what i see! My story is just like urs. But i just found out mine had moved. And i hadnt been covered for months. I started havn really bad cramps months earlier but then those stopped. And i started havn my cycle 2 times a month. When we dis a sono it was in my cervix about to come out! Im so glad ur ok. Im gonna call my doc on monday to inquire about the functional cysts!

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    1. Shamrocks I would definitely contact my doctor, or at least read up on the topic. The pain was horrible and emotionally I was devistated. I hope no one else has to experience that

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