IUD or IUT

I have been reluctant to post about this because it’s not what my blog is about. However, my posting has been so sporadic lately I thought you might like an explanation. Here it goes…the most boring post I can come up with.

Intrauterine Device or Intrauterine Torture?
In my case it was torture. I don’t begrudge the oodles of women that this handy little piece of hormone releasing plastic has worked for. For those women, I say I am very happy that it works for you. The hubs has had the little snip snip, so I didn’t get this as a method of birth control; nope, I got it for a very different reason.

About 2 months ago I went to the emergency room for severe abdominal pain. If I were pregnant, I would swear a baby was about to crown. That’s how bad the pain was and it had been going on for 12 hours! They ran lots of blood work and couldn’t figure anything out. It was a mystery pain.

I started doing some research of my own. I was on my period at the time. My research pointed to endometriosis, so I made an appointment with my OB/GYN. The truth of it is, it sounds just like endometriosis, but there’s no way to really know without doing exploratory surgery. To avoid that the doctor and I made the decision to treat

it as if it were endometriosis. The Mirena® IUD has been shown to be helpful for women with endometriosis because it lessens bleeding. After 1 year of it being in place, many women won’t have any periods at all. Because pain from endometriosis typically accompanies your period, it should help.

So I made the decision to give it a shot. I bled from the very beginning of insertion. There hasn’t been a day in the past month when I haven’t been bleeding. The very pain we were trying to get rid of came back with vengeance just 10 days after having the IUD placed. Instead of one day of pain, however, the pain has continued for 14 days. Today is the 14th day. At its worst I am curled up in a ball, crying, nauseous and begging the pain to stop. At its best I am hunched over, not able to walk and reminding myself to breath through it.

On day 4 of the pain, I made an appointment with any doctor in the group that would see me. It was a man. I don’t have anything against male doctors when it comes to delivering my babies, but when it comes to understanding the pain that accompanies it or anything else female related, they just don’t get it. How could they? His advice was for me to suck it up and stick it out. Yeah, okay I’ll do that. I left there thinking, “I’ve birthed 2 children. I can handle this.”

On day 12 of the pain, I decided that I can’t handle it. I’m pretty tough, but not that tough. It’s just not normal to feel that much pain. I can’t do an hour presentation at work contort my face in pain and practice Lamaze breathing in the middle of it. I can’t carry Ladybug when I am hunched over and unable to walk. I made the call and got to see my doctor that day. We agreed that taking it out would be the best thing. It came out on the 12th day of pain. The pain, however, did not go away instantly. Nope…I sit her 2 days later still in pain. I find myself contemplating what I can medicate myself with and still be productive at work.

The plan now is to try the pill. I am hopeful the pill will work. I really want it to work. If, after 3 months, it hasn’t helped then they will do surgery to see what’s what. Then what? I have no idea. My current thought, I’m not using my uterus any longer…just take it out while you’re in there. It’s drastic, but the pain has pushed me to the edge.

3 People Raise Their Wine Glasses to Me:

Jessica said...

I am so sorry you have had to deal with this pain. I don't have an IUD and haven't, nor have I had endometriosis. I really hope you start feeling better soon!

Rebecca said...

I've been wondering where you were.. oh my goodness, I just want to give you a hug because I can just imagine what yuo are going through - worse than what I was going through! I really hope the pill works for you and after reading this I am glad I chose the pill and not the IUD - yikes!

I'll be keeping you in prayer.

Anonymous said...

I have been having the same kind of issues since my periods came back after the baby, too!

I chalked it up to cystic ovaries, since my pain switches sides from month to month (so every other month, I think I may have appendicitis). The pain really is awful! My doc wants to put me on the pill too.

Praying that you get straightened out and feeling better very, very soon!!

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