Things I Wish I Knew Before My IUD

After a few years, I’m at the precipice of deciding if I want to get my IUD removed, or replaced.  My then-husband and I decided that it would be the way to go after the arrival of our daughter.

It has been a pretty pleasant thing to have, and as the time is coming on if I should re-up, I find my mind going back to the little surprises that came along with it.

Thankfully, I didn’t have any real, negative side-effects, but sometimes…

For any woman, the results and effects are different, so definitely look into the possibility of side-effects before you decide.  But this article is written from my own personal experience of the things that surprised me due to having it, and the things I wished I knew before.

Remember, talk to your own doctor if you’re considering it.

The Insertion Pain

Though it only takes a moment to insert, the pain, my God, THE PAIN!

I didn’t think that anything could be worse than the maternity pains that came with bringing a child into the world (and mind you, mine was pretty mild compared to women who deliver vaginally, I was all c-section), but I was not prepared.

I remember looking at this chart of “Trees in North America,” and during that moment of pain, wanting to punch them all (Maple, Pine, Oak, all of them could get it at that time).

But the moment it was in place, the pain was gone.  I didn’t feel anything else.  However, that pain was something of nightmares.

Emotional Over Beautiful Things

I’m not a stoic person, or overly emotional.  I feel as though my expression of emotions falls into a pretty standard range, and they stay there, except for small moments of beauty.

The first time I realized something was wrong was when I started tearing up whenever the bridge of “Whip My Hair,” came on.  Yes, Willow Smith’s song about hair empowerment that I heard millions of time before getting my IUD, was bringing me to tears.  I remember trying to look away while thinking:  “That little girl is so inspiring!”

The thing was, my IUD has a low dose hormone to it, and it caused an increase of emotion in certain music related times.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Listening to opera, a Spanish guitar, and the movie Frozen will leave me weeping uncontrollably.  I even had to take a moratorium on the Wicked soundtrack.  My tears were no longer “Defying Gravity,” if you know what I mean.

Less Periods

I don’t know about everyone else, but I loathe Flo and her freakin’ visits.  She always stayed too long, made a mess, and generally left me feeling like I wanted to spend days in the shower after her.

But, her arrival was generally good news, because it not only meant that things were functioning properly down there, but there were no babies trying to come out in a few months.

But after the insertion, I went to the store to load up on my normal materials for Flo’s visit and… she never came.

I wish I knew how infrequent my menstrual cycles would be, because otherwise I wouldn’t have spent so much money on things that (after four years) I’m just now FINALLY making a dent in.

He Could “Feel” It

Well, not really “it,” but with my IUD, there were two metal strands that are meant to hang when it came time for the doctor to remove it.  The doctor cuts the strands, to make them shorter, but apparently he didn’t make them short enough, because my then-husband surprised me by saying that he could feel them.  Very awkward.

Slight Back Pain

I always felt like I was an old soul, but it wasn’t until after my IUD that I began to feel slightly older than usual.

I noticed that my lower back was stiffer.  To this day, I find myself bending and doing a stretching version of the Macarena to loosen my back up.

Difficult Weight Loss

For a long time in life, if I ever gained weight, all I needed to do was to be very dedicated to working out and eating right for about three to four weeks, and the weight would fall off.

In fact, by the time my daughter realized that she was too cool to “eat at Mom’s” I had already lost 30 pounds of my baby weight.  So, I figured that losing the last 40 wouldn’t be a problem.

However, it seemed like every piece of toast, cheese, and pizza was glued to my stomach, hips and thighs.

Now, it takes a very concerted effort to lose the weight.  Which, though annoying at first, is actually a good thing, because after really working for it, it’s making me appreciate my body a lot more.

Acne

Because my skin is so dry, I’ve never really had a breakout.  But due to the low-dose, my skin is more prone to breaking out now.

If I take care of my skin, it’s just like normal.  But any time I’m lazy and don’t wash it before going to bed, then it’s pimple city.

Increased Hair Growth

I never really liked using tweezers, but now, they are my best friend.  I carry them in my wallet in case I realize that a random hair is popping out.  I am now on aware for any stragglers that didn’t seem to grow until after having my IUD.  Then, after that, with my trusty compact, we solve the problem.

Freedom!

Regardless of the random tears, renegade hairs, and body soreness, the IUD is worth its little weight in gold.  During my daughter’s first year, my then-husband and I were adamant that we wanted to wait to have another child, and the IUD did that.

I don’t know if I’ll re-up or not, but I do know that it successfully worked for me.