Sunday 9 May 2010

Update - Thoughts on the pill

Pretty much a month ago I wrote quite a long post about my thoughts on the pill. You guys were amazing and gave me lots to think about in your lovely comments. And I think I also promised an update when I had given more thought to what to do next. So here we are an update!

I went to see a lovely nurse at the family planning clinic who talked me through my options and allowed me to talk about my opinions and my experiences. Really a girl you are completely right that a family planning clinic is the right place to go for contraceptive advice.

And so on Friday I went back to the same clinic and had a Mirena IUS put in. The Mirena is a coil but is plastic with some progestergen in it which releases slowly over 5 years. So I now don't have to worry about contraception until 2015! My decision to get the coil was mainly because I didn't want to still be on the pill, as I had said it was giving me trouble, and also because I don't plan on having kids anytime soon.

It hurts though, to get it put in. If you do decide to do it take strong painkillers first. I wish I had done this, it would have made it a little easier. But the doctor was great, very supportive, talked me through it all and really made me feel at ease.

Right now it's still a little odd feeling, I'm still getting slight cramps, much better than yesterday and Friday afternoon and hopefully tomorrow will continue to improve. If anyone has got one in any thoughts on how long it took them to settle in would be great. I'll start to get concerned on Tuesday/Wednesday if it still doesn't feel right.

Anyhow, thank-you again for all your support, I truly appreciate all of you peeps who read, comment and come along on this journey with me.

4 comments:

elle said...

Hurray! You went to a clinic! And you ended up with the same coil I have... 5 years of not thinking about contraception is a blessed thing!

It's been years, so I can't quite remember all that much about the insertion, but I do recall that it was a bit painful and I'd wished I'd been a bit more doped up. I also remember having cramps for a few days, and just generally being very *aware* of my uterus for a while. My threads were also cut a bit short, and so were a bit, um, noticeable during sex, but that eventually settled down, and stimulated some breaking out of new positions, which was no bad thing!

Another thing I've noticed with the mirena is that whatever effect the hormones had on my cycle (I went from being uber-heavy & regular to random but barely noticeable spotting, and one of my friends stopped having her period completely) wore off for me after about 3 years. It's hard to describe, but I just gradually noticed my own old cycle taking over again. Which is deeply reassuring for whenever I decide to get on with baby-making.

Really good couple of posts by the way!

elle said...

And, um, that may have been TMI in that previous comment, but really, there's not enough honest informed conversation about this stuff. So thank you for stimulating some thought & discussion!

Metropolitan Mum said...

Oh wow, you are brave! A friend of mine fainted when the coil was put in, talking about painful...
I have given you an award: http://www.metropolitanmum.co.uk/2010/05/spread-the-blogging-love/

Marie said...

@agirl - thank-you, you inspired me to go ahead with it, knowing it had worked for you and for that I will be very grateful. Thankfully today I am feeling much better. More positive and less achey!

@Metropolitan mum - I can understand why! Thankfully I just gritted my teeth and breathed through it. And thank-you for the award! I shall come over and have a look :)