Mirena Question

BekTens · 12-17-2008, 07:08 PM

Hey girls, I'm asking this on behalf of another cyster who's not part of this board. She asked me for advice, but I honestly don't know that much about IUDs. I'm hoping that someone here might have some insight.

My friend, H, had a Mirena IUD put in back in April here in the United States. A couple months ago, she moved to Belgium and as far as I know, doesn't have a doctor yet.

The IUD disperses 20mg progesterone daily, and she's had 29-day cycles like clockwork.

Well, a couple months ago, she lost a bunch of weight and her very next "period" was more like a week of spotting. Next month, same thing - just a week of spotting, but no flow.

Now, according to her, Mirena does not necessarily prevent ovulation, but it does prevent successful implantation. I'm guessing that would be from the progesterone.

Well... here's the thing. Before she got the IUD, she was anovulatory, likely because of her weight. Whenever she did lose weight, she would start ovulating and get pregnant.

Sadly, she's had 5 pregnancies that ended in miscarriage due to progesterone deficiency.

Currently, she does not want to be pregnant, but based on my limited knowledge, if she did, indeed ovulate, I think that she actually could be.

If the sudden weight loss restored her ovulatory cycles and the egg got fertilizes, it makes sense to me that the progesterone from the Mirena would actually work against her natural progesterone deficiency, and possibly set up a situation ideal for sustaining pregnancy.

Since normal progesterone + extra progesterone = high progesterone = thickened uterine lining to prevent implantation, it makes sense to me that really low progesterone = extra progesterone = something close to normal progesterone, therefore not thickening the lining quite enough to prevent implantation.

In addition to that, she's been suffering from nausea and dizzy spells for the last couple weeks.

Anyway... I'm not an expert on this, so I figured I'd ask here. Has anyone had any similar experience with Mirena? Did you have any really super light periods?

~LilyBelle~ · 12-17-2008, 09:45 PM

She is right, the Mirena does not stop ovulation, but it makes the environment of the uterus where implantation usually can't take place. I have the Mirena, placed in February 2007, and had 31 day cycles like clockwork for the first 6 months and then they went haywire. I now have not had a period in about 9 months. I have never been pregnant, so I can't speak for that part of her situation, but I believe that it is highly unlikely that she is pregnant since she has the Mirena.

RunnerDuck · 12-17-2008, 10:28 PM

I don't have one but one of the "benefits" of it is shorter, lighter periods. But the IUD can cause crazy bleeding the first few months, so it's possible that is why it was heavier at first - now her periods may be lighter as she has gotten used to it.

But pregnancy is possible with the IUD so it may be worth it to pee on a stick. I'm not exactly sure what happens if you get pregnant with an IUD in place.