by Nicole F.
In December of 2017, I found myself making the decision that most women make at some point in their lives. What kind of birth control should I get? I was a little late to the game and the only kind of birth control I knew about were condoms and the pill so going into the gynecologists office and hearing that there were way more options kind of blew my mind. She asked me what I was looking for in my birth control and it was then that my doctor told me about IUDs.
Dating all the way back to the early 1900s, intrauterine devices (IUDs) have been used to prevent pregnancy for years. They are a small ‘T’ shaped device that the doctor inserts into the uterus to help prevent unwanted pregnancies. They last for upwards to five years and are considered to be the most effective form of birth control, even though they do not prevent STDs.
For me, it was the perfect option. I was too nervous I’d forget to take the pill and the rest of my options were just not as effective as I wanted them to be. I also suffered from very severe cramps that were sometimes so intense that I passed out. So my choice ended up boiling down to an IUD that lasted five years, called Mirena, and an IUD that lasted three years, called Skyla. Since I had never tried this form of birth control I decided to start with the Skyla and see how it affected my body and my mood.
The insertion process was unpleasant and a bit painful, but for me it felt like a really bad bout of cramps. If you’re considering and IUD and are afraid of the pain of insertion, just know that it’s about the same amount of pain women experience in the beginning of having contractions before going into labor. I know that makes it sound scary, but unlike labor it only lasts for a moment and then it’s in. Following the insertion process you may bleed a bit, and have some light cramping, but for me at least, it wasn’t the worst and was only mildly uncomfortable.
The first thing I noticed about having an IUD was that my period got really heavy and then I all but stopped having one, only encountering some spotting here and there. My horribly painful cramps were no longer something I had to deal with and for the first time in years I was able to go a whole month without being in pain. It was and still is the best part of having an IUD in my opinion. If you’re someone who suffers from very painful cramps, I highly recommend this form of birth control. Another positive to the IUD is that if you change your mind at any point and want children or don’t like the way it affects your body then you can just take a simple trip to your gynecologist's office and have it removed in a very simple procedure that takes less than five minutes.
Now onto the negatives. The first downside is one that I don’t think would be an issue for everyone, but it’s just what I experienced. To be able to check and make sure your IUD is still properly inserted, there is a long wire that wraps around the walls of the vagina that you can feel with your fingers. Since the wire wraps around it’s normally not something your partner would notice, but mine did not wrap properly so occasionally my partner would feel it stabbing him and certain sexual positions became off-limits for a time. To fix this, all I needed to do was take a trip to my doctor and she helped fix the problem.
The second negative I noticed was that while I was no longer having a full period, I was experiencing all of the emotional symptoms, but intensified. Fortunately this only lasted for the first year and now the only sign of my period is the occasional spotting I mentioned before. The final negative would honesty just be that it doesn’t prevent STDs. If you’re getting an IUD and you’re looking more into hooking up than a relationship, then I’d still recommend wearing a condom to decrease the chances of catching something.
In the unlikely event that you do become pregnant with an IUD it is best to let your doctor know immediately as the pregnancy would most likely be an ectopic pregnancy, which is when the fertilized egg becomes attached outside the uterus, usually in the Fallopian tubes. These pregnancies are rare, but they are life threatening for both you and the baby, should the pregnancy continue, and would need medical treatment to prevent death.
All in all, my experience with an IUD has been a very positive one and I’d recommend it to anyone in a committed relationship who is not looking to have children in the next couple of years or if you are someone with painful period cramps. While it has its downsides, my IUD has been extremely effective and very low maintenance. It took only minutes to get it and it will take only minutes to remove and when my three years is up, I will definitely be looking into getting an IUD again.