Personal experiences with IUDs?
I'm considering getting an IUD since it doesn't necessarily require a prescription.
I wanted to know what other people's experiences with this type of birth control were like.
@forcefulWatermelon1720
I've used an IUD for over 15 years. I love it. I have the Copper-T kind that only needs replacement every 10 years or so; it's been replaced once. Some women have problems with them - pain for several days when they're first inserted; I didn't. I have friends who've used the hormone-based ones; some love them; some can't tolerate them.
The biggest thing to be aware of with any IUD is that there's a nylon string, left to make it easy to remove. (It's visible in most pictures of IUDs, but they don't always make it clear that the string stays after insertion.) This means you can touch the string to confirm that it's still where it's supposed to be, and that any infection or disease will climb the string like a ladder up into the middle of the uterus, and you can go from "minor bacteriological infection" to full-on Pelvic Inflammatory Disease in basically no time. Because of this, many practitioners are very leery of giving IUDs to anyone who's sexually active with more than one partner - the risks of debilitating problems from infection are a lot worse.
IUDs got a bad name because in the 70s, there were problems with them - a lot of defective ones, a lot of pregnancies for women who had IUDs. It turns out, they later discovered that this wasn't because of a problem with IUDs themselves, or even that particular design, but because of manufacturing defects: they were prone to production errors that nobody at the time thought were important. (Tiny bumps on the plastic, that kind of thing.) Turns out, the design is actually very important; some designs work, and some really don't, and microscopic changes make a difference.
I was very happy to switch to an IUD after my second child was born - no more daily schedule tracking, no worries about hormones in my milk supply, no discovering that I was out of condoms or other supplies at an inopportune moment.
@Mlin
Does the string get in the way of sex?
@FordsApprentice it doesn
@FordsApprentice supposedly its felt , and I was told it felt like a little pinch but not a hurtful one . So its actually known that its there without me saying its there.
@forcefulWatermelon1720
I have an IUD and it has made my periods longer but otherwise it has been awesome!
@forcefulWatermelon1720
IUDs are different for everyone. Honestly I'm super supportive and say go for it if you're able. However, go get it done by an actual Gyno. I tried to get an IUD inserted at a maternity clinic and they sold me one that was for women who had been pregnant despite the fact that I was a teenager and I had told them I'd never been pregnant. Then they couldn't insert it at all so I had to go to a real Gyno who got me the right IUD but still couldn't insert it because my uterus is retroverted. She told me I could make an appointment to go the operating room where they would have the tools to put it in despite my retroversion, but the metal thing she stuck up my uterus to measure it hurt so bad that I tear up just thinking about it. I'm also pretty squeamish and I almost passed out in the waiting room after the whole ordeal so I decided to never actually get the operation done. My experinece isn't super typical, and if I had been able to go in the first time and get it done with no issues I think it would have been worth the pain.
