What has been your experience with an IUD, if any?

I personally do not enjoy inserting them and thank god have no use for one. But depending on your specific needs you might also research medicated IUD’s (slow release delivery systems).

@Dr_C do you mean you insert them into yourself? or into your patients? and why would i want a slow delivery system? it’s not a hormonal one

I haven’t had any experience but just want to say thank you for asking this question—I am so over hormonal birth control and have been seriously considering the copper IUD for a while as well.

@Dr_C: Why are physicians reluctant to throw women a prescription painkiller or two before insertion? It hardly seems like there’s any potential for abuse there and it seems like it would be way easier on both inserter and insertee…

@nikipedia my doc said he’ll do it at the end of my period so the cervix is open and is easier to insert into but should I take a pain killer?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir: I’ve heard pretty varying accounts. I can’t imagine shoving something up your cervix is anything other than painful. You can read some personal accounts here.

My ex-gf had the mirena (that is an IUD, right?) she got it because it was the most bulletproof. There are two tiny wires that are clipped on the business end (i.e. my business), and they pricked my prick repeatedly in the same spot. So, not a dealbreaker, but not the most comfortable arrangement over the long term, and anticipation of the pain during sex was a bit of a distraction.

@nikipedia thanks, i’ve read all kinds of things

@kevbo eeeep, idon’t want that, no

I had one a million years ago, well, not that long ago really, it just seems like it and I LOVED it. Never felt it, it was always there and ready, nothing to remember to bring, or to have or to take and it’s very effective. The second one I had was painful and uncomfortable from the minute it was inserted so I had it removed and never got another one.

@lillycoyote I have a really good gyno, he seems to think it’s no big deal and I trust him but scared of the insertion – I don’t really care for the pain afterward and I really hate condoms so I’m definitely going to at least try it

I had the old fashion Dalkon Shield (yes the one that killed people), and my (then)husband said it hurt him, plus it caused heavy bleeding.

Be sure you read all the reviews on the internet you can find. Good luck.

@YARNLADY yeah that’s what I’m doing now
thanks

About 20 years ago I worked on an early design that used the shape memory metal, Nitinol. It went in straight, but turned into the desired shape when it reached body temp. Now the stuff is used in stents and some high end underwire bras. They go back to their original shape while in the dryer. Who knew?
I don’t do that any more so this is not a plug for any of the above products

@Simone_De_Beauvoir good plan

@Lupin how cool, though

@nikipedia i personally have no issue with providing analgesics prior to insertion… in fact i do it often…. i just don’t enjoy inserting them.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir i insert them into patients not myself (Not having a vagina the DIY approach would be kinda tough). And since you didn’t specify what your need were i mentioned the hormonals in case that was an option for you. I’m a doctor not a mind reader. Some women prefer them… some don’t. Up to you.

@kevbo mentioned Mirena which is a hormonal… the wires sticking out is just bad insertion and is not common at all… it is of all the products i have used with patients by far the best.

You asked for experiences with IUDs. Fine. I had one inserted about 40 years ago. I don’t remember what kind – it was an old-fashioned one, I guess. Not hormonal.
I got worried about it after a year or so and arranged to have it taken out. Instead, used diaphragm/jelly/foam all at once, just to be very secure. Got pregnant anyway. Went to London to get a “procedure” (they weren’t legal in the U.S. back then). Got unpregnant. Turned out the IUD was STILL IN. So much for a) reliability of device and b) reliability of doctor who supposedly took the goddamned thing out.

@susanc oh wow, sorry to hear that – i hope it didn’t cause lasting damage

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Below the transition temp the device was perfectly straight. It could then be inserted through a narrow tube. Once in place it would go above the transition temp and go the preprogrammed state. Very elegant, but the material was expensive. Maybe an IUD was not the best application for it. It is now used in certain “demanding” applications like satellites and women’s undergarments.

@Lupin have you heard about those new bras that enhance the breasts when the person wearing them is aroused because of the body temp going up?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I have not seen it. But I can imagine setting the transition temp to match the aroused body temp. The underwire could move together slightly pushing up the wearer’s assets. Depending upon what she was wearing or doing it could falsely trigger, but so what? That’s the point of a wonder bra isn’t it?
Here’s a video . This wire is programmed to be in the straight position above the transition temp.

@Lupin I suppose
I don’t have to wear those

@Simone_De_Beauvoir There was talk of inserting them in Y chromosome holders, too. (For a different type of uplifting experience.)

@Lupin why, of course

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Did the imagined insertion procedure make you wince?

@Lupin for the IUD? or for penis lifters?

Reading yarnlady’s response did remind of one thing, having the IUD did make my periods significantly heavier but at the time it was a small trade off, at least for me, for the sheer simplicity and convenience of the thing.

@lillycoyote yes I hear that’s the case
it’s okay
i’m okay with that

@Simone_De_Beauvoir If it works for you and your partner it’s got to be the most hassle free form of birth control on the planet, no pills, no prescriptions, no implants, no paraphernalia of any kind that you have to remember to have or to fuss with, or that interferes with sensation or the experience.

@kevbo They are just strings. Have her go back to the Gyno and have them clipped. My OB/Gyn told me that if my husband could feel them he would clip them shorter. They actually disappeared into my uterus (ultrasound verified it is still there) so it isn’t an issue.

I have the Mirena, but was concerned about hormonal birth control. Pills make me a bitch. As my OB/Gyn explained it to me, the hormones in the Mirena stay in the reproductive system (I think to keep the lining from forming for implantation) and will not go through the rest of my system. I have not been hateful, so I think it must be true. :) Also, my periods have all but stopped. (They stopped for months, but one started the day after I posted that they were gone last week. I jinxed myself.)

Oh, also, the insertion wasn’t that bad. He gave me a shot of something to numb my cervix. I felt the shot and flinched a bit, but then everything was numb, I didn’t feel a thing, and I got a delightful little light-headed feeling for a few minutes to boot. I had very slight discomfort that evening; I wouldn’t even describe it as pain. It was gone by the next day.

I refuse to get an IUD. I’ve heard way too many horror stories…of it getting embedded into the uterus, surgery to have it taken out, irregular bleeding, pain, lots of weight gain. Every single friend of mine that had it, gained a minimum of 25 pounds, and had it taken out and are trying to lose their “iud weight”
I personally use condoms and NFP. Both are fine until my husband gets a vasectomy.

@casheroo were they on a hormonal IUD? weight gain makes no sense otherwise