IUD Experience Part 3: Three Months Later

** Please note that this post contains some descriptive detail of periods and the uterus and ovaries. **

This is the 3rd installment of my IUD Experience series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

To be completely honest, I cannot believe I’ve had my IUD for three months. Three months exactly as of this week. Y’all. Where did the time go!?

I’ve talked about my background with PCOS and why I chose to go for the IUD. I’ve gone into detail about the insertion experience. Now I want to share exactly how I’m feeling and how my body has changed since I’ve had the IUD in for three months.

We left off in this IUD experience journey after the most painful experience of my life: the insertion. Would the cramping ever go away? Would I finally feel like myself again and not some raging hormonal crazy woman who couldn’t control her emotions? Would I actually not suffer from depression and migraines every time I got my period?

The First Month

The first month was definitely the most challenging. I never knew what my body was going to do that day or how I would feel.

Was I going to cramp all day? Would I be exhausted? Was I going to want to rip off everyone’s head?

Working Out with the IUD

This is where things got a bit weird for me.

I took about a week off of the gym after the insertion. My body needed time to rest, and I was not going to force it to try and heal my muscles while also trying to heal my uterus and cervix.

The first few sessions were solid. No issues, no pain, I was 100%. I was taking those workouts a bit easier than normal because my body was still healing.

About two weeks after the insertion, I was feeling practically back to normal. So, my workouts became intense again. I was pushing myself on leg days, my shoulders would feel like they were about to explode on my push days, and I was working hard on my deadlifts. But then, something changed.

Every single time I would workout, I would get horrific cramps. They were so bad where I was to the point of quitting my workouts and going home early. And then, when I would get home, they would continue to be bad for the remainder of the day. I was practically bedridden after going to the gym because my cramps were that bad.

I called the doctor about it and they got me in fairly quick to do an exam to see if anything was wrong. There was also a slight concern because you’re supposed to be able to feel the strings of your IUD right before you hit your cervix. I couldn’t feel mine. At that point, there was a scale of things that it could’ve been, and of course, my mind was dead set on the worst-case scenario: my body was rejecting the IUD and it would have to be removed OR the IUD had punctured the wall of my uterus and would have to be removed.

I went in, they felt around, and the doctor couldn’t find the strings either. So, off I was to do an ultrasound to see if the IUD was where it was supposed to be.

Everything checked out to be A-okay with the IUD. It was in the proper place, no issues were found, and the strings had gone back up through the cervix and into the uterus. No big deal.

What they did find was a 3cm cyst on my left ovary. I do have PCOS so I’m used to cysts and cysts popping on a regular basis, but when a cyst gets that big, it can be a bit painful. That was the cause of all of my pain. Thank god it was nothing serious, and it would go away after awhile.

I took about a week and a half off of the gym after the whole cyst ordeal because of traveling for the holidays. I can say that I haven’t had cramping during or after workouts since then. YAY!

My Life Now

How are my periods and do I even get my period anymore?

The short answer is no, I do not get my period anymore. That’s with the definition of active bleeding every month. So in that sense, no.

But here’s what I have experienced:

• The first “period” was around Christmas. God awful cramping and exhaustion. I was on 1000mg of ibuprofen just to take away a bit of the pain. Not fun. But there was no active bleeding.
• The second “period” was around the end of January. Cramps weren’t as bad but sometimes it would hit me out of nowhere and I’d have to legit stop what I was doing, sit down, and breathe through them. Took some Midol/Pamprin to deal with all of it. I did have that gross brown snot-like blood/discharge. So no active bleeding, but it wasn’t my normal.

I’ve only had this sucker in for 3 months so I’m still not 100% sure about how my body is when it’s on my “period”. So far I know I have cramping and maybe some slightly brown discharge, but other than that, it’s not bad.

I will say that it is a bit strange being iritable and cramping out of nowhere with no other signs of having your period… It’s kind of like “what the heck is going on with me” and then I realize, “oh, I guess it is that time again.”

Emotions, Anxiety, Depression, & Migraines

When it is around that time of my “period”, I get extremely irritable. Like, it’s bad. I am so sorry for the people in my life because it’s not great.

During my last two “periods”, I didn’t get my usual spells of depression. And, it was so freaking nice. I was actually able to function like a normal human while I was on my period. I wasn’t thinking about how awful my life was 24/7 or how I don’t think I’m good enough or how I didn’t even want to get out of bed because there was no point.

As far as anxiety goes, I haven’t noticed that much of a difference. I am on meds for my anxiety so that keeps me stable a good 90% of the time.

There was a point in time a few years ago where I was on a certain kind of pill and I would get migraines every time I went on the placebo pills so I could get my period. They came like clockwork. Over the past few years, we’ve changed up my pills so I didn’t have that issue anymore. When I switched to the IUD, migraines were a big worry for me.

Luckily I didn’t have one during my period in December. I did have one at the end of my period at the end of January, but I’m not sure if that was period related or if it was just the weather/something I ate. The next few months will definitely be a determining factor of whether or not my periods will trigger migraines.

Moving Forward

I’m genuinely so happy that I decided to take my reproductive health into my own hands.

I’ll be keeping tabs on my mental and emotional state as the months go by so I can get a better feel for what my body becomes when I’m on my period. Hopefully, as the months go by, things will start to level out even more and I’ll be even happier.

Part 4 is in the works and it’ll include any and all your questions about my IUD experience, PCOS, and all things related to the whole process. Thank you all so much for your support, and if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them below 🙂

~abigail gray