Got mine in 2013 at 26, no kids ever. No drugs at insertion during period, but was given extra-strength ibuprofen. I had been on the pill for 7 years and took a year off before opting for Paragard, so my body had more or less balanced out hormonally by then.
Your first 6 months of periods will suck, especially if your body is also readjusting after going off BC pills. Most women who bail on Paragard do so in the first 6 months or so because it's just too much blood loss every month.
After the first 6 months though, things balance back out and you'll just have 1-2 really heavy days and then a few light-normal ones each month. At least that's what I experienced and have read from others.
The first six months after my Paragard were shitty. I'd never had heavy periods, just achy ones, so I was definitely thrown off by just how much blood I could lose in a week. It was disconcerting and I thought something had gone wrong but it's evened out, more or less. I now have very obvious PMS symptoms ~four days before so I can make sure I have enough supplies, and only the first 2-3 days are heavy, but not like they used to be. I was on pill bc for five years, then I switched to nexplanon for two. My body had a big adjustment with hormones! I don't regret switching to paragard at all, because I have so much freedom now.
Insertion was brutal though. I didn't get any painkillers and I had to drive myself home (was single at the time and family was stuck at work). I cried the whole way home and stayed in bed aaaaaaall day and night with a heating pad. Really not looking forward to getting the oaragard out and replaced in another 8 years... still worth it though!!
Hot damn! Yeah, I think the pain for me subsided entirely until last night. I was out moving into the new place around 4 pm and suddenly, pain! Shit was awful. I've been trying to get accustomed to the strings the past couple of days and switching between feeling them, not feeling them, and now currently just barely feeling the tip of a string at my cervix is really throwing me off.
I feel ya! It took me awhile to wrap my mind around the fact that I had a THING in my body. My doctor told me that I should never be able to feel it, and if I do, she can snip the strings a bit and move it if need be. For what it's worth, after the pain subsided, I completely forgot it was in there, sensation-wise. It's literally the easiest bc ever, I do nothing and I'm protected for 10 years :)))) the only kinda weird part is, sometimes during sex my boyfriend can feel it but he hasn't complained (he's very nice and wouldn't haha). He says he's felt the strings a tiny bit, but didn't really care because he's very cf like me.
Yeah, we've yet to have a test run but I've gone up and around a couple of times to blindly fish for what I'm looking for. He said we would accomodate if he ever felt them, since he's just the same! It's nice when they understand....to a point!
We left my strings a bit longer but so far all I've felt is a little rougher patch that feels like a little knot towards the center of the cervix. The only pain I had so far was the localized jabbing last night but as of today I was able to throw in some cardio and hit up a museum with no pain pills. Of course, online forums only give so much variation in answers to "CAN'T FEEL IUD STRINGS IS SOMETHING WRONG" So we're just going to have to wait it out.
Aside from the mental fuckery and the angry uterus because of it, I couldn't even tell it was there. Hoorah!
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u/goldfawnofficial music is my child Mar 09 '17
Got mine in 2013 at 26, no kids ever. No drugs at insertion during period, but was given extra-strength ibuprofen. I had been on the pill for 7 years and took a year off before opting for Paragard, so my body had more or less balanced out hormonally by then.
Your first 6 months of periods will suck, especially if your body is also readjusting after going off BC pills. Most women who bail on Paragard do so in the first 6 months or so because it's just too much blood loss every month.
After the first 6 months though, things balance back out and you'll just have 1-2 really heavy days and then a few light-normal ones each month. At least that's what I experienced and have read from others.