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Originally Posted by onesnowyowl
I don't see how a copper IUD would cause emotional problems; it gives off no hormones, unlike traditional birth control pills. In fact, I believe most of the ladies here chose the copper IUD because they felt that traditional BC was messing with their systems too much..
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what seems to happen with the copper IUD is that it doesn't directly release hormones, but the stress it causes to your system (by being something that causes inflammation of the uterus) causes a reaction in your hormonal system which then has various knock-on effects, not unlike the mirena.
i better just repost what i read since i'm not medical-minded and can't explain it very well!
Quote:
The main problem for most women experiencing side effects of the copper IUD is that it causes inflammation. It is a foreign body in your uterus, that's part of why it works, but really your body doesn't want it there because it's interrupting your body's attempts to make you pregnant.
Inflammation is a natural and good process to a point, we'd die without it. But ongoing inflammation, as from the IUD, will cause chronic stress on your body. This leads to increased stress hormones in your body, particularly corticosterone.
Guess what chronic corticosterone does ladies...drumroll...suppresses your immune system, so you feel like crap and makes you gain weight in your torso. THat'd be the spare tire everyone refers to.
Foreign bodies cause immune responses including inflammation.
Uterine inflammation = increased bleeding and stress = increased stress hormones = depressed immune system, spare tire, and a whole host of other problems may be associated.
Keep researching, everyone should know everything they can about their bodies.
If you just got the IUD, unless it's unbearable, give it a few cycles. Most women normalize because the body kind of accepts the presence of it and stops fighting. Some people just keep fighting and it gets them in trouble. There are other things that may help, and I can repost them if requested.
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anyway i'm just back from getting my IUD fitted and it was far less unpleasant than i expected. it was more like discomfort than pain - i think i am pretty lucky, whatever way i'm set up that it didn't hurt much. or maybe i was expecting it to be so bad after reading scare stories that i was waiting for the real badness to start and didn't notice that it was actually being done! i'm relieved anyway, i was a bit nervous about the whole thing.
but i can't use my mooncup for my two next periods - it's back to horrible pads for two months. haven't used pads since i was 16 and can't say i've missed them :P
-----Added 18/11/2008 at 01 : 59 : 54-----
i've been doing a little more reading now that i know what type of coil i actually had fitted (the Nova T380) which is standard in the UK and apparently much smaller than the Paraguard (which i understand is standard in the US?) which may explain the lesser discomfort. it lasts five years, not ten, but...well..it would be tricky to keep using the same condom for five years, eh?
for other ladies living in the UK, if you google 'nova t 380 reviews' (i'm not allowed post links yet) you can find other womens' experiences of this coil, which is apparently the only one on offer from the NHS.
i'm starting to feel quite crampy now, but pretty lowlevel, and i have a stockpile of ibuprofen and a hot water bottle in any case.