I got my own about three weeks ago. Thanks to a back-tilted uterus and some other factors insertion and the week after were scary-painful, and I just stopped bleeding from it four days ago (despite the fact insertion was on the last day of my period).

That being said, even with the cramping, I feel 100% better. About a week after I got my paragard "installed" I stopped taking the hormonal BC I'd been on for the last five years, and just like that a million little amazing things started happening.

Most importantly from a health perspective, my blood pressure has dropped, and I never thought that was something you can *feel*, but I guess I was wrong...the chronic headaches that had become a fact of daily life over the past year or so are just gone, and my sex-drive went back to its pre-progesterone ridiculousness, which actually makes sex itself more amazing (hooray!). Also my mood is better - I'm less mood-swingy and more stable in general, and that's nice as well. And most importantly to me (my health be damned!) I feel happy that my body is not my enemy any more. It always felt like the thing was sneakily trying to get me knocked up, what with the wanting sex and forgetting pills and all, but now after its initial kick of issues with the IUD I feel like we've come to a suitable arrangement for us both. It's nice to feel at home in one's own skin ^_^.

It's good to hear that I'm not the only one that didn't make the one week rule; I got to day two. It's better to have sexy time with a bit of pain than no sexy time at all! Also I'm not the only one that called out from work - I tried going the day after and made it two hours until a co-worker bodily ran into me and I ended up on the floor clutching my abdomen. I felt like such a wuss!

Not that it's information I'll need for the next ten years, but I'd like to know what your doctor prescribed (Alice) as a cervical relaxant, as mine never gave me the option, and just went the "we will pry you open with instruments" route, which needless to say left me labor-breathing and crying at the same time, clutching an orderlie's hand (speaking of feeling like a wuss). Since I've never had a kid, the option to use something else to open that thing up would have been nice =P.

Sorry about the wall-o-text, but I have never actually known anyone else that got this thing, and it's nice to see that some of our experiences were not entirely unique. Thanks for the post Alice! less

I love my paragard! Your insertion story sounds scary. I wasn't told to take a pill beforehand, and they didn't need to dilate my cervix, and I was a 20 year old who never had a kid before. It took them maybe 5 minutes, and they let me see it on an ultrasound, and I left and drove myself home. I was on my period so of course I bled, but I didn't notice any extra blood and there was nothing unnatural in it. That night I went for a bike ride. I had some cramps, but moving helped. I had never had menstrual cramps before, and so with Paragard this was my first cramp experience, and I think that made mine less bad since my body just doesn't get cramps. By the next morning I was up and running like normal. I recommend it to everyone as long as they don't have problems like endometriosis or really terrible periods, since it can increase cramps and blood flow. I've had some heavier blood flows and leaking divacups, and I had menstrual cramps twice in the last year with it, but I feel awesome. No hormones is the best decision I ever made, especially as someone who isn't always having sex with men and doesn't want those side effects. less

Yesterday I got my Paragard IUD inserted. It was a day I'd been waiting over a year to experience.

My local Planned Parenthood has been a part of my uterus' life for a while now. I'd been weighing IUD as an option and researching, cold footing it, then researching some more for quite some time. I finally decided to go ahead and go through with it. A few weeks later and I had my appointment.

Scatterbrained/ anti-medicine me half forgot, half intentionally dismissed going to the pharmacy to get the prescription that was meant to be taken before the insertion. Its purpose was softening the tissues of my cervix. I'd read up on many stories of IUD patients, watched the insertion video, and felt I could probably tough it out. I was stupid. Still, today not much worse for the wear.

The procedure seemed so incredibly simple when I watched it on Paragard's website that I figured if I weren't so squeamish and anti-Stretch Armstrong-y I could do it myself. As it were, however, a doctor and nurse I had seen several times before at PP came to assist me. I was nervous and excited, thinking wishfully of the peace of mind that would come with this.

My doctor tsked tsked me when she found out I hadn't taken my prescription. As a result she had to use 4! instruments to dilate and open my cervix, more than she normally uses by far, she said. It was uncomfortable to a point, then the nurse started chanting in her own well-meaning way 'Crampy crampy!'

I was lying on the table, legs spread, gabbing and joking in my defensive way, trying to focus on anything but the pain. At some point it got so intense I stopped joking and started breathing like a woman in labor. The pain was pretty nuts. Other than simply hurting was the feeling that a part of me that was not supposed to be touched was being touched. Like someone had opened up my skull and started poking a bare finger in my brain tissue. Don't touch me there!

One jab made me whistle, and I was sweating. Then again, I have hyperhydrosis, so I pretty much always sweat. I was sweating alot though.

Five minutes start to finish and it was over. I was instructed to place my feet on the table and lie there for a minute. The ladies hovered over me on either side, doting, encouraging, telling me how tough I was, and how well I took it. I felt pain, relief to have the instruments now out of me, and kind of like a badass. I told the doctor I knew how tough I was, and that she was welcome to write 'Badass' on my chart for future reference.

She brought me a Hi-C juice drink, as I'd not eaten yet that day. It tasted great, and I sucked it down fast. I was standing and watching the sky through the blinds in the room, marveling at the blue and the clouds, proud of myself, feeling nothing more than minor cramps at this point. I was happy.

I beamed at my doctor, and the nurse on my way out, congratulating them for doing their good deed for the day. I felt pretty good.

I went home and used the bathroom, which was the first urge I had as soon as the procedure ended. I was shocked and a little scared to see I was bleeding, and found a lump of what appeared to be vaginal wall tissue floating in my toity. I called Planned Parenthood and they told me this was normal. I blanched for a second at not being told this before I left, yet felt comforted to know they hadn't simply dislodged part of my insides that were now leaking out of my flowerpot.

Five minutes later and the cramps hit. I've never understood before the cries of female friends who cannot move for days when their period starts. My cramps are never more than mild for the first day. Now I know. Yes, now I know.

I couldn't move. A pain that seemed my body's way of saying something was really wrong racked my body in waves, punctuated by sharp jabs of pain. I imagined my body flummoxed by the intrusion of this copper invader, desperately pulsating in an attempt to expel it. I didn't want it to expel this $222 object, but if it rejected it, so be it. I just wanted to try this thing out. I knew alot of people have problems with theirs and knew the risks going in, but it seemed too good an offer to pass up.

I was told not to have sex for a week, but my ex boyfriend came over to comfort me, and I couldn't help it. He couldn't feel the strings, and we had a nice gentle play session. It was lovely. Technically, he could've come in me without pregnancy even at this point, but the recommended wait time is at least a day. He didn't come in me, still it was good to know that I had my little life-raft tucked inside me, painful as it was.

The pain continued off and on in such intensity that at certain points I cried actual tears - something that rarely happens from pain, for me. I had to call in to work, as the pain was preventing me from being able to speak at times; it caught my breath so.
I took a Loretab graciously provided by a beautiful friend, and a couple hours later was right as rain.

Today is the first day I can enjoy it. I can't feel it at all but know that that little copper-covered 'T' is there, my insurance policy, my safety net.

I feel independent, I feel free, I feel I've taken charge of my body. It feels damn good.


*What are your experiences with IUD's? Feel free to share.* less