Copper coil (IUD) and heavier periods

Periods became heavy which was expected but cramping after insertion was incredibly painful and I was not prepared for the level for pain. I required A&E support with pain relief and examination to ensure it hadn't moved or perforated. The monthly pain had me missing work, almost fainting and squirming in pain. I had to learn pain management every month to be able to work effectively. Around 1 year later I felt in control but around 3.5 years I have experienced even heavier periods and more pain. I felt determined to make this method work as I didn't want to use hormonal contraception again. Cramping and heavy bleeding caused nausea, extreme fatigue and ovulation cramps. Overall, I experienced a lot of discomfort and only a few days out of the month where I felt well. I recently got told my iron stores are VERY low and that explains a lot of the worsening menstruation symptoms due to losing too much blood per month from the copper coil. I'm not going to scored it as terrible as I know others have had no issues using the copper coil and there were times when I felt in control of it. Maybe my age and change in hormones have made my symptoms worse? Or it just sucks, I don't know. Take ibuprofen and paracetamol before your insertion as this will help a lot!!

The insertion was painful and for the rest of the day I had severe cramps, which paracetamol and ibuprofen didn't help with. I wasn't given any option for pain relief at the time, if I had known it would have been so bad I would have asked whether pain relief was available. After insertion, I went from having manageable periods to very heavy and painful periods (severe cramping particularly on days 2/3 of my period). Naproxen was the only thing that helped to somewhat ease the pain. I persevered thinking it would get better with time, but after 11 months of no improvement I decided to have the copper coil removed. My partner and I also noticed that we would both get very dry and my partner would get cuts on the head of his penis, since removal these have not been an issue. It could be a complete coincidence, but when I asked the nurse removing my coil she said it could be possible... the cuts could have been a result from the dryness or could have been directly from the coil itself (depending on the position of the strings, and they were still quite firm as they take a while to soften). Everyone's body is different and for some this may be a great option (I initially thought it would be due to it being non-hormonal), but I definitely noticed a negative impact on my mental and physical health every month. Since having it removed (2 months ago), I feel a lot better and my periods have pretty much returned to normal.

I got pregnant because my copper coil moved down towards my cervix. Could still feel the strings as normal. For 4 months prior to that I'd been having symptoms of vaginitis (dry feeling during sex without actually being dry and stinging during urination). The doctors told me it couldn't be the coil causing it but I now believe it was, instead they treated me for uti and yeast infection and dermatitis (none of which I actually had). So yeah I suffered pain for 4 months and then got pregnant. I wouldn't recommend because it's so hard to tell it moved, if you get symptoms of vaginitis or vaginal irritation ask for an ultrasound. Getting pregnant at 20 and then having to terminate the pregnancy is traumatic.