IUD

The hormonal IUDs (Mirena, Liletta, Kyleena, and Skyla) dramatically reduce bleeding during your period, protecting you from anemia. The IUD can also reduce menstrual symptoms for people who have fibroids. And, if you’re someone who can’t use estrogen, both the hormonal IUD and the non-hormonal, copper IUD are good options for preventing pregnancy.

If you have dysmenorrhea (the medical term for extremely painful periods), hormonal birth control can make a big difference. There are several hormonal methods that can help regulate your periods, decrease bleeding, or even make your periods go away completely. Options like the combination pill or the hormonal IUD are proven to reduce the level of pain and heaviness of your bleeding, basically making it easier for you to live your life when you have your period.

This would be pretty rare, but it can happen. If you get pregnant with an IUD in, you should see a health care provider as soon as possible. Why? Because the pregnancy may be in your fallopian tube, or you may have a higher chance of having a miscarriage. Plus, whether you want to continue being pregnant or have an abortion, the IUD needs to come out.

The hormonal IUDs, shot, implant, and progestin-only pill have all been shown to overall reduce periods for most people. For some people, that means they don’t get a period at all, but for others it can cause bleeding when you aren’t expecting it even if you have less total bleeding.

You can use the pill or the ring continuously to intentionally skip your period altogether.

Everybody responds to birth control differently. If you feel like your hormonal birth control is changing your mood, it’s time to talk to your health care provider. It might be a matter of switching methods or deciding whether to avoid hormonal birth control altogether, or you may choose to wait it out since some negative side effects go away with time.

Totally! If you don’t want to be pregnant right now but think you might want to have a baby in the future, the IUD doesn’t change your chances of getting pregnant once it’s removed. When you want to be pregnant, just have the IUD removed and your body will return to whatever level of fertility is normal for you.

Getting an IUD removed may be a bit uncomfortable, but generally the procedure is easier, quicker, and less painful than getting the IUD inserted.

As long as you’re careful to avoid accidentally suctioning or pulling your IUD strings when you remove your menstrual cup, it’s fine to use a cup and an IUD together. Research has found that the use of tampons or menstrual cups does not increase the risk of an IUD coming out early. The packaging information for IUDs can be inconsistent, but you can use whatever your usual menstrual product is and not increase your risk of your IUD coming out.

Depends on if you need protection from sexually transmitted infections (STIs). No method of birth control other than condoms or internal condoms protects you from STIs. Using a condom with another form of birth control is called dual protection since you’re protecting yourself against both pregnancy and STIs.

IUDs are safe for most people with a uterus, and copper toxicity is super rare. That said, it can happen, especially in people with Wilson’s Disease, a rare genetic condition which affects about 1 in every 30,000 to 40,000. Wilson’s Disease affects the body’s ability to process copper. Given how low the daily dose of copper is from the non-hormonal IUD, it is extremely unlikely that someone who does not have Wilson’s Disease would experience copper toxicity. So unless you have Wilson’s Disease, you don’t have to worry about copper toxicity from a copper IUD.

No, the IUD won’t hurt your partner even if they can feel the strings. You may have heard that the IUD strings can bother partners who have a penis while having sex, but most partners don’t even feel the strings, and the strings usually soften over time. If your partner can feel the strings and that bothers them, your health care provider can trim them to see if that helps.

IUD insertion itself is pretty quick (less than a minute or two for experienced providers), but it’s hard to know exactly how much pain you might have since pain can vary from person to person. Some people experience very little pain, like mild period cramps, and some people experience very intense pain when an IUD is inserted.

You can try taking ibuprofen beforehand, and some providers may recommend getting the IUD inserted when your cervix is open, such as when you’re on your period, but you can have it placed anytime during your cycle. Some providers may be able to use pain medication directly into the cervix and others can put you to sleep while it’s placed. Other techniques like breathing exercises and meditation can also help with pain. Even if there is some pain, it might be worth it for sex without worrying about getting pregnant.