If you have an IUD, you should read this

Hormonal birth control, autoimmune disease, and the dismissal of women’s pain

“You’ve been getting sick a lot!” my sister texted. I shrugged it off. We’re close. We worry about each other. I wasn’t worried though. My mind landed on the obvious reason for my consistent illnesses. I have two young daughters in elementary school; they’re germ factories, I rationalized. Plus, my symptoms were not that concerning. I was groggy, grumpy, had a headache, felt as if my body was fighting something off.

After a few months of “getting sick a lot,” my husband and I noticed a pattern: I always felt sick around the middle of every month. This was the first clue that what I was fighting was not a virus but, instead, related to my sex, to my monthly cycle. I had experienced symptoms of PMS in the past, but since I started using the Mirena IUD after the birth of my son more than ten years ago, the cramping, irritability, and headaches had vanished along with my period.

I turned to the women in my life for answers. I asked them about the symptoms they experienced with their monthly cycles, trying to get a sense of whether or not my experience was “normal.”

“YEP!” many said, eyes wide with understanding.