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Cassie Edwards from Buckinghamshire, England, had her second child and succeeded in losing all the weight by her strict gym regime. Strangely though some time later her belly began to grow like a balloon. It kept growing as if she was pregnant again, although there was no baby inside her.
Her condition left even the doctors baffled. What’s worse is that her belly that looks like a full-term bump is a permanent thing now and seems like she is carrying twins. She has carried herself in stretchy maternity outfits over the past six months unlike the size ten she was before.
Apparently Cassie is going through what could be a reaction to her birth control coil. She chose a coil fitted IUD that let her stomach expand unbelievably. In her words, “Doctors haven’t got a clue what’s going on,” she says. “They keep needing to run further tests, but all the time my belly is growing… It’s crazy.”
She has now grown beyond size 14. As a woman who was always slim, says that she had lost the weight gain from both her pregnancies with hard work at the gym. But now she has to deal with back pain, swollen breasts and the urge to urinate frequently. Moreover, Cassie says that the bump is larger than what she had when she was actually pregnant. And since the symptoms began to show only after she had the contraceptive coil fitted, Cassie thinks that it all can be attributed to the coil insertion.
She can’t leave the house without someone asking her when she is due as she regrets her hard work at the gym was a total waste. Cassie has become miserable and embarrassed about her current body.
The case of Cassie Edwards is not an isolated one when compared to several other women who have admitted on the online forums of similar and even worse after-effects of using the contraceptive IUDs. Several have referred to a device seemingly called a Mirena Coil has been used by several women who have poured out their horror stories on the internet – many describing their physical, physiological, emotional and mental distress by using this.
Mirena Coil is an IUD or intrauterine device that is a T-shaped plastic frame that the doctor inserts into the uterus for long-term birth control. Before implanting the device, the doctor examines the uterus first to determine the safety of implanting the device. The coil is inserted into the uterus through a sterile cylindrical inserter. The T-shaped arms of the device anchor it inside the uterus.
It takes about 30 minutes for the entire cycle from examination, preparations and finally the insertion. Some women might feel discomfort, cramps, faint or feel nauseated during the procedure.
The device releases a kind of progestin which thickens the cervical mucus thereby preventing the sperm from reaching or fertilizing the egg. It is also known to make the uterine lining thinner and partially suppress ovulation.
The website of Mirena Coil has listed out the possible side effects of which “feeling bloated” is entirely possible with the use of its IUD. This apart, pelvic or abdominal pain, bleeding, cysts on the ovary, anemia, swelling of hands and feet, abnormal hair growth or loss, dizziness, vaginal discharge, placement discomfort are among many other side effects that have been mentioned.
Interestingly the Mirena coil is one of the two IUDs (the other being Skyla) that have been approved by the FDA. While Mirena prevents pregnancy up to three years, Skyla is known to prevent pregnancy for up to five years following the insertion. On the other hand, there is yet another IUD by Essure that has attracted criticism following enormous negative impacts on the several women. There was a public hearing in which the women who seemed to have participated in the clinical trials have claimed that “reports about side-effects of the abortifacient ‘contraceptive’ were falsified so as to make the device look safer than it was, in order for the manufacturer to gain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sell the device.”
