IUD removal: what to expect?

Hey everybody.

I just had my Mirena removed Friday after nearly 7 months of pure hell. I was taking ridiculous amounts of ibuprofen and acetaminophen to deal with the cramps (2-4 every 4 hours). I was wearing a pad and or tampon everyday because of my continued periods and very heavy spotting. It got to the point that I was on the pill and the Mirena at the same time. And I was miserable. And I had awful acne. Long story short, the bitch needed to come out. I also decided to come off of the pill as well.

Now, my cramps have already subsided to nearly non-existent (which is awesome). But, bleeding has returned to pre-Mirena levels (a tampon and overnight pad soaked every 2-3 hours). Honestly, I can deal with the bleeding if it’s over in a week or two. But, I can’t find how long to expect bleeding to last.

Also, I got to reading about what other women experienced when using Mirena, I realized I experienced a lot of the same. What I’m talking about are the things that aren’t really side effects, but that a lot of women coincidentally experience in addition to Mirena (like night sweats, hair loss, inability to lose weight, weight gain, etc). Honestly, it makes me even more happy that I had it removed. But, I am also nervous about the “Mirena crash.”

For those that have had Mirena removed, what did you go through? How long did it take you to return to something that felt normal?