So I got paraguard inserted just over a year ago, and for the most part I was really loving the convenience of not having to remember a daily pill, and I loved the hormone free experience.

But about four months after insertion I started noticing this weird pain. It almost felt like (sorry tmi) there was something between my cervix and my rectum that would flare up every now and then. It was sort of a perpetual really dull ache that was easy to ignore, but when it flared up, it was excruciating.

The dull ache was noticeable when I moved in certain ways, but especially when I would sit in certain ways. When I was having a flare up, I would get these horrible cramps that would double me in half until they passed. They were totally out of the blue every time they happened, and had no correlation to my cycle. When it was flared up, it hurt to go to the bathroom and even hurt to pass gas (again, tmi). And when it was at it’s worst, I couldn’t insert a tampon or my menstrual cup.

Sex never hurt unless I was in the middle of a flare up. And even then, it wasn’t pain on penetration like you would expect with a yeast infection or bv... it was more of an impact pain when my boyfriend would hit my cervix.

Then the real fun started. Probably every other time I had sex, I would bleed. Not a ton, but enough to need a pad for a two or three days.

Finally fed up with everything, I agreed to a laparoscopy and a hysteroscopy. My surgery was just yesterday. Apparently my IUD had moved and that’s what was causing the bleeding. Also because of the movement, I had developed two polyps on my cervix, and a few cysts somewhere in that area as well. The IUD, the polyps and the cysts were all removed. Even moments after surgery, I could tell that pain was finally gone.

All of this to say that I am still all for the IUD. When I get the ok from my doctor, I’ll have another one inserted, but this time, if there’s any pain at all, I’m getting checked out immediately. And that’s my advice to you ladies. You shouldn’t feel an IUD. If it hurts, don’t ignore it. Get it looked at before you need surgery too.