Mirena for adenomyosis: did it actually improve your quality of life?
TL;DR: I have adenomyosis + deep infiltrating endometriosis, with adenomyosis likely causing most of my pain. Despite doing a lot to manage it, I still need pain medication around 10 days per cycle to function. I’m very hesitant about hormones but am now considering Mirena. Did it genuinely improve your quality of life, especially pain/PMS/luteal symptoms? Did you experience psychological or sexual side effects?
I’ve had extremely painful periods since around 16/17, sometimes to the point of nearly fainting. More recently I’ve also struggled with severe abdominal distension, pelvic pain, disrupted sleep and PMS, with the luteal phase often being the worst.
I was recently diagnosed via MRI and transvaginal ultrasound with adenomyosis and deep infiltrating endometriosis around the uterosacral ligaments. From what I understand, the adenomyosis seems to be the main pain generator for me.
I’ve been trying to manage it quite intensively: pelvic floor physiotherapy, TENS, daily heat, omega-3, curcumin, vitamin D, Vitex and a multivitamin. Overall I actually feel better and less systemically inflamed, but the pain itself hasn’t disappeared. I still need pain medication for roughly 12 days of my cycle just to function normally.
One interesting thing I’ve realized is that some of what I previously thought was just extreme luteal fatigue/grogginess and feeling generally awful seems to actually be low-level pain. I sometimes don’t consciously register it as “pain,” but when I take effective pain medication, I suddenly feel significantly more normal and functional.
So I’m reaching the point where managing this from ten different angles is getting exhausting, and I’m considering Mirena/LNG-IUD, even though I’ve been very reluctant to use hormonal treatment. Preserving my fertility is important to me, so hysterectomy obviously isn’t something I want at this stage.
I’ve read that Mirena mainly acts locally, that many women still ovulate and maintain estrogen production, while it can significantly reduce adenomyosis-related bleeding and pain. I’d really love to hear real experiences from women with adenomyosis, especially if you also have endometriosis.
Did Mirena:
- genuinely reduce your pelvic/adenomyosis pain?
- help with luteal-phase symptoms or PMS?
- reduce how often you needed pain medication?
- affect your mood, anxiety, libido or general sense of feeling like yourself?
- affect your ovulation/cycle symptoms?
- take months before you noticed an improvement?
And most importantly: knowing what you know now, would you get it again?
I’d also really appreciate anything you wish you’d known before having it inserted…good or bad.