Post IUD - wondering if I should have waited

[odetta-to-detta.livejournal.com]

So...I'm just kinda curious. I had my Mirena inserted Friday afternoon (yay), and after everything had settled down down there and I didn't think I was going to pass out from pain, I decided to see if I could find my strings. I couldn't, but figured it was no big deal since a lot of women can't for awhile (still couldn't today. But I also have to keep in mind that my sense of touch is sub-par. So I could be poking them and not knowing it...).

My boy and I took it for a test drive today and had sex, and while I'm not really worried, the more I started thinking about it, the more I wondered:

How many women waited until they could actually find the darn things before having sex, and should I have? I'm pretty sure it's still there (though part of my mind hates me and keeps telling me it fell out when I pooped, though I know that's unlikely), but I do wonder if what I did could be considered risky business.

Like I said, I'm not really worried about it, just curious.

And would the Mirena float were it to fall in the toilet? I would imagine so since itss a bunch of plastic, but again. Curious :) I also can't find my cervix, so if anyone has any tips for finding it, I'd love you :X

(Also? Add me to the numbers of women who didn't realize how much the pill was affecting their moods. I've been off it for a week now and I'm back to my bouncy, happy, smiley self! I was never depressed or anything while on it, but I did notice a lack of energy that's usually associated with my character. I'm now back to boucing off the walls. Yay!)

Edit: I'm also beginning to wonder about the standards of the Planned Parenthood I went to.

They didn't make me take a pregnancy test (though I was on my period, I've seen so many insertion stories where the woman had to take one anyway, despite her period, so I have to wonder), and they inserted my Mirena without checking to make sure my BV was actually gone (I was diagnosed with it on Monday, so my last treatment was Friday night, quite awhile after my insertion. It was diagnosed as a "slight" case of BV, and they were aware of it, but I still wonder about that). They also didn't schedule me for a follow-up appointment, like I've seen so many women here do.

They also wouldn't do a PAP smear on Monday because I hadn't been sexually active for at least three years (just three weeks), which while I'm cool with that and unconcerned about my cervix, I'd never heard that before.

There were other things I thought about too while I was waiting in the room for my Mirena, but I don't remember them at the moment. Do these sound like little things and thus I'm being paranoid, or would you be concerned, too?

Comments

I'm going through your questions as I see them, so this will be kind of disjointed.

[frolicnaked.livejournal.com]

I did wait until I could find the strings, but I found my strings the day of insertion. Also, my then-partner was out of town at the time, so sex with him wasn't really possible until several weeks afterward.

Can't tell you for sure whether Mirena floats. But ParaGard (I kept my first one for awhile when I expelled it), even though it has metal around it, doesn't go -- PLUNK! -- straight to the bottom of a container of water; it kind of makes its way down slowly. I imagine that if a Mirena did not float, it would also not PLUNK! rapidly, and therefore you'd have a good chance of seeing it in the toilet in the unlikely event that you did poop it out.

I'd only question your PP about the BV check. According to the INFO Project (http://www.infoforhealth.org/globalhandbook/book/tools/pregchecklist.shtml#checklist) from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, you starting your period within a week is enough for them to be sufficiently certain of non-pregnancy to insert. (Though the INFO Project also does (http://www.infoforhealth.org/globalhandbook/book/fph_chapter10/fph_chap10_who_can_use.shtml#criteria) not mention (http://www.infoforhealth.org/globalhandbook/book/fph_chapter9/fph_chap9_med_eligibility.shtml#criteria) current BV as a no-go for insertion, though it's my understanding that it's generally preferred.)

Also, for follow-up appointments, it really depends on the clinic and the health care professional. My NP requested them, for my first two insertions at least, but I know a fair number of iud_divas members who didn't have follow-ups. As long as you can contact them if you're worried about problems, I think you should be okay there.

Re: I'm going through your questions as I see them, so this will be kind of disjointed.

[cadetsandkings.livejournal.com]

I also did not have a follow up, but they did call to ask how I was and to ask if I wanted one.

I declined since I had no problems.