Question27 years old, 1 child. i am thinking about switch from the pill to a mirena iud. as far as side effects go( headaches, moodyness, elevated blood pressure) are they generally less with the iud since it has less hormones? i am trying to get away from all the hormones in the pill due to unknown risk associating them with cancers; does mirena cancer related risk? also, my doctor told me that my periods could stop on the mirena. she said it is normal but, i have read that prolonged missing of periods can cause endometrial cancer? does this mean iud induced missed periods or just missing period for unknown cause? in general do you think for the risk, advantages/disadvantages, the iud would be a good, lower hormonal, change from the pill?
AnswerI think that the birth control pills are the best method of birth control. The pill is 99.9% effective against pregnancy, lowers the incidence of pelvic inflammatory disease, ovarian cysts, cancer of the uterus, cancer of the ovaries, benign cystic breast disease, acne, dysmennorhea (pain during periods). The IUD is also 99% effective against pregnancy. However, it can cause heavier bleeding and can sometimes migrate outside the uterus, causing a unilateral abscess in the pelvis. The Mirena IUD contains the same hormones as in the pill and does, indeed, stop the period at times. Birth cntrol pills have not been found to have a higher risk of cancer of any kind (HRT does increase the risk of breast cancer but not birth control pills). It is becomming clearer and clearer that prolonged missing of periods will not cause any problems and does not cause endometrial cancer (as we used to believe). That is why pills such as Seasonale, which only give a period every 3 months, are becomming popular.
