Where do I begin. Well first let me begin by stating that I am sharing my personal experience and not everyone's experience is the same so please don't take this as medical advice as I am not a licensed professional, I just know what is best for me.
Paragard IUD Rusted inside my uterus for 7 years and during that time I have experienced persistent vaginal odors, chronic yeast infections, and general vaginal discomfort, not to mention painful cramping that traveled to my legs even when I was not on my period, back pains, and fatigue.
I decided to get the Paragard IUD after I had my second child. At the time all I knew about it was that it was hormone free and lasts for up to 10 years. I liked the convenience of it and was given very little information about any type of side effects. Fast forward 3 years later I had sexual relations and shortly after had a fishy odor that would not go away. I got it all checked out but my gyno could not find anything wrong so I did a lot of online searching and douched away with peroxide (not recommended) only to later get a yeast infection. I stopped douching because I realized that I was washing away the good bacteria along with the bad which made things worst after awhile. I visited the gyno yet again but still he did not find anything and everything came back normal. STDs ruled out, not even a yeast infection was detected even though I had all the symptoms such as cottage cheese discharge, and itching so I again was left on my own to figure it out on my own.
After countless hours of research, I decided to make a lifestyle change and eliminated sugar, meat, dairy, and starch out of my diet and started to research many herbs and natural ways to stay balanced and healthy. This change has served me well and I have been able to keep things in control with the help of special herbs & oils, & probiotics such as burdock root, oregano oil capsules, Primadophilus Reuteri, & many more.
I would still occasionally get the odor and yeast infections but they would subside when I ate specific things like raw garlic with spinach, tomatoes, lemon juice with olive oil along with my special mixture of herb tea that I make. Then I started to research the possibility of the IUD being the cause of my vaginal issues and to my surprise, I've ran across countless women online sharing their bad experiences with it and many having the same symptoms as I did. Some women even pulled out their IUD on their own, though I opted to schedule an appointment to have mines removed instead. And that is exactly what I did today! I got mine removed, and could not be happier! I asked my gyno to place my IUD in a ziploc bag so I can examine it when I get home. I got home, rinsed it and smelled it, and its no surprise that it smelled like fish! And when I wiped it off gently, particles of rusty stuff rubbed off on the napkin! And I'm thinking wow, how could this rotten rusty device be healthy for anybody to have inside them? I can't believe it is allowed. For 7 years this rotting rusty device has been in my uterus causing me odors and yeast infections, gee no wonder! I couldn't be more happy to have it out of me, especially seeing how the particles are loose and easily wipes off on a napkin. Such a shame. I just wanted to share this information with others so that people can make informed choices.
It has served its purpose of preventing unwanted pregnancy, but never will I use this kind of birth control again nor would I recommend it.
If gynecologists fully informed you of the side effects along with informing you of the eventuality of the copper IUD rusting while inside you, would you agree to do it anyway? I know I would have not.
