had th mirena coil fitted a few months ago the nurse said yestoday not sure about it n hav to mention to onc but u musnt get pregnant while on chemo. surely it should be ok then . has anyone else been told this? rozita xx
Hi Rozita
I had chemo last year finished Sept. I too had a marina coil which id had for 7 years and my onc said it would have to come out but not to worry about it until the chemo had finished as she said you dont want to have the burden of periods while having chemo and also getting pregnant.
Every ONC are different in there views so if your in any doubt give them a bell
I had mine taken out in Nov and havent had a period since.
Hope this is of some use to you
take care
Sally x
I was on to my second mirena coil when I was dx - a total of seven years. The first thing I did was have it taken out. There was no way I was going to keep something inside of me pumping out hormones, no matter how small the doses.
Hey
I too had the mirena coil when diagnosed & my onc said it had to be removed before chemo started.
Her opinion was that it’s best not to have any levels of hormones being released into your body when having treatment. I didn’t think it would be an issue as I’m triple negative, but she was firm in her view.
I would definately check with you onc asap.
Hazel x
Yep, me too, I was on my 2nd mirena coil and had it whipped out before I started chemo. Like Hayz said, I wanted my body to be free of hormones!
Good luck
x
I had a traditional copper coil fitted when I finsihed chemo - just to be on the same side. No hormones. I don’t actually get why they bother with the hormone ones when the copper ones do the same job? Anyway, tts great - not that I think I need it now I’ve had chemo and have zoladex and tamoxofen! But then again, its not doing any harm either!
L x
Yep I had to have mine removed, have had the most god damn awful period since. Its something to do with the oestrogen that the mirena gives out and the fact that some cancers are oestrogen based. Asked if i could have normal coil fitted but no - due to the fact might get infection. Told chemo might stop the period. One plus side of having chemo then. Liz x
rozita it depends if your cancer was hormone sensitive or not… i git a mirena put in as treatment for heavy bleeding on tamoxifen 6 months after first hormone positive cancer.
not normally recommended but the risk of recurrence from my cancer was so low that the hormones would be more likely to be protective of the tamox effects rather than increase the likelihood of recurrence.
however i did get another cancer… although this time hormone negative so unrelated to mirena and my team all know i have it but none have mentioned getting it removed even when i was diagnosed again and asked the prof if it should be removed he said no need as the amount of hormones released is tiny.
but some docs are more keen for you not to have any hormones what so ever so best advice is speak to your team… if you had the coil put in for heavy periods then a copper coil wouldnt normally be first choice as it can give you longer, heavier, crampier periods… some people find their periods stop as the chemo puts you into the menopause… this has happened to me now so wont be needing my mirena anyway.
bizzyizzywizzy the mirena doesnt give off oestrogen its a progesterone only device, but some docs are overly cautious even if your were progesterone negative and therefore would still recommend its removed… the risk of infection is very small and is only increased in the first 3 weeks after insertion… if you still want a copper one you can get one after your treatment if you want… definitely doesnt have any increased risk of infection having a coil in than having invasive breast surgery!
btw im also a family planning nurse so was aware of the risks and the research regarding the mirena otherwise i wouldnt have had it either.
Lulu
Hi Lulu - thanks for your post - I had a Mirena coil inserted a week after diagnosis for DCIS (unrelated and had been pre-planned - surgeon said go with it as would ease period problems during surgery and recovery) and have had concerns as I started Tamoxifen 3 weeks ago - I spent ages looking into the effects of the Mirena on Tamoxifen and the increased risks - my GP said it was my decision but my surgon said I was safe so I’ve kept it so far - still a bit worried about it but also don’t want to return to the awful periods I had prior to having it fitted. Your post has confirmed some of the info I had heard. I found that the medics didn’t really understand the risks and didn’t feel able to offer an opinion.
I had a mirena fitted for heavy periods 5 years ago and had it removed as my tumour is hormone sensitive. I agree with everything that Lulu has said but in hindsight I would definately not have chosen it for controlling heavy periods. I didn’t look in to the risks and side effects at the time as the gynacologist said that it was first line treatment for heavy periods after tablets. What he did forget to mention is that it can cause cystic disease of the breasts. It turns out that I have multiple +++ breast cysts and it is not known to what extent that one of these may have turned ‘nasty’. It is an unknown but if I was given more choices at the time I would have gone for endometrial ablation (this does carry risks too) but there are no drugs involved and definately no progesterone!
I was told to have my mirena removed before starting chemo and I had the period from hell. My periods stopped on the third cycle of FEC and that’s when I feel I should have had it removed.
I think though that having it removed or not is as Lulu said dependant on whether your tumour is hormone sensitive and your Onc can advise you on this.
Lynn x
my bc was er+ so my i was told to get my mirena removed.
eva
I was under the belief (but haven’t spoken to the onc about it) that having the extra hormones would not be a good idea - after all, the zoladex and tamoxifen etc are trying to shut off the hormones, so why add them back in?? I am er+ and pr+. Had a chat with the GP Nurse and we came down to the copper coil - people only swapped to the mirena because copper can give you heavier periods, but it these are switched off due to zoladex (which mine are), then it isn’t a consideration. I don’t want to feed my cancer any more progesterone than I have to!!
Until end of chemo, we are sticking with condoms and ‘other’ activities (when I can find the inclination)!
I will check with the oncologist once chemo has ended and see what he says. Something patronising, probably!
Hi,
I was dx the same time as 2 friends, the other thing we all had in common was mirena coils. Coincidence? who can say for sure and the multi million pound manufacturers aren’t going to go there! I asked my consultant about it as he had told me my tumour had been growing for about 6 months from the likely first cell change. I had the mirena coil 6 months too so I blame it to be honest but don’t think it was the sole factor, much more complicated I am sure. Maybe the final thing to set it off with other factors. One of the friends was going through a second bout of Bc and had the mirena in before the first bout. I was told current advice is to say they are no problem. If you pin a doc down and say well if you give me tamoxifen for ER+ what about me also being PR+ and this gives off progesterone they don’t seem quite so confident. Mine went from ‘no problem, leave it in’ to ‘get it straight out’ when questioned specifically about a woman with BC. For me personally it was one thing I could control at a time when normal life went pear shaped. Never regretted it. A while back someone was organising a class action against the manufacturers so who knows one day we might all get pay back.
Good luck to everyone and be happy with the choices you make
Lily x
i was told by now gp, that if a woman had already had bc she would not be eligible for a mirena in the future.
eva
hi all, spoke t th onc n he said i cud leave it in at moment while on treatment but wud hav to cum out afterwards as cud make me susceptable to increasing my chance of developing it again. i am apparantly double negative (not sure i know entirely wat tht means) . but i at least dont have to worry about contraception n heavy periods at th moment. will have to see what else there is at th end. rozita xxxx
Hi all
I had a marina coil for many years due to heavy periods and that was one of the first things I asked my consultant about when diagnosed. Being triple negative he advised me to keep it as it would help with hot flushes and side effects of menopause. If I had been hormone positive he said he would have had it immediately removed.
Anne xx