7) Is This Bleeding Normal? What to Expect With Your Bleeding After an IUD Insertion

hi i'm dr. christina der betas an ob/gyn in Newmarket Ontario Canada welcome to my channel devoted to intrauterine contraception and answering patient questions about all things related to I you see in today's video we're going to talk about bleeding after IUD insertion so what to expect what's normal what's not normal after an IUD is inserted in terms of the immediate few weeks or months after an IUD also looking at longer term bleeding patterns after an IUD is inserted one of the number one questions that I get from patients or calls that we get to the office after an IUD has been inserted is patients calling and talking about what has happened to their bleeding changes that they've noticed and wondering is this normal or not normal should I be worried about this bleeding so today's video is going to deal with that so with regards to IUD insertion and the bleeding thereafter regardless of whether or not the IUD is levonorgestrel or hormone containing that would be Mirena and Kalina or whether it's a copper IUD and we'll talk about both there's going to be some adjustment phase bleeding in the first four to six weeks after the IUD is inserted now not every person has this issue with bleeding some patients I insert an IUD and they say yeah I had a little bit of light bleeding for a couple of days afterwards and not much else but for most patients I warn them to expect some unpredictable bleeding for the first few weeks it could even last as long as a couple of months although that's less common but definitely there might be some unpredictable bleeding for the first few weeks after an IUD is inserted now the bleeding usually isn't very heavy oftentimes it might be enough just to be wearing a liner other times it might be heavy enough to wear a pod I usually advise my patients to avoid tampons for the first few weeks after insertion after that tampon use is fine but the bottom line is the bleeding tends to be light annoying sometimes but not super super heavy so I warn patients to expect that and to reassure them that having that sort of bleeding is normal in terms of color of blood I get a lot of questions from concerned patients saying it it has turned a different color it's brown now or it's black or it used to be bright red and now it's a maroon color all varying comments with regards to the actual color of the blood similarly I get comments from patients about the consistency of the blood that now it's sort of stringy or thick or looks like there's tissue there all sorts of different comments with regards to the actual consistency of the blood the bottom line is is that the color of the blood the consistency of the blood does not matter it's not a sign of anything bad if you notice that the bleeding is more dark brown or black --is-- looking or different than the bright red bleeding that you might be used to with your periods similarly if there's a slight thickening of the blood or changing consistency that's not a sign of anything bad either the main thing that we're looking for after now ud insertion in terms of what would make me worried would be not so much different colored blood or different consistency of blood but discharge that is foul-smelling copious thick pure you'll int discharge so something that might suggest an infection that's different that definitely I need to know about but if things have changed in terms of the color or consistency of your bleeding it's not necessarily something to be worried about now in terms of what is going to happen to your periods after an IUD inserted is inserted some of that depends on what kind of IUD you have chosen now the copper IUD tends to cause slightly heavier slightly more crampy periods not in every a patient but it has more of a tendency to add to menstrual bleeding and to cause a bit more cramping so definitely in a patient who already has problems with heavier cycles or more painful cycles I would be steering them away from a copper IUD just because I wouldn't want to take the chance of making that menstrual bleeding or those cramps any worse now with regards to the levonorgestrel containing IUDs the communist one is proscribed in Canada being marina and kaileena with both of those IUDs patients over the long term could expect less heavy less painful periods for the most part so about 90% of patients will notice less heavy periods 70 percent will notice less painful periods and anywhere from 20 to 30 percent depending on kaileena versus Mirena but anywhere from 20 to 30 percent may barely have any bleeding at all now in the 20 to 30% that aren't having a cycle they might just occasionally have some sporadic unpredictable light bleeding that kind of comes out of nowhere without a real cyclic pattern which is normal and not a sign of anything bad and I will also reassure patients that there is not anything unhealthy or worrisome about not having a period when you have a marina or kaileena IUD in place it's simply a function of the levonorgestrel the progesterone in the IUD thinning out the lining of the uterus so that there's not really much lining to even shed a lot of patients get worried they think that there's sort of a backlog or a buildup of stuff inside the uterus that's not being shed and that's why they think it's not healthy to not have a period but that's simply not the case really it's just the progesterone there every single day keeping the lining nice and thin so that there's not really anything to shed in terms of menstrual bleeding now in the first few months after the IUD is inserted you may notice that your period sometimes are a little bit longer although less bleeding but sometimes a little bit more drawn out in terms of number of days I've had lots of patients comment on that that usually corrects itself over time there is going to be another adjustment phase in terms of what is going to happen with your menstrual cycles with marina and kaileena it takes a few months to see the beneficial menstrual side effects the longer that the progesterone is there in the uterus thinning out the lining the more chance we have of seeing less heavy less painful cycles but sometimes it can take a few months for things - shall we say settle out and for there to be an improvement in terms of leading patterns so the most important thing I tell patients about bleeding in the first few months after an IUD is inserted is that you need to be patient and how things are at the 1 month mark even the two or three month mark may not necessarily reflect what your periods are going to be like down the road now that said there is a subset of patients that may have persistent unpredictable or inter menstrual bleeding or bleeding in between cycles even beyond the first few months of the IUD being inserted but I would have to say that that's fairly rare and it's very rare for me to have patients coming back needing to have the IUD removed or requesting that the IUD be removed because they're unhappy with the bleeding problem with the bleeding pattern or because they're having problems with ongoing inter menstrual bleeding so that would be the minority of patients in the long term another comment I get from patients is that sometimes they might have a bit of bleeding after intercourse after an IUD is inserted that usually resolves over time if it's an ongoing problem I would have that can come back to see me in the office for a checkup I would rule out any sort of infection but again in the first few adjustment month adjustment months it's not uncommon for a patient to have a bit of bleeding after intercourse so that was just a bit of information about the IUD and what to expect in terms of bleeding after an IUD insertion the take-home message is that things are usually the worst and the most annoying for the first few weeks and the first couple of months potentially after the insertion but that the longer the IUD stays in place the better the bleeding pattern tends to get over time I also wanted to take the opportunity to let patients know that the levonorgestrel iud is actually used as treatment to help women with period problems like heavy bleeding and painful periods I'll talk more about that in another video but just to let patients know that not only is the IUD used as contraception but that over time because the bleeding pattern tends to get better and better we actually use it as a treatment for heavy and painful menstrual bleeding so that's it for today's video I hope this has been helpful I will remind you about in less than the time that it took for you to watch this video you could have had an IUD inserted because it takes just five minutes to do and it gives you five years of worry free contraception see you in the next video take care

Channel: Dr. Kristina Dervaitis

Views: 128,628

Keywords: IUD, IUC, Mirena, Kyleena, Intrauterine Contraception, Bleeding, Side effect, Menstrual bleeding, Gynecologist, dispositif intra-utérin, DIU, dispositivo intrauterino, IUD insertion, IUD removal, copper IUD, intrauterine coil, Flexi T, ParaGard, Skyla, Liletta, IUS, IUD side effects, IUC side effects, IUD bleeding, IUD period, period, vaginal discharge

Id: KNI0uJSgLvs

Length: 10min 20sec (620 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 11 2018