Long menses

[teach122]

I gave birth to my son almost five months ago.  I had an IUD placed after about four months even though my menses had not returned.  About two weeks later my menses began.  I have had it for approximately 17 days now without an end in sight.  Is this normal?  

[Keith Downing, MD]

Hello,

What type of IUD do you have? If the copper IUD (Paragard), you are more likely to have heavy bleeding with your menses and since you have not menstruated in some time this may be particularly true with the first return of menstruation.

Contact your ob/gyn if your sx's persist.

Best regards,

Dr. Downing

[bex83]

Hi there i have the merina iud and after about 3 weeks of having it fitted i was bleeding heavy for a week then it got lighter and lighter for about 2 weeks i then went to the docs as i was worried what was wrong with me she said this is normal it can take your body upto 6 months to ajust to the iud,since then i have had no period atall which is great but the downside for me has being the side effects of it like gaining weight and tummy pains etc but not everyone suffers from this so i hopefully you will be fine other than that no period is good for me good luck hope it settles soon for you :-)

[abl741]

I have had an IUD in for 6 months.  My periods are much lighter and I feel a lot better during my period.  However, my period lasts for almost 2 weeks.  It is very light and it seems like it will never end, then one day it stops.  I am not sure what is worse, heavy and short or long and light.

[musique98]

A related discussion, Long Menses was started.