Removal “Crash” - Please Read if you have a Mirena

Got my Mirena removed two weeks ago. Figured other than having periods again everything would be fine. Doctor didn’t warn me otherwise. I had some heavy spotting for the first 7 days, and started what seems to be a real period yesterday. What I didn’t expect is a destabilizing flood of emotions. I’ve had intense mood swings, severe depression, feelings of despair, sobbing for absolutely no reason, lots of anger, and intense anxiety attacks. This is all very unusual for me and it finally occurred to me that there could be a connection with the IUD removal so I started researching. Turns out our bodies get lazy about producing natural progesterone when we have the IUD, depending on it from the Mirena. As a result after removal you will have low progesterone which can affect estrogen levels. 35% of women experience these issues post-removal (and if you are over the age of 34 the likelihood increases.) It will also take longer to recover the longer you’ve had your IUD. Lucky me, I’m 37 and have been on Mirena (one replacement) for 12 years, so obviously I’m going to have some struggle post-removal. I had no issues with Mirena while it was in, very happy with it, but it expired and my partner got a vasectomy so I figured I’d try life without it. I just wish my OBGYN had warned me about this- it has completely disrupted my life and I had no idea what was going on. Please be aware so if you opt for removal you are prepared for the possibility. (If anyone else has experienced this, any suggestions for how to deal? I just ordered progesterone cream on Amazon and will see if that helps.) ***Update - thankfully this didn’t last as long as I was expecting it might. Probably all in all 4-6 weeks before my emotions stabilized. I did use progesterone cream for a couple of weeks and then tapered off and I think it was a significant help. I also spoke to my primary care physician about this when visiting for routine bloodwork and the RA I spoke to had the exact same experience with her IUD removal! Bloodwork at that time (a month after removal) showed normal estrogen levels and progesterone levels that were just on the cusp of being normal. Anyway, if you read this and are going through your own post-IUD withdrawal hang in there! It does get easier but it sucks for awhile.