“Mirena Fragments Almost Killed Me”, Says Victim

West Palm Beach, FLCandance has experienced a slew of Mirena birth control side effects since she had the IUD implanted in 2007, from cramping and bleeding to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). Candance, and her doctor, thought she had it removed, but a fragment remained.

Because she had so much cramping and bleeding, Candance had the Mirena IUD (intrauterine device) removed just three months after it was implanted. But more severe Mirena side effects were in store. “It started with my blood pressure going through the roof and several bacterial infections,” says Candance. “By 2009, my body was so out of whack that my doctor ordered a CT Scan, MRI and ultrasound - the latter showed a piece of Mirena the size of my fingertip still in my body; it was embedded into my uterine wall.

“My OB/GYN tried to remove it, but when I woke from surgery, he told me that they couldn’t find it and I had a D&C. I was back in the hospital about a year later with my blood pressure soaring again. I had every test in the book. Finally in 2012, my body said ‘enough is enough.’ I thought I had a flu virus; I was lethargic and throwing up constantly so I went back to ER. They gave me some meds for the flu and sent me home, but I continued to throw up. Next day I went back to the hospital - turns out that I had been throwing up blood for two days.”

This time Candance was admitted and a gastroenterologist performed an endoscopy - a procedure that allows a doctor to look inside your body with a tiny camera. They found ulcers, but not the piece of Mirena. Next up Candance was referred to an oncologist who performed another surgery in February 2013 and he was able to remove not one but two small pieces of the Mirena. “Tissue had grown around the Mirena pieces - no wonder it was so hard to find,” she says.

“I was out of the hospital recovering and what would you know - I was bleeding again and bloated and generally feeling lousy. And my blood pressure spiked again.

“Next day I went back to the gastroenterologist who told me to go to ER immediately. I had a cardiologist and two infectious disease doctors look-see and they all consulted with the OB/GYN who took the Mirena out.”

This time Candance was diagnosed with PID, or pelvic inflammatory disease, which can be life-threatening if not treated in time. She was pumped with penicillin every four hours. When she asked her doctors how she could have gotten PID (which is typically a sexually transmitted disease), she discovered that Mirena could have caused it. The Mirena website states that “less than 1 percent of users get a serious infection called pelvic inflammatory disease.” Unfortunately, Candance was that one percent. Now she wants answers to some serious questions.

“At what point did this Mirena break inside me? Did it come off when it was implanted or when it was removed? I wonder how many women have had this same thing happen to them.”

She is now on a second round of antibiotics and after that another endoscopy and colonoscopy to make sure the disease hasn’t moved anywhere else. “I have lost so much because I have spent so much time in hospital,” Candance explains. “I lost my job and I lost my fiancé. And I know that I will have stomach issues up next. And this is the icing on the cake: they just found a cyst caused by the PID - I am not done with this yet.

“I have e-mailed everyone from the Supreme Court judges to health care providers to LawyersandSettlements and everyone who said the Mirena is safe. How can Bayer stand behind its product?”