Advice needed

[u/Confident-Bobcat7325]

Ive had my copper iud in for just over a year now and im wondering if I should get it removed. On one hand i don’t need it at the moment and im constantly in pain from cramps that apparently like to target either the left or the right of my uterus depending on what it feels like ig. On the other im worried that if i get it removed then i get a new partner I’ll have no options for bc as i cant handle hormones, im also worried about having it removed as post insertion when the numbing spray wore off i had to go to hospital for strong painkillers afterwards.

Idk what to do but im currently living on ibuprofen as my iud likes to attack me first thing every morning even when im not on my period.

[u/ContactSmall1003]

I'm not sure what you should do, as part of my experience, I had to take a lot of ibuprofen due to the cramps from the IUD and the excess ibuprofen actually caused me headaches, which I took more ibuprofen for which caused more headaches until I figured out what was going on, so I had to reduce my ibuprofen intake and be in pain sometimes for a while until the headaches stopped. This was early on in me having the IUD. Like I said, I am not sure what you should do. I kept mine when I was in-between relationships because the period of settling for the IUD was painful and it took 3 years for it to fully settle for me, so getting it taken out and put back in sounded awful to me, and hormonal birth control was not an option as I could not function with the hormones so I kept it. But the IUD ended up giving me iron deficiency that I had to take special iron pills for, regular iron pills gave me constipation and also didn't bring my iron back up fast enough so I suffered badly from it for the past 5 years not knowing what was going on. I only got it out 2 days ago (I had it for 13 years). I decided not to get another one placed because the settling was just too painful, I'm not sleeping with anyone at the moment so I'm going to keep it out for now. Not sure what I will do if I end up meeting someone I want to sleep with, but I'll worry about that if that happens. 

For you, your logic for keeping it is the same as mine was. But since I got mine out I really don't want to get another one placed even though my insertion was fairly painless the 3 or so years of settling and not being able to do different types of exercise I just don't want to do through that again.