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Avatar universal

Brown discharge almost daily 2 years after Mirena IUD insertion

Hi everyone, I need some advice.

27 y/o. Before I had my IUD I had a lot of vaginal discharge, it was either thick and clumpy (white) or like water than would run down my legs. I had everything checked and my gyno recommended an IUD which could help stop the discharge. So I got the IUD in July of 2019, now 2 years later I am having brown discharge, like sludge almost every day, which has been happening for 6 months now. I still get a (mostly) regular period with actual red blood, but all other days of my cycle I get a brownish discharge. Some days it's a lighter brown, some days it's a darker brown and clumpier. It shows up on toilet paper every time I use the bathroom, and when I'm in the shower, if I put my fingers up there, it's usually clumpy and darker. I have no pain or itchiness or pain during sex. There is always some of this brown stuff left on the condom after sex too.

Has anyone else had this experience? I've just had a PAP test, swabs, STD test, pelvic ultrasound and pelvic exam about a month ago and all came back normal, so I have no idea what might be causing this other than the IUD. I am terrified it might be something like vaginal cancer, but surely if it was it would have been picked up by now. Does anyone have any ideas please? I am at a total loss.

Thanks
3 Responses
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973741 tn?1342342773
COMMUNITY LEADER
Oh my goodness, that would not work for me.  Spotting daily for two years!  What a pain that has been for you.  Pads every day? I wanted to first say, never douche. That is not recommended. The vagina is self cleaning and douching increases the likelyhood of yeast overgrowth.

Brown discharge that is daily is often a hormonal issue.  Too little estrogen or progesterone can cause daily brown spotting.  https://www.healthline.com/health/brown-vaginal-discharge  Your IUD may be impacting this also as anything that has hormones within it releases progesterone.  I would definitely talk to your doctor about this spotting.  

I am guessing it is the hormonal issue and your IUD causing this.  IF you were to have an infection, you would typically have other sorts of symptoms as well.  This is confirmed by all of your negative tests. Your doctor also would have told you if you needed a cancer screening which actually, the pap does entail some of that as does the physical exam.  I would ask your doctor to do simple blood work on you to determine your hormone levels exactly (I had issues in my 20's due to too much estrogen and they could tell me that this was too much from my blood work).  Let me know what you think.
Helpful - 1
1 Comments
Thank you so much for this advice, I really appreciate it. I have booked another appointment with my doctor and I will be sure to discuss getting hormone blood work done. You have helped to ease my mind a lot, as I have been to several different doctors (including a doctor at a sex health clinic) and none have recommended any cancer screenings outside of just a routine pap, so any sort of cancer must be out of the question here. Thank you again for commenting.
1415174 tn?1453243103
Hi, Sorry you are having this problem. It could be bacterial vaginosis or BV. They do have lab tests for it. It is an imbalance of the bacteria that are normally in the vagina. Sometimes when you wash too much soap or use a douche etc. It can upset the normal bacteria and allow bad bacteria in which changes the Ph and you get unpleasant symptoms like this. They should be able to treat this with antibiotics. But I would first as the doctor to check you for BV.  
regards,
mkh9
Helpful - 1
2 Comments
Hi thanks for the comment. I had a test for BV as well and it was negative. I kind of wish I did had BV because then I would have an answer to this problem.
Lol! That’s what I said….TWICE. I wasted so much $$ in tests and stuff over the past 2 years.
Avatar universal
Hello-
I had my IUD taken out last week because I had the EXACT same problem/tests/etc.

2 years of either period blood or brown stuff. Pelvic pain after sex.

I had Kyleena. I spotted a little the day it came out. Since then ZERO brown stuff, no cramps after sex.
It’s crazy how fast things changed for the better.
I kept asking about it over the years and I had to convince my doctor to do it.

Wish I would have done it way sooner.
They can always put one back in right?
So, I figured why not just take it out and see.
It took about 2 minutes barely hurt and it is surreal how happy I am.
Helpful - 0
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