So, I can’t feel my strings, but my husband can

[Lynntracy95]

Hey,
So this may be weird. Since I can not feel my strings of my iud, I let my husband use his fingers to check instead. My husband has went to the Gyno appointments with me, and said he feels confident with my strings being in place. When I go to the Gyno for my check via unltrasound they always say they are perfect. Is there anything wrong with checking them like this? Should I not? I have such a hard time trusting that my Iud is there. Also should I worry about pregnancy with the ParaGard iud and pull out?

[Sam W]

Hi Lynntracy95,

There's nothing wrong with checking the way you have been; and it sounds like you've even double-checked by having the ultrasounds done. Too, and IUD getting expelled is fairly rare, and someone not noticing it happened is even rarer. Do you have a sense of why it's hard for you to trust the IUD is still there?

Given that the IUD is 99+% effective, you have almost no risk of pregnancy when using it. And if you combine the IUD with another method, then you take that risk of pregnancy as low as it can go.

[Lynntracy95]

Before I got my Paragard, I had a doctor that put in my Mirena and didn't check via ultrasound, and there was no telling how long it have been partially moved from the ideal placement. Now everytime I have sex I think of the "what ifs". The difference between the Mirena and Paragard my husband told me is that the Mirena strings were all the way to the left of my cervix and long and the Paragard strings are straight. My husband said they are not hard to find. I really don't think I fully understand how the IUD Paragard works. But is it still effective even if I have sex during ovulation?

[Heather]

I can certainly understand how that experience might have spooked you some. But it sounds like you know for sure this time that the placement is right.

Your effectiveness from the IUD is the same ovulating or not. It's still not 100% clear how the IUD works, but we know enough to know that the fact that there is a device taking up the available real estate in the uterus that would otherwise be there for an embryo matters, as does the fact that the IUD -- and with the Paragard, the copper -- changes the environment of your uterus and cervix so that it simply isn't hospitable to sperm mobility from the perspective of the acid balance of fluids that it would be otherwise.

[Lynntracy95]

So I have had my Paraguard going on 3 years now, what’s the chance of it actually moving? I think if I had data about placement years and it moving I would feel better. Or it would help. Do you have any info on this!? Thanks so much. I appreciate your non judgmental answers

[Sam W]

According to this paper by the ACOG, expulsion occurs in 2%-10% of users: https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical- ... ve-methods. Most of what I found suggests expulsion is more likely in the first few months after an IUD is inserted.