Did an IUD Make My Ulcerative Colitis Worse?
My last true ulcerative colitis flare up was at the end of November 2016. That means it’s been almost 3.5 years since I had a flare up. Now, I’ve had a few bumps along the way, but they were all short-lived and minor enough that I was able to get things back under control simply by taking more of my normal medication. That’s quite a big deal for me. So what gives? My not-so-scientific theory is that my IUD was making things worse.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. At all. I am not giving medical advice on my blog. If any of this resonates with you, please do your own research and talk to your doctor. I’m simply telling you about my own experiences. Plenty of women have IUDs without any problems. Also, if talk about health issues doesn’t interest you, look over here.

The IUD story
For those of you who don’t know, IUD is short for intrauterine device. It’s a form of birth control, made of plastic and silicone, that gets inserted into your uterus. Which is some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, but I digress.
It’s good for five years, and I got my first one shortly before moving to Germany. Since I don’t want kids, and I was planning on traveling around the world for five months shortly after moving, this seemed easier than having to carry around a ton of birth control pills.
I didn’t seem to have any negative side effects, at least none that I could connect with the IUD at first. I quite enjoyed the positive side effects, and I was happy to get it replaced when the five years were up. In total, I had an IUD for almost 6.5 years.
The flare ups
Less than two months after moving to Germany, I got quite sick. My colitis issues were flaring up worse than I had ever experienced. Luckily my doctor was able to get me on medication quickly, and things improved in time for me to go on my trip.
But I assumed this was a result of the stress of the months leading up to getting married and uprooting my entire life. It’s a disease that’s triggered by stress, and let’s face it, this was one of the most stressful periods of my life. So it made sense.
Over the next few years, I continued to have horrible flare ups with worse symptoms than I had ever had while living in Atlanta, my pre-IUD days. In a six year period, I had five flare ups, of which three put me in the hospital. One of those even resulted in several blood transfusions.
While I can tie each of them to extreme stress, it’s not like I never had stress before moving to Germany. Let’s be real. But none of those flare ups had ever been so debilitating. I was still able to function and go to work while having a flare up in the past. Flare ups post-IUD, even when I wasn’t hospitalized, meant staying home on the couch for long stretches of time. No way I could’ve gone to an office job if I had one.
After a few years, I even started developing small rashes on my hands. They weren’t noticeable unless you looked closely, but I knew they were there, and they were irritating. Nothing I tried, including prescription creams, made them go away. The only thing that did work was the steroid medication I had to take when a flare up hit. But eventually the rashes would come back, once I was over the flare up and off the steroids.
A slight detour…but I promise it ties in
I’m in several Facebook groups for childfree women, and the topic of sterilization comes up quite often. One day someone posted a link to an article (which you can read here) about a product called Essure, which is a device that is permanently inserted into the fallopian tubes. It was supposed to be a less invasive, less risky alternative to having surgery to get your tubes tied.
But this article was talking about thousands of women who had horrible issues relating to this device. It contains nickel, and women with nickel allergies were having allergic reactions to it because they were never told it contained this metal and their doctors never asked if they had allergies.
Some women, who didn’t have issues with nickel, were having autoimmune reactions, where their body was developing inflammation and attacking itself. Hair falling out. Joint aches. Teeth getting infected and needing to be removed. Back pain. There were even quite a few reports of the device migrating out of the tubes and into other areas, like the uterus or the colon.
These women’s bodies were reacting to having a foreign object inserted into their bodies. While some acute inflammation was expected, these women’s bodies never calmed back down. Whether the device caused an autoimmune reaction or simply triggered an underlying autoimmune issue is uncertain. But it was happening, and these women were suffering.
My light bulb moment
How does this relate to me? Well, the IUD is a foreign object. And if the Essure device was causing autoimmune reactions and all kinds of crazy symptoms, I started thinking, could the IUD be doing something similar to me? After all, ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune disease. Even though the uterus and the colon are seemingly unrelated organs, they’re still reasonably close to each other. And the body does tend to operate as a unit.
I started thinking back to when my flare ups got really bad. It was within a few months of getting the IUD. The woman in the article who mentioned suddenly having issues with her teeth reminded me of a few years back when I had unexplained, excruciating pain in my back molar and had to have it removed. And those rashes on my hands seemed to have no explanation.
It seemed like a reasonable theory. Could the IUD be causing increased problems with my ulcerative colitis?
So even though it had only been a year since I had the IUD replaced, I decided it needed to go. If there was even a chance it was the root of my problems, I didn’t want it anymore.
Life after IUD
Of course my gynecologist looked at me like I was crazy when I explained why I wanted it removed, and she told me there’s no evidence that IUDs cause any adverse reactions in women with colitis. But I found lots of women in forums who have had increased problems with colitis or other autoimmune diseases, and I wasn’t willing to take any chances.
My doctor removed the IUD, and within a few weeks those rashes on my hands cleared up. They’ve never come back. And my colitis symptoms have improved greatly.
I haven’t had any major flare ups since late November 2016. Just the fact that taking extra of my normal medication is enough to control the small issues I’ve had is wonderful. It’s something I haven’t been able to do in almost 10 years, and not having to take steroids for a flare up is fantastic.
My gastroenterologist seems to accept and agree with my thinking that having the IUD removed has resulted in improved health. I’ve even been able to take less of my normal medication and still do well. I’m so happy about this, too.
So many women have IUDs and have absolutely no problems. Many say it was a great decision, and they recommend the device highly. But for me, I have a big suspicion that it was not a good fit. That having a foreign object inserted into my body, which is already prone to extra inflammation and autoimmune reactions, potentially caused way more problems than it was worth. I’ll never really know for sure if the IUD was the cause, but enough things line up that make me happy I no longer have it.
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March 16, 2020 @ 3:56 PM
I 100% agree with your suspicion! I’m glad you went with your intuition and had it removed; you must feel so much better!!
March 17, 2020 @ 2:55 PM
Thanks Gillian, I definitely do!
December 6, 2021 @ 8:44 PM
Omgosh I’m having this same exact issue! Now my hair is falling out, arms/hands hurt and my lower stomach is constant cramping. I’ve had to have blood transfusions. I have Crohn’s disease and it’s been flaring constant since I got this iud. Thank you so much!
December 9, 2021 @ 4:41 PM
Obviously I’m not a doctor, but it could be something for you to look into if your Crohn’s was more manageable before you got the IUD. My gyno thought I was crazy, but I’m so glad I got it taken out.
March 16, 2022 @ 2:23 AM
I am so grateful that you put this story out there. It makes so much sense and I am going to get my IUD removed. Our bodies were created to help us (contrary to popular belief) and so with my ulcerative colitis being an auto immune condition, AND the fact that I have a foreign object in my body, this all adds up! Can you please add other tips that help during a flare up and what medications you are on? Thank you so much and God Bless.
April 13, 2022 @ 2:02 PM
Hi Monet! Sorry for the late reply. I was always given prednisone during flare ups, which is helpful but also such an awful drug in many ways. I haven’t had to take it since late 2016, the last flare up I had before I got the IUD taken out. I take Mezavant (I think mesalamine is the generic name) every day for maintenance. I think IUDs are great for lots of people, but clearly it did not agree with me. I only wish I had realized it earlier! Good luck to you, I know colitis can be a struggle.
May 2, 2022 @ 4:30 PM
Which iud did you have? I had the copper iud for 6 excruciating months. 3 week long periods that never regulated. Constant cramping and pain. My Obgyn said it would get better but it didn’t. My body was rejecting it. While having it removed i was talked into the Mirena iud. Two weeks later i was in the ER, diagnosed with UC. I had never had any auto immune symptoms before this day. I was in the hospital for over a month, lost 25 pounds going from a healthy weight to emaciated, half of my hair fell out, got an itchy rash all over my legs and spent the next 5 years struggling to stay alive while battling flare after flare without relief. I asked over 20 doctors if the IUD was related and they all looked at me like I was crazy and told me no way. I googled it at the time but not much came up. I didn’t take it out because I immediately stopped getting periods and I couldn’t imagine having the pain of a period every month coupled with flareups. At your five I had the IUD replaced. Over the two years my inflammation spread to every part of my lower intestine, colon and rectum. It was worse than ever. I started feeling sharp pain where my IUD sets. I went back to the OB/GYN but they said everything looked fine. I had an ultrasound which they also said looked to normal. The pain was not going away. I did another Google search for auto immune disease is linked to IUDs and now find hundreds of accounts of woman experiencing the same thing. I made an appointment to have my IUD taken out immediately. It has now been four days and I feel slightly better. After seven years of trauma I don’t expect my body to instantly bounce back but I am hopeful that I will continue to heal and be back to normal within a few months.
October 16, 2022 @ 4:46 PM
Hi Eva, sorry for the very late response, I’ve been sort of neglecting this site for awhile. I had the mirena IUD, one for 5 years, and the second one for a little over a year before I had it removed. I’m so sorry for all the pain and problems you went through! It did take my body some time to feel like I was back to where I was before I ever had the IUD, definitely not immediate. But it’s been years now and I’ve only had very minor, very infrequent colitis issues. I hope you’re doing better these days!
October 16, 2022 @ 5:26 PM
Hey Ali thank you for the response. I took my IUD out when i last messaged you…almost 6 months ago now. It took about 3 months to get my period again but there has been sadly no change at all with my colitis symptoms 😭 I’m still hoping for the best.