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Fair warning about the copperIUD
I had the copper IUD in for close to 5 years. They say it can last up to 10 years and after I had my son I was ALL for that! I got it put in shortly after his birth. The proceedure was simple they just poped it in and I got a few cramps but nothing extream or major in any way. When I was younger my periods were short, light and I had little to no cramping. After getting dignosed with an autoimmune disease I started having problems. The IUD was still doing it's basic job of not getting me pregnant but it was giving me trouble in other areas. I stated getting monthly yeast infections which no matter what I tried I'd keep getting them. Also, my period jumped from 4 days to 6 and I started getting really bad cramps. Anouther alarm is bleeding outside of my menstral cycle.
I talked to all my doctors about the IUD with them all saying my symptoms had nothing to do with it and I HAD to keep the darn thing in because it's the best at controlling pregnancy and if I wanted to get pregnant I had to move medicine around and discuss it with all of them first. After a couple more months of misery(and no sex because I was trying to control the yeast infections and stuff) I went to a gyno and finally I got to talk to a doctor who didn't tell me everything was in my head. She linked everything to the IUD, if you bump the IUD in a certain way it can make you bleed outside of your menstral cycle, yeast sticks to the IUD so it's harder to rid the infection and the pain is sort of just part of it. It felt like my uterus was in a constant contraction or it felt like it was swollen. She didn't hesitate to take it out and told me if I had any other issues to give her a call.
I read on here about som women who have had the copper IUD in for a long period of time and having similar issues. I'm not saying it's a bad device to use for birth control but instead of keeping it in for 10 years change it out every couple of years. So far I've had it out for a couple of days and I feel a lot better.
Re: Fair warning about the copperIUD
Honestly, I wouldn't bother with the ParaGard at all. The Mirena is a more effective birth control device than the ParaGard (99.9% vs 99.4% roughly - that means that of every 1,000 women with a Mirena, 1 will get pregnant, essentially). Sure, you have to change it out every five years, but it's plastic (not copper), and has low-dose progesterone which can actually eliminate your periods over time (I have one roughly 8 hour period once every couple months at this point).
In the 2.5 years I've had my Mirena, I've had no yeast infections, no abnormal cramping, no pregnancies, and no problems related to physical activities. Also, FWIW I have never had children.
I guess what I'm saying is, don't lose faith in IUDs/IUSs quite yet. If the ParaGuard doesn't work for you, try the Mirena. And outside the US you have many more options than just those two. Plus, scientists recently announced that women with IUDs tend to have a 50% lesser chance of getting cervical cancer, and there's also been a noted decrease in the rate of endometrial cancer.
IUDs May Protect Against Cervical Cancer
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker
They're both plastic--Paragard just has a copper wire wrapped around it; the entire device isn't copper, for crying out loud.
Look, folks, every birth control method has potential side effects--some users will experience them, some won't. A failure rate difference of .5% is so negligible that it's not even worth worrying about, by the way. Different methods work better for some, not as well for others, but that's a long way from saying that one method is inferior. Anecdotal "ZOMG, this thing is awful!" stories aren't useful to anyone.
I love my ParaGard IUD. I got last June. I have had no side effects so far. Regular periods, no heavy bleeding, no spotting, no major cramps.