]I’m so glad the Paraguard is working out better for you now! I’m sorry you had such a bad experience at first. I recently got the Paragaurd and, like you, read all the mixed reviews beforehand and saw that many people also had a tough first few months. For me, I was super nervous about the insertion process… I made sure to take Ibuprofen before and then during the whole process I really focused on trying to “breathe through” the pain. The docs were like “dang you should teach our pregnancy breathing classes” LOL. I feel like it helped though because I would say the process was uncomfortable but not super painful. The day after the insertion I started “spotting” which lasted for over a week. It was a much different color and texture (??) then I had ever experience before. The blood was pretty much black. I’m only on my second period since having Paragaurd, but so far my periods have been different, but manageable. It almost seems like I’m bleeding less, but it’s spread out over more days?? So pre-Paragaurd my periods would only be 3-5 days, and post-Paragaurd they are more like 7+ days. I am getting some pretty intense cramps here and there but they aren’t constant. I’m curious to see how my periods will be over the next few months. I’ll post an update around the 6 month mark!