Hi all, firstly many thanks, Leb and Heater for your kind thoughts and good wishes for my hubby. Much appreciated:)

To answer your question on my migraines Heater, yes i have not had a migraine since the mirena came out, so i think that proves that point!:)

Heater that pdf you posted above is very informative - there are quite a few things to be picked up on there - one thing that struck me was this...(not related to the ovarian cancer issue, but still interesting i think)

The medical profession rarely take notice of customer complaints re: side effects, right? - because this is "anecdotal evidence" - and that is not considered "scientific" in the same way that double blind random trials are considered, for example. Yet - as far as the breast feeding part is concerned they only tested 14 breast feeding women!!!! I would think that would class more as anecdotal than major scientific study lol. But even with those 14, it showed it went through the breast into the babies and that babies of breast feeding mums had 7% levongestrel in their bodies compared to their mums - that is quite a lot for a tiny baby, so that, in itself is disturbing.
The other thing it says is that NO hormonal product should be the Birth control method of first choice for breast feeding mums! So again, we have information there, produced by mirena, that is not passed on by doctors.
Now the cancer issue, which is the main topic of this particular post - it says they have NEVER tested it on animals to see what the general cancer risks are - so we have an UNTESTED product on the market, as far as cancer is concerned, which seems crazy to me when hormones are KNOWN to influence cancer - you would think it would be obligatory to have to test them. The reason i suspect that it is not tested is because if it is not tested, there can never be any evidence that it is carcinogenic, and if it is not tested, they then have no obligation to address the cancer issue officially. If it was tested, they would HAVE to give the results which may not be too good.
However, it does clearly say women with Breast Cancer should not use ANY hormonal contraception at all, and that goes for all hormonal based cancers. HRT definately can cause Breast Cancer (I know many women who have had HRT then got breast cancer, then been taken off the HRT - one poor woman who had had a history of Breast Cancer but got over it, was put on HRT, then re-deveopled it again - he doc had denied that HRT could cause cancer, but soon took her off it when she got her tumours back) as can the Pill and other estrogen biased treatments
quote from another website..
"Of related interest, it should be noted that the incidence of estrogen-dependent breast cancers, particularly among post-menopausal women, has increased by 130 per cent from the mid 70's in sharp contrast to only a 27 per cent increase in non-estrogen dependent cancers. This may well be relevant to the risks of the pill as a major source of incremental estrogen exposure."
Basically i think not nearly enough is known about the risks of cancer of any type and levonorgestrel (mirena) yet. However, what i think is telling is that if estrogen is supposed to be the main nasty for breast cancer, then theoretically mirena being progesterone lookie-likie should be hailed as really good to prevent breast cancer, but it is not. in fact it is listed as a major thing that if you have a history of breast cancer then you must not have mirena, which makes me think that it is certainly possible, as i said in a previous post, that the overload of progesterone, makes SOME womens bodies over pump out estrogen to counteract it, thus maybe adding to the estrogen based cancer risk. I am no medical doctor, but it seems common sense to me that some people could work that way.
also from another site...this info on estrogen and ovarian cancer....
"Women who use supplemental estrogen after menopause for 10 years or more double their risk of dying from ovarian cancer, according to a study released Tuesday. This increased risk persists up to 29 years after a woman stops using the hormone therapy." - they go on to suggest a combined estrogen and progesterone therapy for those at risk.
As for how the mirena actually works - ie. does it prevent ovulation? yes it can for SOME people but not all. In fact they admit they dont have a definate idea of exactly how mirena works, they just know it does - they "suggest" mechanisms by which it may work!! sounds really scientific doesnt it?
quote...
"Ovulation is inhibited in some women using MIRENA®. In a 1-year study
approximately
45% of menstrual cycles were ovulatory and in another study after 4 years
75% of cycles were ovulatory.
The local mechanism by which continuously released levonorgestrel enhances
contraceptive effectiveness of the IUS has not been conclusively
demonstrated.
Studies of MIRENA®prototypes have suggested several mechanisms that prevent
pregnancy: thickening of cervical mucus preventing passage of sperm into the
uterus, inhibition of sperm capacitation or survival, and alteration of the
endometrium."
so, as we say in UK, you pay your money, you take your choice!
For those of you who have not looked at Heater's pdf above here on this page, do please give it a good look and read between the lines.

to be honest, i think the whole hormone thing is a time bomb which has already exploded for some unfortunate people and is still ticking for others of us.
my gut reaction is to stay clear of all artificial hormones, just feed the body with the right food and let it stay as healthy as possible, and only interfere if something goes physically wrong. That's my input anyway, for what it is worth lol. No time to write anything else just now, though i could probably go on:)
I must say though, that there is no major reason to think that you will get ovarian cancer Iggie - yes cancer is a risk for all of us, and of course, for some it becomes a reality -my best friend has cancer that started in that area, so i have seen some of this close up, so to speak, and of course, it is very frightening - but the effects that you have been having are far more likely just to be the usual nasty side effects of the mirena, rather than anything like cancer.
However, if you are really worried - and i do understand how this fear can take hold of you and is not always easy to shift - then i would go back to the doctor and ask for a blood test, as Heater suggests. It doesnt matter how much it costs, or if the doctors laugh at you and think you are mad (I am sure most of our doctors think we are mad anyway lol)- IF IT PUTS YOUR MIND AT REST THEN IT WILL BE WORTH IT! Good luck and please keep us posted. Thinking of you. x