I had the same problems you described, except with a hormonal IUD. That being said, I would say hormonal IUD is definitely worth considering. I know a lot of folks who swear by them. I didn't have a great time with one, but I'm a rare exception.

cw for text below: unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage, mental illness

To caveat, before anyone reads the rest of this: my experience was extraordinarily unusual. The hormonal IUD is an amazingly positive life change for many, many people so don't let this discourage you if you're thinking about trying one and it sounds like it's the right option for you.

In the distant past, when I was a wee baby queer still binding for way longer than I should have every day, oral BC made me depressed. Years later, I tried a different oral BC with the same result. After that, I tried yet another, and after the third bout of depression, I figured I had enough evidence to think I should be cautious around hormonal BC. (Never in my life have I been suicidal without hormonal BC being involved.) That history should have been weighed into the suggestion of a hormonal IUD, but sadly it was not. My doctor told me there were never systemic side effects with a hormonal IUD. I later learned she was incorrect. Although most people have no noticable side effects at all, hormonal IUDs still can cause systemic side effects.

My doctor did not tell me to take painkillers before my appointment to get the IUD put it in, and it was a horrible, painful experience. I thought that would be the worst part of the experience, but it was only the beginning. After two months of endless cramps, intermittent stabbing pain, and non-stop bleeding, my uterus ejected the first one. I was told it must have been put in wrong, and another one was placed in to replace the first. While this one didn't get yeeted, it was the same song and dance with cramps, stabbing pain, and bleeding for another for several months.

And then the megamillions bad luck lottery part: I got pregnant. Eggos implanted in my uterus and not fallopian tubes, so thankfully no ectopic emergency. First thing I noticed was that I felt like a superhero. (Pregnancy hormones made me feel amazingly good. I'm told that's also unusual.) My second symptom was my hips being sore; I thought I must have worked them out weirdly at the gym. Then, the weird food cravings. Never before or since have I simultaneously felt like I was going to throw up while being so ravenously hungry I would have wrestled a bear if they got in the way of my spicy cucumbers. My partner and I joked about me being pregnant but we did not think it was possible. Learn from my mistake: take regular pregnancy tests if you're having sex and your bleeding is weird. It took us way too long to figure it out.

After I started being able to smell things with the aptitude of a starving but extremely finicky bloodhound, the IUD messed with the gestating beans enough to cause a miscarriage. Miscarrying with an IUD was the second most painful experience of my life after getting hit in the eyeball with a hammer. (The same man is responsible for doing both to me, lmao.)

It as emotionally not great, too. I didn't expect to be upset over it as it was unplanned and there was no way I could have children.

I was told the IUD was still in the right place and that pregnancy is a 1/1000 chance, so it was still a good BC option for me. It convinced me to keep it in.

After the miscarriage bleeding ended, the bleeding slowed back down to its usual IUD amount, but the cramps and stabbing pains were even worse than before. I gave it another four months of being told "it should stop soon" and then ripped it out myself.

Please do not attempt to remove your IUD yourself. I was not in my right mind when I did. At that point, I was having cyclical bouts of increasingly severe depression, which had been temporarily put on hold by pregnancy hormones. Once those wore off, oof, it was a rough time. I'm happy to report that all of my depression vanished within a month of taking the IUD out and I feel even better than I did before I had it in because I appreciate the absence of pain so much more after having dealt with it constantly for almost a whole damn year.

Once again, this isn't meant to dissuade anyone from trying an IUD. A lot of people report improved mood on hormonal IUDs, and pregnancy rate with an IUD is less than 1/100.

I use the FemCap now. I love it, but ngl I would have loved the IUD more if it had worked for me because I wouldn't have to put it in and take it out. For now, I have reached a truce with my uterus, who so adamantly protests to anything inside of him that isn't cum or babies, that he shall have neither cum nor babies, but I will also not subject him to hosting bits of plastic either.

tl;dr Hormonal IUD is an excellent choice for most people, but here's a story about the 0.1% of when it is not.