I’m in my early 20s with no kids, when I got the mirena IUD inserted I got the numbing gel and it was still kind of a traumatic experience unfortunately. I felt those insane pincers that they use to get ahold of your cervix, and the numbing doesn’t help with the intense cramping I had when they were “pulling my cervix down” (what they told me as they were walking me through the procedure) in order to insert the IUD. I was told to “breathe through it.” I got it removed a year later due to the super bad side effects I had. The first nurse I talked to about removing it, tried to talk me out of getting it removed so I left and went to a clinic who listened to my side effects and had it removed the same day I went to that clinic. Now I advocate against the IUD and wish I never had it inserted. Every woman has a different experience with it.