To ask if your GP tries to ‘persuade’ you to have the coil

Yes, I went a little while ago as I have been having issues with my cycle. My mum died ovarian cancer and I'm too young for peri apparently but instead of offering me any blood tests I was told I should first try the coil. I told her where she could poke it. I find gps very dismissive around this sort of topic. If I wanted a sodding coil I'd have asked for it.

Yes at my 6 week pp check up. Male doctor, very dismissive of my concerns about the coil effecting my MH and decided he knew what my body needed. He booked the appointment for me to have a coil fitted and I had to go home and ring my GP to cancel myself as he refused to do it because 'you really don't want another so soon at your age'.

The FP woman refused to take mine out when I had a smear (I had already tried at home).

She wouldn't take it out unless I had another put in which I said no to, so a discussion followed in which I declared I had rights over my own body, I'm a grown woman, I know about contraception (I'm a midwife, I'm wise in the world, 45 and have children).
She wouldn't budge the coil so in the end I told her I wasn't in a relationship and was living a celibate life even though my husband was in the waiting room just to get the damn thing out.
It's wholly wrong that your choice is removed from you and you cannot have it out when you wish
In fact it's almost a violation of sorts refusing to remove a foreign object from your body when you no longer consent to it being there!

I have found personally and professionally that mirena coil is pushed heavily as a cure all for PMT, heavy periods, contraception, Menopause

Easy to have put in, murder to get out

I recon that the gp surgery gets commissioned on how many people have a coil fitted. In my case, I do agree it's the only option but in other cases many people would be fine on the pill.

@jacks11

It was me who suggested drug reps incentivise doctors pushing the mirena coil, and it was just a lighthearted comment. I don't really believe they have a tracking device inserted either.

Everything you say makes sense (and can I say I always enjoy your wise and articulate posts, on a range of subjects) but the thing is that what you say doesn't chime with many, many women's experiences.

And of course if a woman says she doesn’t want a mirena having listened to the information given, then that’s the end of the matter.

It so often isn't the end of the matter, though. My GP, who knows me well and knows exactly how I feel about mirena, goes on and on and on about it. Randomly, irrespective of what I've made the appointment for. I am tempted to say I'll let him insert one in me if I can insert one in him.

And before anyone says it- yes, if you want it removed they should be able to do so in a reasonable timescale.

And this is the other problem. So many women report extreme problems with this, that anyone who's feeling a bit unsure about whether it's for them is naturally going to play it safe and say no if she thinks she'll be stuck with incessant bleeding, mood problems, pain or any of the other commonly reported side effects. I know several people - and clearly lots of pp on the thread do too - who have ended up having to pull their coil out themselves, which is completely awful and totally unacceptable.

It would be great if everyone's HCP were as reasonable as you, but the reality is that a huge number of women have multiple, frequent experiences of being hard-sold the mirena coil and multiple experiences of refusal to remove it, including women at high risk of, or already struggling with, side effects and women who don't actually need contraception. If we can agree that financial incentives are not the reason, then it's a bit of a mystery why and I would love to understand it better.

I think I'm never going to move house.
I went to a review of the contraceptive pill a while back and asked about the coil while i was there.
I was told if you're happy with the pill why change

Yes. It's because it works out the cheapest method. But I refuse every single time they offer.

Yeah and I'd never have the stupid thing again mainly because once it's in no fucker will take the bastard thing out again! Ended up pulling it out myself

Yes they did with me. I wouldn’t have one, the thought freaks me out to be quite honest

Yes, I had this repeatedly for years! And then when I finally agreed, because I couldn't take the pill any more, it was almost impossible to get an appointment to have it fitted! What's the point of hounding women when no one is trained and available to put the damn things in? It did work wonders for me once I finally got it put in though.

Springers, I finally had to make a formal request to have it placed in my notes not to push that fucking Mirena on me or bring it up as my h had had the snip and I did not need contraception.

@catalogueuniverse, are you sure they are incentivised to fit the mirena?

I quickly skimmed one of your links -

In 2009 the programme introduced targets for sexual health which focused on providing information on LARCS to women attending for contraceptive advice.

I thought current QOF was for providing advice. I didn't think fitting coils was incentivised though happy to defer to any practice managers/financial managers on the site.

Every time I see my GP he pushes the Mirena coil.

I’ve seen him a few times this year for a completely different health issue but he brings it up at every appointment

Every time I tell him the same thing - my DH has had a vasectomy

God knows why he can’t just put it in my notes

Oh and I forgot in fact when the first GP (male) suggested it to me I said no as I felt I’d had enough poking around down below (I’d had a baby and then a smear within the few months previously) he sniggered at me! The cheek.

I had a thread related to this the other day.

I've bled for 7 months on cerazette now and I'm miserable and I just get told to have a coil.

I have fibroids so not sure how it would work anyway but surely if I'm bleeding constantly on cerazette then the Mirena coil will be the same as it's the same hormone?! When I asked my dr about it he just said it will be different but couldn't really explain it.

I'm miserable but don't know what to do. It sucks.

Yes they do push. And after DC2 I fell for it. I cannot wait for it to be removed! Went to GP last week and she couldn’t find it . Now bracing myself to go to clinic. Wish I never agreed.

GPs are financially incentivised to fit the Mirena.
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/146546/gp-incentive-scheme-increases-long-term-reversible/

www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-health/11678916/IUS-hormonal-coil-The-troubling-truth.html

I'm against any woman being pushed to have any kind of contraception she does not want - I'm not in the UK - where I am they are still a bit against giving the Mirena or the copper coil to women who haven't have kids - that said -

Maybe I'm part of the lucky few - I have a Mirena for 9 months and it has changed my life for the better.

I used to bleed for 10-12 days a month - the pill made me spotty and fat - I had cramps so bad I was sick - I bled so much I had to have a transfusion more than once - I used to dread my period and wouldn't go anywhere without a hot water bottle in case it started. Cramps would keep me up at night. I was anemic.

I haven't had a period since January. I'm no longer anemic. Had I have known I'd have pushed for a Mirena years ago.

Yep! DH had the snip 10 years ago and I don't have problem periods. I did try it years ago, it was a nightmare. I got every side effect going and then got fobbed off for months before they'd take it out.

Yes they did. My consultant at hospital also tried to persuade me to have it done.

I would never have it done, because they seem very reluctant to remove it if there are issues - I have had friends begging their GP and getting a flat no until it has been in for a certain length of time. I don't give a shit how convenient it is for them, it is a big fat 0% chance that I am consenting to anything being inserted in my body that I can't get back out if I need to

Yes. Relentlessly. It drives me mad.

I’m on my 5th Mirena a lnd genuinely been great for me. However mines 7 years old now and long overdue. Getting it replaced here is a nightmare! No one does them locally.

There used to be extra money for clicking we’d discussed LARC but not related to how many actually got it.

Funny - when I changed doctors* and got my notes online, there was more than one discussion of LARC on my notes, even if I hadn't been anywhere near the doctor's

• was dumped with 31 days notice - that doesn't happen either.

I don't need contraception but had such heavy periods I ended up severely anaemic. The GP said "the only thing they could offer me" was the coil, although she did concede that at my age it probably wasn't worth it (well, thanks!).

On a visit to another GP it dawned on me to ask for tranexamic acid, which was prescribed with no issue and worked like a charm so am bemused as to why the merina was the "only" thing on offer.