And anyone got a scapel please? Will removing the implant stop the bleeding?

[OhWhyDidTheyDoIt]

Had the contraceptive implant put in late January.

5 weeks period free...was bliss...then.....

Started bleeding mid March and have been bleeding ever since. So 4 months. No break. I am drained. (Literally)

It is clearly not working for me. I want it out.

Spoke to GP in May (about HRT). She agreed implant needed to go and she'd put me on the list for the clinic. Called up the surgery today and found out I wasn't bloody put on it. No idea of wait. Low priority,, blahdeblahdeblah

So lovely vipers

1. Has anyone else had this issue - and did removal of the implant help/stop the bleeding?
2. Anyone know how to get the fucking thing out of me. Is there a contraceptive nurse anywhere I can pay to wield a scalpel and forceps at my arm? Anyone else fancy a go? Anyone paid BUPA to remove it (not joking - I will pay to get this fucker out of me).

I am so fucking tired of this. This is not light bleeding/spotting. This is continual with massive flooding/clots thrown in every 2 weeks as well.

I've been there!
Implant one, no problems
Implant 2, a few months in the bleeding started and it was getting more and more emotional and anxious
I did get mine removed at my surgery but I think you can go to a sexual health clinic
My bleeding stopped but my periods have never been the same since. Pre implant I was : days regular as clockwork. After they are 4-5 days and not as regular
I was told I need to avoid putting anything with hormones in my body as they rocketed in me.
So can't wait for peri menopause 😂

I tried for two years to get them to take mine out, eventually gave up and tried to get it out myself. Failed. Just had a scar and the stupid thing still in my arm, turns out it was very deep.

I suffered until it was time for them to take it out. I hope you get yours sorted, but wouldn't recommend trying it yourself.

Having mine removed sorted every issue I had with the excessive bleeding, but my skin has never quite gone back to how nice it was before.
I had to wait till I moved house to get the GP to get rid of mine ie change surgery. They're not all trained to do it so you have to wait for when there is someone available.

This is just awful!

Depressing letter

Depressing report

I also say to them about, we want to keep the method for at least one year... Well it's, it's all to do really with delay, delay of removal, and I think that's just down to a cost thing. It doesn't really work, but it delays removal at least for a bit longer so it makes it a little bit more cost-effective

Find your local sexual health clinic. I would never go to the GP for contraception, they don't respect it enough because they only get paid for fitting, not removing.

Only read the OP but I totally understand your frustration. I got mine put in in my 20s and within a week I was bleeding heavily. This lasted for 8 months...in this time I made numerous requests to have it removed and kept being told to "let it settle in". I had had the implant in to prevent pregnancy and I couldn't even have sex (the bleeding was so heavy and I was regularly "flooding").

In the end I made an appointment at a different trust and lied saying I wanted to try for a baby. I wasn't even in a relationship at that point (my last one had ended because I was in a constant hormone induced mess). They took it out and I was so happy! Never had any trouble making the appointment to get it put in....

I had similar, and a long wait for removal as local services closed due to covid. GP put me on combined pill while waiting, which kept it under control. Everything was fine once it was removed.

No tips but lots of sympathy. I bled continuously after the contraceptive injection. It's supposed to last for 13 weeks but it took 18 weeks for the bleeding to stop.

I think that this is a problem with many of these LARCs. Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives. There is general reluctance from doctors to remove them when either the side effects prove intolerable or the bloody thing simply never settled.

I've certainly heard of it happening to implant users as one of my Dad's friends had to be extremely assertive to get hers removed.

I had a similar experience with a bastard mirena coil. It was in for just over a year and never settled. It had been inserted to deal with heavy flooding periods and shrink my fibroids rather than for contraception. It achieved neither. The bleeding got heavier and the fibroids grew.

At the start of that year I made several enquiries about getting it removed as I was continually bleeding and was becoming distressed distressed. Each time the answer was to give it more time. Indefinitely apparently.

Then the Covid lockdowns happened and getting a face to face appointment for it's removal became virtually impossible.

It was in January 2021 (13 months after insertion) that I finally lost the plot completely. It was after a particularly frightening and heavy bleed that went on for much of the night. I phoned my GP's surgery and categorically stated that I was throwing in the towel with this thing because it was causing me to haemorrhage. They gave me an appointment within a couple of days and it was removed. I cried with sheer relief.

Why is this such a fight for women? It's as if we don't have autonomy over our own bodies. They always sell these ideas to you with the promise that the device will be removed at any time if you don't like it. That so often isn't what actually happens though.

One if my DD's friends, that should read.

I had the implant put in January 2020 and I've bled ever since. Very heavy with clots. I think I've had 9 blood free days in that whole time. Its a fucking nightmare. They gave me tranexemic acid to take, which has slightly helped. I feel your pain op. To those posters saying it will stop with time, unfortunately that's not the case for everyone.

@EmRata95

I had the implant put in January 2020 and I've bled ever since. Very heavy with clots. I think I've had 9 blood free days in that whole time. Its a fucking nightmare. They gave me tranexemic acid to take, which has slightly helped. I feel your pain op. To those posters saying it will stop with time, unfortunately that's not the case for everyone.

Think the posters are saying it stops with removal, not with time.

Mine is coming out. I'll pay someone to take it out. anyone

I had similar to this (but with the coil).

I got it put in and bled for months. No sign of it stopping. I begged the drs to take it out, they wouldn't. Begged the sexual health clinic and they just said they'd put me on a waiting list "but it could be months".

I was in absolute agony with it. Sore, bleeding, miserable, crying every other day.

I know I probably shouldn't have but I honestly got in the shower one day, went fishing and yanked it out by the strings. It was like immediate relief.

I know you can't really yank the implant out but I wish Dr's would take us more seriously when we say it's not bloody working and we want it out!!!

I had constant bleeding for 6 months. Gp refused to remove it until it was expired , sexual health clinic refused and said they would only prescribe me a pill to stop the bleeding 🙄 so I rang all the local gp surgeries and found one who would take it out and I switched to them. Constant bleeding stopped within 2 weeks! Ended up with 21 day cycles but my acne cleared up and my mental health got a lot lot better. They offered me the injection but it's the same hormone but just a different delivery method. So I stayed hormone free for the first time in 10 years and honestly it felt so great that I would never go back on contraceptives again!

I got mine in two years ago, I don't need it for contraceptive purposes but because it helps my migraines. I went from being hospitalised at least monthly to 3-5 days a month with an attack that is nowhere near the hospital levels. Hospital was always necessary due to the type of attack I get and mimicking stroke .

That evening my arm started stabbing pain everytime it touched my body. Gp who put it in told me over the phone that was normal and to book in 3 years time to remove. I went to the sexual health clinic a week later for a same day appointment after I sent photos, where they removed it and replaced it for me. The first one was very infected and was a major pocket of pus but apparently it was fine and not being able to let my arm touch my body was not a problem. 3 courses of antibiotics later I was admitted for iv courses.

I haven't had the same problems as pp but felt let down by the gp who put it in and by my local surgery as they wouldn't see me about it as it wasn't their field. Its a disgrace how women are treated in relation to our own bodies 😔

this sounds so bad op , iv never had the implant so i cant offer any advice for you , apart from to say i hope you get it out soon , its no wonder your feeling drained , all that bleeding could be leaving you at risk of anemia so it might be an idea to get a spatone iron supplement and take it for a bit if you start feeling tired all the time

Yayy. Got a text offering me an appointment next Monday at the GPs to remove the bloody thing. Fingers crossed in time the bleeding to stop for my holiday in August (though tbh I have got so used to dealing with it I could cope).

Hurrah! Make sure you give them feedback that you're not happy at the amount of effort / time it has taken you to resolve this. Give specific details. Poor service needs to be fed back or they will not know how they can improve.