I had a coil fitted around 18 months ago. The first 6 months were absolutely fine, no period at all, I had a bit of weight gain but that was probably more lockdown related than anything else.
For the last year though I’ve been having regular periods. One of the reasons I had the coil fitted in the first place was that I had such heavy periods I was needing either a blood transfusion or an iron infusion every 3-4 months. My periods were pretty painful too but manageable with a couple of paracetamol and heat pads. Now though the pain is absolutely unbearable. I always get the squits the day my period starts (sorry, tmi), always have done. I now get cramps so badly that yesterday I was on the toilet for 4 hours as I simply couldn’t get off the loo as I was in so much pain. It was comparable pain to when I was in labour. I get the shakes, covered in cold sweat and can’t take any pain killers as anything I eat or drink I just vomit up.
This is lasting for about 3 days a month, I then have 5 days of period where the pain is bad enough that I can’t stand up straight, I have to take the maximum dose of Nurofen Plus just to be able to walk my kids to school. I can’t do anything other than the absolute bare minimum for over a week each month. It is genuinely at the point where it is ruining my life.
I’ve phoned the GP but they no longer remove IUD’s at the surgery. They’ve referred me to the Gynaecologist at my local hospital and I’ve received a letter from them to say they’ve got the referral, I’m on a waiting list and they’ll let me know when I have an appointment. I’ve called them to see how long this will be and they’ve said that due to Covid they are only doing emergency appointments at present. Mine isn’t an emergency so I won’t get an appointment at all for the foreseeable. I call my GP again asking if I can be referred as an emergency, explain how much it is impacting my life. Again I’m told it’s not an emergency, lots of people are waiting at the moment but he can prescribe me some painkillers.
He’s given me dihydrocodeine which does help with the pain but leaves me an absolute zombie and I don’t feel safe driving or looking after my kids when I’ve taken it. So I’m basically back to being incapacitated for one week a month. I’ve called the two local private hospitals, neither of them offer IUD removal.
Any advice? How can I get this bastard thing out of me? I will never allow anyone to put something inside me that I cannot physically remove myself again. I can’t believe I’m just left to live like this and I don’t know what to do.