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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think a 7 week wait for a coil fitting is ridiculous?

90 replies

ferrione · 20/04/2015 09:25

Just that.

Previously attended GP to ask about coil. Was told it cant be fitted til nurse has done pre coil swabs, and only at another surgery in the next town (and to make appt for fitting AFTER swabs done and results back).

So pitch up for swabs...am asked if I have fitting appt. Then try to book one...first available is 7 weeks away.

This apparently is because the coils are not fitted by GP but a visiting gynae who only comes in for an hour once a week.

Honestly, Jesus wept! Surely avoiding pregnancy should not be this difficult? Not impressed by another 7 weeks of abstinence

OP posts:

Sidge · 21/04/2015 14:47

All hormones are not the same - you may find the progesterone only pill much more tolerable than the injection.

If you want to avoid all hormones then until your coil is fitted your choices are limited to condoms or abstention.

Number3cometome · 21/04/2015 14:57

Or you can pay privately, it's about £400

lertgush · 21/04/2015 16:14

Be aware that even if the coil causes you side effects you may have to wait months to have it removed too.

Why I never got one...

Somethingpink · 21/04/2015 16:37

Yanbu!

My daughter is 18 Months old and I still haven't got around to getting the procedure done. I wanted my swabs and smear done at the same time but they couldn't do that because apparently swabs have to be 2 weeks before period then coil fitted during period then smear 10 days after period. What a joke! I react really bad with other contraception and I have got pcos so I suffer really bad with pain so they said the only thing I can have now is the mirena. It's got to the point of not being able to walk much at all during my period so all this is too much on top of my usual day to day routine. Iv got to the point that I'm considering asking for a hysterectomy and I'm 27!

Not all contraception is used for protection it's also used to control pain.

TenerifeSea · 21/04/2015 18:33

This thread has surprised me. I think some people have very unrealistic expectations. It's standard to wait 18 weeks when you're referred to a hospital clinic, why should you not wait a short a while for a specific type of contraception?

"Using the 'life and death' line is a bit melodramatic though, it's not like the gyno nurse does coils in between a hip replacement and neurosurgery."

No but paying for the staff/equipment all comes out of the same pot of funds.

lifelorn · 21/04/2015 18:40

YANBU I became pregnant with the coil (copper 7). The pill was not medically advisable for me and whilst DH was on the 6 month waiting list for a vasectomy I conceived twins (condom failure).

We paid privately for a vasectomy!!

chickenfuckingpox · 21/04/2015 18:51

i dont understand? my friends have the coil fitted they just make an appointment and there doctors do it for them? is this the postcode lottery ive been hearing about? why do you need a gynee to do it?

and fyi my dh got a vasectomy within a few weeks of asking they put him in before ds3 was born (we didnt want any more children so we made sure)

thejellyfox · 21/04/2015 19:31

You can use condoms for 7 weeks instead of not having sex. Its not that big of a problem really.

LL0015 · 21/04/2015 20:24

Hello whomever said about Londonimium

I did say that the medical advice for coil fitting was to have someone drive you. Why just because budgets are cut and a couple of years have passed does the medical advice for the exact same procedure withe exact same product change?

If that was the advice given, why would it be different elsewhere?

Original poster

ferrione · 21/04/2015 22:01

I don't have £400. Although I expect I'd have to go back to my GP for a referral even if I did, to wait weeks.

Yes it's not life and death but preventing unwanted pregnancy is pretty fucking basic. Yes of course I could try the pill, but given I bled every day for the best part of a year on the injection (whilst so called medical professionals strong armed me to just have one more injection because of course that would be the one that made the bleeding stop)...no I don't want to go through any of that shit again.

Plus my GP said I couldn't be considered for the pill til I stopped bleeding, and I'd had at least 3 normal periods. And I expect if I did bleed again with the pill, I'd be nagged to keep trying it month after horrible month again. I really can't go through all that again.

Have any of you bled every day, month after month? It's horrible. It made me feel disgusting and unattractive. It also made me hugely anaemic though (because no one at my GP surgery can do blood tests) that never got investigated, of course.

We don't find condoms work for us. I'm not forcing my partner to wear one when he doesn't want to, that's the right way to develop hang ups about sex. So we'll have to abstain. Lucky us.

OP posts:

GraysAnalogy · 21/04/2015 22:20

Yes actually I have bled for a long time, it's not pleasant no but that's irrelevant here.

We don't find condoms work for us. I'm not forcing my partner to wear one when he doesn't want to, that's the right way to develop hang ups about sex. So we'll have to abstain. Lucky us.

You mean they don't work for him. And if you developed a hang up because GOD FORBID he has to wear one for a couple of weeks then I think there's bigger issues at play. If you'd both rather go without sex than wear a condom then that's no-ones fault but your own so it's a bit that you're feeling sorry for yourself.

despite having all these options available you only want the one and you're not happy about having to wait. If I was so choosy I'd just be happy it was available to me at all, at no cost.

Jessica2point0 · 21/04/2015 23:00

It's really okay to say condoms don't work for you. If the OP or her DP don't enjoy sex with a condom I'm sure sure how that's her fault?

Sex is a normal part of adult relationships, and having to abstain for 7 weeks would irritate me. I imagine that for people who prefer condoms then being unable to access them for 7 weeks would be a PITA.

All contraceptives should be easily and quickly available.

Jessica2point0 · 21/04/2015 23:01

I'm not sure how that's her fault! Bloody knew I should have had wine tonight.

Wibblypiglikesbananas · 21/04/2015 23:11

Just by way of comparison, I live in the US, have great private health coverage and it still took me about the same length of time to get mine fitted. The main thing that caused a delay was finding a slot around when I was on my period. Interestingly, there's an article in The Economist this week extolling the virtues of the coil - it's a shame it sounds like the number of people able to fit them is declining rather rapidly.

HelenaDove · 21/04/2015 23:48

I bet if men could get pregnant the wait wouldnt be so long.

FishWithABicycle · 21/04/2015 23:59

No idea whether this would work.
I've heard that if you seek emergency contraception (due to split condom or whatever) when it's just over 72 hours since intercourse, then instead of giving a morning-after-pill they fit a coil, right away. Could you fake such an emergency?

sockmatcher · 22/04/2015 00:02

What if OP wasn't in a safe loving relationship and needed the coil to prevent further pregnancies from an abusive partner? Would people say 7 weeks was ok then? Obviously there are much bigger issues to consider sometimes

Froggio · 22/04/2015 00:03

Yanbu. The reason we have the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe and that we have a shocking level of terminations in this country is the lack of access to long acting methods of contraception (coils, mire a, implants, depo). They are far more effective than the pill or condoms. The real failure Rate of the pill is 9%. We need more GPs and practice nurses trains to fit these things but there are so many barriers to this as mentioned up thread that we have not progressed. You are lucky if you have a CASH service in your area.

For every £1 spent on contraception the nhs saves £11 that can be spent in other areas of need. Yet funding for services is forever cut.

It is no good telling women to simply abstain.

Yes, coils can be used as emergency contraception.

EstRusMum · 22/04/2015 00:09

Stop moaning. My only close clinic who does that said "We don't take on new patients for coil fitting at the moment". I'm wondering now - how fucking long is the queue there?!
What I'm trying to say is - Sha'ap. I have to use condoms.

SpinDoctorOfAethelred · 22/04/2015 00:22

I do think 7 weeks is too long, and I am completely on your side about that. But. But, but I'm not forcing my partner to wear one when he doesn't want to, that's the right way to develop hang ups about sex.

Er, say what now?
Now, there's a new one! I've heard a lot of popular excuses used to pressure a girl/woman into having sex without a condom, but never "I can't wear a condom- it might give me a sexual hang up!"

dementedpixie · 22/04/2015 08:18

The injection made me bleed too but cerazette mini pill stopped my periods so not all hormonal contraceptives are the same.

You also do not need to be having a period to get the coil fitted as I went from the mini pill (where i had no periods) to the coil with no gap in between. In fact I had to take my mini pill for the first 7 days of having the coil.

i have the mirena coil so it also has hormones in it.

dementedpixie · 22/04/2015 08:19

I also drove myself home after my coil fitting with no issues.

Sirzy · 22/04/2015 08:29

It may not be ideal but realistically it isn't all that bad. People are having to wait much longer for much more important appointments.

The limited budget can only stretch so far.

Original poster

ferrione · 22/04/2015 08:42

Importance is relative though.

Obviously life saving treatment is more of a priority. But I'd argue plenty of other services are not as important as contraception.

Everyone says use condoms. Fine if they work for you. They don't for us. Even if they did, they're not cheap. My GP doesn't provide them. Fuck knows how people manage buying them all the time.

I'm not prepared to waste another year of my life on hormonal contraception. I didn't just bleed constantly, I also put on 2st and felt horribly depressed. And like I said my GP wouldn't offer the pill yet anyway. So no advantage to me going down that route.

OP posts:

Writerwannabe83 · 22/04/2015 08:58

I had to wait five weeks for my Coil insertion at my GP surgery and I had no problem with that.

There was only one GP who was trained to do it and she ran a 'Coil Clinic' every Wednesday afternoon where she and the practice nurse would have about 8 patients all in for that one thing.

Her Clinic had to be scheduled in order to ensure the Practice Nurse was also free for that period so she would have a second pair of hands.

Coil insertion can be tricky (my first one took almost half an hour) so it isn't always something that can be done in a usual 10 minute appointment slot in the middle of the GP's working day.

In the grand scheme of things 7 weeks is hardly a lifetime and if a couple can't abstain for that short a time period then as previously said, one of them has severe libido issues....

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