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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be terrified about coil fitting on Wednesday?

101 replies

user1483284537 · 01/01/2017 15:37

Long term MN lurker here but first time poster, so um hi

I'm going to start taking medication soon which requires the use of contraception because it causes birth defects. My doctor won't prescribe it to me unless I have a coil fitted so I have an appointment on Wednesday to have it fitted.

Bit embarrassing at my age (22!) but I've never had sex and can't use tampons because I find them too sore.

AIBU to be terrified that this is going to hurt but also be wondering htf it is even going to be fitted in the first place?

Someone please tell me it won't be that bad....

OP posts:
Original poster
user1483284537 · 01/01/2017 19:00

It's the mirena coil I'm having so the one with hormones in.

It's fair enough saying that I'm not sexually active and just to refuse the contraception but they won't prescribe it to me unless I'm on some form of contraception. No contraception = no medication.

My doctor wants the coil as he's had people lie and say they were taking the pill when they weren't.

I will ask about the implant though. I don't see why they would refuse to allow me to have an implant instead.

OP posts:
spooniestudent · 01/01/2017 19:06

I know a few people who've had real problems with the coil (including one who was in hospital for weeks after it perforated her uterus and who cannot have children as a result). Don't want to scare you but seeing as it's your doctor who wants you to get it and not you, it may be worth looking at something like the implant instead

Blistory · 01/01/2017 19:11

And there we have it. Women lie.

Even if other patients have lied to him, he has no right to effectively force you to have a hormonal coil inserted into your body. He has no right to withhold medication on the basis that other patients lied to him and he has no right to carry out a procedure without talking to you about the risks and side effects.

Yes, it is entirely sensible to ensure you avoid pregnancy but you have several ways of doing so and abstinence is a perfectly valid one. Please don't feel that you need to have the coil inserted if it isn't right for you.

MunchyMunchkin · 01/01/2017 19:13

User - I think your GP is being an arse. Explain you've never had sex and get it all documented. From a medicolegal point of view everyone is covered then.
It wouldn't look great for him ignoring you had a coil complication from what is currently a unnecessary fit. (Unless you have bad periods in which case the mirena will also be good for that)

TwentySomething · 01/01/2017 19:21

A friend who has shagged roughly 100 more men than you said that the pain of having a coil fitted was 8 out of 10. If I were you, I would push back hard and insist that you want to explore other options. I was on Roaccutane and the pill was completely acceptable for that. It's rather worrying that you were told that the coil is the 'only' option as I can't see how that could possibly be correct.

TwentySomething · 01/01/2017 19:24

Oh, and clearly 'women lie' does not mean that the pill cannot be prescribed in this situation. Hmm With Roaccutane, I had to take a pregnancy test (at the dermatologist's office) every month anyway, before they would give me a repeat prescription, so there are other safeguards in place.

MiladyThesaurus · 01/01/2017 19:25

Since you sound unsure, wouldn't it be better to get an appointment at your local family planning type clinic and explore all your options. And tell them you aren't specially active but need contraception alongside medication as part of the discussion. It's not something that needs to be hidden and will be useful information for the doctor.

Scaffleen · 01/01/2017 19:31

Very strange that they would suggest the mirena coil over the implant. The implant is much more effective as long as you don't gain a lot of weight quickly and that you avoid certain medications. I had the mirena for 2 years and it was perfect until I got pregnant with it still in. It had moved to the top of my cervix and the arms were folded down so it didn't work. The only way I discovered this was when I became pregnant. The only way to tell if it was still in correct place is by ultra sound. The implant still produces hormones even if it has moved slightly and I can always feel it.

FruitCider · 01/01/2017 19:40

It's the mirena coil I'm having so the one with hormones in.

I'm really surprised a GP is advising you to have this fitted when your cervix has not laboured. My friend attempted it with a nerve block in place and they physically could not get it in.

Mind you, gps get a cash incentive for fitting them so it's no wonder they push them.

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

I honestly would refuse and make a complaint about your gp infantilising you!

FruitCider · 01/01/2017 19:48

FWIW I'm a family planning doctor and the idea that you have to have had a child for a fit is very outdated. I've fitted them in teenagers who have tolerated it fine and mums of 6 who found it awful.

So you are claiming that the size of the device doesn't make a sausage of difference when fitting? I remember having a nova-t in my late teens and screaming the place down, but didn't flinch when having an IUS fitted after child birth. My cervix is certainly more open after giving birth than it was before. How can you say the tightness of the cervix does not affect the pain incurred when an IUD/IUS is fitted?

MunchyMunchkin · 01/01/2017 20:18

Fruit cider -on the whole it is often easier to fit in a cervix which has previously dilated but not always. The internal os can be as tightly shut in either group. I would say it's 50/50 at the moment for patient who have/have not laboured and some times I don't even notice the difference.
It's down to individual anatomy and pain tolerance. Your friend is unlucky that she couldn't have one fitted but by no means the rule.

We don't get an incentive for fitting, we fit them because it's a good form of contraception and has other benefits such as improving heavy periods (mirena) or containing no hormones (copper).

FruitCider · 01/01/2017 20:31

So you don't receive payment by performance for LARC then? Interesting. That's not what the information out there suggests. In fact research has been conducted on PFP. So how can you claim it does not exist?

journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0092205

FruitCider · 01/01/2017 20:34

Here's another article re financial incentive for GP to promote LARCs.

www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandeventspggrp/imperialcollege/newssummary/news_7-4-2014-11-14-13

And another, which highlights that an additional 100k larcs have been prescribed under the scheme.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/clinical/more-clinical-areas/sexual-health/qof-indicators-led-to-over-100000-extra-larc-prescriptions/20006461.fullarticle

Pandaponda · 01/01/2017 20:40

Please get a second opinion. This does not sound right to me. You should not be strong armed into a contraceptive choice when you have not had sex. I've recently had the coil fitted after four vBs and this is not a procedure for someone who has not had sex. Please see someone more sympathetic and explain you are still a virgin. I was forced onto the pill before I was sexually active because my mum was terrified I'd get pregnant. This. Involved and internal which was invasive and entirely unnecessary. Be assertive, look after yourself and refuse to be strong armed into a decision by what sounds like an over bearing GP.

glitterandtinsel · 01/01/2017 20:42

I thought coils were for women who have given birth. I thought it was the stretching etc made it possible to get it in. I wouldn't advise you against having it as I found it really painful and have given birth twice. My friend was advised not to have the coil as she hasn't given birth vaginally.

Marynary · 01/01/2017 20:42

I don't think the coil would be at all suitable considering that you are a virgin and haven't used tampons. I know people who haven't given birth find it painful enough and if you can't even use tampons it is likely to be worse.
I think that the GP is infantilizing you to insist on a specific form of contraception especially considering you aren't even sexually active. I take medication that causes birth defects. I was warned and asked what contraceptive I used and that was that i.e. I was treated like an adult not a child.

Mindtrope · 01/01/2017 20:42

Munchy- but surely the cervix is not the whole issue here.
For a woman who has not experienced penetration, is a virgin, and has difficulty even using tampons a IUD fitting would be ill advised.

Women who have experienced sex, or given birth would be presumably be better candidates for such an intrusive procedure.

Pandaponda · 01/01/2017 20:43

(With apologies for the typos and the very many non over bearing fab GPs I know! )

MunchyMunchkin · 01/01/2017 20:43

Fruit cider - I'm not a GP so we aren't driven by Qof or payment for larc.
Dare I suggest I'm driven by suitability and patient choice.

MunchyMunchkin · 01/01/2017 20:46

Mind trope - it would certainly be unusual in someone who has never had sex but certainly not impossible. The procedure is perfectly possible but I agree with many other posters that it is not the most appropriate choice in this case. Was just attempting to dispel the myth that a few others were repeating about childbirth and coils.

FruitCider · 01/01/2017 20:47

I'm sure you are, however pretending payment for LARC doesnt happen is just silly. Why not say you are not a gp and acknowledge that the payments ARE influencing prescribing decisions?

Mindtrope · 01/01/2017 20:50

munchy I am not suggesting it would be impossible, but that it would sounds very inappropriate- there would have to be very strong reasons with no reasonable alternatives to perform such a procedure in a case like this..

60sname · 01/01/2017 20:50

I have had two copper iuds fitted, one before childbirth and one after and I would say the second was more painful than the first. I had a GP tell me the os was too small pre childbirth but a family planning nurse got it in no problem a) because they told me to come during my period, when the cervix is more open and b) because they fit many more than a GP

user1481572724 · 01/01/2017 20:51

Tell the doctor you're a lesbian.

CantChoose · 01/01/2017 20:54

fruitcider none of those references are recent. LARC funding stopped a while ago. And it only had to be discussed, not actually done iirc - I wasn't working in GP when it was in place so couldn't swear to that. I assume it was intended to prompt GPs to offer a range of options not just the pill as a default. If it's any help the vast majority of my medical friends, mostly GP and o&g trainees have some form of LARC, because they're good contraceptives, it's not a massive conspiracy...
Also, I could be wrong but it's likely the derm not the gp who is insisting on the contraception, as it will probably be them responsible for prescribing the medication and thus any risks that might involve.