To not understand why I have to talk to a nurse before I can book an appointment for implant removal?

[Alarae]

Considering I want it out to start to TTC?

Rang up my local GP today to book an appointment for removal, only to be told my the receptionist that I need to speak to the nurse first, and then she might schedule an appointment for me.

I don't see why I should need a conversation considering my reasons? Understandable if someone wanted it out for other reasons such as concerns on side effects, recent implantation etc but even then if someone wants something out why should someone be trying to convince me otherwise?

Just a bit annoyed as the earliest telephone appointment is in 10 days, and then who knows how long it will take to actually get an appointment considering only one person holds the clinic!

I can't even go to a walk in clinic as I need a GP referral for that in my area because I am not 25...

I can understand the OP's frustration and I have met incredibly patronising doctors in my time BUT I have also worked with many people with invisible learning difficulties who definitely benefit from a HCP checking their understanding of any health situation.

This is why I refused to have an implant, injection or coil fitted. Nothing on earth would make me be in the position of depending on someone else to remove medication/medical devices from my body.

@Verynice - off the top of my head, these are reasons I've been given in the last year, all of these women have been quite happy to keep it after an explanation.

1. I want to get pregnant in a year and I know it takes that long for the hormones to get out of your system so I need it out now

from someone who was in the middle of her final year at uni, for whom a pregnancy now would be a disaster and who planned to rely on her ex-implant for a year after it was taken out. The hormones from the implant are gone within 3 weeks.

2. My periods have stopped and I know that'll mean I can't have children in the future so it needs to come out

periods stopping is a recognised side effect, about which I had counselled her before the implant was fitted, it shows it is working and once she was reminded of that and reassured of the lack of any long term effect on fertility she was fine

3. my boyfriend is away for three months, and I know that hormones are bad for me so I want it out now and in again in three months

erm, would you be doing that if you had to bear the £100 +fitting costs of the new one? And actually it's the lowest dose of any contraception we have and will do you no harm

4. I've been feeling dizzy for three days and I know it's due to the implant so I want it removed

OK, the implant that you've had for two years has suddenly made you feel dizzy now? that seems unlikely, shall we look at why you are feeling dizzy?

I agree that if wanting it out to TTC then maybe a phone appt would do, but to be quite frank the NHS isn't always well funded enough to be flexible.

I hated my implant. After two years I had put on four stone, my pmt was needing to be controlled through medication and I was bleeding for 16 days in a row each month. I paid £150 to have it taken out and back on the injection. Best money I ever spent.

I tried, but no one got back to me and I didn't have time (or the memory), to keep chasing it up. After almost 3 months of trying to get an appt at my local gum clinic (kept forgetting, or calling when closed or full, etc).

Eventually I managed to get a GP appt to have it removed, after first having a telephone consult with a nurse to check I knew what I was doing and why.
The GP asked if my consultant knew and was ok with my decision to remove the mirena and I lied (by omission) and said that they knew I wanted it removed and I implied that they were fine with it.

So my GP removed it, and then tried to get me on injections/implants,etc, as I must use some form of contraception. I got away by saying I'd think about it.

Absolutely ridiculous situation though.

There's no way I'll ever have something that I'm not in control of again.
At least with a pill I can just stop taking it.

I really hope you get this sorted easily though, OP, and I wish you luck with ttc.

Sorry, my pp was to @Tolleshunt.

@dietcokemegafan

I can't believe someone would refuse for someone to stop unnecessary contraception for three months. I don't care how much it costs. If they don't want to be on contraception, that's the end of it.

I also second women’s health or GUM clinic

I was very impressed by the GUM (less
Happy to visit but that’s another story)

Where are you based OP ? Check the website for them.

"and will do you no harm" PLEASE tell me as a DOCTOR you don't really believe this is true for all women all the time?!

"but to be quite frank the NHS isn't always well funded enough to be flexible." Then how are EXTRA appointments going to save money?

There are other medications where you have similar conversations about stopping them- anything that has ‘consequences’.
If Mr Smith wants to stop his diabetes meds then that’s his call, but he needs to be informed about potential for kidney failure, blindness and stroke. If people aren’t informed then when the consequences occur, they look for someone to blame. I’m sure there have been cases of contraception being stopped and HCPs being held responsible for subsequent pregnancies.

That being said I absolutely agree that if a woman wants something removed from her body then it should happen ASAP and certainly coils I will remove there and then. Implants are trickier.

Also have lost count of the number of planned pregnancy announcements I have seen not on folic acid or vitamin D. Not all women are informed and for many it doesn’t even occur to them they may need to prepare for a pregnancy.

Women apparently can't make decisions on their own bodies without being treated like idiots first.
I phoned my GP today for an appointment to get a copper coil fitted. I know what I'm asking for, done my research etc but would they just book the appointment? No! I have to attend something called contraception counselling first and then I may book the appointment. I wouldn't mind but this is on top off the appointment I have already had on the different types of contraception available. 3 appointments to get contraception sorted is taking the piss.

@agnurse

"if someone isn't planning a pregnancy right away, they want to be sure that she is aware of how to prevent one."

@pinegreen I agree with you entirely. Nobody but me and my partner cared in the slightest what contraception I was on, if any between the ages of 18 and 31. I managed to not get pregnant at all during that time. Yet suddenly, as soon as I had my first child, it was assumed that I had pushed my brain out my vagina with the baby and forgotten how to prevent a pregnancy.

dietcoke it may take only three days for the hormones to leave your system, but it can take many months for your cycle to normalise after stopping hormonal contraception, and some women can take a long time to get pregnant after stopping. I hope you also explain this? That way the patient can exercise her autonomy, in possession of all the facts.

Re the patient who was worried about taking hormones unnecessarily for three months. It may be, as you say, that she is misinformed. Alternatively, this could be somebody who is uneasy about taking hormones full stop. It may be that she would be happier to use alternative contraception. Would you explore that as part of the discussion?

I agree with your comments about GP services being woefully underfunded. It can be a nightmare to get an appointment for any reason. Good reason to cut down unnecessary appointments, and streamline processes, I would have thought.

I ended up having an argument with a GP about the coil. I’d gone back to get my implant removed after its time was up and decided against it and requested the pill. Go massively pushed the coil and asked why I didn’t want it. I told him I didn’t like the idea of something being permanently inside me like that and I had no control over it (also why I didn’t want the implant again). He kept insisting that my feelings were unwarranted. In the end I outright asked how much his incentive was to get a woman to agree to go on the coil. That shut him up sharpish and he backed down.

It shouldn’t take this. If I’d been more shy, less assertive, it could have been a different story. IME it’s exactly the same with smears.

angelica I agree, I actually burst out laughing at my six week post natal check-up when, at the grand old age of 41, having just had my first baby, I was quizzed as to whether I understood how to prevent a pregnancy!

In fairness, the GP, who is generally pretty sound, did have the grace to blush. There was then a hurried moving on to other, more useful, topics.

Writersblock2 - I agree with you. You need to be tenacious and assertive to make sure you get what you need from a GP. Too much time in a consult is taken up with questions about drinking, smoking, weight, smear tests and long lasting contraception.

This thread perfectly sums up why I will never agree to contraception where I can’t 100% control it.

My local gum clinic refused to remove my implant as it wasn't put in by them, it seems like that isn't the same rule everywhere but that might be how it works where you are

One of the stated principles of the NHS is 'informed consent'; if you no longer consent then that should be your choice and yours alone. As for women not understanding their bodies it seems that many GPs are at pains to reinforce ignorance. When I went to the GP with thrush, similar thing happened to a friend, she get referring to 'down there' and was a little taken aback when I said what part of my genitalia are you referring to. GPs can't complain about women's lack of knowledge while endlessly infantilising them.

I had the implant, it did not agree with me at all. Constant heavy bleeding and extreme mood swings.

I visited three different (male, mistake) GPs in six months begging for it to be taken out. They all waved me off with a nonchalant explanation, that my symptoms would magically disappear and that I should just ride it out.

At month 9, I went back and told them that if they didn't remove it, I would dig it out myself, with whatever implement I had to hand.

They finally took it out after 9 months of hell. It still pisses me off to think about it!

But about half the women who come to have their implant out are doing so for a reason that doesn't exist

You do think these are silly women then diet that their reasons don't exist

I did look to see if anyone mentioned this already, but not spotted it.

It is odd having to justify getting something removed from your own body!!

Speaks volumes that some are resorting to pulling their own coils, or cutting out their implants, gah!!

As if it's perfectly fine to write off 9 months of your life to feeling like that, Frodon. Wtf were they thinking?

Oh Frodon I am truly shocked at these shit GPS wasting everyone's time and all that suffering.

If that was a man it'd be out no questions asked!!! Only women who have a shit time with periods can understand what hormonal upheaval and continual draining and painful bleeding is like.

I just walked into a local family planning clinic and told them I wanted it out. They did it that day. I wasn't TTC, I was just sick of having 2 month long periods. I didn't bother even attempting to communicate with my GP because the wait time was usually over a month.

Perhaps there's a sexual health/family planning place near you? Worth a shot - would certainly be quicker!

I tried that pregnantsea and after almost 2 hours wait they said no they couldn't remove it as the gp put it in so they were not allowed to touch it! My gp had referred me to another surgery to get it put in but I was not allowed to book an appointment directly with them as I wasn't registered there so I had to make an appointment with my own gp to get a referral back to the place they put it in which took about 6 weeks. No one at any point tried to convince me to keep the evil thing in but actually navigating my way through the process of getting to the people who could remove it was ridiculously long, never again will I agree to have something in my body I can't remove myself!