To ask for anaesthetic for coil fitting?

[LMBoston]

Long story short: I had a termination two years ago at the age of 42 after years of thinking I couldn’t have kids. It was a surgical TOP with no anaesthetic (just gas and air), and I have to say it was brutal, physically and emotionally. Anyway, they didn’t do it properly and I was rushed back in a month later for removal of retained POC...as the surgeon so tactfully put it, “I’ll finish what they started!”

I was so poorly and upset that when they pushed me to have a Mirena fitted while under the GA I said yes — if I’d had time to think I would have requested the copper coil; I’d already had a Mirena in my twenties and bled constantly for a year before giving up and having it taken out. Same thing happened this time! I persevered for 7 months but have since been using condoms...until one failed and I had to go for the MAP!

I’m now practically celibate at 44 at the due to fear of getting pregnant again. I’d really like to try the copper coil (my GP said it’s the hormones in Mirena that cause the bleeding) but I seem to have developed a stupid fear of anyone messing with my downstairs since the botched termination! I have even delayed my smear. It’s most unlike me — the earlier Mirena fitting was grim but doable, and I thought I could handle the “awake” abortion but it has left me traumatised (without wanting to sound overly dramatic).

I’ve got an appointment in two weeks to discuss the copper coil with the GP. I don’t want any kind of hormonal contraceptive, and I’ve considered a diaphragm but the doctors aren’t keen it seems! I know it’s probably overkill but could I request a GA for the coil fitting? I’m happy to pay privately for it but can’t see anywhere locally (East Yorkshire) that offers this. I’m just terrified of the fitting and I know it sounds daft :(

'TL; DR it's up to you but I wouldn't think it was necessary.'

You are spectacularly missing the point. OP has been traumatised by a previous procedure. OP if I were you I would consider going for sterilisation.

Pp please don't patronize people by saying coil fitting is not that painful. It absolutely can be and the experience will be different for different people.

I am on my fourth coil and my experience has varied. Number one was a breeze with less discomfort than a smear. Number two the dr had difficulty and said would refer me to family planning. They wanted GA and i said no but agreed to sedation. Again fine. Then another fitted at the GP - never again!!! 45 minutes trying to fit the bastard thing and it was fucking agony. Then the thing was incorrectly placed so they wanted me to have another I told them no way not without sedation. I went to a private clinic (albeit on nhs) and the consultant persuaded me to have it done alongside a hysteroscopy with a small dose of diazepam. It hurt (alot) for the briefest of seconds but the consultant was quick and professional.

There is no way on this earth a GP will ever fit another coil in me, i want someone who deals with foofs on a daily basis, not in a monthly fp clinic thanks all the same.

@CalvinJohn @AllOverIt @Purplejay I was on the pill from 15, then Mirena, then the mini pill...came off everything when I got engaged and used no protection for a good decade or more. Hence my shock at getting up stick at 42!

My hormones are certainly changing (my mum had the menopause at 39) and I’d really rather not go on that treadmill again — I like knowing what my body is doing rather than masking it. The constant spotting but no proper period on the Mirena drove me crackers!

I’d love to try the diaphragm (no longer married but have a lovely FWB who’s 32!!!) but apparently it’s fiddly if you have a tilted uterus like mine and not very reliable? I don’t have sex that often...but tbf that’s mainly because I’m so worried about pregnancy! Maybe I’d have it more if that was off the table

I work in theatres and we do them under ga regularly. There are various reasons why.

I have to be honest and admit until I got one I didn’t think it could be that bad but when this needs replacing I at least need midazolam if not ga. I haven’t had kids so my cervix doesn’t enjoy being unceremoniously prised open too much.

Thanks to those who get what I mean (yep, @itscallednickingbentcoppers, that’s what’s really biting me!) Pain I can deal with, up to a point, but this is a whole different kettle of fish. I think I’m so fucked up by the whole thing that I’ll be too tense and that’ll make it worse.

Have to say, until the abortion the first Mirena fitting was the most painful thing I’d ever experienced but I gritted my teeth and got over it. I still literally have nightmares about the termination though. Emotionally I’m fine with it, it was just the sheer brutal agony that has stayed with me. I’m honestly shocked that the procedure is offered without sedation or anaesthetic. But maybe I just have a weird cervix (some scar tissue there from pre-cancerous cell removal — that was fun too) and a low pain threshold lol.

@DaveMinion thanks, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one whose cervix doesn’t take kindly to some bloke poking a stick up it! I will enquire about the options x

@TheoriginalLEM

I think on the basis that I know what the OP is talking about with a no sedation termination even a painful coil fitting may not be as traumatic. Sorry for that opinion. can as it is not the same procedure with any of the same instruments.

It's not painful as such is it - but the sensation of someone rummaging around in your uterus is just horrid.

And a coil fitting/removal is nothing like a smear. It's an invasive procedure (and don't get me wrong I love my coil) but if you can get a local for a filling why not for this??

I don’t think it’s unreasonable, You’ve got very good reason to want GA, not that you need a good reason. I’d go for it if I was you, there’s no point putting yourself through unnecessary worry or stress.

Coil fitting was quite uncomfortable for me. However, it depends on who you go to. If you go to a sexual health clinic, where they do these things daily, then I can only assume it will be less uncomfortable as they are so experience. The nurse at my GP practice was AWFUL, the pain was bad, never again.

I've had three coils fitted under GA.

I've never been pregnant or given birth and the three different gynae consultants have all told me that it would be too painful to have my coil fitted without a GA. I never asked for it I just trusted their advice.

About to have my fourth fitted soon and have been booked in as a day case.

I got a coil in 2 days ago and have been scanned and in ED since with severe pain. The experience itself was absolutely horrendously painful. Apparently due to my inability to carry full term pregnancy, and having previous procedures to my cervix.
I'm a HCP myself, and very aware of the risks of GA, but by gum, I'm not letting anyone near my cervix again without one! Ask for sure!!

@Rosere my consultation is on Wednesday and I’m definitely going to ask if GA (or at least sedation) is a possibility! One of the nurses at the termination said that the cervix was a strange and unpredictable thing — some women get through stuff like that with only a little pain, while others are climbing the walls.
Worth asking I think, they can only say no! Thanks x

You will need to stress previous trauma because it's an elective procedure therefore they aren't under obligation. It's normal to have a surgical termination under local anaesthetic, it is the mistakes that were made that caused you pain and suffering, stress their potential negligence rather than the fact you found it uncomfortable (I've had a sa under local without gas so I'm aware that it should not hurt at all, and be no more uncomfortable than a smear)

I'm not in the same situation but I'm hesitating over coil because of panic/fear to do with my cervix (lost babies last year because of prereupture of membranes and had a very dramatic and scary labour - crash caesarean then they died anyway). The associations for me of being examined (first for the PPROM - I had quite a few VEs to check this was indeed the case- then the final examination right before they whisked me into theatre) are so strong I'm not sure I can now deal with coil fitting.
Good luck with the appointment and I hope they take your fears seriously. Thanks for posting, too, as it's made me think about whether some kind of sedation/diazepram etc might help with the associations as I'm not sure I can face going through something like that with the trauma memories it could potentially bring back.

I just want to say if you’re worried about the bleed from the mirena it’s got nothing on the copper coil

@Rosti1981 sorry to hear your troubles, thanks for replying and I’ll let you know what the GP says.

Appointment is this afternoon. I’ve read and digested all the above, talked to my lovely FWB about it, and I think I’m also going to ask about using a diaphragm. We don’t have sex that often - couple of times a month, maybe - and perhaps it seems like overkill to go through the trials of a coil just for the odd shag? 😏 I’ve been looking at the Caya, if anyone has experience of that (or others)? At the minute we use a combination of condoms, withdrawal and no PIV when I’m ovulating, so I’d say a diaphragm combined with the above when I’m most fertile should be pretty reliable? I have no problem fiddling about with myself down there, certainly won’t need diazepam for that :)