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Original poster

To think it’s ridiculous I have to have a phone consultation with my doctor before I am allowed to get my implant removed?

72 replies

Hippopotas · 07/09/2021 12:58

I got told I had to speak to the doctor first to discuss other contraception before I would be allowed to book an appointment to get the implant removed.

It’s a 2 week wait for this phone call and if I wanted alternative methods of contraception maybe I could understand it but as it’s to start TTC it’s a waste of time.

I’m just frustrated as I thought it was my body my decision. sigh

OP posts:
WellLarDeDar · 07/09/2021 13:03

My sister had the same issue, I think it's mad. It's your body! If you say you want it out then that should be all they need.

2020in2020 · 07/09/2021 13:03

I’m with you OP. It’s disgusting. Do you mind me asking how old you are? I had this in my early 20’s. The implant played havoc with my mental health, I had no appetite yet piled weight on. I asked for it to be removed, they refused and put me on the pill as well. I didn’t have the confidence then to argue. Then at 24 when I started trying for DC. I explained I wanted to start a family and the doctor said “ah, ok, yes that’s the only reason we would take it out”. I said “no you should take it out as it is a foreign object in a woman’s body she wants removed”.

Absolutely disgusting attitude to women’s health in the medical community.

Original poster
Hippopotas · 07/09/2021 13:26

I’m 35 and I’m convinced it’s hampering weight loss as well so it’s a 2 pronged reason really.

I just think if I call and say i want it out then that should be it!

OP posts:
givemushypeasachance · 07/09/2021 13:57

I needed to get my mirena coil replaced earlier this year, was just getting out of date and needed a new one. Rang the docs and they said I had to have a telephone consult with the GP first before they'd book me in for it. So waited three weeks for that chat to just confirm yes it'll be my third mirena I know the process please book me in to get it done!

Puddington · 07/09/2021 14:04

I explained I wanted to start a family and the doctor said “ah, ok, yes that’s the only reason we would take it out”.

Shock that is horrifying.

InTheNightWeWillWish · 07/09/2021 14:07

I had my implant removed because it wasn’t right for me. My periods were all over the place, as were my hormones. Even explaining the issues, all the doctors wanted to do was keep prescribing different contraceptive pills to sort my hormones out. I’d already tried 2 different pills with no improvement. When I argued that it was pointless trying to prescribe me more contraceptive pills to address the issues with the contraceptive implant, they still wanted me to keep it in. When I finally got an appointment, the male doctor made a comment about how much of a waste this was to the NHS.

TwoLeftElbows · 07/09/2021 14:34

You could try an e-consult form, they should be able to book you straight in to a face to face appt from that. And they seem to have targets set on those so they have to get back to you within 24/48h.

Just awful though. I've given up going to my GP. I dread to think how many people will die because of not going to get lumps, bumps and vague symptoms checked out.

EmeraldGreenVelvet · 07/09/2021 14:48

I'm in the same position as you @givemushypeasachance apart from that I've now seen the Doctor and been put on the Mirena list for a replacement - only to be told that it's well over 100 people long and it's likely to be several months before I'm able to have it fitted. I'm livid and upset in equal measure. I can't use other contraception as the pointy strings damage condoms (bitter experience) and obviously can't take more hormones - so I'm now facing the prospect of not being able to have PIV sex with my husband for the foreseeable future.

givemushypeasachance · 07/09/2021 15:37

@EmeraldGreenVelvet - that's rubbish, I hope you get up the list soon.

It all varies from surgery to surgery, but GPs have to do additional training to fit them. At mine only two GPs have that training, so it's dependent on their availability - as with the rest of the NHS GPs are chronically understaffed and overworked.

I got mine fitted a couple of weeks after the telephone appointment and it's starting to settle down now. The GP said she'd been fitting them for years and had just had one herself for the first time. Maybe that gave her increased sympathy idk!

PollyPepper · 07/09/2021 16:17

I had the same problem OP about 10 years ago when I wanted mine out. (It was actually overdue and had been in over the time it was meant to be anyway, hence why it was sending me so crazy I think)
I contemplated getting a knife and cutting it out myself, it took months and months of stress and back and forth. Absolute nightmare.

pigsDOfly · 07/09/2021 16:35

This is appalling.

I assume they know that you're an adult OP, and you have the capacity to decide these things for yourself.

Obviously, if you wanted an alternative form of contraception then that's something you'd probably want to discuss with your GP, but it's not for them to decide that you need to have that discussion before they'll remove the implant; so bloody patronising, and a waste of your time and the doctor's time to have a telephone call, just for the doctor to 'allow' you to have the implant removed.

And as for pp being told that you can't have something removed from your body because the doctor decides you can't is just horrifying.

Who the hell makes these rules?

I can tell you now, if you were paying privately, you wouldn't get a doctor dictating to you like that.

lockdownmadnessdotcom · 07/09/2021 17:19

I would send a letter and say that I am an adult, I do not want this thing in my body anymore and I am grown up enough to choose a contraception and don't need their permission and I insist on its removal expeditiously.

Sometimes you need to be assertive (although they will naturally see it as aggressive because how dare little wee woman demand anything of a GP/NHS).

It is horrific and it will only stop when women assert themselves and insist on things being done.

Could you go to a sexual health clinic?

I just think if I call and say i want it out then that should be it yes it should - maybe not right away if they are short-staffed but there shouldn't be any debate about it - just get you on their waiting list.

ThePlantsitter · 07/09/2021 17:23

Yes try a sexual health clinic. They have seen everything so are a bit more open minded and tend not to question your motives as an added bonus.

Scotstar · 07/09/2021 17:52

I've just had my implant changed. When I phoned the surgery they too said I would need a dr consult first. When I asked if that was really necessary she said I could try phoning the sexual health clinic and gave me the number. Got my implant changed there no bother and no consult. Do you have anything like that?

mangowithasqueezeoflime · 07/09/2021 18:22

No problem with permission getting it out but did have with the actual getting it out and needed to see a specialist.

My old male doctor had cut the string short for my DH's comfort, and it got lost. Needed to be pried out. 😱

I never cared male or female doctor but after that, never another male.

22Giraffes · 07/09/2021 18:26

I agree with the suggestion to try a sexual health clinic, I had my implant replaced recently and bypassed the gp and got it done at the local shc. Good luck

Dollywilde · 07/09/2021 18:30

See, all this makes me wonder is whether GPs don’t care so much about following due process as just pushing you onto another (also underfunded) area of the NHS.

We’re all encouraged to have LARC because it costs the NHS less, but the NHS isn’t willing to fulfil their side of the bargain by taking it out when they need us to.

I feel very very lucky to have a sexual partner who is happy with condoms and the rhythm method, and to be in a place where an unexpected pregnancy would be difficult but not impossible. Women once again getting the shitty end of the stick here when it comes to healthcare. Quelle surprise.

SlamLikeAGuitar · 07/09/2021 18:34

I had the same issue 5 years ago. I bled constantly for 5 months straight.
Had the phone app with the GP and he told me he wouldn’t remove it until I’d given it 6 months to “settle” Hmm
Definitely not recommending it....but I removed mine myself with a scalpel and tweezers sterilised in a pan of boiling water. It was horrific. But I couldn’t cope with the constant bleeding any longer.

FreshApricot · 07/09/2021 18:36

Omg this happened to me too, in my mid-twenties. It sent me absolutely crazy and miserable and nobody would take it out for me without months of waiting (this was in London). In the end I phoned a sexual health clinic and said if they didn't take it out within a week I'd do it myself with a knife.

That made them take it out, but only because I pretended I wanted to TTC - otherwise they said they would just encourage me to "persevere" with it!!! Ridiculous given that they were happy enough to put it in with no questions asked.

I would never, ever have the implant put in again. I still have the scar on my arm from where it was.

ManifestDestinee · 07/09/2021 18:40

To be honest this is the kind of thing I think we should be paying for, and then you could get them in and out as you wanted.

Boood · 07/09/2021 18:49

The way the NHS treats adult women over contraception is disgusting- as if we’re all chaotic teenagers who can’t be trusted to make informed choices for ourselves. Makes me so angry.

Wifflywafflywoo · 07/09/2021 19:02

I made an appointment at the local GUM clinic, said I was in pain and made the doctor pull it out....she then tried to basically trap me in the room because she wanted me on contraception before I left. 32 years old and being treated like an idiot who can't have control over her own body.

NotMyCat · 07/09/2021 19:05

The place I went to was adamant I wanted the mirena coil
Nope, you're taking out a copper one and putting a new one back in. I was on the table with a speculum in and they were still "are you sure you don't want the mirena?"
Me "NO!! I bloody don't"

missymayhemsmum · 07/09/2021 19:12

It took a pandemic for doctors to realise that it's more efficient to do all the discussion of options and pros and cons, lifestyle advice etc over the phone without having to be coughed on.
It's pretty good doctoring for the GP to want to have the other methods/TTC chat with you, not just take out the implant and hope for the best. Annoying though

WhatsTheBFD · 07/09/2021 19:16

I had midwife, HV and GP on at me about contraception after DD3.

I was mid way through divorcing an abusive arsehole, (not the father of my elder 2) the last thing on my mind was somehow finding a babysitter and going out for a random one night stand Hmm

Every appointment I had for 2 years - banging on about contraception. I’m celibate. Didn’t believe me. I have PTSD from my marriage, the thought of another man even hugging me right now makes my entire body cringe. Still didn’t believe me. My MH is in the crapper and I’d rather not have hormones. Have a copper coil then. No.

It’s been 5 years now, I’m still celibate and single and have no need for contraception but it’s still bought up constantly.