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

[Hippopotas]

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

@pianolessons1

I take out implants. I need a conversation first to find out

1. why you want it out - if it's a side effect, there may be other options to manage that and you can't make an informed decision if you don't know the options
2. discuss other contraception if you want it out for any other reason than to TTC
3. arrange when you want it out and let you know if there will be a gap if you're starting another method.

A two week wait for a non urgent phone call is perfectly reasonable from the NHS.

Cool, you need a conversation.

What about what the patient needs? They might want to have a chat about options, or they might just want it out, and they might not want to have to justify that to anybody -- because they're an adult who has made a decision.

This is an extremely widespread problem that long predates Covid. There is a huge issue of infantilising women in reproductive healthcare. For instance, I'm pregnant and I've been summoned to an appointment with a consultant to discuss where I will be "allowed" to give birth. That is the word they used. Allowed.

I had this in my early 20s. The damn thing caused non stop bleeding, I piled on weight, became paranoid, my mental health went off the deep end, had pain in my arm and it migrated too far.
I was told several times that I couldn't have it removed because I hadn't had it in long enough (5 months at this point) until I told them that if they didn't remove it that day I'd rip it out myself.
That got them moving and I was booked to have it removed 2 hours later.
During removal they found that my body was fighting the implant and i also had a nasty infection in the muscle which caused me to scream in pain when it was removed.
Women shouldn't have to threaten to mutilate themselves to have foreign objects removed from their bodies or even to be listened too. Its a discrace especially in a supposedly forward thinking, modern country like the uk

@Mammyofasuperbaby I'm so sorry you went through a similar experience to me - I was never warned about the paranoia as a side-effect but this is definitely something I experienced too. It was terrifying.

@2020in2020

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.

@2020in2020 I had the implant about 23 years ago for 2 years, piled on hideous amounts of weight and my body has never been right since! Horrible thing.

@FreshApricot, I'm sorry you went through that too. The drs originally put my paranoia down to having a baby 7 months earlier and going through a life threatening illness myself and 5 weeks in the nicu for my son.
It only started a couple of weeks after the implant was put in and went away pretty soon after removal.

I work in a public sector field which is just as badly funded at the NHS. If I made a customer wait two weeks for a phone call, I'd be in big trouble, non-urgent or not.

The whole GP situation is getting so out of hand. So many barriers and hurdles to accessing care. I wanted to get my copper coil removed but there were so many apparent barriers and delays. Luckily I was able to read online about what to do and it was straightforward. So I did it myself with no problem …..But it made me think about women’s right to autonomy over their own bodies. And how this is being eroded.

@FranklinFluffy

Whether it's right or wrong to want them out on a whim, you shouldn't be forced to have something in your body you do not want there.

When I had the implant I was told I may have "spotting" between periods. I bled like a period the entire 12 months I had it in. It was horrid. They refused to removed it but yes I mithered them until they did and I don't feel bad about it.

I had similar. Was told I might experience “spotting”. Bled - heavily - for months.

Either this is really common - in which case it needs to be made much clearer when it is put in. “There is a 1 in 5 chance (or whatever it is) that you will bleed continuously for months so much so that you will become anaemic and really quite ill. If this happens we will refuse to take it out for many months and when we do make sure that we make several pointed remarks to ensure that you feel nice and guilty about the waste of NHS funds.”

I consented to something that might cause “spotting”. I did not consent to that.

Or I had a terribly rare unexpected side effect. In which case it really should have been whipped out with apologies for making me ill.

I had been on the pill quite happily for 15 years when I was “encouraged” to try the implant. I was told it would be “much better”. I didn’t ask for it.

I did get it taken out relatively quickly - undoubtedly helped by the fact that I was mid thirties, very well educated and really quite posh. I’m the type who would write a really rather excellent letter of complaint.

Women should not have to be removing their own LARCs because HCPs refuse to remove them.

The comments up thread worry me so much, it’s like we’re leaning in to the destruction of the NHS and a move to privatisation. It makes me incredibly sad.

@FreshApricot

And you can pay privately to have it removed any time you like.

Actually, in the UK, you often can't, because there is no private clinic anywhere nearby that will do it. I found this out the hard away.

And the NHS is not free.

I found this. I tried sexual health clinic, couldn't do it. I also spent ages googling private clinics to remove it and found none nearby.

Also not everyone can afford to have things privately removed from their body that are causing them issue/illness. If you can that's great, but it's a privilege not all can afford.

I appreciate there is a wait to these things, I don't expect things to happen "the minute I want it" as PP said. But the patronising and infantilization of women who request these things removed need to stop.

I don't need a forced and un-requested phone call to discuss contraception in two weeks time (after which there will likely be another X many weeks wait to actually remove the thing) before you deem me suitably clued up on my other options to remove something from my body. I'm an adult.

@ManifestDestinee

Whether it's right or wrong to want them out on a whim, you shouldn't be forced to have something in your body you do not want there

Well, you did choose to have it put there in the first place, you weren't forced. And you can pay privately to have it removed any time you like. You aren't being forced to have it, you're just not able to demand a professional service (the removal) for free the minute you want it.

No I wasn't forced. But I was told to maybe expect a bit of spotting between periods and actually ended up experiencing something completely different and absolutely awful.

If she'd have said "lots of women experience very heavy bleeding every day that this is in their body" I wouldn't have consented.

I often said to DH I thought this must be how it worked, it caused that much bleeding all the time that you couldn't have sex anyway (due to the blood or the anemia!).

Wow - I don’t think I’ve ever had a conversation about contraception with a GP since I had that first “welcome to university have you had a 2nd mmr”

Never used anything other than condoms - been in one relationship since 19 years to mid thirties (ongoing) which was asked about.

I imagine there will be a post first child one but my female line does terribly on any sort of hormonal contraception & statistically often doesn’t work for us. Every female relative I’m blood related to that has had kids had one of them whilst on the pill.

Some GPs are becoming bots who chant the party line. The treatment of women on this thread is appalling.

I want my coil out (mirena) but haven’t made an appt to discuss as yet as I’m wanting sterilisation as well so I can stop putting extra hormones in my body.

I run the risk of my stupidly heavy periods returning, but at least then the cause of my anaemia may be discovered as every other orifice/tract has been checked for bleeding and no joy.

I want the choice, given half a chance I’d have the whole lot whipped out as I’ve enough going on dealing with Crohn’s let alone wonky womb work.

You can go to family planning, and they will take it out.

Then you don't need 2 apps. They should have told you that.

I couldn't get my implant removed this April for the exact same reason.

Bureaucracy of me having to speak to a nurse first, who was going to call me at a completely random time that she couldn't specify when (errr ... I have work! I can't be by the phone all day... obv.) obv I always missed their calls, even when I called back immediately I then had to get another call back. Which I then missed again.

This is my fourth implant. I don't need to speak to a fucking nurse. Just book me in to take the damn thing out!!!

I complained via my MP. Funnily enough they listened to her...

Horrifying that people have removed them themselves or have had to threaten to to be heard.

Completely agree you need to advocate for yourself. Don't trust health care providers either (soz to the good ones out there, too many bad experiences)

I'm turning being a "difficult women" into a fucking art form.

I had this issue, I made an appointment with family planning clinic and got it taken out within a couple of weeks. No hassle at all.

Last time I went to get mine removed at my family clinic I had to wait a week and a half for a face to face consultation. I told them I didn't need it, I knew the procedure and was ready to go ahead, but they wouldn't believe my implant was easy to find so they insisted I let them check it first. After that visit I had to wait almost a month and they sent me to a different clinic miles away to actually get it removed. Seems like an absolute waste of time to me.

@rachelvbwho you're suggesting 6 weeks from the time that the OP first calls til the implant is taken out. I don't think that's unreasonable from an NHS service. TTC isn't an emergency.

Yes @pianolessons1 I do think six weeks is a long time for something that should be a simple procedure that doesn't need multiple appointments. HOWEVER reading the replies here it would appear I was being naieve that 6 weeks would be the longest time you would have to wait as it appears there are many women who don't even get that and have to battle much harder to get control over their body.

Yes TTC isn't an emergency... But forcing women to have contraceptive implants in their body for longer than they consent to is also a slippery slope and reading the replies and experiences of some women in this thread is VERY sad and worrying.

@rachelvbwho

Yes *@pianolessons1* I do think six weeks is a long time for something that should be a simple procedure that doesn't need multiple appointments. HOWEVER reading the replies here it would appear I was being naieve that 6 weeks would be the longest time you would have to wait as it appears there are many women who don't even get that and have to battle much harder to get control over their body.

Yes TTC isn't an emergency... But forcing women to have contraceptive implants in their body for longer than they consent to is also a slippery slope and reading the replies and experiences of some women in this thread is VERY sad and worrying.

You can have any two of good, cheap and quick. So the OP will presumably have her implant removed by someone who is competent (good) - she can choose cheap (NHS) or quick (private) but she can't have both. That's life.