No one will remove it!

[vinotinto88]

So long story short - we are hoping to TTC our third and final baby.

It's pretty much now or never - certain work opportunities and home finances etc, plus my age. And I'm so broody it's unreal.

My GP won't remove my implant, no clinic within a 20 mile radius will remove my implant.

I've called and hassled and nagged everyone. The last person I called said it'll be well over a year before their clinic is up and running again.

I know this is totally a first world problem. And it's more a whinge than seeking any kind of solution. I just had my heart set on it.

Has anyone else up and down the country managed to get their contraception sorted?

@Spinksy9 sorry if that came across as quite shitty it honestly wasn't meant to!

@FourPlasticRings I may use some of your lines in my next email to the surgery!

I had the implant a few years back which caused horrendous side effects.

I struggled on for nearly 9 months because they kept saying give it more time etc....

In the end I told them if they didn't remove it, I would cut it out myself (I really meant it)

Anyway it took the doctor about 40 mins to get it out, there was a lot of rummaging around, they had to make the incision larger as it kept slipping out of reach. For this reason I would say no, please don't try and take it out yourself. You could get a really nasty infection.

I think if you just threaten to cut it out then you will be seen. Terrible that you have to resort to that bit what else can you do?

@vinotinto88 not at all. I totally get it as I was constantly calling about my coil. It's an awful wait when you want something so bad. I understand my comments may have pissed some people off but it's not my view, it was just a medical explanation as to why they may be refusing x

Haven't rtft but I removed my implant from my arm myself. I had my son at 16, and 2 days after I was home from the hospital my midwife visited me with a nurse who put it in my arm. I was totally out of it and exhausted, I obviously consented but had no idea what it actually was or how it might affect me! It caused me all sorts of issues including really heavy bleeding. Then absolutely everybody I spoke to refused to remove it. I went to 3 sexual health clinics who apparently weren't allowed to do it, and my GP actually said to me 'well you wouldn't want another [DS name] just yet would you?!' and said I had to wait even longer before they'd consider removing it. It was horrific not being in control of my own body. I didn't stop bleeding for over 8 months. I just cut deep into my arm straight below where the implant was. (Trigger warning) I used to self harm before this so it really wasn't a big deal for me but the relief when it was out was so worth it. I still have the scar

I understand your frustration OP, I really do. It took me a while to be able to get mine out even before the pandemic even hit.

However, I feel like you’ve been given options but they maybe aren’t the one you want? You’ve said that there are private clinics who are willing to do it and you would go private, but it’s just your work hours stopping you? I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just book a day off or ‘go sick’ to have that appointment in a safe sterile environment but instead are considering removing it yourself where you are putting yourself at risk of permanent damage or infection?

The NHS are not going to remove it right now, that’s just a fact unfortunately. Your options are to have it out privately at one of the clinics who have offered it or to wait until things have settled down with the pandemic - which nobody knows how long that will be.

Trust me, you do not want to injure yourself or give yourself an infection and end up having to stay in hospital where none of your family can visit and you could be at risk of picking up something much worse.

@vinotinto88 No luck at the GP and no luck with the Sexual Health clinic.
Apparently having daily migraines when I'm on my period (which is all the time because of the implant) isn't enough.. and instead they prescribed me the pill.
So now I have to go on two contraceptives simultaneously, wonderful.

@YellowPenny I'm having no luck too. Although a friend of a GP said services are likely to resume in few weeks? Double hormones, I feel for you!

@vinotinto88 The lovely nurse I spoke to was sympathetic and said that they were having a meeting this week to get a timeline for 'other services' that they weren't offering at the moment, so that does look promising.
She said to try next week as something may have changed.. so maybe call a Sexual Health Clinic next week.

I removed mine. I was very lucky it didn't go horribly wrong and that it wasn't in too deep. Bit of a puckered scar. I wouldn't recommend it.

No advice but this is awful that you can't get it removed. Hope you manage to find somewhere.

@indemMUND Was it really painful? You're solid as nails.

@BatCrazyCat Thank you x

When I finally got my implant removed ten years ago, I vowed to never use contraception that I wasn't in control of again.
Even without coronavirus they refuse to remove implants/coils due to the funding, I can't imagine that men would be treated like this.

@HeyDuggeewhatchadoin Honestly I don't understand the funding issue. Surely it's a scalpel and a Steri-Strip? Surely it goes with their job role?
I went for the implant because I'm so limited on contraception. My last coil was surgically removed after it perforated my cervix (my cervix fault apparently, very long and far back), I can't take the pill due to migraines, and the injection was simply just horrific.
My last option is the mini pill I guess? (When I need contraception) but I didn't think it was that effective?

You poor thing, sounds like the coil was horrible. I won't have that either. We currently use condoms with a good mixture of abstinence combined with a reminder that he promised to get a vasectomy 😄

They're funded by the NHS for all contraception, as long term ones are cheaper, GP surgeries get more funding if women use long term contraceptives as an incentive to encourage GPs to use them. The real outcome is that once they're in, GPs don't want to remove them.
Which leads to women like me refusing to use them, and I'll be making sure my daughters don't try them.

FWIW, OP, the mini pill worked wonderfully for me. Ten years and no unwanted pregnancies. There's less of a window of you miss one, but it's still 12 hours, so if you habitually take them in the morning or gives you all day to remember. Also, you can buy a MAP for about £25 at any pharmacy and keep it in your medicine cabinet in case you do miss one and have had sex recently enough for it to matter.

*if you miss one

• It gives you

Honestly, autocorrect on my phone...

It wasn't too bad, but I do have high pain tolerance. Messy though.

From my 20's onwards I have refused contraceptives I didn't have full control over.

As a 17 year old my (Male) GP refused to let me get the pill because he told me that I'd forget to take it. Dick! He told me my only option was longer term options. I was pretty much forced to go with the Depo injection. Along came three solid months of period. So I guess it did work because no way was I going to bed with anyone whilst bleeding. I told the GP it was no good. I didn't want another. He told me the second jab definitely doesn't do that and all bleeding will stop. Bastard bullshitted me. Another 3 months of bleeding. It got to the point I was feeling ill and weak constantly and I was struggling paying for constant supply of sanpro. I went back and said it was no good. I wanted something else and he told me he would not prescribe anything else at all and did I really want to become a teenage mum? He told me that there was no way I would bleed for a third time. It couldn't possibly happen.

It did.

I lived alone from age 16, paid my own rent using my own wages, living my own life and yet I had no say in my healthcare because my male doctor wouldn't allow me too. I asked for a female GP the next time and ended up with the pill in less than five minutes. Oddly enough I managed to remember to take each and every one and didn't get pregnant until DH and I decided to TTC at age 26!

I have quite a few (in fact, a scary amount of) friends who have had to fight to have their implants removed. Each being initially told they have to "wait longer", "let it settle", or even take medications to counteract the terrible side effects their implants were having. One friend was prescribed antidepressants because her implant made her feel depressed and suicidal! Instant mood lift once it was finally out but she had to battle her doctor and depression at the same time.

@FeelinFagin One of the first things I read when I started to research places for removal was that it was ALWAYS the woman's choice and if she wants it in or out, then that's her right.
I find it utterly disgusting that things like that are happening. And it's a joke that a male GP who literally cannot possibly FEEL the side effects of what bastard hormonal contraceptives can do, it's grossly grossly unfair.
I'm sorry you had such a shit experience.

I'm no man hater by any means but I honestly do believe that if it were men who were the ones required and expected to take the contraception (and as such, suffer the side effects too), the whole thing would be completely different.
The Male pill study was dropped because the side effects were things like depression, mood swings, acne, weight gain and loss of libido. Something which we women have been expected to put up with as normal. Granted suicidal depression was a factor in the Male pill discontinuation but there have been plenty of women react just as badly to theirs. My friend who had to fight for her implant removal was suicidal too. She was perfectly fine after it was out but she is still being monitored by social services and the mental health team. Even though there was a clear and obvious cause.

Mine has expired and they still won't take it out!! I've rung up my surgery 3 times now and more or less begged. They assure me it will still be effective and I won't end up with another set of twins

@FeelinFagin I completely agree. I said this to my husband.. if it was him with the implant it'd be a completely different story.

I am understanding because I know other treatments have stopped but I'm so angry that I'm 'allowed' to go in to work and are exposed to colleagues for 9+ hours per day, yet I can't sit next to a nurse for 30 seconds to get it removed.

Absurd that I no longer consent to this medical procedure but can't get it removed.

Don't remove it yourself! I had the issue with it being too deep and they were rooting around with forceps under my skin for ages it was TRAUMATIC