sterilisation

[Rowgtfc72]

Im 40, dh 32 and dd is five. Dd was always going to be an only child. Ive been on the pill since I was 24 with the odd break. Im thinking of coming off the pill and the obvious solution would be sterilisation. Can anyone tell me would a doctor just refer me or do I have to go through the endless list of other contraceptives first. Does it hurt? how much time would I need off work? Any advice/views would be most helpful !

Your doctor will have to refer you. They will try to fob you off suggest other methods of contraception - usually the merina coil - but if you stick to your guns they will refer you.

You can either have a tubal sterilisation - placing clips on the fallopian tubes under a general anaesthetic.

of

Essure sterilisation which I am having this afternoon - they insert micro coils into the entrance to each fallopian tube under local anaesthetic - via the vagina. Takes about three - six months for scar tissue to form around the coils which blocks your tubes.

If you contact the Essure firm they will tell you if there's someone in your area who does it.

I'll let you know how I get on later

or not of, sorry.

Is Essure available on the NHS? Do you mind me asking how old you are? I'm 26 but I know my family is complete. I have two but I hae horrendous pregnancies (hospitalised with hyperemesis and SPD so bad I could barely walk). I thought about sterilisation but was concerned about the failure rate of tubal sterilisation. I've just had a coil put in but I'm terrified of getting pregnant again and I don't want to be taking hormones for 20 odd years.

Hi, I had a sterilisation when I was 30. I had no problems being referred and only had to wait a few weeks for the op. I had a lot of post op pain because of gas bubbles under the ribs. I went for sterilisation because I was single - if you're married, wouldn't vasectomy be the better option? It's a much simpler operation and is more reliable contraception-wise.

I'm 42 and I'm having it done by the NHS by a consultant who works in the next area - about 15 miles away. My area doesn't have anybody who does it, so you might have to travel.

Thanks for the replies. Dh is only 32, if anything was to happen to me Id like to think he could still have children with someone else. Wouldnt have thought my Health Authority would offer Essure as they are pretty lame but then I have no aversion to having my tubes tied. Didnt realise tubal sterilisation had a higher failure rate though- something to look into. Hiddenhome, hope all went ok and please do report back !

I had Essure done in Guildford and lived in Wandsworth at the time so you don't need to have it done in the same health authority. I emailed Essure and got a list of doctors in and around London who did Essure on the NHS and brought it to my GP. She then sent referral letters until one of them gave me an appointment.

Arrived back from hospital.

It was a total failure

The consultant started inserting the instruments and the water and my uterus just went crazy with spasm and it was agony! I gritted my teeth, but started making moaning noises and then crying then she asked me if I wanted her to stop and I said "yes" and that I couldn't stand it any longer. My pain threshold is normally pretty good and I've had ops in the past and dental work etc. but this was just horrible. Like having red hot pokers stuffed up you and wiggled around until you yell

I have to go back next week to explore my 'options'. Tubal ligation probably out because I've had two c-sections

It is not like having a coil fitted.

Perhaps if they'd given me some entonox I could have managed, but not on paracetamol and ibuprofen.

paracetamol and ibuprofen

Fucking hell! How could they possibly think something like that wouldn't hurt? You mentioned local anaesthetic in your first post, is that what they meant, paracetamol and ibuprofen?

Poor you, it sounds awful. I hope you recover quickly and find a suitable method very soon. (((hug)))

I don't know where the local anaesthetic goes, I think it's into the cervix. The letter said to take a painkiller an hour prior to the procedure. Perhaps I just have a spasmy uterus

This is how I imagined it would be

The staff were lovely and I was apologising all over the place. Dunno what they must have thought of me

i got sterilised in april (clips on tubes) and had to fight very hard to get it done. Im 25 with 3 children and very happy/relieved iv had it done.
I had to go to the gp first who eventually referred me to local hospital, I then had an appointment with a consultant who tried to convince me to have a mirena fitted. I was adamant I didnt want that as i had one fitted when i got pregnant with ds1. I had to have a 2nd appointment with consultant to make sure I had thought about it and eventually he agreed to do it. A month later I was sterilised!
The op itself was very straightforward (keyhole) and was under general anaesthetic,went in the morn and came out after tea.
I have 3dc 5 and under so first 2 days oh had to stay at home due to aches and groggyness.After that i was fine but could still taking painkillers for the following week.
Sorry for the long post but good luck with whatever you choose.

dh has bought me some nice flowers from Aldi to cheer me up If he'd agreed to have a vasectomy this wouldn't have happened. I hope he feels suitably guilty and willing to potter off and have his tubes snipped. There aint no way I'm ever going through that again.

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience hiddenhome. Can you go back and have it done under GA? The hospital I had it done in does all of the Essure procedures under GA - presumably your experience isn't rare. At the time I was a bit peeved that I had to have the GA but I was in agony when I woke up so I'm glad I wasn't awake for it.

I think your DH should have the snip - you've been through enough. Why wouldn't he agree to it before?

I hope you're ok hiddenhome. Ive asked DH to have a vasectomy but he doesn't want to.

From what I've read sterilisation (tubal ligation) has a failure rate of 1 in 200 and the younger you are the more likely it is to fail. A vasectomy has a failure rate of 1 in 2000.

Sorry to hear you had a bad time, hope your DH is running around after you. Will probably go the tubal way I think as long as I can convince the doc !

dh is frightened of having a vasectomy, but once the local anaesthetic is done (seconds), that's it, I've seen them done when I was a student nurse. There is no way it was like this essure thing, no way at all. I thought I was going to start yelling, but felt frightened and embarrassed, so just agreed that she should stop.

I really hope he agrees to one because if they can't do tubal clips/ligation on me, then we're stuffed. I can't use hormones and no way would I have another coil due to bad experiences.

I asked about having essure done under GA and she said we'd discuss it at my appointment. She offered to fit a coil there are then, but I don't want one.

I wasn't given any local anaesthetic either, the instruments were just inserted, so my uterus probably just got a shock and went into spasm. It wasn't like period cramps or anything, it was like a full blown spasm pain and I couldn't stand it. Period cramps are a dull ache, but this was much sharper and sort of a burning sensation too.

yes the failure is 1 in 200

Be prepared for the dr/consulatant to ask how you would feel if,god forbid, your dd was to pass away. I got asked this and told by the consultant I 'may want to replace the child id lost' i told him in no uncertain terms that i found his suggestion very upsetting.

Also they dont like to do it if dc are young (below 2 i think)

Hope your feeling better soon hiddenhome

thank you

I'm okay now, just disappointed with myself.

Don't be disappointed with yourself, be disappointed with the crappy care you've received.

IMO, your DH needs to man up and take some responsibility for contraception. It's not fair that you should be facing all the horrible choices when a vasectomy is quick, simple, safe (much safer than a GA), without side-effects and highly effective. Will he use condoms?

condoms aren't working out very well (technical reasons). I'm too scared to rely on them.

Is it usual to perform intra-uterine procedures without any anaesthetic? I mean, a coil fitting is easy enough, but the uterus does contract and end up causing pain if its interfered with.

I do agree that it sounds weird that they tried to do it that way. As I said, Royal Surrey County in Guildford does it under GA as standard and anyone I mentioned to how I thought it would be done awake thought I was mad to suggest it. At the very least you should have had a pessary to open up your cervix which you would have had to put in the night before - this is what all of the descriptions from people in the States said they had. Out of interest - did you have a pill that you had to take every day for six weeks before the procedure? I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but it used to be used as a treatment for endometriosis and they gave it to me to thin the lining of my uterus so they could see what they were doing.

For what it's worth, I understand how horrible it is to be barely able to stand taking the pill and condoms not really being an option - this is why I managed to persuade everyone to do the procedure in the first place.

No, no pill to take. I just took norethisterone to delay my period because I was due on. I've been reading up on the States' handling of this procedure and they seem to do loads of stuff to prep the patient. They also give local anaesthetic injections into the cervix, which is what I thought I was going to have. I'm trying to get dh to have a vasectomy now

Well, went to see the doc and hes reffering me to the hospital so have to wait for the consultant to get in touch now. Doc said he couldnt forsee any problems with getting it as I seemed very sure and it might be a good idea not to mask the menopause symptoms with contraceptive pills! I felt very old !