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Arielle Zadok, ABS's avatar

PREACH. Lucky / unlucky for me the only IUD I had was inserted at the same time I had an abortion. This was in New Zealand where they thankfully put me to sleep for the whole procedure, so I didn't have to feel any of it. However I felt that thing in me for years that followed. I never had period cramps prior to an IUD but once that bad boy was in, I was in a lot of pain a lot of the time. I don't remember how many years it lasted, but I had them take it out. I couldn't take it anymore and I knew I didn't need to. It was an awful experience and I didn't even have to go through the pain of insertion. Most of gynecology is barbaric because our pain has historically been dismissed and ignored.

IMPORTANT: If a medical provider ever denies you any care, medication, testing, etc. HAVE THEM WRITE IT IN YOUR CHART. Depending on what it is you're asking for, if they need to document their refusal, they may change their tune and if they don't, you at least have a paper trail of their refusal.

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Susan Wadds (Deepam)'s avatar

OMG. Luckily, I've aged out of the system. However, the pain scars remain. I recall that during an excruciating dilation and curettage procedure (no anesthetic), one gynecologist informed me that it didn't hurt and to stop complaining. Yup. Good old boys at work.

And a side note: IUD's aren't always effective - at least not the old-fashioned Copper-7 I had.

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