vaginapagina | my essure story (Reply)

So hey, I figured I'd go ahead and post my "I got Essure!" story for anyone else who's considering it and wants a personal experience testimonial. I ended up going to a doctor about an hour and a half away from me, because none of the ones in my area do it as an in-office procedure, and I didn't want to go under general anesthesia if it wasn't necessary. (The website tells you which doctors do it in-office.) In my first meeting with her, we went over a little of my history and talked about why I wanted it done. (Pretty straightforward: I just don't want children, now or ever. My partner's had a vasectomy, but we're non-monogamous. For the sake of reference, I'm 28 and married.) Then there was a pre-surgery visit, where we basically did the same thing, I signed some stuff indicating that I knew what I was doing and knew what the risks and results were, and she gave me prescriptions for Xanax, Motrin, and Ketorolac.

I was to take half a Xanax an hour before I got to the office and bring the other half, as well as the Ketorolac, with me. I did this, felt a little bit off from the Xanax (my partner drove; they were very emphatic about me not driving myself), but was okay. After a little while, they brought me back and gave me the shot of Ketorolac in the butt. I then had to wait for an hour for it to work, and my partner came back and hung out with me while we waited. Then they shooed him away, had me take the other half of my Xanax, and undress from the waist down. I was feeling really, really sleepy by this time, and I think I actually fell asleep when they left for a little while. Then they swabbed my cervix with some sort of topical anesthesia and started giving me shots in it. I felt some of this, but none of it was very painful.

After that, they sent me off to the bathroom (I appreciated that) with the warning that the shots in my cervix would probably make it bleed. This was true; blood was pretty much gushing out of my cooch while I peed. I came back in the room, and the doctor painted my vulva with something like a foam paintbrush with iodine on it, then I swear shoved the paintbrush inside me to get some more iodine in there, then just poured iodine all over me. (Wow, iodine is cold!) This was all pretty okay, mostly painless, a little uncomfortable and strange-feeling. During the actual procedure, which seemed to last about 10 minutes (but my sense of time might have been really off by then), they turned the screen so I could see what the doctor was seeing from the cameras.

The procedure itself was pretty damned painful. I'm not normally a wuss about pain -- I finished a pickup football game on a broken ankle one time, I regularly walk my feet into blisters, then break the blisters and bleed through my socks without really registering the pain -- but holy shit, this hurt. It felt like I was having really bad cramps, and at the same time, someone was smacking my cervix and uterus around viciously. The doctor asked several times whether I was okay, and I agreed that I was. (I mean, what are you gonna do? It already hurts, might as well stick with it.) Then it was done, and they showed me the placement on the monitor, wiped me off, cleaned up stuff in the room, and told me I could get dressed when I felt like it, but that I could sit there for a little while if I wanted to.

I put my clothes on pretty much immediately, noted there was a fair amount of blood on the pad under me, and staggered out to get hugs and comfort from my partner. It still felt like the worst cramps of my life, combined with feeling really out of it (the Xanax?) and nauseous. The doctor seemed pretty concerned about this, saying that she hadn't expected me to still be hurting, and offered me Vicodin (I declined, cause I had some left over at home from dental work). For the hour and a half ride home, I had to lie down, and I was wavering in and out of sleep, cramping really badly. We stopped once and I threw up in the rest stop bathroom. We got home and I immediately collapsed into bed. After sleeping for four hours, I woke up feeling pretty much totally okay, just very minor cramps (hadn't taken any medicine). The next day, I felt 100% okay.

Things to note: I may well be allergic to the Ketorolac -- Tylenol always makes me feel somewhat nauseous and the insert said not to take it if you're allergic to NSAIDs, so I think that was pretty likely a huge part of what was making me feel so terrible aside from the cramping. Also, despite feeling utterly horrible for a couple of hours yesterday, I still think it's totally worth it. And hey! Now I have a picture of my fallopian tubes with little springs in them!