Well I don’t really know where to begin. My husband and I had our first child 21yrs ago. 18 yrs later we were surprised to hear that our oldest son was going to have a sibling. I had my second child when I was 42 yrs old. He was born in Sept of 2010. Essure was introduced to me by my Ob-Gyn in December of that same year. I did my research at that time and there was not much out there at the time about complications. I agreed to have it done. It was done in Dec of 2010. After the procedure was done, my doc told me that one was successfully implanted and the other was not. (I could not remember about whether it was left or right). I asked what we could do about it at that time and she stated “nothing”. She scheduled for me to have laparoscopic tubal ligation a few months later and it was done.
Every since Dec 2010, I had been experiencing bad abdominal cramps, especially around my cycle times. Before Essure, I rarely ever has a menstrual cramp. My cycles post Essure were also clotty. I have a high pain tolerance, so I just managed to live life with the pain. Unfortunately, my pain kept getting worse instead of better. I started requiring to have to take pain meds during my cycles. This progressed to pain medication needing to be taken more often (not just around cycle times) because my pelvic/abdominal pain kept increasing. My pain progressed to where I required bed rest a lot in the evenings after working because my pain kept getting worse. (Thank God for a sister who was able to watch my little one.) I progressed to having to take oxycodone around my cycles times to pain medication needed daily due to my pain.
Fast forward to May 2014, my last three cycles had been extremely painful with ongoing pelvic pain that has not ceased. My left side has always been more painful than my right, but my right side is definitely painful too. I ‘ve also had left leg pain from my thigh to my ankle. Recently, after my left thigh started to swell, I finally googled to see if ithere had been any complaints about Essure, and I found the Essure Problems Facebook page.
I immediately called the Ob-Gyn and she was able to see me the same day. I told her about all of my pain, including my leg pain and swelling and she stated that she didn’t think that the leg pain was related. I told her that I thought it was related because every time that my pelvic pain throbs, it radiates to my thigh. They did an ultra-sound and saw that the right coil was in place and the left coil could not be seen. I was scheduled for some pre-op workup on the 28th and was scheduled for surgery on June 3rd. On May 28th, I also had an exray done that showed both the right and left coils. The left coil was definitely out of place but the exact location was not clear. Therefore, I had to have a CT scan done on 6/2/2014.
I went in for hysteroscopy and laparoscopic surgery on 6/3/14 . The goal was to remove my fallopian tubes which would remove the plastic ring that were used for the left tubal ligation and the right Essure coil that was in my fallopian tube. According to the CT Scan that I had on 6/2/14, the location of the left Essure coil was behind my uterus, but my OB stated to me prior to surgery on 6/3/14 that she thought that she would be able to get to it and remove it also.
Unfortunately, I learned after a long surgery and recovery period, that nothing was removed. L According to my OB: she went in and found that my left coil was not behind my uterus, but was embedded into my uterus. She also stated that the ring that was used for my left tubal ligation was also embedded in my uterus. She stated that there was so much scar tissue on my uterus that the scar tissue had sandwiched to top of my uterus to the bottom of my uterus. The scar tissue prevented her from even scoping my right fallopian tube.
However, because I had not signed consent forms for a hysterectomy, they could not remove my uterus and she could not remove the coils out of the uterus. I was also told that during my post of recovery time, that I went into 2nd degree heart block and my heart rate dropped down to 30bpm. They stated that I recovered spontaneously. I had to go and been seen by a cardiologist that same week. I had a stress test done and the cardiologist cleared me for my second surgery. I had my second surgery on 6/13/14. My uterus, fallopian tubes and the tubal ligation ring was removed. My OB also told me that I experienced a second degree heart block again. I am currently 2 weeks post op. I have filed reports with the FDA.