August 24, 2014,
RE: ESSURE Removal Surgery – Mattie Johnson, Charlotte, NC
I am a 55 year old woman who had the ESSURE Implant Surgery in 2007. I already had given birth to my son and daughter, I was approaching 50 years old and the doctor felt like I was too old to have any more children as well. Like all of you, my OB/GYN sugar coated the experience and never even asked me if I was allergic to nickel and never requested a nickel allergy test either. As it turns out I am not allergic to nickel. That’s one less side effect I had to deal with. But for other side effects I have experienced lots of abdomen pressure pain, twitching or pitching sensations, waking up every morning with extreme nausea, lots of weight gain, night sweats, hot flashes, moodiness, fatigue, headaches, and back and leg pain. All of these symptoms occurred after the ESSURE Implant Surgery. The abdomen pressure pain -since my OB/GYN doctor told me that the ESSURE Implant Surgery was permanent and not reversible I went on with life and didn’t cry about spilled milk (that’s my way of coping with the pain mentally, well I was told nothing could be done). The other side effects, I reached out to bio identical hormones, because I thought well perimenopause has started due to my age. By the way, my sisters were older and they never had to reach out for any hormonal support. Plus I never had taken any birth control pills in my life either. Anyway, I have been taking estrogen, progesterone and estradiol since 2009. Almost 5 years now. The bio identical treatment did take the edge off the moodiness some, but all these years my hormone specialist said that I should still not be experiencing all the other side effects I listed above….major night sweats and nausea, etc. After work on April 25, 2014, Friday, on the 5:30 WSCOTV news segment in Charlotte, NC, I saw my first ESSURE Implant segment and for once I knew I was not alone. All these women were reporting the same issues and experiences that I had since 2007. One lady had her ESSURE coils in a jar showing the world she had them removed. I just hung my head down and wept for a long time. I pulled myself together over the next couple of months and went on a mission or a journey if you will to find someone to remove my ESSURE implants. How convenient Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center, which is now located in Raleigh, NC. I was so excited to find a center, so close to home and oh boy was I surprised. I contacted the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center and they do not except any insurance from any insurance carrier. Also, they told me insurance doesn’t cover this type of procedure that it was considered an elective surgery. They charge $100.00 for a Scheduling Fee and $5,900.00 cash up front to perform the ESSURE Removal Surgery and on top of that they say they want you to have the best experience while you are in Raleigh and they require you to stay in the hotels that they recommend and you are required to stay at the Hyatt House Raleigh or the Renaissance Raleigh, which are two expensive hotels for a minimum of two nights stay. This would be approximately an additional $400.00 for a hotel. The night before the surgery and the night of the surgery then next day is post op and you can return home. If you do not stay at one of these hotels then Dr. Monteith will not perform the surgery. My advice is to stay clear of this facility until they become more of a compassionate center. If they really want to help all of us women during this crisis of trying to get the best care and at the same time trying to get a great doctor and a facility that will accept insurance (yes I said accept insurance) until then I don’t recommend them, because they are only concerned about money at this point. It’s like when a brand new technology comes on the market and it’s so expensive at first and after years go by all these competitors are in the market then the price drops. That analogy seems to fit Dr. Monteith and his facility to a tee. On June 11, 2014, I started beating the doors down at my works’ insurance company. I was determined to get my coils removed and covered by my insurance carrier. Even though I was not allergic to nickel, but I was having adverse reactions to the coils. I spoke with my insurance company almost every day excluding Sundays till the week of July 18, 2014. At the same time, I was researching facilities that would be a good fit for me to perform my ESSURE Removal Surgery. I found another place in Georgia, Florida, and Michigan. Other places were popping up that were starting out that were removing the coils. Each place I called in this country said that insurance did not cover the ESSURE Removal Surgery. Well I won my insurance covered mine and I had my ESSURE Removal Surgery on July 25, 2014. I flew across the country from the East coast (Charlotte, NC) to the West coast (West Hollywood/Beverly Hills). My ESSURE Removal Surgery was performed by Dr. Peyman Saadat, MD, at the Reproductive Infertility Center. Now you want a doctor that knows what he is doing and is very compassionate, well Dr. Peyman, MD, is the doctor to perform your ESSURE Removal if needed. I am the first insured that my insurance carrier has ever covered for an ESSURE Removal Surgery. Not only they covered it but I worked it so to obtain benefits for in network participating physicians and facilities and out of network participating physicians and facilities. Note: An out of network facility will usually require you to pay your deductible up front and especially, if they are out of state they most likely will request this. I feel like I have won the lottery. A major breakthrough and I have been told all throughout this country that I am the only person that they know of that an insurance company covered this and if there research is true then this is a major breakthrough. I worked so hard to get this for myself. I’m very proud of myself. This is a victory for me and hopefully for all the other women out there. While on this journey I can’t seem to get over the fact that thousand among thousands of women have been mislead about this permanent birth control method and some women have had to endure such a radical procedure such as a hysterectomy, so that the coils could be removed during the hysterectomy surgery, because their insurance carriers would not provide benefits for the ESSURE Removal Surgery, but insurance carriers would cover hysterectomies. This breaks my heart and if I can be a voice of change in anyway, I would be glad to be. Women should not have to go to such extreme measures to obtain relief. Now that theirs ESSURE Implant problems out there in our communities I challenge not only Bayer, Inc. Parent Company (which has made a change and no more coils can be made with Nickel – this is not enough), Conceptus, Inc, and doctors that are performing the ESSURE Implant surgeries to stop and come together and take a closer look at the medical data and the countless websites such as Facebook and other sites that are popping up to inform the world of that there is a dire need for medical intervention and it needs to be now rather than later. If you feel confused and don’t know which way to turn, I open my heart and my time for you. Please feel free to contact me on Facebook by private message or send me an e-mail to mjohnsnd@aol.com and I will respond and we can connect in another forum that works best for you.
Thank you for your time for reading my blog…
Regards,
Mattie Johnson, Charlotte, NC
Correction to my submission: Bayer, Inc/ Parent company has not removed the nickle from the ESSURE implants.