My situation is not as drastic as some, but has had long term effects on my quality of life.
I had essure placed in March 2013 with EXTREME agony during placement. My doctor told me ‘Wow, I’m not sure why you’re having so much pain’. I prayed and spoke the names of my children thoughout the entire procedure. I cried the entire time. On occasion i yelled when i couldn’t bear it anymore. I had been heavily premedicated, but it didn’t matter.
Since that day, I have been aware of the foreign objects in my body. I’ve always been bloated, i bled for weeks and weeks afterwards; not hemorrhaging, but consistent bleeding. I’ve been tired, no energy (there’s a difference between the two), i have chronic low level abdominal pain, I’m always boated, my lower half feels as though it weighs a thousand poundsat all times. I constantly have low back pain.
I have always been a very healthy woman, with no major illnesses. One year almost to the week after I had essure implanted, I was diagnosed with Graves’ disease. It’s an autoimmune disorder affecting the thyroid.
I would never have associated all of this with the essure device. It shares its symptoms with so many other things that can mask it.
My mother called one day to say that they were beginning to watch the essure. I read up on it and discovered that my doctor had blithely encouraged (and convinced) me to place cancer causing agents (PET fibers) in my body. She never ever ever mentioned this at all, nor did she test me for nickel allergy which thank God i don’t seem to have.
I am 45 and have two small children ages 7 and 3. How do I know what this device is doing right now as I type this? Is it creating a cellular level dysfunction that is going to rob my children of their mother while they still need me? I want it out, but i can’t afford it financially at this time. I live every day tormented emotionally by the fact that i can’t do anything about this. I have been in the medical field for 17 years, and I would NEVER have agreed to place a cancer causing agent in my body. I am that person who doesn’t even use any sunscreen other than Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide because most sunscreens contain ingredients that create free radicals when they interact with the rays they’re supposed to protect us from. Yes, sunscreens can cause cancer, but that’s a different fight.
This needs to stop. Companies should be taking care of people, yet their focus is the almighty dollar. I want them to look into my children’s big beautiful green and blue eyes, and tell them why they put their mommy in harm’s way. I want them to explain why they don’t think my children need a healthy mommy. I want them to apologize for years of pain and fatigue that have kept me from playing with my kids as much as i want to. They have robbed me. And they can’t give me my time back.
The worst part is; they do not care.