I received the Essure in January 2013 after having my second child in October 2013. I was drugged up on pain medication for the procedure and was given a shot before we began as well. I was fairly incoherent for the procedure. The doctor inserted the first coil in my left tube with little effort. It took less than five minutes to get the coil positioned in my right tube. He worked on my left tube for 40 minutes and was not certain it was positioned correctly, but he had other patients to see and sent me on my way. He assured me we would know more after three months during the HSG study. During the months following I did not have pain. I went in for the HSG study in April 2013 where it was determined my right side was completely blocked and the Essure was in its proper place. The left side coil was no where to be found. The doctor apologized and offered to repeat the procedure on the left side free of charge. Since my husband and I were done having children, I agreed to having the procedure. I went back at the end of May 2013 and had the left tube inserted with an Essure coil. I was sore and cramping after the procedure, but otherwise okay.
My first complication was the weekend of September 14, 2013 during my friend’s wedding. I began gushing blood and thought maybe I was having my first period after having my son. I was breastfeeding, so not having a period for me was normal. The next morning the bleeding had stopped. I was extremely exhausted, but not in any pain and not bleeding. Between September 14 – October 19 ( my son’s first birthday) I had a total of five episodes of heavy gushes of blood. They would come out of nowhere, usually with no pain. I noticed if I squatted down at my son’s level is when I would gush blood. The bleeding would typically stop after a day or two. I noticed I would always be weak and exhausted after these episodes.
Between September and November I started experiencing joint pain. It was focused at my left hip. I felt like an elderly woman after a hip replacement when I would get out of the bed in the morning. I could hardly bare weight on my leg when I would get up because the pain was so bad. This is when the severe pelvic pain started. It hurt to sit down, have sex, or even use the bathroom. My first urination of the morning is always the worst. When my bladder is empty it seems as though the pain just settles into my pelvis. I’m not able to bare down to defecate because this puts pressure on my pelvis area, causing unbearable pain. Right now just sitting here typing this I have pain at a level 7-8 on the pain scale. I hate taking pain medicine but I take 800mg ibuprofen daily to help me get through the day. I am 29 years old and feel like I am in my seventies. I’m not able to move around without having shooting pains through my body stemming from my pelvis area. I just went in to the doctor last week because of the pain. He was barely able to do a pelvic exam because it hurt all the way up above my belly button when he pushed down. I left in tears and with a surgery scheduled for December 11, 2013 . The surgery is an exploratory one because my doctor thinks I’ve either developed endometriosis, adhesions, or that one of the coils is poking through the tube. He will not know until he goes in to physically see. All I know is I can’t take this pain I’m living with. I’ve had two children, one without medication, and I had the second Essure inserted without pain medication and those were far more tolerable than this pain. It is not always this bad, but there are days that I just cry from the pain the entire day, like today. I hope this helps other women. For me, getting the procedure came down to what insurance would cover. This was covered at 100% while a tubal was my deductible plus 20% of the procedure. If I could give any woman considering this procedure some advice, it would be to do as much research on the product and weigh the options. It was not worth it and all the pain plus additional surgeries to find a problem and possibly correct it.
Some of my other symptoms also includes severe itching of my abdomen and legs, nausea, pain of the pelvis and abdomen, bloating, painful urination/ defecation, severe left hip pain, heart palpitations, chest pain, pain in my left shoulder, and dizziness.