I got my Essure procedure on Feb. 21, 2013 when my youngest child was 5 mos old on the day. When I gave birth to her I weighed 148lbs. By the time I had this procedure done I was back down to my pre-birth weight at 124lbs and wore a size 5-7. Here we are a year later to the day and I am a size 13/14 and weigh 155lbs. I had almost no belly fat weight left and now my stomach is like I could be wearing maternity clothes and about 5 months pregnant except for the fact that it is not solid. Jeans HURT me. If I have to wear pants that are tight aroung my waist by the end of the day it feels as though my belly is bruised. I have never had this problem before because I have always been a small person. Like the fact that while shopping at a childrens store for a new carseat for my daughter, I had a woman tell me I shouldn’t be trying to get the carseat off the top shelf while pregnant. How humiliating to have to explain to her that I was not pregnant and that it was for my 1 yr old. But this is just the problem that people can actually see.
So to backtrack, about 3mos after my procedure I started having some weird things start going on, now keep in mind that I have no allergies, rarely ever even had to go to the Dr. and barely ever even took Tylenol at this point in my life. I had an easy pregnancy and birth and have always been a Dr.’s favorite patient because I generally never had any health problems even during my pregnancy, but in May of 2013 that all started to change. First, my eyes started getting heavy and very dry for a couple of days and soon after this began happening, then my heartbeat would start feeling ‘off’ and I would feel dizzy/lightheaded. Then after a couple of days of this randomly happening I had it turn into something else. My eyes were the first thing I noticed of course, it was like I couln’t keep them open they were so dry and heavy. I was feeling as though I was going to pass out, then my heartbeat was going crazy and my entire left side started getting tingly like it was all going to sleep at the same time. I felt like I couldn’t get enough air which really started to scare me. I had to lay down on the couch because I didn’t have the energy to stand or sit anymore. I was scared to death. I finally told my fiance that I needed to go to the hospital because something was wrong. After hours of sitting in the hospital and having tests run they sent me home saying that it sounds like I was just having palpitations and they can’t find anything wrong.
Over the next 2 days I was still not feeling like myself but I was taking it easy, then the 2nd night I woke up out of a dead sleep feeling like I couldn’t get enough air and my heartbeat going crazy all over again. Since I have 3 children I waited it out until morning and went back to the hospital. Once again they still couldn’t really find anything wrong with me so I was diagnosed as having panic/anxiety attacks, given xanax and sent home. A week after this started I went to go see my brother, 6hrs away, for the birth of his first son. I had to have my fiance drive the whole way as when I would try to get behind the wheel it would start to feel like I was having tunnel vision and I couldn’t concentrate on the road. What should’ve been a wonderful trip turned out to just be upsetting to me, because on the way home we made a pit stop at my other brothers on the way back, which is halfway to my house, because it was a holiday weekend and figured the kids would enjoy a bbq and playing at the park. I started having another ‘panic’ attack. Instead of getting to enjoy the festivities with my family I had to take a pill and lay on a blanket and watch while everyone else had fun and try not to let on to how bad I was feeling so as not to ruin everyone else’s good time. It was too much for me to even sit in a chair. It felt as though if I sat upright I would just fall over. Eventually we got back in the car and I slept on/off for the rest of the trip home.
Finally I got in to see my regular Dr. at the time who put me on a medication called Citalopram to help with the ‘anxiety’ issue, even though it is a depression drug, which did seem to help some except that it made me all kinds of jittery, wired and well basically into an insomniac. At this point I had to start taking Xanax only in the evening so I could at least sleep at night. Of course he thought that with the ‘anxiety’ issue under control the other side effects from the medication were acceptable, but he would prefer me not be on Xanax. Granted, I try not to take my xanax every day as I really hate having to take medications in general but occasionally I do like a good nights sleep. I do have a 1 yr old, 9yr old and & 7yr old that need their mom, and well none of this medication seems to help with the fact that I feel tired ALL THE TIME!!!!
I finally got another Dr. who kept me on the same medication at first but finally, about a month ago allowed me to get off the Citalopram. I no longer feel jittery all the time but the exhaustion, random palpitations and anxiety have become a bit more manageable and well, I still have my Xanax that I usually take at night as needed. It wasn’t until about the time I talked to my Dr. about the Citalopram and researching further into Essure and problems with Essure that I really started putting the pieces together that none of this happened until about the time that the Essure implants were suppose to be effective. I can no longer drink any caffeine unless I want to make myself start having palpitations and anxiety. I can barely stand to wear make-up, my eyes start watering uncontrollably, I start feeling like I can’t get enough air and well, it’s just not worth it. Thankfully, I am a stay at home mom. I was planning to go out and get a job because I like people and being out and about, but this all started right before I was going to get a job. In lieu of that, we decided that we will have to survive on just what he makes because we are unsure as to how my body might react to a 40hr work week as I usually work in customer service jobs which tend to have me on my feet all day.
So here we are 1 year to the day from getting my Essure procedure and although I am not pregnant I almost feel as bad as if I were. Actually more so. My hands and feet swell for no apparent reason, my periods can vary from how long in between to spotting, running heavy, back to spotting from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. I am always tired, I have random paplitations and anxiety/panic attacks, my vision may become blurry, sometimes my fingers and lips get a little bit of that numb,tingly feeling, I can’t drink any caffeine, I can’t wear my make-up, and I have put on 30 lbs in less than a year.
Do I wish that I had never gotten it? YES!!! Would I rather run the risk of having another child to feeling this way every day? YES!!! Would I rather know that the way I am feeling has a time frame ,as in 9 mos? YES!!! Do I enjoy feeling exhausted, confused and helpless? NO!!! Would I ever recommend this to anyone else? No!!! Do I think that the Dr.’s should start actually listening to all of us women with problems instead of what the FDA or Bayer approved statistics say? YES!!!
I guess with my final statement I would like to add that in this instance in my life I feel that there was one saying that I should have listened to a little more carefully before getting this procedure done. ‘ If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.’