Essure Procedure

Hello my name is Jamie Leigh and I am an Essure survivor. In April of 2014 I had my Essure device implanted in my gynecologist’s office. I was told that I would feel mild cramping for the new couple of days. When the device went in the pain seered through me and I was told that this was normal. I tried to stand up to leave when I was told I could and my legs gave out. That night the pain got to horrible levels and I had to go back the next day for heavy pain meds. I was told a cyst burst on my ovary.

Time went by and I was doing well but as the fall came I felt my health make a rapid decline. Wide spread pain was the beginning of it. I saw specialist after specialist and nothing was found. My hair began to break and fall out. Then my teeth did the same. I found noise and bright lights to be horrible to deal with. I found myself to no longer be able to make it to the bathroom without having accidents in my pants. I was shamed in the doctor’s office for rapidly gaining weight and treated like I was not trying to make myself better. I found myself having a harder time concentrating. I would lose track of conversations and things happening around me. My skin began to peel away, rashes would suddenly appear, horrible bruises.

I found that I was becoming more and more depressed. I was with drawing from my family and friends. It hurt physically and emotionally to have my own children hug and kiss me. My mood became dark and threatening. I began treating my children like they were worthless and unwanted. The shame I felt afterwards was the worst of it all. I couldn’t control it. The depression was never ending and suicide seemed the best option. I saw myself as a burden to the world and as a horrible mother.

My primary care physician told me one day that I was a drug addict seeking narcotics. I had asked for a medication to be switched to because I didn’t want to be living on vicodin. When my pills ran out I began to drink alcohol to kill the pain. I laid on the floor sobbing with the curtains drawn and lights off. All light was painful now. I made the choice on when and how I was going to kill myself.

Two days before my plan would happen I was taken by my husband to my gynecologist for a routine pap smear. I was told I had gained a lot of weight. I had gone from a size 10 to a size 24 in only eight months. When the gynecologist tried to exam me I cried out in pain and pulled away. She was deeply worried but dismissed my thoughts about Essure causing this. I had seen a news article about complications in women but she said that it was not true. She told me she would investigate but she would gladly remove my Essure coils if I wanted that and even remove my tubes and even my uterus if that is what I needed. I went home with a glimmer of hope.

The next day she called me very upset and worried.  When she implanted me she knew I had a nickel allergy but Essure had said that this device was nickel free. When she looked at the Essure website she saw that they were now listing that the device contained nickel. Her own pamphlets in her office were saying that it did not have the nickel in it. She was furious and told me that I would need to get all traces of the device removed immediately.

On January 12. 2015 I was taken in for a hysterectomy. No one knew it was going to be more than that. When she went in she found that my uterus was now a shriveled black mass. It had rotted inside of me. When she tried to remove it the organ broke into five pieces. I woke in recovery to her very upset and trying to tell me everything. My fallopian tubes were removed but the ovaries stayed in place. When she tried to remove my cervix I began to bleed heavily and it had to be cauterized and left in place. I was told that if I needed to she would go back in and remove it at a later date.

Today is May 11, 2016. I now still have fibromyalgia. I take pills three times a day but no moment is ever pain free. I have 11 teeth left in my head and they will all need to be removed due to the roots dissolving when they used to be strong. My hair has regrown but my skin still has problems. I have raw patches that still appear and have to be treated. I am so thankful for my gynecologist who yes she did implant me but she is now against the Essure device. I am thankful for my friends who helped me through this. But most of all I am thankful for my husband and children who have understood that I did not mean any of the horrible things that came out of my mouth during that time. I am thankful for my husband who literally would wipe my behind when my arms would not work properly after I had pooped my own pants. I am thankful for him washing me while I cried in the tub. I am thankful for my kids making me food and shaking me to sit up and please eat it …… just please it and make them happy. I would not be here today if it was not for those four beautiful children and that loving man. I am sobbing as I write this. This must end. No one deserves this. No woman and no family. We all suffer together.