Hi There, thank you so much for doing this Erin. I have thought that I was going crazy for the past 5 years. I had the Essure procedure done in 2010. Until the past few months, I had no understanding of why I was having so many issues. Within a few months, I started losing my hair and had sharp pelvic pain. I did not tie the two together. I was told that hair loss was typical and my pelvic pain was most likely from ovarian cysts. I have had ovarian cysts my entire life and only knew that I had them when I was pregnant because there were ultrasounds being done. I had no pain. After going to the OBGYN that performed the procedure, I quickly understood that she was not taking me seriously. I continued to loose hair. I went to my dermotologist and to a NaturalPath. Many test were run and all were normal. The pelvic pain only got worse. I was always asked, ‘which side is the pain on?’ as all thought it was from ovarian cysts. I was consistant that my pain was rigth in the middle. I went to an internal medicine doctor that did agree that all tests showed that I had inflamation in my body. She sent me to an oncologist, who also did not find anything. I then went to a family medicine doctor that ran all kinds of STD tests. All came back normal. I then went back to my OBGYN and was told that since I had ovarian cysts, that I should just take ibuprofen for the pain. I did that for another year. Finally three months ago, I could not take it and went back to my OBGYN. The doctor that originally performed the procedure was no longer there and my new doctor was out. I was given yet another ultrasound. I am sure I have had at least 10 since the Essure procedure had been completed. Finally! The doctor on call said ‘something is not right with your uterus and I think you should have an exploritory surgery’. I said ‘let’s do it!!’. The same doctor called me that night after reviewing my record and sand ‘the coile is inbedded in your uterus and you have lots of things growing around it, you need to come back in’. Within a couple weeks, I had a hysterectomy. Although I am just a 1 1/2 weeks post surgery, I finally feel great!! The pain is finally gone! Every shower I have taken does not result in a ton of hair falling out. Something has got to be done about this procedure. I was never told about any of this being an issue. It was portrayed to me as a great birth control option that was easy. It has dramatically affected my life. There many not be as many documented cases because like myself, the issues I was having was never tied to the procedure until 5 years later.
I feel for you Jodie! I live in Chicago and I need my coils out as soon as possible. The doc is doing an ultrasound today, I hope I can get them removed without a hysterectomy.