I am the mother of four wonderful children. All under the age of 8 at this point! I had tried other birth control in the past but had suffered from negative symptoms. My regular ob office has very kind doctors and nurses and they listened to everything I had to say about finding a permeant form of birth control. That’s when I stumbled across Essure. I asked my doctor about it, but she couldn’t really give me any answers. She said from reading the brochure is sounded wonderful and wished me luck on any further research. I promised to keep them updated on whatever happened.
In all my research online all I could find were good things about Essure. I never saw anything about women who were having problems. Since I have four children, I did not want the down time of a tubal. Essure sounded perfect! I searched the internet for a doctor in my area that did the procedure and set up an appointment.
I went in for the visits that are required before and the preop. Everything seemed wonderful and everyone was so nice. My procedure was scheduled for September 2011 (can’t remember the exact date) at the hospital. I was told that because of insurance it had to be done at the hospital and I had to be put to sleep.
On the day of the procedure I was both excited and nervous. My husband had to watch our children so he could not be with me. The hospital took great care of me. When I awoke in recover all I felt was menstrual type cramping and my throat hurt from the tube they inserted to keep my airway open. I thought that finally I had struck gold in the birth control department.
My post op visit went well. The doctor showed me the photos of my coils and everything looked promising. I scheduled my next visit. for January. It was to be just before my HSG at the hospital. October passed and the only thing I questioned was my cycle , but I ignored my lack of one since I had just had the procedure done.
Everything changed in November. My cycle finally kicked in. When I went to my January appointment I was STILL bleeding. I talked to the doctor about it. She said everything was normal. My body was just try to get everything straight after the procedure. She said to call her back in a couple of week if I still had not stopped and we could discuss a hormone pill to get the bleeding under control. I scheduled my HSG and left rather upset. The whole point was to keep the added hormones out of my body. I was slowly beginning to regret my decision.
Days before my HSG at the hospital I FINALLY stopped bleeding…it had lasted exactly eight weeks. My appointment for the HSG went well. Essure was confirmed as a success and I was released by my doctor with no further follow up necessary. I thought maybe my doubts of the procedure were unfounded since everything looked well on the HSG and my bleeding had stopped. I put it out of my mind.
February…no cycle. March…no cycle, sore breasts and gaining weight. I feel I might be pregnant so I take a home pregnancy test….negative. I call the office of the doctor that did my procedure. The nurse returns my call and tells me that it is normal since my last cycle was so long. Every women’s body is different and mine is just trying to get back in the swing of things. April…still no cycle. Took another hpt…..negative. I contacted my regular ob and set up an appointment. I needed a second opinion. The doctor at my regular clinic does a pregnancy test….negative. I explain the procedure and my symptoms. He agrees that something is not right. I should not be missing my cycle for 3 months straight. He wants to run blood tests and do a complete pelvic ultrasound. I told him I would call and set everything up after I work out things with the hospital.
I spent June-September trying to fix things with the hospital. During all of this the nurse let me come into the office (sometime in July/August) for a regular ultrasound to be sure I wasn’t pregnant. Everything looked normal….no pregnancy.
September rolls around. I’m getting worse…still no cycle, weight gain and bloating to the point that I look pregnant, extreme abdominal pain and cramping, aching and tingling in my limbs, numbness in my feet, hot flashes, chronic pain in my left hip to the point that I find my self limping, fatigue, increased headaches, acne, mood swings, heartburn and indigestion, can’t eat without bowel issues, struggle with short term memory (I feel like I’m in a fog) and the list goes on.
It’s October now. Still no cycle. I finally had my blood test done. Got my results this week….my thyroid levels are normal. I have an appointment with the doctor next month. We’ll be scheduling my ultrasound and hopefully a CT scan. I now thoroughly regret my decision to get Essure!