I am a 35 year old mother of 4 biological children and 1 stepson. After the birth of my daughter in 2011, I knew that our family was complete and wanted to have a tubal ligation to avoid years more of oral contraceptives. The OB/GYN I saw during my pregnancy did not perform sterilizations and referred me to another doctor. When I went in for a consultation only a few weeks after delivering, I was told about Essure. I had never heard of it before but the short recovery time, effectiveness, and lack of side effects appealed to me. And the doctor really pushed it, making me feel as though I had to choose this option. I did cursory research on it at home but really found nothing negative on the internet. Now I believe I must have been suffering from post pregnancy brain to have EVER thought that ‘Hey! Inserting these metal springs into your body to create scar tissue (by cutting) is a GREAT IDEA!!!’ I was put under for the insertion and woke up to heavy cramping which was surprising since they had said most women could return to normal activities immediately afterwards. I was in pretty severe pain for close to a week. And then I bled for nearly 8 months straight. I was told that I would need to have an X-ray after 3 months to make sure that my fallopian tubes had completely closed but my insurance cancelled. The doctor said to get another Depo shot and I would be fine. I have never had any test to make sure that they are where they are supposed to be. In the last 2+ years, I have bled more than 75% of the time- from heavier than normal period to light spotting. I will have stabbing pains in my abdomen sometimes out of nowhere and sometimes if I move in a certain way. About a year ago, I did some quick research on removing them and found a few places that would do removal but the cost was too high for us. During that search, I saw that they talked about some of the same issues I was having and realized how uninformed I was in having this procedure done. I would not classify any of my issues as severe but they do affect my quality of life. I spoke to my regular doctor not long ago about my unhappiness with the Essure and was told that many women are having issues with them and that it had been in the news recently. I did another round of research and found others who have many of the same issues as me- even ones that I had not contributed to Essure. Now I wonder if I have a ticking time bomb (actually two) inside me.