Essure Sucks!

And I will tell you why:  I was on the depo shot for ten years. My hubby and I decided that I needed to change when I kept getting severe migraines from the shot. I decided on the Essure. My doctor told me that it was a simple procedure performed in the office under general anesthesia. I figured it would be better than having a tubal ligation because I wouldn't have to go to the hospital and deal with all that. For some reason I was under the impression that I would have to take more time off work if I had a tubal, rather than just one day. Anyway I scheduled the Essure procedure for June 27th,which was a Friday. The morning of I went in and I remember the doctor telling me that I would be "good as new" in 24 hours. She said I might have some bleeding, but other than that I would be fine. The procedure lasted about 30-45 minutes. I was completely out. When I came to my husband took me home. I was pretty groggy most of the day Saturday, and on Sunday I was not "good as new". I kept on thinking there was something wrong with me because I should have been "good as new".

Monday I went to work feeling like I had been run over by a truck. That night the bleeding started and continued for about 2 1/2 weeks. also that night I decided to google Essure. Why I didn't google them beforehand I still do not know and I am still kicking myself for not doing it to this day. I came upon a Facebook group called Essure Problems and discovered that there are tons of woman having problems with Essure. 

After about a week, I called my doctor and told them that I wanted them out ASAP. They scheduled an appointment. At first she just put me on a course of antibiotics saying that maybe I just had an infection from the insertion, there was no change after the antibiotics. Then she scheduled a CT scan, which really didn't show anything. 

When I went in for my appointment after the scan she asked me if I had problems wearing cheap jewelry. When I told her yes, she told me that Essure had nickel in it, and that the FDA used to require a nickel allergy test be done prior to having the Essure procedure done but that 3 years ago they stopped requiring it. She said that due to my reaction to cheap jewelry she thinks I must be allergic to Essure and she will remove them. My surgery was scheduled for August 26th. On August 26th I had a bilateral salpingectomy, which is the removal of both fallopian tubes (the essure coils are in the tubes). I was off work for 5 days.Three months later, I'm still not "good as new".. so guess what. Essure sucks! 

There are now over 12,000 people in the Essure Problems group on Facebook. Not all of them have problems, some of them have joined just in case they do develop problems, some have joined to offer support, some are spouses of women that have problems. But a huge majority of that number have problems. The makers of Essure claim this product is safe, effective and will prevent pregnancy yet a good number of people in the group have gotten pregnant as well. Aside from the bleeding, there is pain, hair loss, fatigue, depression and a number of other problems I can't think of at the moment. And because of FDA preemption none of us can sue either. 

**Update: Went to the doctor today 12/8/14: She gave me a couple of options to deal with the continuing issues: Go back on birth control. She said that would help control the periods, but I would still have the pain in between them. I could have burning of the uterine lining done which could possibly get rid of the periods but not necessarily the pain or a hysterectomy. Her and I both thought the hysterectomy was the best bet. Surgery is scheduled for 1/13/15.