RANT.
What a bold faced lie. When I got my IUD inserted, I asked how much it would hurt and the (woman) attending looked me in the eye and said “well, how’s your pain tolerance? Because it can hurt”. Well I almost fainted from the pain, twice. I am sick of women enabling this idea that ALL women are immune to pain, or that we are trying to fight the stereotype of being weak that we just go through with it. I yelled and screamed because it HURT and I couldn’t help it. The doctor wrote down that I tolerated the insertion “poorly”. So that was cute. Ironically the male gyno seemed more concerned than anyone else in that room, so honestly I’m ok with sexism favoring me in that respect, sheesh.
And all these TikToks of women handling tattoos like pros is not admirable or normal but sad and concerning. I don’t know why women have to have these nerves of steel now because we are the child bearers and make up for men, I still HURT and I am gonna let you know. God damn it! I’m not faking being tough anymore! I hate it!
Comments
I swear getting my tubes surgically removed was less painful than getting an IUD.
Yeah, it sucks. Also I’m irritated that people even think it has much to do with pain tolerance. I have a high tolerance and one of my insertions wasn’t THAT terrible but the other was awful. It can be partially how your body is built, party the time of the month, whether you’ve had kids…. Lots of things. The “pain tolerance” thing sounds like victim blaming.
I just had my IUD replaced in January and it was horrific. My poor partner thought I was going to break his hand. I was lying in a puddle of sweat by the time my gyno was done. If men had to endure this, it would be done under general anesthesia.
I consider myself fairly tough and can handle a lot. Getting an IUD was the single most painful thing I’ve experienced. I thought I was going to simultaneously puke and pass out. I screamed “FUCK!!!”, which seemed to piss off the RN who inserted it. It was still fairly uncomfortable for at least a month or so afterwards. It’s due to be removed next year, and I’m trying not to think about it. Not getting pregnant or having periods has been cool though. But yeah, inserting IUDs with only Ibuprofen is barbaric.
I could never work up the courage to get an IUD. My pain tolerance is basically nonexistent.
My sister got hers a few months after giving birth & she says she felt nothing.
Demand pain management/numbing shots.
They can do it. My doctor said “the numbing shot can hurt as much as the insertion” but I didn’t find that to be true at all. Insertion and removal was much more painful than the shot.
I’ve had IUDs since I was 18. I biked away from every single appointment and didn’t cry until I got home. It felt like giving birth to a kitchen cutlery set. My boyfriend at the time said “well it’s like period cramps right? And you’re used to those.”
I really dont understand why women put up with this. Request pain meds in advance. Karen the hell out of them – tell them you’ll scream so loud people in the waiting room will want to leave – make a scene! Quietly tolerating this is getting us NOWHERE
I requested pain management on my most recent insertion and it made a hell of a difference. Here’s my post about the experience. https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/s/iNVNBzlqND
I recently had my first experience with a female anesthesiologist for a fertility procedure. In response to my concerns about waking up mid-procedure (something I have had happen before) she told me I didn’t really need to be asleep for this, and sedation was just a luxury, so she’d only be giving me a tiny amount. I wound up being able to feel everything, but unable to move or talk to tell my RE how much it hurt. When I told her afterwards she just laughed it off. I cried for 36 straight hours. There’s an extra level of betrayal when a woman provider treats us this way.
PSA – go to planned parenthood. They offered me pain meds in my cervix without me having to ask. My experience was uncomfortable but not that bad. The cramping after was worse than the actual insertion.
Everyone has different levels of pain tolerance/pain acceptance. My bestie opted for the contraceptive implant in her arm. Supposed to last 3 years. She said it was minor compared to the problems with her previous IUD. Not sure if that helps?
My IUD was so extremely painful it felt like what I imagine giving birth feels like (I don’t plan on ever having kids). I genuinely screamed bloody murder.
Got my IUD a month ago, got no warning about the pain. A whole week! A whole week of insane cramps! I’ve bleed for a month almost non stop and I get periodcramps if I cum. I’m getting it out next Friday
I couldn’t walk afterwards. I was hobbling down the street, clutching my stomach, doubled over in pain. It was terrible.
When I asked about the pain I was told, “you can handle it.” I said no and the doctors office proceeded to call me FIVE times asking if I was ready to schedule an appointment yet. I had to tell them “no” over and over. I haven’t been back in 3 years.
That’s honestly why I would never get an IUD. I’ve read so many horror stories on here from women experiencing so much pain from getting them that I know the anxiety of the pain would be impossible for me to get over. I’d rather go on the world’s scariest rollercoaster than get an IUD without anesthesia.
Jesus mate I’m so sorry. What do they do for pain management where you are? I had numbing spray and it just felt a bit sharp and pinchy for me!
I feel like the skill of the person inserting it definitely has an impact. Where I am there’s one doctor who does it and there’s one day a week where all she does are coils, she’s a pro
I have 8 tattoos. Some of them hurt quite a bit. But that pain was nothing compared to the three IUDs I’ve had. Coming out and going in.
I train in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and some of the states I’ve dragged myself on to the mats in during comps is ridiculous. Tore a rotator cuff in the first match, still went for the second even if I had to tap out, and then went and won another one ten weeks later. What I’m saying is my pain threshold is pretty bloody high.
IUD insertion and removal has me in tears, fighting back screams, and I don’t move off the sofa for about the next week.
I am so sorry you also know this pain.
My IUD insertion was very painful, for weeks. They actually inserted and probably grazed part of my uterus by mistake. I reported my OB to the board because of how badly she treated me, including telling me it wasn’t that bad.
I concur with you, just be honest about the pain. People who call you a whiner are really just telling you that your situation is inconvenient to them, and that’s not the type of energy I’m willing to deal with either. Periods hurt. IUDs hurt. Tattoos hurt. Childbirth hurts. Dropping something on your foot hurts. Believe us and comfort us or leave!
Friendly reminder that there are updated guidelines for pain management during gynecological procedures. Make your doctors follow the new guidelines.
I’ve had two endometrial biopsies done in my life. The first one caught me off guard, because I had no idea it would be so painful. I had the second one two decades later, and I specifically asked for an injection of lidocaine beforehand. They refused, because it’s not part of their protocol. Promised they’d be as gentle as possible. Still hurt like a mutherfucker.
I mean they are probably not faking being “tough”. Some people really got higher pain tolerances.
The women in my family normally doze during tats. My lil sis actually adores the process.
But yeah no. Shouldn’t have to be playing weird games like that. If you need help or pain management. You should get it.
The Guardian published an article recently in Australia criticizing the low up-take of women in Australia choosing to get IUDs because of social media stories of how bad the pain is. The article was so condescending. It insisted that the pain was not that bad and the stories online were overblown. It was such bullshit. After I read the article I googled how IUDs were inserted. HOLY FUCK. I cannot believe that they do not give pain relief for something like that! I remember when they opened my cervix to give birth. I screamed and crushed my husband’s hand. The idea of getting an IUD sounds like a horror-show to me. My doctor keeps insisting I should get one as well. I told her no it sounded to painful and that I had concerns my pain would not be taken seriously. She was really dismissive. I also don’t want to get one because I am allergic to nickel. I do not want to take the risk that I would have an allergic reaction. I truly believe we will look back on IUDs one day and consider them barbaric.
I’m so jaded that “you’ll feel a little pressure” is now code for me that I’m about to experience medical trauma
I Watched a video of the “insertion”. Nope.
I have tattoos and had an IUD at one point, and have had a colposcopy, and a CVS test with no painkillers. I’d rather get a full body blackout tattoo than go through ANY of that shit again. Ignoring women’s pain is an absolute blight on the modern medical system. On a completely unrelated note, I have absolutely zero fear of childbirth anymore.
I have four tattoos and am planning another.
I’m on my third IUD and I’ll skip the first two and just say that the one I got last month hurt so badly, I hyperventilated and almost threw up, and that was with my cervix dilated and nitrous.
My last IUD was such a traumatic experience I made my husband get a vasectomy rather than endure that again.
My ordeal started by being given mifepristone to allegedly ripen my cervix to make the process easier. I was not cautioned by the obgyn that I would have the worst cramping of my life and not be able to get out of bed for most of the day.
It didn’t help, the whole removal and insertion was worse than gallstones and childbirth. It’s absolutely barbaric that women have to undergo so much pain to avoid hormonal free birth control.