[kym4]

Irishgirl, What does your doctor say? Do you have any pain associated with the spotting or bleeding? You could have perforations or it could be something associated with fibriods. Hard to know.

[spacesea]

Hi. I don't know if I can help or not, but I am going to give it a try. I just had my Essure procedure on Monday (8/10/09). I was SCARED to death. I, too, am 40, overweight and my doctor of 17 years felt that he could no longer safely prescribe me BCP and being a teacher, I didn't want to chance a pregnancy with a possible health problem for either myself or a future baby. Here is my play by play.
1. Night before take 800mg. Ibuprophen and Antibiotic
2. Day of: Eat Breakfast, take Ibuprophen.
3. Eat light lunch and take one ibuprophen, one vallium, and one lortab.
4. Arrive at dr. and pay co-pay and take pregnancy test.
5. Get a shot of toradol (muscle relaxer, and lowers heart rate).
6. Go into sterile room and remove bottoms.
7. MOST PAINFUL PART Dr. inserts speculum, gives 2 shots to numb cervix and inserts coils, camera, etc. My Dr. told me this requires you to be dilated to a 5!!! I think he should have waited for the numbing medicne to take effect but didn't.
8. My dr. chose to remove the speculum and then do the Essure inserts and I watched the whole thing. This was not painful, but I did feel something like mild menstral cramps.
9. Get cleaned up and put on a pad and you are done.
10. Go home and continue on ibuprophen as needed.
I am on day 3 out and still have MINOR cramps, am a bit woosy, etc. but no more bleeding.
To answer your questions....I read all sorts of HORROR stories online that scared me to death prior to going....I WISH I had not. I was so tense because of it, I think that is why it hurt when it did. Here are your questions:
So here are my strait forward questions...Is there pain/any change in intercourse after this procedure? NOT SURE...HAVEN'T TRIED YET....Change in menstrual cycle? NOT SURE HAVE NOT HAD ONE YET....Any major changes in your body that would effect me physically or emotionally? MEDICATIONS MAKE YOU EMOTIONAL AND THE IDEA OF BEING "STERILE" KINDA DOES, TOO. I WOULD DEFINATELY TAKE AT LEAST 2 DAYS OFF AFTERWARD. I know that's a silly question, but who knows, right? How will I know for sure it's "safe" to have sex without getting pregnant? YOU HAVE TO USE AN ALTERNATIVE BIRTH CONTROL METHOD FOR 3 MONTHS AFTER YOUR PROCEDURE. AT THAT TIME...THEY DO A DYE TEST AND IF YOUR TUBES ARE 100% BLOCKED, YOU ARE OFFICIALLY 'STERILE". And really, is the pregnancy rate as low as the brochure says it is? MY DOCTOR SAYS YES.Thanks for your input.[/QUOTE]
Hope I helped....best of luck!

[kym4]

There are women who were told they were 100% blocked by their doctors and became pregnant anyway. The pregnancy rate as reported by the company and doctors is low because they are not reporting the pregnancys or the complications as they should. This is why I try to encourage all to make the reports themselves. I do hope it all works out for you but you have promoted a procedure that you cannot even know at this point whether it will work. I sincerely hope that it does for you.

Those of us who write the horror stories are just trying to make sure women know all the potential for problems. Most of us that write the horror stories were told by our doctors that it is a wonderful procedure and could go back to work the next day. Most of us believed our doctors. Most of us now owe thousands in medical bills, have had to have other procedures and not to mention all the down time we had due to something that we were told would eliminate down time. Sorry but being one of the horror stories, I can never promote this procedure and I will never again blindly trust some doctor with my health.

[mamix4]

Me too!

I am in the same boat as you. I am 5 wks and the baby is in the uterus. They do not know how....everything blocked. Will keep you updated.

It is interesting being able to relate to so many of you making posts. LSK, I can easily see how you feel so comfortable with having the procedure completed by such a trustworthy doctor. On the other hand...
Now, I had the Essure procedure done in July 2008. The recovery time was not long, but I did have some cramping that my doctor me was due to swelling. (I did not take the prescription Ibuprofen they allowed me.) However, I had no spotting, no bleeding at all.
In October 2008, I had the HSG follow up. Again, this was not painful. It was a simple procedure that confirmed the coils were placed correctly and the blockage was 100%.
TODAY, June 2009, I am sitting here 8 weeks pregnant!!! The ultrasound showed 2 things, I am missing the coil that was once placed on the right side and secondly, the baby is in the uterus-yay! At least something good came of this, and a tubal pregnancy is not the case.
However, my doctors office has NEVER had a missing coil, and never a pregnancy after the confirmed HSG follow up!! In my opinion, I took the word of my TRUSTED doctor and utilized this new Essure procedure- no down time, expense of only an office visit, and noninvasive!
Again, everything went so extremely smooth, but now I am pregnant!!!! It completely speaks for itself. Being optimistic, hopefully the missing coil is found, the baby delivers as perfect as my first 3, they remove my existing coil and a successful tubal ligation is performed!
DO NOT PROCEED WITH ESSURE, unless you really want another baby...

[kira]

Personally after much reading I think a tubal ligation is a better option. Yes it is minor surgery and it does require anesthetic but the essure seems to just have too many coil placement issues still. I think they need more practice and time to refine the use of essure and figure out the problems. There are far too many people having problems with the coils not staying in place or causing pain. Too many end up having to get surgery anyway either to finish blocking a tube or remove a messed up coil. I really do not want to get pregnant and we have been looking into permanent birth control for many months. We ended up going with him getting a vasectomy because essure is just too risky especially after my uterus completely rejected what looked on the ultrasound to be a perfectly placed IUD. If my fiance wasn't willing to do that I would definitely do a tubal ligation or try some other type of semi permanent birth control like IUDs before trying essure.

[ebonycovergirl]

I am searching for help. I had the essure procedure done 03/09. I have been having pain during intercourse and my vagina is very dry during intercours. I also have only had one period. Can somebody help me? I can be contacted by email at carringtond2aol.com. If someone else is exeriencing this problem please contact me so that can know if it is me or the essure procedure. Thank you very much.

[kym4]

ebonycovergirl, I personally have not found anyone complaining of vaginal dryness due to the procedure. I have read posts about painful intercourse after having procedure. Most of the reports of pain during sex that I have seen seem to be about cramps, stabbing like pains and shooting pain in the abdomen. You could be having pain due to the dryness or dryness due to pain. If you dread sex because of the pain, your body may not be aroused enough for adequate vaginal lubrication. You say you have only had one period, have you had the HSG confirmation test to verify occlusion and proper placement?

I will look back thru some of my info and see if I see anything that might be more helpful.

[kym4]

Also posted a message on your profile for you.

[stee5]

I just found this site today. I had my baby on 5/29/09. I originally wanted tubal ligation, but doc talked me into this stupid essure. I didnt research it, should have. They did the procedure on June 1. Just four weeks after my delivery. Since then I have found out essure is not supposed to be performed no earlier than 6 weeks after a pregnancy or delivery. I was still bleeding from having my baby when they did the essure but not heavy. During the procedure I had no pain on left side, but felt pain on right and have had pain ever since. When I went in for two week check up for essure and my six week check up for post partum. I was still bleeding, I told my doc about the pain on right side. He said that was not normal and ordered an ultrasound which came back normal. Since then I have had another ultrasound in their office, which came back normal as well. I am still bleeding almost 12 weeks later and still have pain on right side. I am scheduled to have a CT scan tomorrow ordered by a different doc. I hope it shows something.

[kym4]

stee5, First I am sorry for your trouble. I had two vaginal ultrasounds which I was told didn't show anything. Had a regular xray and it showed that the right coil was definately bent and out of place. I didn't research this procedure either and feel like I was misled by the doctor. I have done a lot of research since having to have them removed and I haven't found anywhere that says the essure procedure can be performed any sooner than six weeks after delivery. I think I'd seek some legal advice. Your doctor clearly did not perform the procedure according to FDA instructions for use.

I also cannot stress enough that you know your body and if you are hurting then find someone who will help you. Don't let them push you around. I also encourage you to make a report to the FDA about your experience with the procedure. Just leave me a message if you can't find where I posted about how to do it and I'll send you the info.