Birth Control
"My Complicated experience with the insertion of the copper IUD. It was &quot;one of the most difficult &amp; Complicated IUD insertions I&#039;ve had in a very long time&quot; quoting the words of my Gynecologist MD. Now I have not been sexually active for over a year and a half (by choice) &amp; I&#039;ve never had kids so that for one was a concern for my doctor since she said i might be very tight &amp; feel pain. Anywhom I am 23 and recently decided to date again &amp; wanted to have a convinient birth control that won&#039;t affect my weight or cause acne since acne has recently been a new battle for me, so my first step was hitting the Internet for options. After reading many reviews for multiple birth controls I decided on the copper para guard which is for 10-12 years. Now I went to my doctor and had a screening for STDs &amp; HIV which is protocol to any birth control procedure. Then pregnancy tests were taken a few days before the insertion and the day of the insertion, after everything came out negative I was ready for my IUD. I was schedule to go in on Tuesday September 1, 2015 so I went in with anticipation of pain and I was very nervous. Mostly because it was something new for me to have a speculum inside me since I just had my first Pap smear ,ever, two weeks prior to the IUD insertion. As my doctor placed the speculum I had some discomfort, she had trouble finding my cervix, after some time she had everything positioned right and began to try and dilate my cervix, right when she started I began to feel extreme cramping. My doctor could not get her tool that she used to dilate my cervix to stay in, I was too tight due to the fact that I&#039;ve never had kids so it wasn&#039;t easy, my cervix kept pushing the prob out. She attempted a few more times until I couldn&#039;t take the pain anymore because the cramping became so severe I began to cry. Now I know i sound ridiculous crying but I have a pretty high tolerance for pain &amp; I never understood how many woman couldn&#039;t take the cramping they had when on their period because I don&#039;t experience cramping on my periods, at least until now. I now have so much more sympathy for those who do have this pain every month. My doctor gave me other birth control options because she wasn&#039;t successful in Inserting the IUD but she knew I didn&#039;t want others so she offered to use an anesthetic on my cervix to help with the insertion (which is not normally a part of the procedure but since I had a special case she offered this option to me). I was not happy with the fact that I had to have a needle inserted in my cervix but this was the birth control I wanted and I was going to do whatever to get it. I was in too much pain that day so I had to come back the next morning. So here I go Wednesday morning into my doctors office, laying down ready to get a needle inserted into my cervix which terrified me because I already knew how painful it was but I didn&#039;t feel a thing when she put the anesthetic, I was told I would feel a slight sting and some burning sensation but I didn&#039;t feel anything. It took her about 15 min to position the IUD correctly, she had to dilate me 8cm to get a good view and make sure I had a successful insertion. I felt NOTHING &amp; then she was done. Right after she had me lay down for a few minutes then had me slowly sit up, I felt like I was going to faint, The MD said my eyes were not focusing on her and I was so pale. At that point my whole face and hands where numb. She stayed there with me until I regained full blood flow to my upper body. FYI my doctor said some woman actually faint after the procedure &amp; in some rare cases they even have seizure because the pain of dilating the cervix is so intense. I was lucky of not having any cramps because my cervix was numb. 8 hrs later the numbness began to fade &amp; the pain started, I got prescribed 600 Tylenol which helped a little. I spotted the next 3 days, I had to use pantie liners. Then my period came 1 week early just 4 days after I got my IUD placed, it was very heavy the first 3 days with medium cramping and my period lasted 5 1/2 days. My usual periods post the IUD was 4 days with only 1 heavy day. I have now had my IUD going on 3 weeks and I have little spotting every day so I use liners all the time. Now the part that I was most nervous about was the whole &quot;me checking if I can feel the IUD strings&quot; Its something I&#039;m a bit uncomfortable doing mostly because I&#039;ve never done it before so the first couple of times I tried to check for the strings I couldn&#039;t feel anything so I began to freak out and rushed to my doctors office after my unsuccessful attempts. She said to wait until my first period was over and then to try again. I tried again after my period and I still couldn&#039;t feel anything then I found a way to check that best fits me since I have small hands so I&#039;ll share my wisdom with you guys lol. I check in the shower every morning I lift one leg as if I&#039;m going to shave then I insert my pointer and I squat a little which helps and I&#039;m able to feel the tip of the strings. I have not had any cramping since my period and my discharge has reduced. I&#039;m very happy with my IUD &amp; I plan on using it safely and responsibly as I have heard many woman have got pregnant with the IUD. I still plan on using condoms because of STDs and I got the IUD as a backup just in case. I plan on keeping it for the full 10 year unless there are any complications. Sorry for the long story but I for one would have loved to hear the entire experience someone had so I decided to share mine. Hope it helps at least one person :)"