Essure Procedure

My name is Jen. I am 39 years old, married with no children. I was diagnosed with PCOS in my early 20’s. I knew that my chances of getting pregnant were extremely low if not impossible. In 2008 I decided to make a permanent decision regarding contraception- I didn’t want any surprises especially since my husband and I were n our late 30’s. He didn’t want to get a vasectomy so I decided to have the Essure procedure done. It was done in my doctor’s office and I was given vicodin for pain prior to and after. During the procedure I experienced a lot of cramping and after I had some spotting, but I was able to return to work the next day. Over the next 18 months or so I experienced some of the worst cramping and bleeding I had ever had. Keep in mind, I have PCOS, so my periods were already vicious. I started having these attacks- I would get the worst cramping that acted like contractions. They would leave me doubled over, clammy, pale, sweating, bounding pulse…. then I would expel blood clots the size of golf balls. I went to the ER or Urgent Care several times for the cramping. They would give me a Toredal injection for pain. I was afraid to use tampons with clots that large, so I used pads. I hated to leave the house during these times as I was terrified that I would have a cramping spell in public or at work. My husband lost his job and we had to move so I didn’t have insurance for a period of time and I couldn’t afford to go to a doctor. Besides, I thought it was related to my PCOS so I just had to deal with it. During the spring of 2009, I started spotting old blood. Every day for four months, old blood (brown, rust colored, smelled musty). When my husband and I would have sex it would cause me to bleed bright, red blood for hours afterward. It came so that I didn’t want to have sex. I felt shame, was mortified… It was horrible. When I finally did get insurance again, my doctor (the same one that did the Essure), suggested that I get an endometrial ablation done. He said I was young, but it would stop me from bleeding and having periods. It could be forever, could last several years, it varied woman to woman. I had the ablation done in June of 2009. Since then I have not had any bleeding or cramping. Every now and then I do feel some twinging pain in my ovaries. I had a CT done a few years ago for back pain and my Essure looked like it was still in place. I don’t know why this happened to me. Looking back, I would have never had a foreign body inserted into my body that wasn’t medically necessary.