Women not being given recommended pain relief when having a coil fitted

It won’t be news to many women, but only five per cent of those who are fitted with a contraceptive coil are given pain relief whilst the rest are left to put up with the discomfort.

According to research published in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare, more than half of women fitted with the contraceptive coils – also known as IUDs – experience some pain.

Sexual Health doctor, Sam Hutt of London’s Margaret Pyke Centre, likens the experience to a person having a dental filling without local anaesthetic.

IUDs are fitted through the cervix and The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recommendation is that injectable local anaesthetic (ILA) should be used.

But less than five per cent of those who fit coils are using ILA or may even be using an anaesthetic gel which is more painful to give than the fitting.

Doctor Hutt writes: ‘Let us not forget that if men were to have a device inserted through their genitalia they would demand general anaesthetic as a hospital inpatient.’

Reasons doctors gave for not administering the recommended pain relief included:  ‘no time’,‘the pain only lasts a short time’, ‘I am so good, I don’t cause pain.’

‘The attitude that women are hysterical still persists,’ he continues. 

The extreme pain that some women experience when having the coil fitted without pain relief means they are less likely to recommend the method of contraception.