22 June 2021

TV presenter Naga Munchetty reveals how she fainted twice due to ‘excruciating’ pain of having the coil fitted

22 June 2021

No woman should suffer as a result of having the coil fitted, a health minister has said.

Nadine Dorries said that she was “appalled” to hear of reports of women suffering pain when having a coil – also known as an intrauterine device (IUD) – fitted.

Ms Dorries said that successive inquiries into health scandals had shown that “women’s voices are not listened to”.

She said she wanted to reverse the assumption that pain should be part of a woman’s “existence”.

It comes after Naga Munchetty has shared her “traumatic” experience of having a coil fitted.

The television presenter said she fainted twice after experiencing “excruciating” pain while having the contraceptive device inserted into her body, and was not offered any anaesthetic.

Munchetty told BBC Radio 5 Live she has a high pain threshold, but the procedure was “one of the most traumatic physical experiences I have had”.

She had been motivated to speak on the issue after reading an article by writer Caitlin Moran in The Times newspaper about her own experience of having an IUD fitted.

Conservative MP Laura Trott told the Health and Social Care Committee that since the issue had been raised a number of women had come forward to share their own experiences.

“Since then we’ve heard of horrific expenses of women shared across social media, I’ve certainly had a number of people come forward in my own constituency,” she said.

Ms Dorries replied: “No woman should suffer as a result of having an IUD or other scopes procedures.

“I believe there are scope procedures where no pain relief is offered.

“I don’t have the words that I can use to describe just how appalling that is.

“I’m given the lines constantly that ‘most women don’t feel pain’ and ‘many women go through this’ and ‘women are given a leaflet, where they told on that leaflet if they want pain (relief)’, but I hear that they are told: ‘Oh no, you’ll just be fine.’

“I hope we can use the Women’s Health Strategy to absolutely reverse this assumption that because you’re a woman and because you might have been through labour or because you’re going to go through labour, then therefore pain is a part of your existence.

“I hope we can use the Women’s Health Strategy to totally reverse that wrong thinking that takes place today.”

On the strategy, Ms Dorries added: “We know from Cumberlege (a report into side-effects from medicines and pelvic mesh implants), we know from Paterson (a report into rogue surgeon Ian Paterson), we know from the maternity inquiries, we know that the constant theme is that women’s voices are not listened to.

“My objective for the strategy is to find out from women about what their experiences have been about being identified, diagnosed and what their treatment course has been like with eating disorders, other mental health issues and along with other issues.”

IUDs are used as a form of contraception, and are sometimes recommended for other issues including heavy periods.

According to nhs.uk, an IUD is a small T-shaped plastic and copper device that is put into the womb and releases copper to stop a woman from getting pregnant.

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