Essure is a relatively new procedure for female surgical sterilization. It’s an outpatient procedure that involves jamming very tiny inserts up the hoo-ha and waiting until they scar up your tubes from the inside.
I’ll be getting the surgery on December 7th. The pre-surgical instructions are…amusing, let’s put it that way. Ask away!
Well … don’t hold out on us. What are the instructions? I ask half for my own amusement, and half for my own edification, since if getting my parts snipped was the same level of outpatientedness as for dudes, I’d have gotten myself spayed a long time ago.
Ooh. Me, me! Do you have kids already? (I seem to remember no, but can’t be sure.) If not, can I be totally crass and ask how old you are? I’m 34, and we really don’t plan to have kids ever. I’m currently all hooked up with a Mirena IUD, but I’d be interested in the whole sterilization deal. Did you get any guff from your doctors or have to deal with the “but are you sure sure?” type questions? (I hear those can be common for younger women.)
Well, a month prior to the surgery i had to start the mini-pill to suppress my uterine lining. The night before the surgery, I have to take a pill that softens my cervix. Then when I wake up, I take 800 mg of ibuprofen. An hour later, I take two percocet, a Valium, and a Zofran to help with the nausea that might be caused by the aforementioned drugs. An hour later my husband will load me into a wheelbarrow and drive me to the surgery, where they give me a shot of non-narcotic painkiller, and the procedure begins. I imagine I will be a complete puddle of goo.
I am 32, married, with one daughter, who turns two in January. My doc didn’t bat an eye when I said I wanted it. Pregnancy and I don’t get along, I hate hormonal birth control, and my second IUD gave me hellishly heavy periods. I don’t want to ever be pregnant again, so this was it.
Gosh, that seems like a lot of work. When I had mine cauterized the hardest part was getting up really early. It was laparoscopic, took about an hour, and recovery was really no big deal. I don’t think I took anything stronger that advil. I had two tiny one centimeter incisions and both were healed by the end of the week.
I don’t get incisions at all. No anesthesia, either. I’m out the door in 45 minutes and at work the next day.
Sounds remarkably similar to being induced, doesn’t it?
The first drug is also used to induce labor.
Whatever works for you, but I would totally trade my two tiny scars and a week of wearing a bandaid for all the scary prep you’re going to be doing.
Scary prep? Makes me wish I had more than one set of tubes to tie off for the painkillers alone.
OP: Do you think the doctor would have refused to do it if you were younger or nulliparous? I’m only 26 and not married, no kids, but I’m interested enough to ask if someone who meets my qualifications would ever be approved for this kind of procedure.
Is it reversible (or quasi-reversible) like a vasectomy?
Make sure there is someone there to drive you home. A friend of mine had this done about two years ago and she had some odd reaction (which can happen) to the anesthesia. Sort of like what happens to some people when they give blood. She might have just been nervous, though. I went with to be moral support and to drive her – just in case. Good thing I was there.
This is not reversible and it is possible it won’t take the first time. It didn’t “immediately” work for her. One tube took longer to close off with scar tissue, but it did finally work and she seemed happy with the results.
We had a falling out and I haven’t talked to her in a little over a year now so I can’t say if she’s had any issues since.
Have you read this thread lately? It’s what I think of every time I hear about Essure. I presume it’s very very rare, though.
My parents’ housekeeper has two daughter, 17 years apart :smack:. Baby #2 was after a tubal. I’ve never heard of a tubal AND a vasectomy producing a baby, however. Drain Bead, is the hubby getting a vasectomy as well? Why did you decide on Essure versus laprascopic or standard tubal?
I had this done at the beginning of this year! Coupla painkillers before, no anesthesia, a while sitting in an evil stirrup chair getting progressively worse and worse cramps, and then it was over. I went home and had more painkiller. It wasn’t even the whole rest of the day before I was out of bed. The X-ray check after 3 months sucked more than I thought it would, but it too just amounted to bad cramping.
I’m 29, no kids. The doc told me during the initial consult that being under 30, I have an X% chance of having some regrets in the future. I said okay, and we moved on. I had an awesome doc! I’d been on Depo for several years, getting increasingly worried about the bone density thing, and the thought of a permanent procedure where I could go right back to work was what decided me. It’s not surgery, it’s done hysteroscopically: Hysteroscopy
Yeah, it’s permanent. If I ever want to be pregnant, I’ll have to have IVF. I can’t really say much about how it’s working, though. My last Depo shot was in March, and hasn’t completely worn off - I’m not having periods yet.
ETA: and it only cost what a regular doctor visit costs on my health insurance! Plus not too much for the painkillers.
I’ve seen tell of reversals, but they’re rare. No clue whether the doc would have treated me differently if I did not have a child. It might be worth looking into.
Oh, they told me to have a ride there and back. And seeing as I’m not interested in getting a DUI, I plan on it.
Nope, no vasectomy. He’s squeamish when it comes to medical procedures involving the junk. Plus, God forbid I’m raped or something–I definitely want the surgery to involve me and not him. I’m fine with the percentages here. I know no procedure is 100%, but this is about as close as it gets. I decided on Essure because I won’t have to undergo general anesthesia or abdominal surgery–I’ve had an appendectomy and a C-section and they both sucked rocks.
Like I mentioned, nothing is certain. I know of women who have conceived after standard tubals, who have conceived with an IUD in, who have conceived while using a condom, the Pill, and EC after the condom broke. There’s always that .2% or whatever it is. I just want something as close to certain as I can possibly get. And I would almost certainly abort if I were pregnant again, but I’d prefer not to have to make that decision.
Bumping this, since I just had the procedure.
The drug routine was interesting. I remember commenting to my husband as we were leaving that I was surprised the drugs hadn’t hit me yet, and then ten minutes later as we were on the freeway, suddenly I was higher than a kite.
The surgery hurt, I’m not gonna lie. I’ve had two IUDs inserted, and that was nothing. I went through five hours of unmedicated labor, and that was nothing. I got a shot in my cervix to numb it before the procedure began, and I didn’t even feel it–I had to ask him if he was done. The procedure itself, on the other hand, required a lot of regulated breathing and going to my special place to get through. Apparently, my uterus is positioned a bit irregularly, and that caused the doc to have to really fish the camera around up in there to be able to see what he was doing. The worst part wasn’t the fishing, it was the part of the probe that was in my vagina rubbing up against my vaginal walls. It actually felt like it was burning a hole through them. Owie.
After it was done, I had some blood pressure issues that caused me to have to stay on the table for about 40 minutes longer than I thought I’d be. Once I was finally able to stand up, I was crampy but fine. I was able to take another percocet at 11 AM, and I took it gladly, then slept for three hours. When I woke up, all the cramps were gone. The next day, everything felt vaguely swollen and sore, and coughing and laughing were a bit ouchy. Today, I haven’t felt the remotest twinge of pain–it’s like nothing happened.
I have my HSG scheduled for March 11th to make sure all the tubes are blocked up. Until then, I have to use hormonal birth control, and just to be safe we’re using condoms too.
Good luck with the hysterosalpingogram. Though I’m never in the room where the actual procedure is taking place, I’ve sometimes watched from behind the window to observe the fluoro screen.
Do they allow for some pain pre-medication for those? I’ve never asked. They do seem (sound like) it’s not exactly discomfort-free.
Anyway, best of luck with your newly-clogged plumbing.
They told me to take a few Advil before the HSG. I will probably take the day off of work for that one too, because I can, even though I’m sure I could go to work afterwards and be fine.
Hey! Thanks for bumping this up. 
Glad to read things sound like they went OK. 'Preciate the fighting of ignorance, too.
Drain Bead, glad you’re okay. That description sounded like murder.