A friend of my told me he and his girlfriend are traveling to Montreal for an IUD because they offer numbing and sedation. I was FLOORED. I’m furious that they feel they had to do this. I’m happy they have the means to. I’m furious again that this isn’t standard, at least in the States. Why is this so hard for the OBGYN medical community to wrap their heads around? We should be pointing our fingers at Canada and demand the same!
The point of offering my perspective is to highlight that even though some places in Canada may offer sedation with insertion or removal, it is not ubiquitous or necessarily free. Many clinics charge extreme prices for what is considered “optional” services like anasthetics in cases where it is not considered medically necessary.
I am not arguing that women’s pain isn’t taken seriously. Nor am I saying that my procedures were painless and pleasant. I’ve spent over 7 years trying to get proper clinical diagnosis of a chronic pain condition and I am well acquainted with medical downplay of symptoms.
Perhaps I can better articulate that while the services are available here, they are often inaccessible to most women, and thus, not something to speak highly of or as an ideal standard of care. Our medical system routinely fails women, people of colour, non-binary people’s and those of minority groups while those with affluence can get better standards of care easily.
I never implied that that were readily available in Canada. That fact that somewhere in North America that offers this at all, is astonishing to me. If it was available in Mexico, I would be equally astonished.
But you did.
Why would you not consider anesthetics medically necessary for a painful procedure? That’s insane to me. It’s given to men who get vasectomies, standard. Why would you not consider that inhumane?
Listen, my point of this post was, that these options are available. Maybe they are available in the States. That would be news to me. I said ‘TIL’d this is a thing. And it’s in Canada.’
I think we can both agree both our countries medical systems are fucked and we should be demanding better care from all our providers.
From some research online, pain experiences are variable and there is no singular approach to IUD insertion. There are some shortcomings in the first study as it doesn’t show pain levels in the days after, but it does a better job of quantifying that most women feel less pain than they expect to receive. Sedation should be available to those who need it, and I think our definitions of what constitutes as inhumane are different and I’m okay with that.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5683140/
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/iud-pain-birth-control-1.6480281
I appreciate the links. And yes, I agree there is no singular approach just like there is no singular type of uterus, cervix etc… I should clarify that I do agree sedation is an edge case necessity for some women. But something like a lidocaine paracervical block should be offered just like you would be offered it at the dentist for cavity fillings.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6438819/