Why I Took Out My IUD (And Getting My First Period in 11 Years!)
Today on the show, I’m answering your questions that I received on Instagram about why I got my IUD taken out, what it’s like having a period again after 11 years, and how my body is adjusting to not being on birth control. This is also the last episode of Season 2!! As we prepare for Season 3 coming out in the new year, what topics do you want me to cover? Are there some amazing guests I need to have on? Let me know!
Resources from the Show
Instagram Post: @dr.leahtidey
Website: www.leahtidey.com
Email: thelovedoctorpodcast@gmail.com
We Had a Bit of a Whoopsie YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2KtkYO5LBo&ab_channel=Levi%26Leah
Island Sexual Health: https://www.islandsexualhealth.org/
IUD Fact Sheet at Options for Sexual Health: https://www.optionsforsexualhealth.org/facts/birth-control/methods/iud/
A Qualitative Study of Young Women's Beliefs About Intrauterine Devices: Fear of Infertility: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jmwh.12425
Your IUD May Last Longer Than Your Doctor is Telling You (feat. Dr. Jen Gunter): https://www.insider.com/mirena-lasts-7-years-paragard-lasts-12-years-iud-2017-5
Do menstrual cups increase risk of IUD expulsion? A survey of self-reported IUD and menstrual hygiene product use in the United States: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31335218/
Emergency Contraception Fact Sheet: https://www.optionsforsexualhealth.org/facts/emergency-contraception/
Pregnancy Testing: https://www.optionsforsexualhealth.org/facts/pregnancy/testing/
Why Male Birth Control Doesn’t Exist Episode with Dallas Barnes:
Cycle Awareness with Crystal Kennings:
Crystal Kennings YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrystalKennings
Read Your Body App: https://www.readyourbody.info/
The Body Agency (Ovulation Kit, Menstrual Cups, Vulva Puppets, etc.): https://www.thebodyagency.com/
Menstrual Cup Info: https://putacupinit.com/
Alida’s Comment:
Ooh not sure how to phrase any of this as a question, but I was really devastated after I got my IUD and found out there were side effects I wasn’t informed could happen. I also felt like I was really pushed to get an IUD after I had a pregnancy scare, I think that’s always an interesting topic re: any kind of birth control. How people (mainly women) are pushed really hard to do it and are told that they are irresponsible if they are hesitant for whatever reason no matter how legitimate the reason for hesitation may be - almost as if an unplanned pregnancy is still a symbol of personal moral failure after all these years.
I also had terrible experiences with my insertion, very clear to me that the doctor was not at all trauma informed or aware of how triggering cervical pain can be for assault survivors.
I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on how people with vulvas (at least in my experience) are taught from an young age to just expect discomfort with pelvic health care or anything vulva related (eg. that periods are bad, tampons hurt at first, that pap smears are something to dread) and how that prepares us to not know how to set boundaries with care providers, or know that we actually have the right to ask a doctor to stop or pause or ask for more information about a procedure, medication, etc. It doesn’t help that in my experience whenever I’ve gone to a doctor with any kind of hormonal or reproductive related complaint the solution I’m given is always to just go on the pill. It’s not at all surprising that there are so many horrifying stories of obstetric violence when we’re prepared from the time we hit puberty to expect vulva or uterus related health care to feel uncomfortable or even violating. So now in hindsight, I’m like wow it’s fucked that the physician didn’t stop attempting to insert it when I started sobbing and continued to attempt several more times before he saying he couldn’t do it because I was too tense - I wonder why it was that I was tense? I’m so angry and sad that I was never told or empowered to have the skills to tell him to stop when I wanted him to. Also why is it that we’re pushed to be on birth control by health care providers but not even taught about how our menstrual/fertility cycles work? (Eg that we aren’t fertile every day of our cycle, WHY we experience mood changes or changes in cervical mucus). That feels to me like a MAJOR thing missing from informed consent. Is it actually informed consent if we aren’t even taught how our cycles and hormonal axes work as they are naturally, and how synthetic hormones alter them? I was definitely pushed as a teenager to get a hormonal IUD without any information about how it works in the body… and you can’t have informed consent without information. Smells suspiciously like the medical industrial complex having a stake in (mainly) women not being taught body literacy.
Anyways that’s a lot of food for thought! I don’t know if you follow the feminist midwife on Instagram, but I think you’d be interested in her writing and work! She’s doing her PhD in nursing right now on the topic of trauma informed pelvic care, super cool stuff!
