Control

i will try to make this brief, for the simple fact that i know enough of my own anger to know that it can be both explosive and lengthy if left unchecked.

3 weeks ago i asked my primary care manager (re: my general physician) for a referral to a doctor who could place an IUD for me. i was called back a few days later and told they were quite capable of doing it at the clinic and their first open appointment was 2 weeks later. i said that was fine.

i very VERY specifically, and repeatedly, requested a Paragard IUD and was specifically and repeatedly assured that it would be a Paragard.

the morning of my appointment, after i got all checked in and was brought back to the room where placement was to happen, i sat waiting for them to input the last of my info in the computer.

the device was removed from its box, wrapped in a sterile towel, and was sitting next to me waiting.

the doctor came in to double check that i was in fact there for IUD placement. and then i was asked to get into the customary hospital gown.

and that's when i saw the box. the nurse had been holding it in her lap, faced away from me, and was about to move it to a counter to my left. it was a Mirena. and i very quickly said "that's a Mirena, i'm here for a Paragard" to which the nurse responded

"honey, they're the same thing"

no, no they absolutely are not. this turned into a nearly half hour long argument between myself, a nurse, and 2 doctors who treated me in a manner that i will not elaborate on, but was at the very least unbelievably condescending.

what happened in that room was illegal. a Mirena IUD is not a generic version of a Paragard. it is NOT an acceptable, similar substitute. it has hormones, a Paragard does not. they were going to place a long term device in my body without even telling me what it was, thus without my consent. and then when i called them on it, they tried to sweep it under the rug by simply assuming i would believe their assertion that the two were no different from one another.

your doctors, pharmacists, whoever, do NOT have the right to give you ANY medication without informing you of what it is, the way it is to be used, and its side effects BEFORE the medicine is administered.

what kills me about this is that their attitude about the whole thing tells me that they pull this garbage all the time. they obviously routinely tell women things like "it's the same" or use their awesome reasoning of "Paragard will make your periods heavier, you know that right?" as a way to scare women into taking the easier to obtain Mirena. (because that's what this came down to-- they have to order Paragards differently and it's a much longer and more complicated process than Mirenas, so when they made my appointment, they had Paragards in stock, but when i got there, they did not. and they wouldn't be in for weeks.)

why is it that our society fights enormous, public battles for our right to terminate pregnancies, but nobody seems even remotely concerned with the fact that a scary percentage of women clearly don't know the difference, or the side effects, from one pregnancy-prevention drug to the next? doesn't it make more sense to inform people completely, extensively, even exhaustively, on their options that will prevent pregnancies, so they can make an informed, thought out, and individually tailored decision about what they want? don't you think more women (and girls for that matter) would be more prone to keeping up with their birth control routine, whatever it may be, if they felt totally confident in what that routine was, understood it, had some say and control in it?

i do.

here is the link to the side effects from Mirena, a hormonal IUD that releases synthetic progestin. progestin is the main hormone used in the "mini-pill" as well.

here is the link to the side effects to Paragard, a non-hormonal IUD

here is a link to ONE version of the pill, a hormonal form of birth control that uses a combination of synthetic progestin and synthetic estrogen.

you only have one body. don't let a stranger tell you what's best for it.