Naga Munchetty has recalled the agony of having her coil inserted – saying her screams were heard in the waiting room, with her worried husband wanting to intervene.
The BBC Breakfast presenter said she fainted twice during the short procedure, which involves having a small T-shaped plastic and copper device (the IUD) inserted into your womb by a doctor or nurse.
The device releases either hormones or copper to stop pregnancy and lasts between 5 and 10 years. While stressing the IUD is safe and effective, and that she knows many who have had no issues with the insertion or the IUD itself, Naga recalled the event for her was ‘the most physically traumatic’ thing she’s gone through.
Speaking about Caitlin Moran’s tweet on IUD insertion, Naga said on her Radio 5 Live show on Monday it ‘chimed’ with her ‘because I’ve been there’.
Caitlin wrote in her Sunday Times column on the weekend: ‘Why is it presumed that women will be fine with having their cervix artificially dilated with a pair of metal barbecue tongs before having what is basically the wire coat hanger from a doll’s house inserted into their uterus?
‘We know that opening the cervix is infamously painful: it’s legendary that when it happens “naturally”, during birth, it tends to “chafe” a bit.”‘
Noting she has, and has been told by doctors, a very high pain threshold, Naga she’s not afraid of being in pain ‘if I knew it would be temporary’.
She said: ‘I had a coil fitted a few years ago and it was one of the most traumatic physical experiences I’ve had.
‘We all know that coils are safe and effective and lots of women have no problem at all with them, but like all medical procedures, there’s a vast range of experiences.’
Naga said she was told to take a couple of paracetamol and ibuprofen in the hours before her appointment.
She went on: ‘Now, I’ve never been pregnant, therefore my cervix, up until then, had never been opened.
‘I was told that the smallest size speculum, which was used for cervical smear tests, wasn’t big enough for this procedure, so I had to have the next size up. That’s when the pain began.’
Her husband, James Haggar, was in the GP waiting area and Naga said her screams ‘were so loud my husband tried to find out what room I was in the make it stop’ and that those in the waiting room who could hear the screams ‘looked horrified’.
She went on: ‘The nurse accompanying the doctor had tears in her eyes.’
The doctor asked if she wanted to stop, however, as Naga noted: ‘I was so determined the pain wouldn’t be repeated so I said “we’ve got this far, let’s finish it”.
‘I fainted twice.
‘At the follow-up appointment, my GP, who is really great, can’t believe I stuck with it.
‘Though they did ask if we should stop, at no point was it suggested that I could have any anaesthetic or sedation.’
Naga said after a year her coil was removed, as it ‘didn’t suit’ her, and she said the pain of removing it ‘was excruciating’ and she fainted once again.
The journalist said: ‘I felt violated, weak and angry.
‘I have friends who have very similar experiences and of course I have friends who had no problem at all.’
Noting again the coil is safe and effective, she insisted her message wasn’t about the coil itself and was targeted at ‘how we look at all women’s health and pain’.
Insertion of a coil involves the vagina being held open, like it is during cervical screening, while the IUD is inserted through the cervix and into the womb.
The NHS advises: ‘The appointment takes about 20 to 30 minutes, and fitting the IUD should take no longer than 5 minutes.
‘Having an IUD fitted can be uncomfortable, and some people might find it painful, but you can have a local anaesthetic to help. Discuss this with a GP or nurse beforehand.
‘Let the person fitting your IUD know if you feel any pain or discomfort while you are having it fitted. You can ask to stop at any time.’
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