Over the past several years, as more women have turned to IUDs for birth control, many have posted videos of themselves crying, screaming, and complaining about the excruciating pain of having the devices inserted. Now, it seems, the federal government is listening.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new guidelines urging physicians to tell patients about the pain they should anticipate and offer options for managing pain before insertion. The recommendations also suggest various types of medication women can take for the pain prior to insertion, including topical lidocaine and other gels, creams, and sprays. Until now, women have typically been offered over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen, even though research shows that such drugs aren’t effective for IUD-insertion-related pain. Some women are offered lidocaine shots, which are injected in the cervix, but even those have mixed results; few are offered local anesthetics.
The CDC’s new guidelines also suggest that in cases where prior insertions have failed, physicians should consider using misoprostol, a drug that helps soften the cervix. The CDC said its guidelines are meant to support a “person-centered approach to contraceptive decision-making” and “remove unnecessary medical barriers to accessing and using contraception.”
Several studies found that doctors underestimate the pain associated with getting an IUD. One study of 200 women found that while most women said the pain was about a 65 on a scale of 100, most physicians ranked it as a 35.
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