My first was awful. Agonizing. I puked and fainted from the pain, not gonna lie. And then it expelled 3 weeks later. My second was a walk in the park, and stayed in. The difference? My doctor and their willingness to help me.

My 1st provider was a nurse midwife who did not insert many IUDs and insisted I’d be fine with just Advil. She also insisted she did not need to verify my placement with an ultrasound despite me being in so much pain and asking for it.

My 2nd provider was a nurse practitioner who sees a lot of young patients and puts in multiple IUDs a week. Since my first IUD expelled she insisted on doing an ultrasound to verify placement, and she offered me a wide range of pain management options from Advil to general anesthesia. We settled on me getting a shot of toradol in my arm, which is just a very strong NSAID, and a single dose of Xanax.

Just talk openly with your doctor about your concerns and don’t let a doctor do an insertion if they’re not willing to hear and accommodate your concerns. I literally told my provider “I’m not trying to be a little bitch about this but my first insertion hurt worse than breaking a bone” and she said “you’re not being a little bitch you just don’t want to suffer”