SO

I had the wonderful experience of having my IUD (hormonal coil), removed & replaced yesterday.

Knowing how painful it was being fitted the first time, and having not experienced having it replaced before, I decided to take 2 30mg codeine/500mg paracetamol tablets, as pain relief for women during such procedures really is just forgotten about. I'd eaten some protein stick things too.

Pre-surgery I'd taken these tablets fine, no side effects, but OMFG, as I was sitting in the waiting area before my procedure it hit me like a brick **** house.

I was sweating, nauseous, my stomach was cramping and pain was radiating into my back, I felt spacy and woozy and I was clearly very pale in my face and lips as the nurse went to get me a sick bowl ? Needless to say, instead of actually giving me pain relief, it actually made the entire experience so much worse ? I will not be taking them again!

Does anyone else have any experiences with medication effecting them differently?

Note to add: this medication was given to me by my surgeon for post-surgery!

I don’t have any advice on the pain relief to add but I do want to say I’m so sorry that sounds awful. Also, i agree 100% that they overlook female procedures when it comes to pain relief. I had to get my IUD removed the other day because of a medical situation and they didn’t even tell me to take something over the counter to this time. When asked I was told I wouldn’t need it. Lucky for me mine was only in for 11 months so it wasn’t bad because of less scar tissue or something but still. I also had that camera thing for polyps in office before they decided they couldn’t get them all and needed the big one in hospital and since I can’t take NSAIDS that they usually suggest I was told I didn’t need anything and that was a horrible experience. I was advised that it wasn’t anything as bad as giving birth. I said so that’s the new yardstick. I said do YOU want to go give birth on your lunch hour and then go about YOUR day. I mean I know it isn’t nearly as bad as giving birth because it’s only minutes in duration, but the cramps are pretty painful nonetheless. And is it really a comparison. Are we just letting women suffer through other stuff we can control the pain for just because childbirth is painful and we can’t fix that? I swear if men had to do this procedure they wouldn’t even try it in office first. They wouldn’t expect them to deal with the pain or the inconvenience of having to do the same procedure twice.

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by ShoppGirl

@ShoppGirl It is so frustrating isn't it - I think pain has been so unfortunately normalised for women in terms of childbirth, periods etc, that we are just expected to be able to handle it and get on with it.

They only usually recommend paracetamol and I am not kidding, it does nothing for the pain you are actually in during the fitting of the IUD! I don't understand why it isn't better medicated.

That is genuinely it though - you have hit the nail on the head - birth will always be the comparison! And what about those of us who have never given birth? The IUD fitting is worse because of that, and yet we are still told to get on with it essentially.

So infuriating and belittling!

My bf tried telling me that it is only temporary and it won't be that bad...I was just like...do you have to take any form of contraception? Most men I have encountered whine and moan about having to use a condom which is painless, let alone even having to consider more painful contraceptive alternatives!

1 hour ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

@ShoppGirl It is so frustrating isn't it - I think pain has been so unfortunately normalised for women in terms of childbirth, periods etc, that we are just expected to be able to handle it and get on with it.

They only usually recommend paracetamol and I am not kidding, it does nothing for the pain you are actually in during the fitting of the IUD! I don't understand why it isn't better medicated.

That is genuinely it though - you have hit the nail on the head - birth will always be the comparison! And what about those of us who have never given birth? The IUD fitting is worse because of that, and yet we are still told to get on with it essentially.

So infuriating and belittling!

My bf tried telling me that it is only temporary and it won't be that bad...I was just like...do you have to take any form of contraception? Most men I have encountered whine and moan about having to use a condom which is painless, let alone even having to consider more painful contraceptive alternatives!

Exactly. If it were the men having to do it they would whine until the standard of care would change. I’m sure that they could easily give you the option to do it at the hospital under twilight anesthesia (especially if you have not given birth and it will be worse), but because most women can “deal with it” and don’t complain they aren’t going to change it. A friend of mine who has had two children just recently had an issue switching hers. The strings were cut too short and they weren’t visible so they had to go digging and searching with hooks. The regular gyno couldn’t get it so she had to go back and see the surgeon who was finally able to remove it but she said THAT was awful because it took so much longer and even when they scheduled for the surgeon knowing that it wasn’t routine anymore they still didn’t have her take anything!! I know that for some people it’s not a big deal but we all know that our bodies are different and our pain threshold’s are as well. There really does need to be more consideration given to these things. I’m glad that you have that visit behind you and hopefully have 8 years until you have to deal with it again. Maybe they will make some changes to the procedure by then. ?

I'm going to preface this by saying I am not a doctor and definitely in no position to give healthcare advice, but the most recent studies seem to indicate that very occasional ibuprofen use after a bypass does not significantly increase your risk of ulcers. Not all doctors are up on the research and some just don't want to change their advice on the off chance a patient has an issue, but some doctors will outright say that if you take an ibuprofen or two for a really bad headache or that one time you have an unusual pain, it's fine. You just don't want to exceed maybe once in a week or a few times in a month.

The study I read looked at outcomes for thousands of bypass and sleeve patients in Denmark who had been prescribed daily NSAIDs for less than 30 days or more than 30 days, and then looked at how many developed ulcers. Only the bypass patients who took them for more than 30 days had an incidence rate higher than the general population.

12 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

Exactly. If it were the men having to do it they would whine until the standard of care would change. I’m sure that they could easily give you the option to do it at the hospital under twilight anesthesia (especially if you have not given birth and it will be worse), but because most women can “deal with it” and don’t complain they aren’t going to change it. A friend of mine who has had two children just recently had an issue switching hers. The strings were cut too short and they weren’t visible so they had to go digging and searching with hooks. The regular gyno couldn’t get it so she had to go back and see the surgeon who was finally able to remove it but she said THAT was awful because it took so much longer and even when they scheduled for the surgeon knowing that it wasn’t routine anymore they still didn’t have her take anything!! I know that for some people it’s not a big deal but we all know that our bodies are different and our pain threshold’s are as well. There really does need to be more consideration given to these things. I’m glad that you have that visit behind you and hopefully have 8 years until you have to deal with it again. Maybe they will make some changes to the procedure by then. ?

Definitely agree with you on that one! What happened to your friend sounds so awful!!! I can't believe she had to go through all of that with no pain relief!

12 minutes ago, NickelChip said:

I'm going to preface this by saying I am not a doctor and definitely in no position to give healthcare advice, but the most recent studies seem to indicate that very occasional ibuprofen use after a bypass does not significantly increase your risk of ulcers. Not all doctors are up on the research and some just don't want to change their advice on the off chance a patient has an issue, but some doctors will outright say that if you take an ibuprofen or two for a really bad headache or that one time you have an unusual pain, it's fine. You just don't want to exceed maybe once in a week or a few times in a month.

The study I read looked at outcomes for thousands of bypass and sleeve patients in Denmark who had been prescribed daily NSAIDs for less than 30 days or more than 30 days, and then looked at how many developed ulcers. Only the bypass patients who took them for more than 30 days had an incidence rate higher than the general population.

I think some doctors are on board with this newer research. I was told after that camera thing that with being a sleeve and being a year post op I could’ve taken the ibprofin they suggested as a one off. I know you have to be even more cautious with bypass but I think they are starting to allow it for certain things. I’m sure like anything they don’t have a crystal ball and can’t guarantee it will be fine but maybe ask your surgeon their opinion on a very rare NSAID before your next removal. I don’t know why I forgot all about that.

Edited January 7, 20251 yr by ShoppGirl

3 hours ago, NickelChip said:

I'm going to preface this by saying I am not a doctor and definitely in no position to give healthcare advice, but the most recent studies seem to indicate that very occasional ibuprofen use after a bypass does not significantly increase your risk of ulcers. Not all doctors are up on the research and some just don't want to change their advice on the off chance a patient has an issue, but some doctors will outright say that if you take an ibuprofen or two for a really bad headache or that one time you have an unusual pain, it's fine. You just don't want to exceed maybe once in a week or a few times in a month.

The study I read looked at outcomes for thousands of bypass and sleeve patients in Denmark who had been prescribed daily NSAIDs for less than 30 days or more than 30 days, and then looked at how many developed ulcers. Only the bypass patients who took them for more than 30 days had an incidence rate higher than the general population.

I'm a bypass patient and have successfully taken a prescription NSAID since my bypass without issues. I do take Omeprazole as well just in case, but I'm glad to hear that the risk of GI issues may not be as bad as once thought!

I'm not a medical professional, but I will say there are some scientific studies that show many drugs are metabolized differently in bariatric surgery patients. Some you don't metabolize as well and some are much more bioavailable.

I'm really just guessing here, but it's highly likely that the codeine was metabolized very quickly and more completely than it would have been in a person with a normal GI tract. In effect, you sort of overdosed on codeine. After all, 60 mg of codeine is a pretty big dose to start with. Considering your altered anatomy (and lower weight), it was probably just too much.

4 hours ago, NickelChip said:

I'm going to preface this by saying I am not a doctor and definitely in no position to give healthcare advice, but the most recent studies seem to indicate that very occasional ibuprofen use after a bypass does not significantly increase your risk of ulcers. Not all doctors are up on the research and some just don't want to change their advice on the off chance a patient has an issue, but some doctors will outright say that if you take an ibuprofen or two for a really bad headache or that one time you have an unusual pain, it's fine. You just don't want to exceed maybe once in a week or a few times in a month.

The study I read looked at outcomes for thousands of bypass and sleeve patients in Denmark who had been prescribed daily NSAIDs for less than 30 days or more than 30 days, and then looked at how many developed ulcers. Only the bypass patients who took them for more than 30 days had an incidence rate higher than the general population.

This is interesting. NSAIDS (and the occasionally opioid as they prescribed after my op) are the only medications that have worked for getting rid of pain for me. Acetaminophen (aka paracetamol, Tylenol, *insert regional name here) has worked for fever for me, but never pain. I've been dreading ever needing a pain killer (and I've got nerve pain from a broken tooth). I will look into this for the odd one-off pain.

Note to self: don't accidentally OD on codiene again ??

53 minutes ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

Note to self: don't accidentally OD on codiene again ??

Bless your heart. That was an awful day for you I’m sure. Well I guess maybe we should try the lowest dose of all meds to see what they do to us the first time just to be safe. I always wondered about like antibiotics whether the dose was going to be enough. Never thought about it being too much, though. I think it all depends on where the meds absorb in our bodies and a pharmacists would probably know as much if not even better than the Dr about whether we are actually getting the intended dose or not. I think they study more in depth about HOW the drugs work where the doctors just have to know what works for most patients. Of course they know how to find the answer when they have a patient like us, and ideally they do, but they may not know off hand for every single drug.

Definitely not an ideal day, @ShoppGirl! I'll be smarter next time and make sure I test meds before taking them ?? though with that being said, I don't see myself taking cocodamol again!

It's definitely a really interesting topic on how our body absorbs things now, and I think @SpartanMaker had a really valid point in that my body is probably absorbing things a lot quicker! It is a conundrum for me, because I fully expected that alcohol would be absorbed quickly post-bypass, and was warned about this by everyone but all it does is give me a headache, no drunk feeling at all! So it's pointless for me ?

3 hours ago, Bypass2Freedom said:

Definitely not an ideal day, @ShoppGirl! I'll be smarter next time and make sure I test meds before taking them ?? though with that being said, I don't see myself taking cocodamol again!

It's definitely a really interesting topic on how our body absorbs things now, and I think @SpartanMaker had a really valid point in that my body is probably absorbing things a lot quicker! It is a conundrum for me, because I fully expected that alcohol would be absorbed quickly post-bypass, and was warned about this by everyone but all it does is give me a headache, no drunk feeling at all! So it's pointless for me ?

Well post sleeve alcohol has absolutely no effect on me. I figured it’s a waste of Callie’s and money and stopped drinking. Post revision I figured why try it now that I’m used to not having it

9 hours ago, NeonRaven8919 said:

This is interesting. NSAIDS (and the occasionally opioid as they prescribed after my op) are the only medications that have worked for getting rid of pain for me. Acetaminophen (aka paracetamol, Tylenol, *insert regional name here) has worked for fever for me, but never pain. I've been dreading ever needing a pain killer (and I've got nerve pain from a broken tooth). I will look into this for the odd one-off pain.

I’m the same. Acetaminophen do nothing for me either. My surgeon said it would be okay to take NSAIDs with my sleeve (at about 2years) if I took half a dose & didn’t take them regularly. Think it’s likely more important to eat something g before & after taking them though to protect t your tummy a little more than the average person.

Like @SpartanMaker I wonder if it was too high a dose of the codeine too @Bypass2Freedom. Panadeine Forte (Australian) is a combined over the counter med but the dose is 500mg paracetamol and 30mg codeine.

PS: Codeine messes with my head. I get very irrationally emotional and spacy, Drove through a red light (thankfully no one else on the road) and then sobbed uncontrollably curled up on the floor in my kitchen (very Meryl in The Hours). Was my first & only time taking it. Doctor advised to always say I’m allergic to it because of that reaction.

7 hours ago, ShoppGirl said:

Well post sleeve alcohol has absolutely no effect on me. I figured it’s a waste of Callie’s and money and stopped drinking. Post revision I figured why try it now that I’m used to not having it

100% agree with you there! I think I am just going to give it a miss - I don't rate just getting a headache ?