For thousands of women, getting a coil fitted is not just uncomfortable, it is agonising.
Yet campaigners say more than three quarters are still undergoing the procedure without any pain relief at all, nearly five years after health chiefs said women should be offered proper analgesia beforehand.
More than one million women have a coil, with around 45,000 fitted every year. The device itself is small – a T-shaped piece of medical-grade plastic roughly half the length of a cotton bud. But getting one fitted requires passing it through the cervical canal and into the womb.
The NHS warns ‘most people will experience some pain when having a coil fitted’, advising patients to take paracetamol or ibuprofen an hour beforehand.
Yet women speaking to The Mail on Sunday say the reality can be somewhat different.
For Larissa Hazell, 34, the pain of having her coil fitted four years ago was worse than when her baby’s head crowned during labour. The childcare expert from Essex previously had two coils inserted with only mild discomfort. But she described the experience of the third, after the birth of her son, as ‘excruciating’.
‘I was told it would feel like a small pinch. But I was screaming in pain on the table,’ says Ms Hazell.
‘I had to ask them to stop halfway through – it was unlike anything I had ever experienced.’
For Larissa Hazell, 34, the pain of having her coil fitted four years ago was worse than when her baby’s head crowned during labour
Experts say it is unclear why some coil fittings are painless while others are so agonising.
And it was a similar experience for underwear brand founder Sarah Jordan, 49, when getting her first coil.
She was advised to take painkillers before but says it barely helped. ‘I sobbed most of the way through – it was almost unbearable. I’ve run a marathon with a broken ankle, but this was probably the most painful thing I’ve ever done. I had no idea it would be like that.’
There are two main types of coils – both more than 99 per cent effective as contraception.
The copper coil is plastic but wrapped in copper and releases ions into the womb, creating an environment toxic to sperm. It contains no hormones, so can stay in place for up to ten years.
The hormonal coil is also plastic but releases the hormone progestogen. This thickens cervical mucus, thins the womb’s lining and, in some cases, suppresses ovulation. It lasts between three and eight years.
Fittings usually take around five minutes, and involve a GP or nurse inserting a speculum into the vagina to access the cervix, which is gripped and stabilised with a tenaculum (an instrument with hooked prongs) before the coil is pushed into the uterus.
A growing number of accounts – including videos on social media of patients writhing in agony – have fuelled concern that the pain relief offered is inadequate.
In 2021, BBC broadcaster Naga Munchetty described her coil fitting as ‘traumatic’, saying she screamed so loudly that her husband, tried to find the room to stop the procedure. ‘I fainted twice and felt violated, weak and angry,’ she said, adding she was only advised to take paracetamol and ibuprofen.
While experts insist such pain is not the norm, studies suggest intense discomfort is far from rare.
In 2021 the Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists advised clinicians ‘offer appropriate analgesia’.
Updated guidance later said patients should be offered options; a paracervical block, numbing gel or spray. Such pain relief is routinely offered in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, France and Sweden – yet campaigners argue it is still not consistently available in the UK.
Lucy Cohen, whose petition for better pain relief got more than 28,000 signatures, ran a social media call-out in September. Hundreds responded, with 75 per cent saying they were not offered pain relief for their fitting.
‘I sobbed most of the way through – it was almost unbearable. I’ve run a marathon with a broken ankle, but this was probably the most painful thing I’ve ever done. I had no idea it would be like that,’ says Sarah Jordan, 49
Even more concerning were reports of doctors being unaware that pain relief was an option.
‘[Health Secretary] Wes Streeting said it “makes sense” women be offered pain relief,’ Ms Cohen said. ‘But it’s not happening. You’re pushing a foreign object into someone’s internal organ without pain relief and expecting them to be fine. In what other medical procedure would that occur?’
Not all women will find the procedure painful, says sexual and reproductive health consultant Dr Paula Briggs. ‘For most, it’s not lovely but it’s not horrendous. And more bad news stories could make people not bother with it, which can have worse consequences.’
But Dr Zara Haider, College of Sexual and Reproductive Health president, says preparing women for the procedure – and making them aware of the pain relief available – could assuage fears.
Women who’ve had a painful fitting or are worried can ask for a cervical block, she says, and they can also request local anaesthetic. If neither addresses the pain, they can even request to be sedated.
‘The majority of patients will feel it mildly, if at all, but some do find it more painful,’ said Dr Haider. ‘So it’s about making sure all patients are prepared and empowered for the procedure.’
