July 3rd, 2026 -- by Bacchus
“Maybe You Should Walk It Off”
There were skeptical male voices in the comments on my post last month about IUD insertion with inadequate pain control in the US healthcare system, which strikes me as weird; if there were ever a “believe women” situation, this is it. Anyway, here is comedian and storyteller Tabitha talking about her last time on the gynecological table, in tones which suggest she’s being funny about unfunny experiences:
I mean, perhaps her doctor didn’t word-for-word tell her “I know you’re not in pain because you don’t have a penis” but it certainly doesn’t sound as if her pain was taken seriously or treated adequately.
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Shorter URL for sharing: https://www.erosblog.com/?p=35587
Shorter URL for sharing: https://www.erosblog.com/?p=35587
If I recall right the only skepticism was with tiktok as a source of medical information. The rest was general horror at the state of US healthcare.
+1
as one of the aforementioned commenters I definitely was not intending to sound sceptical. In my case I checked with friends to see how IUDs are implanted in the UK, and from a small sample it’s not done the way it is described in the US. Which to me sounds like it could be a callous failure of duty of care in the US system.
That said in the UK a hysteroscopy, which is a biopsy follow up from an irregular smear is usually done without pain medication. A hysteroscopy being every bit as invasive and potentially painful as IUD placement. So while IUDs are well handled here, not everything is.
I also checked up on my previous assertion that IUD usage is more common in the US, and it is. About 40% of long term contraception by women in the US is by IUD or implant, whereas it’s only 25% here. For contraceptive purposes IUD is typically elective, though it can be prescribed for medical reasons. Apparently even with the experiences about 70% of users go back 5 years later and do it again.
Regardless, we have access to analgesia, and a wide range of options for different kinds and levels of pain, and if we can use it safely, for anyone, in any circumstance, then it seems only humane to offer it at least. Though perhaps with the opiate addiction level the US have there is an aversion to offering pain medication where possible.
A few years ago myself and another colleague both had laryngeal endoscopies on the same day with the same consultant. There was a nasty bug doing the rounds and neither of us could shake it. When I got back to the office, having cycled to the hospital and back, I was told my colleague wasn’t coming back in that day. When I saw him next day he’d been given local anaesthesia, which ruled him unfit to work. I was never offered the option, and honestly it wasn’t a painful or particularly unpleasant experience. Not by any stretch a comparison to the IUD insertion, but notable that the same doctor took one look at him and reached for the needle, but never thought to mention it to me.