My health Ruined Marriage Strained Social life Wrecked I’ve been to hell and back
Patient on her diary of pain as women plan court battle
An eighth victim of the NHS contraceptive implant scandal today goes public to reveal how she was left in agony for six years by an Essure device.
Supermarket worker Shirley Tuite claims doctors refused to believe how much pain the contraceptive device caused her.
She then kept a diary of the impact the constant pain was having on her daily life and her marriage.
Mum Shirley, of Gullane, in East Lothian, had the device fitted at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in 2010 after deciding she did not want any more children.
She is the latest woman to speak out about the contraceptive, which thousands of women claim has ruined their lives.
Law firm Thompsons, who specialise in personal injury claims, are planning to sue German pharmaceutical firm Bayer at Edinburgh’s Court of Session on behalf of seven of the women.
They’re also considering actions against the NHS authorities who fitted them.
Pat ient s who have contacted Thompsons claim they have been blighted by pain, bloating, bleeding and infections.
They have also reported mental health problems, including depression and mood swings.
Shirley, who has a grown-up son, also wants to sue both Bayer and the NHS over the suffering which she blames on the device.
She claims doctors made her feel as though she was imagining the pain, so she only had husband Shaun, 45, to turn to for support.
The 42-year-old said: “If I had known it was going to be so painful, I’d never have had it done.
“I had child birth with no pain relief and that was a lot easier.
“I suffered constant, excruciating pain from the day I got it put in.
“When I complained to the doctors, they kept on saying it needs to bed in.
“After six to eight months, the pain was still there and I thought, ‘It has to be settled in by now.’
“I felt as if I was losing it, as if it was in my head. But I knew it was not.
“I was given strong painkillers but they were not doing anything.”
Shirley added: “Over the years, I got the impression from doctors that they thought, ‘Oh, here she comes back again. What is it this time?’
“I started to write it all down in a book when the pain was at its worst and how it was affecting me, my health and my relationships.
“When I was in doubt, I would just read the piece back to Shaun.
“It was like a diary. I’d ask him if I was imagining it and he would tell me I wasn’t.”
It is estimated that 35,000 patients worldwide have complained of side effects after having the implant, with almost half of them in the US.
Shirley now plans to speak to personal injury specialists Thompsons to discuss joining their class action.
She claims the problems caused by Essure affected her marriage and destroyed her social life.
Shirley added: “I would be very interested if there’s going to be a court
date for this. We’ve been to hell and back with this device.
“It affected my relationship with Shaun. He said I looked ill the whole time. I couldn’t enjoy nights out with friends because of the painkillers I was taking.
“And I suffered years of pain and felt no one was believing or listening to me.”
Shirley had the Essure fitted after it was recommended by doctors.
Like other women, she said the pain during the procedure was unbearable.
She said: “I was told that I’d be back at work in the afternoon. However, I’d taken a couple of days off and I’m glad that I did. The pain was excruciating. There is no way I could have gone back to my work. I could hardly walk.”
The implant has made sex either painful or impossible for some of the women who have had it fitted.
In other cases, women have complained about the device becoming dislodged and even puncturing the bladder and bowel, causing additional pain.
Shirley added: “There was a problem when I had my Essure fitted and it bent as it was going in. So they took it back out and put another one in.” About 2000 women in Scotland are thought to have been fitted with Essure, though no official figures are available.
Bayer withdrew the device in Britain last September.
Shirley said: “I have been fighting from day one. Essure was sold to me as the next best thing to sterilisation. I was told it would feel like a period pain. It was not.
“I remember being in the recovery room afterwards with my mum and thinking to myself, ‘What have I done?’ I could barely walk back to the car afterwards.
Essure involves inserting tiny coils into the fallopian tubes. A flexible metal and p las t ic spr ing irritates the lining and causes scar tissue, which creates a permanent blockage.
Shirley added: “When I got home after the procedure, I was popping painkillers as if they were going out of fashion.
“It felt as if someone was stabbing me. The painkillers were not making a difference.
“I went for various scans over the years but there was nothing showing.
“They even told me I might have irritable bowel syndrome, which was not the case.”
In 2016, Shirley decided to get a second opinion from a doctor.
He took an MRI scan and found f luid near the Essure device, so he recommended it should be taken out.
Shirley had a sterilisation operation in December 2016, during which her fallopian tubes and the Essure were removed.
Since the operation, the pain has disappeared completely.
She said: “A week after the operation, the pain had gone and I felt like a new woman.
“Essure was portrayed as the best thing on the market then, but not now.”
The sale of the Essure implants in the European Union was suspended by Bayer last September.
It is also no longer used in Australia, Canada and Brazil.
More than 750,000 women worldwide have been fitted with the device.
About 13,000 actions have been raised against Bayer in the US.
Bayer are said to have set aside about £ 300million to cover the costs of any court actions in the US, including possible payouts to affected women.
NHS Lothian medical director Dr Tracey Gillies said: “We have received a very small number of complaints – less than five – from women who were unhappy with the device.
“I am sorry to hear of Mrs Tuite’s experience, but we are unable to comment on individual cases without the consent of the patient.”