IMPLANT STUCK IN WOMAN’S ARM FOR TWO YEARS
AWOMAN has had a contraceptive implant stuck in her arm for two years and doctors still can’t find it. Anneyy Madden, from Pontypridd, had the implant fitted in 2013.
The device is a small, flexible plastic rod that gets placed under the skin of a woman’s upper arm. It prevents pregnancy by releasing progestogen into the bloodstream and is said to be more than 99 per cent effective.
The implant is considered to be a good method of contraception for people who struggle to remember to take the pill regularly, but it has to be replaced every three years.
It is said the device can be removed at any time, but for Anneyy this wasn’t quite the case.
Anneyy, 22, didn’t have any problems with the implant until it was due to be removed.
She said: “It was meant to be removed in 2016. They’ve tried to remove it about four times but it’s still there.
“I’ve been to the hospital, to a GP and to see a specialist, but it’s still there and they can’t locate it.
“They have picked it up in an X-ray so they know it’s still there – but they can’t tell me where it is. “I have to have surgery now.” Anneyy, who works as a carer, said she should be operated on some time this year.
She said medics tried to “dig it out” in August 2016, which left scars on her arm.
She said she was advised not to use any other form of contraception in case it counteracts with the implant.
Anneyy said: “It’s been there for about two years now and they can’t tell me if it’s still working.
“I did use the pill before I had the implant but it didn’t work with my body at all. The injection didn’t agree with me either.
“It’s been there for over two years and it’s frustrating, really.
“I just don’t know what’s happening and I feel like I have no one to talk to. I just seem to be passed from person to person.”
Anneyy added: “I keep asking if it is working, or doing any damage, but they say they don’t know because it doesn’t usually happen.
A spokeswoman for Cwm Taf University Health Board said: “We are unable to comment on an individual’s care and treatment.”