Having the coil fitted - questions!

Yes you need swabs in advance before you have it fitted, they have to check for infections that could cause major problems if you have the coil in.

I'm not sure they would fit it until the results have come back and it takes a few days for tests to come back, so I would ring and check with your practise tomorrow.

I've had two coils fitted, the first at the Dr's surgery and the second at the Family planning clinic and I have never had swabs taken.

I did have both fitted straight after my period though. As an aside and I know you didn't ask, but it really didn't hurt me. It felt vaguely uncomfortable but nothing I couldn't cope with by taking some nice cleansing breaths!

No help whatsoever with the coil but what makes you think you can't just stay on the pill? If you're healthy and have no side effects, there's no good reason to stop taking it till your over 50 and even that it's only because it can mask menapause.

I'm in my 30's and have no intentions of changing from the pill. It's convenient to know exactly when I'll get my period and to be able to move it around when necessary.

That's weird they made me have them and I know other people that have had to have them too.

Perhaps its something to do with having had children already? IIRC, your cervix never fully closes as tightly as it did before after having babies so you're at risk of infection anyway? That does sound like a load of rubbish now I've written it down!

Maybe different health authorities have different practices?

In our family planning clinic we do swabs based on a risk assessment - so if you're under 25, or have had a new partner in the last year, or have any other (statistical) risk factors for chlamydia then we advise swabs. But I know some places do them on everyone.

And what someone else (damn new Hitched) said: there's no reason if you're fit and healthy otherwise (a non smoker, with OK blood pressure and cholesterol etc) that you can't stay on the pill until at least 40, and older as long as you still have no other risk factors. That's assuming you're on the combined pill, if you're on the mini pill there are even less reasons why you'd have to stop.

I think the best thing to do is make an appointment with your local family planning clinic to talk through the options. If you fancy something that you don't have to worry about or remember then a coil may be a good option, but it's worth finding out what's available to you.

There's lots of good information on the fpa website, this form is a good summary of different contraceptive options (download the pdf at the top of the page)

http://www.fpa.org.uk/Information/Readourinformationbooklets/guide

Ah it was before we got married so I was under 25. Although I did try to explain that me and H have been together since we were 16 and haven't slept with anyone else but she gave me some spiel about me not ever being 100% certain what he was up to behind my back. Which was nice of her to say really....

When I had mine fitted they did the swabs at the same time, iirc.

Ok thanks everyone, I will start my last pack of pills next week then and then investigate what the surgery wants of me, and my options - I am still not convinced I should be on the pill as I had Obstetric Cholestasis with both my pregnancies, my own GP at the time said fine to go back on it, but I know of someone else (via forums) who had OC and is not allowed to go back on the pill because of it. So I want to seek a 2nd opinion with regard to that as well as the swab situation. Then I can either get some more pills or go ahead and get swabbed and the coil fitted.

Thanks all

Clare x