Just heard (ok it was tiktok) two stories about birth control implants getting lost in the body. One was a Mirena Coil and one an arm implant. Both lost in the body and they couldn’t be found at the doctor’s. The nurses in the story were not too concerned and just said they’re now somewhere in the abdominal cavity. How can an object randomly travel in the body and why is it not a medical concern?
In: Biology
OBGYN nurse here. It is a valid medical concern and required surgery to get fixed. An intrauterine device can potentially puncture a wall of the uterus and be expelled into the abdominal cavity. It’s a rare complication but happens once in a 10000? IUD cases. (Rarely. Not exactly sure of frequency) Sometimes it happens during insertion and sometimes it happens later. The reason is usually weak uterine wall, improper insertion technique or vigorous uterine contractions where the device would get dislodged out of place and stick itself into the muscle wall of the uterus, they’ll it could puncture the wall with its arm or the pointy end. The problem requires surgical removal via laparoscopic incision, very rarely it would require a larger cut. More often though, the IUD is expelled through the vagina into the toilet during a period for example and the patient may not notice that it happened. It’s important to check for presence of IUD strings in the vagina regularly. An arm implant could potentially get dislodged also and get deep into arm muscle or close to the bone. It can happen due to improper insertion technique or other reasons. The device is normally inserted under the skin and you should check it’s location regularly by palpating. The doctor teaches the patient how to do that.
My punctured through the uterus and I had to have emergency surgery a week after it was put in.
I’m not a doctor but I’m pretty sure a uterine IUD would literally have to perforate through the uterus to go anywhere else, and that would probably be a life threatening emergency, so I’m gonna have to call bullshit on that one.
Mine poked a hole in my uterus and started making it’s way out. The strings had been left long and so they yanked it all the way out with lots of wiggling, it was extraordinarily painful. Had I not gone to the hospital that day it would have migrated all the way through and I was told it could start poking into other organs.
Had a preceptor who said her copper IUD was literally just gone when she went in to get it removed. Like her body just broke it down and absorbed it. She also had a grapefruit sized ovarian cyst removed around the same time. Never had any further investigation by the OB, kind of just a “huh”. There can’t really be a medical concern without something to measure and treat, whether its the position of the object itself or symptoms of its displacement.
These aren’t ELI5 but rarely it does happen. It perforates through the uterus, which heals, and either doesn’t cause symptoms or the symptoms are dismissed.
Not all people with IUDs are told to regularly check the strings, and even those counselled to do so may not check. Not everyone can reach for one thing. In theory a doctor would check during a Pap smear but doctors may not be aware of the IUD and current recommendations are lengthening the time between Pap smears from one year to 3-5 years or longer depending on age and location.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3377742/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8918466/
Not too concerned unroll they go for an mri and if there is anything metal in it gets torn out in whatever direction it decides
My friend who is very short had hers fucked through her uterus into her body, and it required surgery to extract. The best part was her sister airing that to Facebook but that’s another story.
The arm implant is less concerning because its not generally leaving the superficial layers of the upper arm. A procedure to remove it can be done under local anesthesia, even if placed too deep. An intrabdomjnal IUD requires a diagnostic laparoscopy and general anesthesia. This can happen if it is placed in the abdomen accidentally through inadvertent perforation of the uterus during insertion. Once confirmed on an X-ray or other type of scan, one should be scheduled for surgery for removal fairly soon. It’s not an emergency necessarily unless another organ is injured but it is urgent and should not be ignored
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