CDC updates IUD pain management guidelines: What’s improved and what’s missing
CDC's new IUD pain management guidelines are a step forward, but don't address all discomforts. IUD insertion, a popular birth control method, remains painful.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued new guidance on managing pain during IUD insertion, but doctors say the updated advice — while a step in the right direction — doesn’t tackle all of the sources of discomfort during the procedure.
IUDs, or intrauterine devices, are an increasingly popular form of long-term birth control in the United States.
The insertion of an IUD — a small T-shaped device that is placed in the uterus — can be painful. As TikTok has grown in popularity, so too have videos of people detailing their experiences of getting an IUD, describing cramps, bleeding and passing out, sometimes even making videos in the exam room.
The CDC’s new guidance, published earlier this month, includes a new recommendation: patients should be counseled on pain management before the procedure.
Because they are more than 99% effective in preventing pregnancy, the challenge for doctors is helping individuals who want an IUD to manage the pain, said Dr. Deborah Bartz, an OB-GYN at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
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