Shocker! IUD insertion really isn't "just a little cramping"

If you've ever had an IUD, you cringe at the memory of insertion. Pain relief now recommended after decades in the R&D category of "just women do that, so..."

After decades of painful IUD insertions,* the obvious-to-many pain of the procedure is finally being looked at seriously. Doctors followed outdated medical guidance, largely unsupported by research, that the pain was not significant. The true pain of a procedure that (for the doctor) is quick, relatively easy was commonly minimize, resulting in significant mistrust among women about an otherwise reliable form of birth control with less hormones than oral contraceptives.

Easy remedies are there: paracervical blocks, or a gel, cream or spray pain reliever. These new recommendations come in the wake of a social media outcry over the doctors not warning patient about the difficulty of the IUD procedure or the available options to address the pain, sometimes paired with inaccurate scientific claims.

*The first known IUD insertion was in 1909. The Dalkon Shield—a large IUD almost an inch wide and long—took IUDs mainstream during the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s. Smaller IUDs followed, but particularly if a woman had never had a baby, the pain could be intense during and after the insertion.