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It’s a new year and new things are happening. I want to hit on one of the most important things in my life that has happened: Essure is off the market! If you don’t know what Essure is — excuse me, was — let me enlighten you on some things.

Essure was a permanent birth control solution that created blockage in your fallopian tubes, basically making it so that sperm could not find its way to your ovaries. This was to prevent pregnancies. I made the decision that I did not want any more children and because my request to tie my tubes was not honored, Essure was sold to me as the next best thing. This was back in the early 2000s and there was no information about complications because this was a new procedure. I was told it was an in-and-out procedure, no pain and all the bells and whistles. A real boutique-like experience.

Ladies, let me tell you this: If you take nothing from this article, please, please, please understand to listen to your bodies.

I had this procedure done in good faith of my doctor. During the procedure, I started feeling pain on my left side to the point that my doctor had to give me something for relief. In hindsight, I should have demanded my partner to have a vasectomy, but ladies, many of us feel that this is our responsibility to handle. News flash: It is not.

After the procedure, and feeling like I got screwed (literally) by a million needles, I immediately told my doctor of my discomfort and was told my body needed to simply get used to it. In a couple of days all will be fine. All was not fine. My doctor stopped dealing with me and I proceeded to try other doctors. But because the procedure was so new, many were not aware of it and didn’t want to listen to my concerns and complications.

I tried for years to get help. I remember thinking where is the hippocratic oath? Why is no one listening? My pain just kept reminding me that I should have pushed for my partner’s vasectomy. The pain on my left side became my “broke best friend.” If I laughed, sneezed or made any sudden movements, my broke best friend was like, “Hold up, don’t forget about me.” I tried to break up with my broke best friend numerous times to no avail. I started doctor hopping, looking for help. I began to think I was being discriminated against because I was African American.

Many doctors tried to give me pain medication. Yes, they tried to catch me slipping and prescribe me all the opioids I could ever want, but I didn’t bite on that. I just wanted this horrid thing out of me. Many other complications started trickling into my life, and to be truthful, I never put two and two together to realize all of this was happening because of my “broke best friend,” — the Essure. I even eventually found out my broke best friend had nickel in it, and I am allergic to nickel. Imagine that.

Finally, the internet started popping! A young lady made a Facebook group about the complications of Essure, and I would just lurk and read what others were posting. Then I realized there were others who were experiencing the same complications that I was. It felt great to know I was not crazy! So many ladies, so many complications, so many problems that we all became sisters.

These ladies, my “e-sisters,” became a force to reckon with. When I was able to join them, I did. We would protest and advocate for our bodies. Doctors also began to get on the bandwagon. However, many of them were only doing it for the money, claiming they could remove the device when there were no instructions for removal. Some doctors would attempt to pull them out, which left fragments of the device to cause havoc in many of my sisters’ bodies.

All of this was going on without the world and the government stepping in. When you hear about profits over patients, the struggle is real. Big pharma is no joke. Nevertheless, we persisted. I am proud to say the device is officially off the market — no sales, no implants, no more as of December 31, 2019.

And what about my “broke best friend,” you ask? Well, I finally found a doctor who was able to remove it via hysterectomy. Many of the sisters had to get hysterectomies. We did not go into this to lose our uterus, trust and believe that.

I felt 100% better than I did before the surgery! However, I was told my uterus was torn up and full of scar tissue. This has been a decade of fights and now we have to deal with the damage that was done to thousands of women.

I don’t mind talking about my problems with this device; I even did a documentary about it. However, I was a little upset because my footage was cut and I felt this was a big disservice to African American women who could have seen me as representation and realize that we, too, have a voice and that there are also sistas in the fight.

As I stated before, ladies, listen to your bodies! If your body is telling you that something isn’t right, pay attention. Seek medical help. If your doctor doesn’t listen, change doctors!

Disclaimer: If this device is working for you, I'm so happy for you. Please continue to listen to your body. I recently met a young lady who was battling Crohn's disease, and after talking to her she told me she had a "broke best friend," too. She went on to explain that she was happy with it. She added that she experienced no problems. I circled back to her Crohn's disease and asked her when she started to experience her disease symptoms. And yes, two plus two started to come to fruition and she realized it was after she was implanted with her broke best friend.

Alicia C Perry

Writing since January 2019 · 1 story contributed