In early August, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention updated their recommendations for contraceptive use. A part of this update includes a new plea for doctors to give women more pain management options when it comes to having the intrauterine device, or IUD birth control, inserted. 

“Social media showed how many women were upset with their experience getting an IUD," said Dr. Ellen Biggers, M.D. program director for the OBGYN Residency with Mohawk Valley Health System. "Many people are told after you have a baby, it should be easy to insert but still I think 40% of women had pain with it."

She said she has always had a holistic approach when it comes to her practice. 

“I’ve collaborated with midwives and so we have more of a patient-centered care style of practice," Biggers said. "So we do shared decision making and we give people more options."

She said the new recommendations from the CDC mean women are finally being heard and their care is being put first. 

“Our computers are now ubiquitous," Biggers said. "They’re everywhere we are. We document everything in the computer. So we actually have to make an effort to say, 'OK, I’m here with this patient, what does she want? What are her needs?'" 

Biggers said there are various options for pain relief. 

“We can use local anesthetic in the form of an injection or a gel and also a medication that can open the cervix a little bit, that can help with decreased insertion pain,” said Biggers. 

Biggers said the studies that sparked the new CDC guidelines showed some pain medications worked better than others.

“And there’s one in particular called ketorolac. It’s in the same family as Motrin and Anaprox but it works much better," Biggers said. "That has been shown to be an effective pain relief to be given an hour beforehand and the insertions tolerated better. Even when you follow up three weeks later, people say, 'Oh I had less pain.'"

As with any medication, there can be side effects so you should work with your doctor to figure out what specific medication is right for you. Dr. Biggers says in doctor training, the focus is more on knowledge and not the patient but these new recommendations are helping change that.