I could have died but doctors said reaction to coil was just hormones and I should ‘ride it out’

FROM weight gain and headaches to sore boobs and mood swings, most women are likely to have suffered a nasty side effect of birth control. After mum-of-four Peta Todd had the Mirena coil, an intrauterine system, implanted last October, her face swelled, her eyesight blurred and she lost hearing in one ear, despite other women praising it.

But it was only after visiting six different medical practitioners and practically begging for help, that Peta, 32, was finally able to get the device removed. Here, she urges women, who believe their contraception is causing them pain, to demand to be listened to:

Waking up and seeing myself in the mirror, my face was so swollen it looked like l had done six rounds with Mike Tyson. The hearing in my right ear had gone, I had pain down my neck and my vision was blurry.

But I was not recovering from a heavyweight bout. All I had done was change my contraception. Four days earlier, in October 2018, I had an intrauterine system (IUS) called the Mirena coil inserted. It is put into the womb by a medical professional where it releases progestogen. It can stop you getting pregnant and lasts three-to-five years.

Already mum to 13-year-old Finn, Delilah, six, and three-year-old Frey, I had recently added baby Casper, who is now nine months, to my brood. I had been on and off the Pill since I was 18, but many women swear by the coil so I decided to give it a go.

But, 24 hours later, I started to feel tired with a terrible headache. The following day, I started to get swelling around my eyes. I saw a private GP but was told to see an optician. The next day the swelling appeared bruised and my vision was blurry and there was ringing in my right ear.

I made an appointment with a different GP and told her I thought it was perhaps a reaction to the coil. She told me that was impossible and gave me antibiotics for a suspected infection. I felt abandoned and helpless

Later that night, I got pain down my neck and lost the hearing in my right ear. When I told my GP — and added that I had read about similar cases with the coil online — she said it was definitely not linked.

On the fourth day I went to A&E, which I do not do lightly. The nurse told me that A&E “is not somewhere to come because you’re not getting on with your contraception” and to go home and take paracetamol.

I cried all the way home. I felt helpless. I had no control over my own body and nobody was listening to me. Throughout all of this I was sharing my woes on Instagram — and got messages from women saying they’d had similar experiences regarding contraception and were ignored, too.

Over the next couple of days I rang sexual health and family planning clinics and returned to A&E twice, begging, sobbing and desperate for someone to remove the coil. I was even Googling how to remove it myself.

I felt so abandoned and helpless. Despite getting more poorly, I was told “hormones can be funny little things” and to “ride it out”. Seven days after having the coil inserted, the inside of my mouth was swollen, too. I could not lift my left arm. I returned to hospital and said I thought it was the coil.

They said there was nobody there that could remove it but they could give me some steroids for the reaction and email my GP to remove it tomorrow. They said I would see then that it was not the coil to blame.

The next morning I attended my GP appointment, barely able to function. It took 20 seconds to remove the coil. Within hours my hearing returned, my headaches and vision cleared and my swelling began to subside.

I was prescribed a much longer dose of steroids and antihistamines to reduce the swelling. I then saw a specialist who said I was lucky to be alive as I had had a toxic reaction and could have died.

It’s frightening how little control I had over my own body. From my experiences, and the messages I received, it seems like a lot of issues that fall under the umbrella of “women’s problems” are dismissed. Should we just accept that part of being a woman is that our contraceptive should cause weight gain, mood changes, reduced libido or pain?

I say no. It is more than “just our hormones”. We are talking about our mental, physical and emotional health. The ladies who shared their stories with me gave me the confidence to fight my corner — and that is why I want to share mine with you.

A spokesman for Mirena coil manufacturer Bayer says: “We continuously review safety to ensure information we provide reflects the latest evidence.

“Hearing loss and blurred vision have been reported in the media as linked to Mirena, in relation to a condition called idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), the causes of which are unknown. Based on all the data available to Bayer, the use of Mirena does not increase the risk of IIH. And facial swelling is not a known side effect.”

• Catch Peta Todd’s Mum Squad column in tomorrow’s Fabulous Daily.