Woman says she started having CONTRACTIONS after having her IUD implant

A young woman has told of the horrific moment she ‘went into labor without ever being pregnant’ after she had an intrauterine device (IUD) implanted.

Holly Smallwood, 26, a personal trainer from Georgia, detailed the ‘most physically traumatic 45 minutes’ she’d experienced in a TikTok last week.

‘I decided that I wanted to come off hormonal birth control and get the copper T, the non-hormonal IUD,’ she begins her story.

‘So I schedule an appointment with my gynecologist, I drive eight hours back to see her… I had recently moved and she is giving me the talk: ‘Is this your first IUD? Do you know what to expect? This is pretty painful.’

Her doctor warned her the experience was painful and at first it was manageable

Holly Smallwood, from Georgia, details her traumatic experience of having an IUD implanted

‘I was like I got a pretty high pain tolerance, I’ll be fine.’

Expert weighs in on how woman ‘went into labor’ from IUD

New York gynecologist Dr Alyssa Dweck says Smallwood had a vasovagal response – which involved symptoms of profuse sweating, vomiting and light-headedness – during her IUD insertion.

She says some people get it during a painful procedure, when they get their blood drawn or when they receive shocking news. 

On top of this, Smallwood’s uterus, which is a ‘big muscle’, started contracting – mimicking labor pains – in response to the pain of the IUD insertion.  

‘Your uterus muscles contract and squeeze out what’s inside out of it,’ Dr Dweck said.

‘The reaction was… [to] get rid of this foreign body (the IUD), it probably was quite painful.’

Smallwood says her doctor then goes to insert the IUD and at first ‘it’s not the worst thing ever’.

She goes on to say her doctor informs her she needs to remain in the room for the next seven to 10 minutes as she’ll experience some cramping and the nurse will come in to check on her.

‘About five minutes later the nurse comes to check on me and she’s like: ‘How you doing sweetie?’ And I was like: ‘Is the pain normally this bad because I’m feeling some weird things?’ the TikTok creator said.

She says the nurse reassured her that it was normal and told her to give it a few more minutes. But then things take a turn for the worst.

‘She comes back five minutes later and I’m like give me a bag, I’m going to throw up,’ Smallwood said.

‘So she hands me a bag and I start vomiting and at this point I start to see black and I’m like: ‘I might pass out’ and I do.

‘Within the next five minutes all hell broke loose. My extremities went numb, I couldn’t feel my legs, I couldn’t feel my arms, I’m sweating profusely.’

Smallwood said she tried changing positions to see if it would help with the pain and the nurse was ‘progressively looking a little more concerned’.

‘But she’s also like: ‘You know some people just tolerate pain differently like we’ve seen things like this before,’ she said.

‘And then I start to feel something that I’ve only ever heard explained in movies. I don’t even know how I knew what it was, but I knew that I was having contractions. 

Smallwood, 26, says her doctor goes to insert the IUD and at first 'it's not the worst thing ever'

Smallwood, 26, says her doctor goes to insert the IUD and at first ‘it’s not the worst thing ever’

She explained that a nurse came into  check on her, but she was in so much pain she started vomiting

Smallwood also blacked out from the pain, and her hands and feet became 'locked up'

Smallwood explained that a nurse came into check on her, but she was in so much pain she started vomiting. She also blacked out, and her hands and feet became ‘locked up’

A concerned Smallwood said her doctor told her the IUD had been placed on a nerve, causing the traumatic ordeal

A concerned Smallwood said her doctor told her the IUD had been placed on a nerve, causing the traumatic ordeal

‘So in between waves of contractions there was this endorphin release, like this bliss for two minutes or so at a time where I would ask her questions like: ‘When this pain comes it’s the worst thing I’ve ever experienced, is this normal?’

Smallwood says the nurse then goes on to ask her if seizures run in her family because her hands and her feet ‘are locked up’.

She demonstrates that her fists were clenched tightly as she was shaking.

The nurse finally calls the doctor back in and she takes a look.

‘She peeks in and she’s like: ‘Oh we gotta take this out now,’ Smallwood said.

‘She does an emergency extraction and once I can finally breathe again, I’m like: ‘What the f*** just happened?’

‘It had gotten placed on a nerve. She said she’d only ever seen this one other time in her career and it had sent me into labor. My body was trying to push it out. 

'I decided that I wanted to come off hormonal birth control and get the copper T, the non-hormonal IUD ,' Smallwood explained. Her type of IUD is pictured in a stock image

‘I decided that I wanted to come off hormonal birth control and get the copper T, the non-hormonal IUD ,’ Smallwood explained. Her type of IUD is pictured in a stock image

‘I was fighting for my life, dilated. She said I would have already had an epidural by then if I was pregnant.’

What to expect after getting an IUD 

It’s normal to feel some cramping or pain after an IUD is put in, and it should only last for a couple of minutes.

‘Some doctors tell you to take pain medicine before you get the IUD to help prevent cramps. They also might inject a local numbing medicine around your cervix to make it more comfortable,’ according to Planned Parenthood.

‘Some people feel dizzy during or right after the IUD is put in, and there’s a small chance of fainting.’

Most of the time, people are fine after an insertion, but for others it may take a few days for their bodies to adjust.

‘You may have cramping and spotting  after getting an IUD, but this almost always goes away within 3-6 months,’ Planned Parenthood says.

‘Hormonal IUDs eventually make periods lighter and less crampy, and you might stop getting a period at all.

‘On the flip side, copper IUDs may make periods heavier and cramps worse. For some people, this goes away over time. If your IUD is causing you pain, discomfort, or side effects you don’t like, call your doctor.’

People were shocked by Smallwood’s ordeal, with one person saying: ‘The fact every woman who’s gotten an IUD says this is the worst pain I’ve ever felt, and there is still no anesthesia administered.’

‘Reason 5,001 I’ll never get an IUD,’ another person said.

A third TikTok user added: ‘This happened to my sister but here in the UK they ship you out straight after, she fainted and vomited in the middle of the road.’ 

New York gynecologist Dr Alyssa Dweck suspects that Smallwood’s profuse sweating, feelings of nausea and vomiting were part of a vasovagal response that ‘occurs involuntarily’.

Dr Dweck explained this response happened when your blood pressure dropped and you felt nauseous.

It’s your autonomic nervous system responding to a ‘very painful’ or ‘very emotional’ situation in a ‘very exaggerated way’, the gynecologist told DailyMail.com.

She says some people get it during a painful procedure, when they get their blood drawn or when they receive shocking news.

On top of Smallwood’s vasovagal response, the uterus, because it is a ‘big muscle’, responded to the pain of the IUD insertion by saying: ‘I want to expel this.’

Smallwood ‘spoke about labor pains and that’s not far from the truth,’ Dr Dweck told DailyMail.com.

‘Your uterus muscles contract and squeeze out what’s inside out of it,’ she said.

‘The reaction was… [to] get rid of this foreign body (the IUD), it probably was quite painful.’

Dr Dweck also wanted to stress that most people do not have the reaction Smallwood did when getting an IUD.

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk