'How the contraceptive implant nearly killed me'
When Tasha Hughes chose the implant as her method of contraception back in 2014, when she was 17-years-old, she had no idea it would have such drastic consequences. But just one year after having the contraceptive device inserted into her arm, she suffered a severe reaction and ended up fighting for her life in hospital.
Tasha, from Walsall in the West Midlands, got the implant as an alternative to the contraceptive pill, which had been causing her to put on weight. But shortly after it was implanted, the now-20-year-old noticed that she was suffering from continuous headaches.
Speaking to Caters News, she said: "The pain was so severe that I couldn't concentrate, but my friends thought I was being overdramatic. The headache lasted for two weeks straight, so I knew something was seriously wrong as this had never happened before."
When the headache refused to subside after two weeks, Tasha's mum Katina repeatedly took her to the GP and the hospital where various different doctors dismissed their concerns as a hormone imbalance.
Desperate to alleviate the headaches, and because her vision had now started going blurry, too, Tasha visited the opticians where they discovered her optic nerve was damaged, and referred her to hospital for further investigation. There, she was diagnosed with Intracranial Hypertension - a build-up of pressure around the brain thought to have been caused by the hormones released by the implant she'd had the previous year.
Doctors acted fast, eager to save her eyesight, by draining fluid from her brain and spine. Following that, they operated on the teenager to insert a shunt, a device which would continue to drain any excess fluid. But it was an extremely worrying time as Tasha's health hung in the balance.
"It terrified me to think that if this surgery wasn't successful I could die," she said.
"My scars made me feel like Frankenstein"
Thankfully, doctors successfully managed to complete the operation, but it was still an incredible ordeal for the young woman. "After the surgery I was still in so much pain, and even though it did save my eyesight, I've lost my peripheral vision," she recalled. Left with visible scars, Tasha said she felt "like Frankenstein," adding that she "hated leaving the house because I felt so self-conscious."
As a result of what happened she has been left with weakened vision, meaning she might never drive again, and Tasha also says her confidence has been knocked. But she's alive, which is the main thing.
Tasha says she "didn't think twice about having the implant" - as most women wouldn't - but Bekki Burbidge from the sexual health charity FPA was keen to urge that this kind of reaction is incredibly rare. "The implant is a safe method of contraception for most women and is one of the most effective methods at preventing pregnancy," she told Caters News.
"There are some medical conditions which may mean an implant isn't suitable to use, so a health professional will always take into account individual risk factors when prescribing the implant, or any other method of contraception."
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