IUD

The belief that women just have low pain tolerances is widespread in medicine, causing frequent dismissal of female pain — and even more invasive gynecological procedures, like IUD insertion, still lack standardized pain management strategies.

“I never had the IUD, but I knew it was invasive,” she said.

One example of how the fear that is prevalent among providers can be found in the case of using misoprostol before inserting an IUD.

But this can also make patients more hesitant to get an IUD for conditions that they are sometimes recommended to treat, like endometriosis, heavy periods, fibroids or menopause, Wu said.

The 41-year-old day care worker was concerned because she wasn’t getting her menstrual period with her IUD.