During a year of studies abroad in Italy I experienced an intra-uterine infection related to my IUD. IUD’s are not normally provided to women who haven’t given birth, neither in Italy nor in my home country, but due to my personal medical history, an exception was made, and most doctors accept this when explained, after their initial surprise.

However, due to the infection I wished for the device to be removed, and went through an odyssey of countless gynaecologists all explaining that the best course of action would be to remove it, however, they were busy/not qualified/didn’t feel like it today, so make another appointment in a month and have some antibiotics in the meantime.

The most frustrating appointment was with a private practitioner (in Italy the public system is better though overloaded), who began by loudly admonishing me for having the IUD in the first place. He then informed me that it could not be removed without an intra-vaginal ultra-sound scan for which I had not booked a time, and proceeded to shout at me throughout the entire appointment, including when I was lying with my naked ladyparts in the air while being examined. Completely brushing aside my feeble attempts at explaining the situation, he continued to explain that it was wrong for me to have the device, that my previous doctor was clearly incompetent, and for some reason began asking specific questions as to the procedures undertaken when I had the IUD inserted (the relevance of this information was never made clear), still loudly criticising everything done.

The thing is – what he was saying was blatantly false. No intra-vaginal ultra-sound scan is necessary for removing an IUD, they are never inserted during one’s period, and claiming that I shouldn’t bother about removing the device but instead live my life never riding a bicycle again or walking too fast is simply unprofessional. For starters.

I know this because I actually spent some time researching before making my decision. This doctor had studied gynaecology for how many years?

Being under a lot of strain during this period of my life, I just zoned out and waited for him to stop shouting so I could get the hell out of there and never return. But the worst part was this: My sort-of-boyfriend at the time (quite the mansplainer himself) had been present during the whole appointment and had said nothing, only after we left to loudly praise the doctor for his obvious competence. I began outlining every single fact that the doctor had gotten wrong, and my (no-longer-)boyfriend assured me that I must be mistaken, since I was obviously distressed. I challenged him to google any random one of my claims, and lo! and behold. Within 5 min. he was forced to acknowledge that I knew what I was talking about and that the doctor had indeed been letting out nonsense. He never apologised, though.