Reducing the pain of IUD insertion

As a general practitioner and intrauterine device (IUD) fitter for over 13 years now I applaud looking at new ways to reduce the pain of IUD insertion as described in Vincent and Sewell's letter in the October 2012 issue of the Journal,1 and recently I have also looked into the possibility of getting some Entonox® in our practice for IUD fitting. For most women the experience of having an IUD fitted is unpleasant and crampy but tolerable. For some women, however, the procedure is excruciatingly painful. The reasons for the variation are many but are usually fairly unpredictable, and so in my opinion pain relief of some sort …