Colorado gynecologist surgeon helps patients with pain-free IUD procedures

DENVER — This month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidance on managing intrauterine device (IUD) insertion pain.

It's something a group of gynecologists at AdventHealth Porter have been practicing for years.

"Our office is committed to giving an option to any patient in terms of what's right for them," said Dr. Olga Muldoon, a gynecologist surgeon at AdventHealth Porter. "So if what they need is a narcotic or an anti-nausea or an anti-pain medication beforehand, we're offering that."

Dr. Muldoon counsels her patients on pain management before an IUD procedure. Her office also offers sedation for the procedure to help avoid pain.

"We offer an in-office anesthesiologist for us to be able to put patients completely to sleep, completely sedated, and be able to have an IUD placed," she said.

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Micah Alexander, a patient of Dr. Muldoon's, has had two IUD procedures in her life.

"I got my first IUD about five years ago, and it was in Texas," Alexander said.

The pain that came along with that first procedure is something she said she'll never forget.

"They didn't even tell me beforehand that I should take, like Tylenol or something. They didn't guide me on pain management at all," she said. "I just showed up, and it was one of the worst experiences of my life, like one of the most painful."

Five years later, she knew she had to get a second procedure. This time with Dr. Muldoon, who informed her of her pain management options.

"She immediately was bringing up that they can do the insertion under sedation here," she said. "I didn't know that that was even a thing. The experience was even better than I thought."

Dr. Muldoon told Denver7 she has these conversations with patients often.

"They're usually like, 'Really? That's an option to have in-office anesthesia, where I'm completely asleep and you'll place my IUD, and then I'll wake up, I'll have no long, lasting side effect from that anesthetic, and I'm able to go home, live my day out, take a break, watch some TV, and feel a little bit better over the course of the day?' And the answer is, 'Yeah,'" Dr. Muldoon said.

The CDC's guidance for practitioner's to counsel IUD procedure patients on pain management is something Dr. Muldoon said has been a long time coming.

"I honestly think this should be the standard of care across the United States," she said. "We should be able to offer this to the appropriate patient."

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