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A Melbourne public hospital has become one of the first in the country to offer women Penthrox, commonly known as the green whistle, for painful IUD procedures.
Frankston Hospital, which is run by Peninsula Health, began trialling the pain relief option a few months ago and is now offering it to every patient who has an IUD inserted or removed.
"Yes, it's definitely been popular," the head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Peninsula Health Nisha Khot said.
"There are some women, especially younger women, or women who previously had a bad experience with an IUD insertion, who really are very reluctant to have it done in that sort of outpatient setting.
I had an IUD and I loved it. It was much better for me than the pill, but the procedure to measure the uterus so they can decide which one is the best fit was very painful as was the install/removal. My doc was a woman and we were in a blue state in the u.s. I had never been offered an IUD as an option before by my male doctors.