From birth to adulthood, Sherri Jones’ life has been both unusual and rare.
The 54-year-old resident of Red Deer, Alb., was born despite her mom using an intrauterine device — a one-in-100 occurrence.
“The IUD apparently had gotten stuck on her bladder, and it penetrated her bladder, which is why she was able to conceive,” Jones told Global News in an interview.
The IUD, which hadn’t caused any major problems for her mom’s pregnancy, was later surgically removed several months after Jones’ birth, she said.
From the age of three or four, Jones says she has been struggling with a series of health problems, such as leg pain, a speech impediment, vision issues and slow bladder development.
As she got older, she started feeling pain in other joints of her body.
“I was constantly back and forth to the hospital, I was in an ambulance, you name it, doctors’ appointments. It was all the time.”
Sherri Jones was born with an intrauterine device in her mother’s bladder at the time of birth.
Photo provided
In 2010, a then-39-year-old Jones was in a car accident, and her body pains got worse. An MRI scan showed a large Tarlov Cyst, a very rare neurological condition, in her cervical spine. Seven years later, she developed three new Tarlov Cysts at the surgical site of the first one.
“The pain has just been excruciating,” Jones said. “I haven’t been able to walk or sit or stand for long periods of time ever since this all started.”
She has suffered from blurred vision, dizziness, “crazy” headaches and short-term memory loss.
Jones said she has also been diagnosed with enlarged ventricles and a couple of small congenital deformities in her brain, as well as a connective tissue disorder.
“I’ve just had so many unique things going on with me, and they’re all rare.”
These health problems that have followed her throughout her life have raised a lot of questions, Jones said, as doctors have been unable to pinpoint the root cause.
“The majority of them are all rare diseases, so how does that get to happen? Something had to have played a role for that to happen.”
From doing her own research, Jones suspects the IUD might have caused her rare conditions.
“You find out about the different things that an IUD can do. It’s not to say it’s definitely done it, but I think it’s raised a lot of questions,” she said.
IUD and pregnancy risks
IUD is one of most effective forms of contraception, with less than one per cent chance of getting pregnant, said Amanda Black, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ottawa.
“It’s also a long-acting method of reversible contraception, meaning that although it can be in for many years, once it’s removed return to fertility is pretty much immediate,” she said in an interview with Global News.
Hormonal IUDS are considered more effective, with a 0.1 to 0.5 per cent rate of failure, compared with copper IUDs that have a higher pregnancy rate failure of 0.8 per cent, said Darine El-Chaar, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at the Ottawa Hospital.
Some studies suggest that women who conceive while using an IUD have a greater risk of preterm delivery, vaginal bleeding, low birth weight babies, bacterial infections and miscarriage.
That is why it’s generally recommended to take the IUD out when someone gets pregnant and they wish to continue with the pregnancy, El-Chaar said.
Otherwise, if the pregnancy has advanced or the strings have pulled up and are difficult to remove, the IUD is left in but closely monitored with ultrasounds, she said.
There is limited evidence to suggest a risk of congenital malformations or birth defects related to IUDs, El-Chaar said. And looking at the physiology, she said it would be “very unusual” for an IUD to cause a neurological disease — like the ones Jones is living with — adding that it’s difficult to make that association.
Black said she is not aware of any evidence that shows that IUD can increase the risk of neurological development for the baby.
A U.S. study from the 1980s reported two cases of women who gave birth to infants with anencephaly, which is a fatal neural tube defect. The authors said that the possible effect of copper on fetal development should be discussed with women who conceive with a copper device in place and elect to continue the pregnancy.
If the IUD did perforate into the fetus and caused any abnormalities, then doctors would be able to see that early on, El-Chaar said. “If there was an incident where it caused a fetal defect, I think it would be clear at birth.”
Jones, who is still trying to locate her birth records, is hoping to get more clarity about her rare health problems.
Since IUD births are uncommon, experts say it’s difficult to find a link between them and rare diseases.
“I think the scariest part about all this [is] when you have something going on with your body and the doctors can’t figure it out,” Jones said.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.
Bizarre Sunlight Loophole Melts Belly Fat Fast! is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.
