When Lee-Anne Daffy's doctors couldn't work out why she was suffering constant uterine pain and bleeding, they scheduled a day surgery to take a closer look.
She stayed in hospital for two months after suffering a cardiac arrest on the operating table.
"It was a really difficult time," she said.
"My youngest had her second birthday while I was in hospital. When I came home, she just wouldn't come to me.
"She had to learn to trust me again because I'd been away for so long and she didn't know who I was. It was heartbreaking."
Three years earlier, in 2008, Ms Daffy had been given a brochure by her doctor for Essure contraceptive coils.
Essure was a permanent contraceptive system which worked by inserting two metal coils into a woman's fallopian tubes.
The coils caused scarring, which blocked the tubes and prevented an ova and sperm meeting.
But within weeks of Ms Daffy having them inserted into her fallopian tubes, the constant pain and bleeding began.
"Initially, it was just like, 'well, you know, you've had a few children, and just give yourself time to settle your body to settle down and it'll be OK'," Ms Daffy said.
For Susanne, who only wants to be known by her first name, the symptoms took longer to appear after she had the device inserted in late 2011.
But they became so bad, she could no longer work as a high school teacher.
"I would wake up in bed in a sea of blood like a homicide scene," she said.
"I was in tears constantly."
Both women had hysterectomies eight years after their devices were implanted.
More than 1,000 Australians involved in class action lawsuit
In 2017, the Therapeutic Goods Administration issued a hazard warning for the device, and it was recalled from the market.
Essure's manufacturer Bayer says it stands by the safety and efficacy of its device and that women who currently have Essure in place may continue to confidently rely on the device.
But today, a class action brought by more than 1,000 women against Bayer and related companies will begin in Victoria's Supreme Court.
Slater and Gordon lawyer Kylie Trounson, who is representing the women, said the device was poorly conceived, poorly designed, and wasn't tested sufficiently enough for long-term safety.
"It's a sharp spring-loaded metal coil designed to cut into the walls of the fallopian tubes and cause an acute inflammation, and then an ongoing chronic inflammation so that the scar tissue will form around the coils," she said.
More than half of the women involved in the class action have had hysterectomies to remove their devices.
"The kinds of stories we hear from women are pretty horrific, but also very consistent," Ms Trounson said.
"Chronic and quite severe pelvic pain, and also very heavy and prolonged menstrual bleeding, which impacts their lives profoundly. Some women have told us that they couldn't walk their children to school, because they'd have to run home and change their clothes."
A Bayer spokesperson said the health and safety of patients was the company's "greatest priority".
"Bayer believes it has strong defences and will continue to defend itself vigorously in court."
"Bayer stands behind the safety and efficacy of Essure which is supported by an extensive body of research (including 10 clinical trials and over 70 real-world observational studies), undertaken by Bayer and independent medical researchers, involving more than 270,000 women over the past two decades."
Company settled in US lawsuit
It's not the first time Bayer has faced a lawsuit over the Essure device. In 2020, it agreed to pay $US1.6 billion to settle claims in the United States.
But it has not offered a settlement in Australia.
"I don't understand how that they would settle with a group of women overseas, and not consider us to be any less worthy," Ms Daffy said.
The Bayer spokesperson told the ABC the US case had no impact on the class action in Australia.
"The decision to settle in the US reflects factors unique to the American mass tort legal system, including the high costs of US litigation, and did not include any admission of wrongdoing or liability by Bayer," they said.
The judge-only trial is expected to run for 12 weeks.
Ms Daffy, who considers herself a private person, is hoping she will then be able to stop sharing and re-living what she went through.
"I'm sharing my story for my nieces, for my granddaughters," she said.
"I don't want another generation of women to have to go through this again."
