Can endometriosis be diagnosed from a smear?

[CrazyPlateLady]

My sister has had awful problems with her periods for years. Nothing much has ever been done and she has never been referred to a gynae or anything, just her GP trying different pills and giving her the implant.

We were talking today and she was telling me about different pain she gets, she said she would describe them as labour pains (she hasn't had children yet) and she doesn't know what it is.

I have endo and I think she needs referring (we aren't biologically related so no running in family thing).

She said the nurse told her at her smear that endometriosis can be diagnosed from cells in the smear test.

I have never heard of this and thought it could only be confirmed with a laparoscopy, which is what I was told when I had mine.

Is this true or is the nurse talking rubbish? I don't have much faith in my sisters surgery as her doctor has admitted that he doesn't know what to do with her anymore. Try referring her, that could be a start.

[purplepeony]

I honestly don't know but would have thought unlikely.Endo ca n be present anywhere inthe abdomen- bowel, bladder, intestines etc, outside the uterus. If it showed up as blood or tissue in a smear that might be possible, but I would not have thought so.

Your sis ought to press for a referral- is she having period pains or flooding or what?

[Bobbiesmum]

She can simply go and ask her gp for a referral who I am sure would oblige no problem given her history and the fact she has tried other methods with no success.

[Haliborange]

The nurse is talking rubbish, I am sure.

If the GP doesn't know what to do then he should absolutely refer her. If I were her I would turn up with the name of a local consultant/clinic I wanted to go to. IME if you ask straight-out, you tend to get referred.

[ASecretLemonadeDrinker]

no, I had smear & lap & dye.

[BelaLugosiiswashingup]

No it certainly can't be diagnosed from a cervical smear test - I work in a screening lab.
We can see if there are lots of endometrial cells present which might be due to endometriosis but we don't report on it and we definitely don't diagnose it.
She needs to be referred to either gynaecology or reproductive medicine for investigation. The repro dept in our hosp look after the endometriosis patients.

As an aside - I had adenomyosis and endometriosis (and it was flipping agony!) and it never showed up in any of my smear tests.

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

Nurse is talking rubbish and it cannot be diagnosed through a smear test. As you have rightly stated it is usually only diagnosed through laparoscopy.

I would suggest your sister changes GP practice as this one sounds blooming hopeless and they have mucked her about. She should be referred to a gynae asap, such problems too are outside a GPs remit. Some GPs are truly ignorant re such gynae issues (I even had a GP tell me that endo is not common; infact it is the second most common gynae problem seen in women after fibroids).

Your sister too will need to be persistant in order to get answers and it is all too easy to be fobbed off.

[CrazyPlateLady]

Thanks for your answers.

Just what I thought really.

I said to her she needs to push for a referral but as the implant has finally settled her periods (after having it for a year) she isn't bothered for the time being. Personally I think she needs to get referred now but being in the Navy she is away a lot and finds it difficult to keep to appointments if she happens to be away at the time.

I think when it comes to ttc, she will probably do something, I know she is worried about having problems with that but for the time being, she isn't that bothered about having it followed up.

She used to lose clots, bleed very heavily for weeks at a time and one time (this was a few years ago) she had 2 blood transfusions as she lost so much blood. She said she saw a gynae at the hospital then but they never followed it up. Her surgery do seem totally useless!

[berrol30]

I've been reading your posts but I have the depo so I don't have periods so I wouldn't be able to tell if my bleeding was a sign of endometriosis. I have pains in the bottom of my pelvis legs I've always had back problems and it's worse now than ever. I've had a mri but no results yet my smear was clear and I've had blood tests all fine. I have no idea what wrong with me how can I detect if I have this disease if I don't have periods