Smear test - is it normal to find leaves and twigs?

I was trying to be polite. Think of other things that could be used as sex toys. Did you know that you can also get throat cancer with HPV?

I was trying to be polite. Think of other things that could be used as sex toys. Did you know that you can also get throat cancer with HPV?

She is a GP, a general practitioner not a Gynecologist! Yes it is possible if a woman has to have extensive treatments for pre cancerous cells it can weaken the cervix. If a woman goes for regular smear test these pre cancerous cells will be detected earlier and therefore less extensive treatments. If a woman becomes pregnant it is possible to have a simple stitch in the cervix to strengthen it and it is simply removed at the time of birth. Surely women would prefer this than risk these pre cancerous cells developing into actual cancer? Obviously not every woman will have abnormal cells but judging by the stream of women who came to the Colposcopy clinic where I worked an awful lot do! We had full clinics.

Well, only if they were sharing sex toys. That seems unlikely.

You don't need to have hetero sex. Lesbian sex also a risk.

Bu more people die of brain tumour globally than cervical cancer actually but ct scans and MRI scans carry their own risks

No, incidence

Perhaps sex toys? Also we had a high incidence of women with HIV who presented with pre cancerous cells. The consultant I worked with used to get a bit peeved as he knew that as soon as these women started their retro virals the abnormal cells would nearly always clear up. Like I said with some women acquire HPV but their own immune system can fight them off. Sadly there is no way of telling unless the woman has a smear. My own sister had to have a hysterectomy when they found she had cervical cancer but it saved her life! She was very young too in her early 20's. Our poor mother however was very prudish when it came to discussing anything to with sex or medical issues in that department presented with bleeding after the menopause. I remember seeing some blood in the bottom of the toilet. When I asked her about it she blamed it on piles. She had been to her GP who had said, 'Oh it's nothing it's your age' she took his word as gospel. Our mother gave up smoking and put on quite a bit of weight having previously been tall and slim.We put her weight gain down to giving up smoking and eating more. She didn't go back to see her GP until she experienced pain. The hospital found she had a uterine cancer the size of a 26 week fetus! I was 36 when our mother died. She died of ignorance. I just wish I had known then what I know now. So all of you who have made your mind up not to have a smear for whatever reason, please, please find other ways you can have smear. I would hate for your children to lose their mother!

She didn’t but you said you were shocked that “people” avoid it. I just pointed out that pain and trauma are two reasons why some people avoid it.

@User748937744 😂 Really glad they genuinely didn’t find any twigs or leaves! I started to wonder about your outdoor sexlife!!

They’re better than they used to be!! Thankfully!!

I actually just booked mine. Even making the phone call sends me into a spin. It’s not the test that bothers me , it’s knowing that once that test is done the anxiety of waiting for the result sets in ., then when the result is no doubt positive for HPV /dodgy cells again it’s then the wait for the colposcopy and then the sickening wait for the post man dropping the letter through the door starts again for this result . Repeat each year .

You'll always get people responding negatively and looking for something to criticise, usually using clever language in an attempt to put down the rest of us. That's just another day in the MN office. The OP's resilient.

So lame that people are replying negatively. Well done OP - I’m 43 and I’m shy/lazy/have moved home. Buts no excuse, and I’ve been a heavy smoker all my life. I will book mine off the back of your thread - THANK YOU!!

Re nuns, the study in Ghana tested 105 nuns and 25 of them were HPV pos. Don't know how many were high risk. Of these, 4 had abnormal cells, 2 of whom had further investigation. Both were OK. These results were much the same as in the general population. You might get a scattering of nuns having had sex, but you wouldn't expect as much infection as with other women. It strongly suggests there are other methods of transmission.

I think you mean well .Sadly your own experience is just that really .your own take on an intimate and sometimes traumatic test.Millions of women are tested and by the law of averages not all are going to have the same outcome.My own have been mixed .They are often uncomfortable and invasive .I dont think it is helpful to assume just because you had a good experience that we all will!

No screening programme is ever 100% going to catch every case, this newer testing programme will catch more, not fewer cases. Last I saw, Public Health Scotland were reporting NO cases of cancer in women who had been vaccinated against HPV. Obviously it's early days in both vaccinations and HPV-primary testing but everything points to this being the most effective route to go down because cervical cancer is so overwhelmingly caused by HPV.

I do agree that making women go through the full smear process when they're not routinely testing the samples is not great. They're already talking about rolling out at-home tests to certain groups though so I presume that's the way it'll go in the longer term for everyone, but we know the NHS don't change things quickly!

Is that deaths?

Oh right, didn't realise it can come and go. In which case only testing for HPV at smear tests sounds dangerous. It all seems very confusing to me.

She could have had caught it decades ago. In the 3 years since her last negative test she’d had 3 bouts of bad covid , most likely knocking her immune system and flaring up a previous infection . HPV lies dormant and can come and go. I was negative and then positive after pregnancy , again something that knocks your immune system. I knew I already had it as I’d had cells removed 15 years prior. Menopause is another thing that can lower your immunity and cause a flare up.

I was told my cervix looked perfectly healthy too … then the result came back with pre cancerous cells 🤔

But isn't she right to be suspicious? Unless that was her first ever HPV test? Sorry this may be my ignorance but it is sexually transmitted isn't it? How did she pick it up if not?

I
think it would be better to offer the self testing kits.

I HATE going for a smear - find it acutely embarrassing and get so worked up and anxious beforehand. I’ve had them regularly since I was 18 - am now 58 and due another but I don’t plan to make an appointment.

I had to scrape my friend off the ceiling a few years ago when she got her first HPV positive result at 40. Had to convince her that it didn’t mean her husband had cheated on her and how common it is. She said (her words) ‘they should make it clearer as she felt like an absolute slapper with an STI’

Yes, communication was and is an issue. Last time I went for a mammogram (Ireland) it was all very clearly explained in the booklet they gave me to read BUT I’m not sure it would clear to someone who had English as a second language or whose literacy was poor for whatever reason.