I’ve never had a smear test and I don’t want one either

You can't couch your lack of critical thinking skills in political-sounding wordiness. We're not buying it. You sound plain scared and in denial.

I still respect your decision to have or not have any procedure you choose. But what is this conversation for?

My 18th birthday and my mum wakes me up with 'happy birthday' and presents me with a letter that has arrived i
for me in the post that day... a smear test invitation. I was mortified and embarrassed. I then got reminder letters. So I phoned the surgery to ask them to stop the reminders.

Years later. Jade Goody then passed away. I booked a test asap and have had regular ones since.

I was so naive and stupid.

It’s the same with other cancer screening tests, blood in your shit doesn’t automatically mean you have colon cancer, a high white blood cell count doesn’t automatically mean you have leukemia, a dense white blob on a mammogram doesn’t automatically mean you have breast cancer, a dodgy mole caught in a skin cancer screening and surgically excised doesn’t mean you definitely have skin cancer.

No cancer screening test that comes back positive means you automatically have cancer. That’s why we use biopsies to definitively diagnose cancer type and stage.

It's no longer a test looking for precancerous cells, it's only testing for HPV.

I am probably in the minority here, but smear tests just don't phase me at all. Nurses do these tests day in day out, it is nothing they haven't seen before. A smear test could save my life, why would I refuse something that can saves lives , it takes minutes to do.

You are naive to think you are low risk , cancer can happen to anyone. You mention genetics, but someone in a family has to be the first person to get cancer, it could be you.

The smear test is not very efficient in finding the precancerous cells. Its often falsly negative of falsly positive.

One thing which discourages women from getting tested is the invasive method of testing for HPV. It's no longer a 'smear test' looking for cell abnormalities. The HPV test can be done non-invasively. Why doesn't the NHS do this and thereby encourage more women to participate? Is it just easier to treat us like cattle like in the old days perhaps?

What then you ask...

In 2017 there were 3300 people in the UK diagnosed with cervical cancer (the vaccine was rolled out in 2006 so the first cohort to have had it would be around 24, the impact of the vaccine would be minimal across the total UK population of women at that point - ie very few diagnoses prevented)

0.3% of 3300 women is just under 10 women to have non HPV cervical cancer in 2017 in the UK

It would be massively unrealistic for the NHS to fund a national screening programme to detect 10 cancers a year.

Yes, with good uptake, the HPV screening process will become useless and it will stop. That will be the point of success, much like vaccination eradicated smallpox and we don't vaccinate for it anymore

Amount of ignorance on this thread is astounding. Just like anti vaccers. Mumsnet medical experts out in force

Agreed by who? And I’m not the one stating that a symptom and a cause are the same thing. That’s you. There is a massive difference between: “X may increase your chances of getting cancer” and “if X is present in your system it is likely to be an indication of cancer”.

I didn't detect any signs of OP feeling morally superior. What made you think that?

Its a HPV screen. HPV doesnt automatically mean you will get cancer. Most HPV infections will clear by themselves. As in your body will deal with them without medical intervention,

Jade Goody is hardly a good example of NHS competence in diagnosing and treating cervical cancer.

And if you've done YOUR research, you will know that the small percentage of cervical cancer that isn't caused by HPV wouldn't be picked up at an early stage by the current smear test anyway, as it tests for HPV.

So by all means write a high and might post thinking you're better and more informed.. but at least make sure you are, first.

You dont. Not sure if that what all doctors would tell you.

Prostate screening isn't a gold standard in detecting prostate cancer. Cervical screening is a gold standard. Prostate screening is well on the way to becoming gold standard. The reason the GP are so persistent in encouraging you to have your smear is because if abnormalities are detected early enough, they are very treatable. If they are found too late it is a potential death sentence. Prostate cancer is much more treatable than cervical cancer. I would urge anyone eligible to have their smear. However, it is your body, your choice. I think rather than going with the line of thinking that your risk isn't high (which is naive) think if you would be at peace with a cervical cancer diagnosis, and all that would entail. If you would be ok with this. Don't get your smear.

How is it disgusting? What’s disgusting is posting stuff like the OP which will potentially discourage other women from getting tested.

Exactly. Some responses on this thread make me despair for humanity.

I'm not even going to justify this disgusting post with a response.

I haven't read other comments only your original post. It was enough to make me zoom to the comments. My auntie passed away aged 51 due to cervical cancer. She had no risk factors, was fit as a fiddle, a little pocket rocket......and she wouldn't have smears. She left 4 darling kids. At the end of the day you might feel like an invincible 30 odd year old, just remember that you'll not always be that invincible. You'll definitely not be that invincible if you die pointlessly.

True, I didn’t say the number or incidence of HPV independent cervical cancers were rising, but that the share of HPV independent cancers is rising. Which is the correct but far less wordy way to explain what you just did.

I don’t agree that means the screening process is still valid. To my mind, it is quickly becoming outdated as it is based on the majority of the population being unvaccinated. As the first cohort of vaccinated age groups age, then as you say, there will eventually be 0% of cervical cancers caused by HPV. What then? No cervical cancer screening at all? The HPV test will become clinically useless as a cancer screening tool. In my opinion, they will have to update the screening because these are still lives being lost. Mothers, daughters, sisters. The fight against cancer isn’t over when you can just write off thousands of deaths because it used to be tens of thousands.

@Shakeyourwammyfannyfunkysong "The smear is very efficient at detecting precancerous cells which can be treated and cancer prevented." They don't test for precancerous cells anymore, they test for HPV. Which can be done in other non-invasive ways.

Edit: that's why it's now called 'cervical screening' not 'smear test'. See also https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-testing-kits-for-lifesaving-checks-against-cervical-cancer

I have no family history of any sort of cervical/womb cancer... but I have had pre cancerous cells removed three times.
I think you're being ridiculous. That's only my opinion, though, you have the right to choose aht you want to do.
Just going to remind you of Jade Goody...

It's your body and you can do what you want with it but please don't try and sound clever bringing feminism into it. The reason Men aren't offered Prostate screening has nothing to do with the fact that they're men. The PSA is nowhere near as reliable as the smear that's why men aren't routinely called for it. The PSA test has a very high false positive rate so if we screened all men we'd have a large proportion of men needing invasive surgery to biopsy their prostate who didn't need it. The PSA test also has no latent phase ie there has to be an active cancer in order for us to accurately detect a cancer. The smear is very efficient at detecting precancerous cells which can be treated and cancer prevented. There is unfortunately no such test for men. If you don't want your smear then that's fine don't go for it. Call your surgery and ask them to stop contacting about it. However it's dangerous to spread misinformation about things that you clearly aren't an expert about.

Totally 100% agree. They're not testing samples of cells from your actual cervix anymore, they're testing for HPV which can be done non-invasively. Exactly right that they continue to treat us like cattle.