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

But you do have the right to that decision regarding your body.
You will never be forced to have a smear test so if you don’t want one you don’t need to have one so I’m really struggling to see what you want others to say

I know how you feel, for a long time in my 20s I was terrified of getting a smear, I had a phobia of internal exams and it felt so unnatural to have a foreign object inserted into me.
I even had the nurse try and do it without the speculum as I hated that part. I finally got past the phobia as I knew it was important to get the test done. I'm so glad I did , having a smear test last Spring informed me that I have CIN 3 cells and HPV. I then got treated. If I hadn't done that smear , I would be walking about unknowingly with CIN 3 cells which could eventually develop into cancer.

I think you're talking nonsense with your morally superior comment and don't see what the point was of posting. What was the point for you?

It offends people, OP, because they have been brainwashed /conditioned to do as they are told and just because you are pointing out things they pushed aside or didnt even think about, they get angry because by agreeing with you they would have to admit to themselves that they could have done better at evaluating the situation.

You’re perfectly reasonable, OP. If you don’t have HPV there’s no reason to get a pelvic exam as HPB causes something like 99.2% of cervical cancer.

I don’t have HPV and I’ve never had one. I have done the noninvasive HPV test, which is also used in the US where I’ve moved. From what my doctor has said in the States they have been using the HPV vaccine for a good 20+ years now and are moving to the swab tests to determine who actually needs a pelvic exam. I have no desire to have my body cavity cranked open unnecessarily and that has nothing whatsoever to do with sex.

They don't test for pre-cancerous cells anymore. Screening these days is just a test for HPV. Which can be done via methods other than invasive/speculum. You're missing OP's point - OP@Seventeenstars - I agree with her, I won't do it either.

I get you @Seventeenstars and it is your right to refuse. I am over 20 years older than you, and women of my generation were bullied into smear tests. I was threatened with refusal of the birth control pill IF I refused the smear. I think they must have got a financial bonus for every woman they manipulated and bullied did a smear test on ...

Almost every smear test has been uncomfortable or painful. I have had just 2 or 3 that have been fine. I have refused them too since I was 50 - nearly 10 years. I keep getting mithered by the GP practice and have opted out and asked for no more reminders several times. They still send the reminders though. I wish they would stop. It's fucking annoying. There is ZERO history of cancer in my family. Yeah yeah yeah, I know there's always a first time, and it has to start somewhere....😴

I have also refused every breast screening 'offer.' I am not having one until they find a way to screen womens breasts that doesn't involve squashing them as flat as a pancake between 2 large metal plates, causing searing agony, and almost certainly damaging delicate breast tissue. They are also known for causing false positives and making women have procedures they need not have had. And GOD knows what damage is being done when the breasts are flattened.

This same way of breast screening was done in the late 1980s. How the fuck they have not come up with a better, simpler, less painful way to do it in 40+ years just baffles me. Same with smears. There are other alternatives, yet they make women have this gross, frankly medieval invasive procedure of having a speculum shoved up their vagina, and then their fucking cervix scraped with a spoon! And like with breast screening, they can - and DO - give false positives. And result in women having unneccesary treatment/procedures.

You can bet if either of the above were for MEN, they would have found alternatives within about a week!

But wait, there is an alternative instead of a smear test, yet they try to make most women go through the medieval way...

And why, just WHY have they not found another way to do breastscreening, in 40 years?!

.

Would it solve some of those problems to allow the woman to do it herself, with privacy in the same place a smear would normally be carried out?

They used to test every sample for abnormal cells so it very much is and was possible. I’m not arguing against the science, I’m making the argument that calling a smear test a cancer screening is now factually incorrect and disingenuous. It’s a HPV test first and foremost.

See, this is the kind of fear mongering that is incredibly unhelpful.
These days, smear tests primarily test for HPV, and only if that's positive do they check for cell changes.
OP says she gets HPV tests. So that is just as good as the current smear test.

There is a currently a clinical trial of home HPV tests with the view to replace the traditional smear, and early indications are that it's a good alternative - particularly with so many now having had the vaccinations.

1 in 142 people get cervical cancer. 98% of those had an active HPV infection, so OP's at home HPV test is all that is actually required.

Well it gave me a laugh anyway!

No because a mammogram is actually a cancer screen. Whereas a smear test is now a HPV screen.

You're an adult. You've made a choice. You're the one who will have to live with the potential consequences of your decision.

Do you need a cheer squad? 🤔

Proding and poking during pregnancy is not neccessary. More over its fairly risky to have internal exams in pregnancy.

Oh my sorry posted on wrong thread shall get it deleted
sorry genuine mistake 😧

What a stupid reply. Obviously men dont have a cervix but have their own bodyparts and organs. Which they dont have a specialist doctor like women do.

With smear tests??

It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not that we can’t find our vaginas and do a HPV swab, it’s that it’s not like an ancestry DNA kit. The swab could be mishandled and contaminated. The swab also needs to get to a lab within 24hrs of collection, it also has temperature requirements to keep the sample stable. I think that many DIY swabs will not give accurate test results. So women will have a false sense of security or they do the DIY and then have to go in anyway because it didn’t get to the lab within the 24hrs of collection deadline. It just doesn’t logistically check out as the best and most accurate way to test.

It tests for HPV - which can cause cancer.

If HPV is detected then the sample is screened for abnormal cells.

They are unable to test every sample for abnormal cells, that would be insane and just not possible.

But if you want more in depth tests then I’m sure you can go private and have a smear test that way and pay for them to test for abnormal cells at the same time.

My sister died at 32 years old from cervical cancer. She was too scared to have her smear done. Needless to say, she endured much more traumatic procedures once she was diagnosed
I will spend the rest of my life wondering if that smear test would have saved her life. No real history of cancer in our family either.
You don't have to have one done..it's a strange thing to be angry about. Me? I feel fortunate there is a screening procedure available that might prevent me dying like my sister. Cervical cancer is a horrible way to die btw. My sister spent the last 10 weeks with a catheter and tubes in her kidneys as it spread there and she had no bladder control. There was no dignity

Exactly this. It’s a computer says no approach to women’s healthcare where they guilt trip millions of women to take part in an invasive procedure and then not even bother to conduct the cancer screening. And we just accept it.

No idea why less invasive procedures aren’t used nor the comparison to prostrate screening for men

I had abnormal cells picked up years ago and had treatment and many colposcopies. I hate smears and find them very uncomfortable

however I am grateful - very grateful - that screening is available and the 1-2 mins discomfort is a tiny price to pay for privilege of having access to screening and follow up treatment if it’s needed

Offering women a do it yourself swab while keeping the option open for a smear would result in more women taking up the screening.

For me, it makes sense to offer women the choice.

Like the op, to I don't do smears any more but have paid for my own screening and should soon be offered it for free.

Because it’s been proven to save lives - young woman below screening age have died because they have not been offered screening tests. If you don’t want them just inform your GP practice and they will remove your name from the screening list. Out of interest will you have the same thoughts about bowel screening and breast screening as and when you are the right age group?