To ask if smear tests are as worth having anymore?

[sandradailys]

Not saying they're not worth having, but wondering if they're worth having as much as they use to be

Before I get shot down, this is because -

I have read they don't actually send of cell samples anymore, they're just checking for HPV?

So they're not the same anymore. It just checks for HPV?

And if you didn't have it the last time, and haven't had sex or still married, it isn't going to suddenly come up on the next one if it was negative last time?

I'm really trying to debate if it's worth getting. For very private reasons that are extremely painful.

Thank you to anyone who can clear my lack of knowledge up! Or point me in the right direction

"I hate all the guilting involved with smear tests - do men get the same about prostate checks??"

No, but then the former is a speculum up the vagina and the latter is two fingers up the arse.

I don't think the wife or partner of a 45 year old man is going to be happy with him not getting checked and will nag him to get two fingers shoved up his arse. Running a finger across the prostate is pleasurable for the man, but NOT in a doctor's office of all places.

A side note re pain - I’ve started having my smear tests at a sexual health clinic instead of GPs as GP nurses had been cack handed and painful. I think it was a too I read on here - sexual health nurses more practised with a speculum. Certainly has been less painful so far.

@Raddix I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm still HPV positive, I tested myself but because of the chemo and radiotherapy I had to treat my cervical cancer, I no longer go for smears as they will always show dodgy cells.

So now I'm symptom led. Which considering I had no symptoms last time I had cervical cancer, is a bit of a worry.

And insult us at the same time by calling us "cervix havers".

I had a colposcopy done last year for abnormal bleeding, apparently hpv was picked up then.... not that I was told this.
My most recent smear was clear as was my previous smear 3 or 4 years ago.

My first ever smear(12 years ago) I had abnormal cells and had to have a loop biopsy, the affected area was quite large. Thankfully all colposcopy's after that were clear.

So yes it can come and go!

I thought the exact same. I was a little shocked when I got the result just saying negative for hpv it was my first smear and I’d lost my virginity 10 years before,.. cervical cancer usually takes 10 years to develop where as hpv can go on it’s own within 2 years… so if I had hpv 10 years ago, I most definitely could have developed cancerous cells within this time and still test neg for hpv.

made me extra angry as my mum had stage 2 cervical cancer at my age…

apparently the reasoning is due to cost, and lives will ultimately be lost.

Exactly this. I was really upset, after yet another painful smear.

I have been with DH for 13 years. Slept with no one else. I got an abnormal smear last year and needed treatment.
It is worth going!

Sorry I haven't read the whole thread, but just wanted to say that a friend of mine who has never been sexually active was positive for HPV on her last smear.

So not having had a new partner doesn't mean you can't have it, there must be other ways of contracting it.

I had a routine smear in 2013. Within three days I received an appointment for a colposcopy and was told straight away I had cervical cancer as the doctor could clearly see a 4cm tumour on my cervix.
It was stage 3 and in one of my lymph nodes.
I had been married 16 years and have absolutely no doubt that my dh was faithful.
My experience is rare but it can happen.
I know smears are horrible but brachytherapy is a million times worse.

But they don't even test for cervical cancer like they use to, so with the new tests that would have not been diagnosed within 3 days, if diagnosed at all

Yes, it’s technically possible to contract it from non-sexual contact. Also from fingering and oral sex. There are many strains of HPV and some can live on surfaces, including potentially a speculum (ironically), or sex toys.

The Dr/nurse does routinely do a visual exam on the cervix as well when performing the smear — they don’t just wedge it up there and hope!

The nurse who does mine gives a little commentary on what she’s looking for (all the visual bits of the cervix apparently).

I could be wrong here but I thought that although HPV can put you at higher risk of cervical cancer it’s not the only cause of it so surely still worthwhile to go

Around 98.1 percent of cervical cancer cases are down to HPV, I believe.

It doesn’t just cause cervical cancer. I know of at least three people personally who have had oral or throat cancer in middle age, caused by sexually transmitted HPV, (and it can cause rectal cancers too from anal sex).

They don’t tell you that as a teenager — but if they did quite a few sexual practices would seem a lot more risky!

I've been HPV positive twice I a row. Was due my third smear in January this year but due to having a baby I'm now due next month. I've been with the same partner for years, and was told it comes up positive when your immune system is low. I've been on iron tablets since I was pregnant last year and still continue now so fingers crossed this year is negative.

(And a large proportion of HPV-caused throat cancers appear to be in men. The speculation is that somehow it passes more easily into men’s throats while giving oral sex to a woman with HPV.)

I've been wondering the same. Long-term relationship , no HPV.
I'm actually concerned they now only test for HPV because I had CIN3 but no HPV a few years ago and had a lletz procedure to remove abnormal cells.

So are they now saying my CIN3 cells never needed removing as they wouldn't turn cancerous??
Or should I be worried that I could actually get cervical cancer but would never know until its too late as I'm HPV negative??
To me the lack of through testing is a backward step.

But how does the 1% now get picked up , before it would have been with the smear . Now it gets missed if no HPV . 1% is still womens lives .

And if people are vaccinated against the most common cancer-causing strains of HPV, doesn't that mean that what was 1% when most oriole weren't vaccinated will become a bigger proportion of cases?

My recent one came back negative for HPV which was sort of annoying because I had that hot wire excision treatment for abnormal cervical cells over 20 years ago and it was probably unnecessary (didn’t really hurt but was a horrible experience and smelled like bacon!)

Oh well, at least medical knowledge has moved on a bit now and far fewer women will have bits removed from their cervix unnecessarily.

Wondering if it’s worth getting the HPV jab (privately, too old for NHS) now… likelihood of being exposed to the virus is pretty small but never say never - perhaps I will relive my wild youth in my dotage…

I’m confused by this too, so does this mean it’s impossible to get cervical cancer if you don’t have HPV?

I have had 2 smears , the first one was checking for abnormal cells and I felt really reassured by results and that it was worth having.

The last one just said I was negative for HPV and that was it. So I was just like well yeah, I’m vaccinated against HPV and have only had one sexual partner. Like if I had known the smear test was just testing for a disease I had been vaccinated against, I really wouldn’t have bothered with the discomfort of getting a smear test. What is actually the point of harvesting cervical cells if they can’t even be bothered to look at them? 🤨

But why is this? Is it NHS cost cutting or something? And what happens if you have cervical cancer but are negative for HPV? Like does this just go unnoticed? 🤔

Like why is womens health care so sh*t ? 🙄

Also some posters wondering about paying for the HPV vaccine privately, I totally would.

I think it’s worth getting if you are negative for HPV.

I feel very lucky to have been (just) in the age bracket to be offered this vaccine when I was a teenager.

According to this Australian website the tiny number of non HPV related cervical cancers weren’t picked up by smear screening programmes anyway?

www.cancer.org.au/cervicalscreening/about-the-test/what-about-non-hpv-related-cervical-cancers

I bought a swab test privately to check for the high risk HPV and I remain negative (no surprise, long term marriage, no change in circumstances). I will not be going for an invasive smear test, wasting my time and going through pain, while being HPV negative, since they will not even check the cells.