Attempted to have smear test today but nurse couldn't do it

[shyalice]

And now i feel so ashamed because everyone else seems to breeze through them like they're no big deal but I never do.

Had 2 other smears previously which were both so painful and took several attempts over several appointments to complete.

The nurse today was lovely and because today failed she will refer me somewhere else to have it done but I just wanted to be out of there and didn't really catch where she was referring me to.

Not sure why this has to be so hard and why I can't just be normal 😭

I wonder how much depends on point in the cycle or other random factors. I’ve had really varied experiences of smears. I’ve had some that have been very easy but my last one was hard going. The nurse was lovely and doing lots of reassuring but it did really hurt and I bled a lot for a couple of days. I wasn't sure if the sample was going to be accepted as it was so bloody but it seemingly was fine. It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach for a day or so afterwards as well.

Agree with other posters that you probably have a tilted cervix.
I have a tilted cervix and find smears excruciating. And I blame the staff for the pain because it's not that rare but they just shove the equipment up and dont seem to give a stuff. No empathy or consideration given.

I really dont know if I can bear it again. I leave in pain and angry to have been needlessly assaulted.

Christ there is nothing to feel embarrassed or ashamed about. My GP practice hasn’t been able to do mine for years and I refused to go in the end because it hurt so badly. In the end they sent me to the colposcopy clinic at the local hospital who are fantastic. The first time a consultant tried, the pain was unbelievable and I fainted. Since then I have the most fantastic nurse to do it who uses anaesthetic gel, longer brushes and does the vinegar test, the whole MOT, while another nurse holds your hand and chats to you. Honestly I’ve never felt so cared for and listened to. Push for or accept the referral OP

Is there somewhere else one can go other than a cramped GP surgery?

Now I think back, the nurse at my GP surgery really rammed the equipment up me whilst i asked her to stop. And its always the same woman.

But that's just completely ridiculous. They should not be doing smears if they can't do them properly! That sounds awful.

I agree, I think it's a worse pain than child birth. When I had a vaginal examination before a C-section I was gripping the bed and sweating, I remember asking the midwife if it was normal for it to hurt like it was and she said l took it well! It's really common

Yes and I think a lot is down to the person doing it. About half my smears are absolutely fine, my last one was incredibly painful! I really think there needs to be some standards in nursing/medics that you are not just ‘taught’, you are vetted to see if you can actually doing a procedure without causing extreme pain!

That’s horrendous and yes it’s because it’s ‘only’ women who need to experience it they haven’t solved the issue .

I’d definitely have made a complaint and Hope others do complain about this doctor. personally I wouldn’t want a male doing it but especially one with that sort of attitude.

Just wanted to put a little note on here that personally I don't have any issue with smears. Not trying to be smug or downplay experiences of others but conscious no one else has yet said they find smears fine, so I would hate people to get the impression that maybe all smears are bad 😔wish there was a way to improve the experience for everyone though.

I have had this problem several times, my doctor now prescribes me a Valium to take beforehand and it works, worth asking for.

Reading this is really shocking. I don’t enjoy smears at all but force myself to go. I haven’t experienced pain and a sense of being violated. That would only have to happen once and I wouldn’t go again. Reading these accounts is really horrific .

I had my first one last year at 29/30 just so I can conceive via clinic.. I researched it before as I was actually quite scared about it! I read I can ask for a smaller speculum or the smallest one they have and that they usually have 2 different sizes.

when the time came I made sure to ask for the smallest one available and made sure the nurse knew I never had one before.. It was still painful and the worst part is that instead of her bringing everything over at once she left it in there to walk over the other side of the room just to put the sample brush thing back in the container! I didn’t understand the pain as much though as she assured to use lots of lube but regardless it seemed like the entrance area was tearing (and after when i wiped the lube it was bleeding!).

weirdly enough my gf was booked one a few weeks after me and I told her to make sure she asks for the smallest one available.. she did that but said she felt violated regardless (which we all do) but for her the only and most painful part was the brush thing against her cervix! I thought that was really strange because I didn’t feel the brush thing at all, all I felt was that speculum and no sensation on the cervix which made me wonder if it’s normal to not even feel touch on the cervix in the smear test🧐🤔.

when I started IUI for my pregnancy I had so many speculums inserted and catheters inserted into my cervix and again asked for the smallest speculum but always felt nothing on the cervix always entrance ripping pain! Also the IUI was done in a private fertility clinic and they didn’t use lube but tap water which i though was weird. I always have this weird “catching” pain once it’s in there especially if they rotate it and feel that every time now I’m pregnant with internal scans! Weird catching pain.

make sure to ask for the smallest Speculum they have available and being tense and worried makes you close up and cause more pain.. like many others have said you might actually have a medical reason why your having the pain you are.. but getting it done in a clinic or specialist place may be best next time as you going through this agony is going to make you give up fully soon!

Please don't, it shouldn't be an ordeal

I just had a terrible smear last week. It was so painful and I was screaming but instead of stopping she kept going and got the sample. Afterwards she kept giving me weird looks and saying that wasn't normal. Some of them make you feel so bad about feeling pain, it's so common actually but I left feeling like I was a freak and there must be something wrong with me.

I used to be a practice nurse and did smears regularly nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about it depends on where you are in your cycle and the natural position of your cervix. I (hopefully) was always very gentle and respectful of my patients having had uncomfortable smears myself. If I couldn’t find the cervix would always ask if they were happy for me to have another go or try a new position. If I can’t find it I always think its my inability rather than the patient.
the only people completing smears are qualified nurses/doctor staff who have done extra training and are either being signed off (under supervision) or have passed and are competent.

I continuously had smears where they struggled to "find" my cervix and I often came away with infections where they had rummaged down there for so long...it wasn't until years later at a smear test that the nurse informed me I had a tilted cervix. Explains a lot!

I've had this @shyalice sorry you had this because it's not nice the thought of having to go back either.

Can someone explain the job home test vs going to the gp? I would be happy to do a home hpv test, is this sufficient to replace a smear because last time as pp have said I went home bleeding and being told I had to have another one. I've now sheepishly ignored my last call for one.

Someone else will have more in depth knowledge, but basically they used to send all the collected cells away for proper testing. Now they don't do that - they test for the HPV virus (because that causes most, though not all, cervical cancer). Only if the HPV test comes back positive do they then send the cells for further testing. So if you don't have the HPV virus, your cell sample gets binned. The only exception to this, as far as I know, would be if the person doing the smear noticed anything visually abnormal during the smear.

You can buy the HPV tests and do it at home, it's a swab, then it gets sent of to be tested for hpv.

onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/hpv-test.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw2cWgBhDYARIsALggUhrpu2Rb0lgSQK0lMlWhzQLYjV1YL5iXG5LKia1HzPApNiOX1C48JRoaAvGJEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Thank you @SirSamVimesCityWatch

I have this issue and it's an ordeal every time. I have tilted cervix. What's helped so far is going in from the side or fists under bum legs froggy style, I firmly request the smallest speculum they have, extra gelly and deep breaths and tell them exactly where my cervix is. Stops the rooting around. Paracetamol pre appt helps as well.