Smear Tests

[givingsummer]

I'm just back from the medieval practice that is a smear test.

I have questions.

1. HPV is a sexually-transmitted infection, yes? This is what causes the cells to mutate and potentially cause cancer.
2. If I am as sure as possible that I have not contracted HPV (e.g. celibacy/ same partner) since my last test, why do I need to have it? Can it lay dormant?
3. If they are just being extra certain (after all, none of us really knows 100% if our partner could be cheating), why is this the only sexually-transmitted infection they regularly test for?

99% or thereabouts of cervical cancer was caused by HPV. This is an older statistic applicable before the vaccine. So if you haven't had the vaccine this applies to you. The current statistic is different, as less people are now getting HPV related cervical cancer.

Smears test for HPV only now, so the non-HPV cancers won't be found unless you also coincidentally have HPV and then they'll look for abnormal cells.

If you are a virgin your chances of having HPV are very very tiny and arguably it's not worth going for smears. But if you have had sexual partners ever in your life, you could develop HPV at any time, regardless of a previous smear being negative. It can lie dormant for years.

There are at-home HPV tests you can buy if you wanted to try that next time instead?

1). Not just PIV, skin to skin contact & oral sex too. It interferes with cell division, replication and communication causing them to multiply uncontrollably.
2) yes. It can lie dormant for years
3) HPV is the one associated with higher cancer risk.

I think the move to test for HPV as the first, and therefore usually only, test for possible cervical cancer is all wrong.

I had clear smears for years now I’ve had multiple abnormal ones and waiting for another lot of biopsy results to come back. It’s stupid to think you don’t need one because you’ve had the same partner or been celibate. I actually went though a period of not having had sex and still developed the abnormal cells.

Theres nothing medieval about them either.

It really worries me that any woman of smear-age knows so little about their body to need to ask these questions.

Please please educate yourself on this OP, the NHS has lots of resources you can read through.

To be fair, OP has been going for her smears. We aren't all particularly interested in bodies/health and you can't know everything about everything. I think sometimes the NHS doesn't help by issuing the barest information aimed at 'the masses' with little detail/nuance about why things matter.

Sometimes asking on here actually helps others who read it too (I hope).

That what OP is doing, asking questions.
The NHS website is not the easiest to navigate and sometimes it is more useful getting a direction from MN from real people

It was the dormant part I was unaware of. Such a shame they can't test for "have you ever had this" and then leave you well alone if you are confident enough in your sexual history.

A lot of women do find the process medieval, or if you want to be pedantic, not literally medieval, but triggering, invasive and painful. There has to be a bloody good reason to put yourself through it (which of course there is), but also some women just don't or can't because of their own personal histories.

I am literally in the waiting room of my GP awaiting my smear test!

I think that’s an unfair comment @Mrsttcno1 I have had HPV in the past, and I had to go away and learn all about it. The NHS gave very little info to me really, though they did give me a leaflet.

I didn’t know it only tested for HPV now. I wonder why they can’t test for more than that. I know HPV is the highest risk.

The information on the NHS page is far more extensive & reliable. All you have to search is “NHS Cervical Screening” and the info on everything is there.

It's fabulous when people come onto a thread and tell us we're all wasting our time. Bravo. Perhaps there is such a thing as a man(plainer) born in a woman's body after all.

In other news: https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/cervical-screening/why-its-done/ does not explicitly say anything about HPV lying dormant - just you might have had it for a long time and not know - which is very different from the situation where you could previously test negative despite it lying dormant.

Thank you again for your service, ma'am.