To not want to have a smear test?

[bubalou]

Before some of you pounce - I am fully aware of the medical reasons behind having them done.

I'm not deiberating over whether to have 1 or not - I will and I know that I have to - but have heard some horror stories and am scared.

I'm 26 and know I need to have 1. Am I worrying over nothing?

terracotta pie No they don't "have to have them as well". No-one has to have a smear test. My best friend is a GP and she doesn't have them, and nor do any of her female practice staff. The reason they don't is because they are properly informed about the risks and benefits and choose, on that basis, not to undergo them.

Carabos you're just nitpicking. Of course it is an informed choice. The OP knows she doesn't 'have' to have a smear. She wants one though. But she's a little worried about having it.

I was trying to help her get through what can be an uncomfortable moment by reminding her that they are likely (there, is that better?) to have been there themselves and will appreciate how she will be feeling.

carabos what are the risks to a smear all these HCPs are aware about? Genuine question!

It's a bit embarrassing, but definitely needs to be done. I always find the worse bit is taking off my undies! It's uncomfortable for about a minute and the. You don't need to worry about it.

The last one I had was over in seconds & barely hurt at all. Definitely insist on a female doctor or nurse, though, if you don't like the idea of a man doing it.

I just had a smear. Like you, I was dreading it. It really hurt and was awful but over in 15 mins, and they have found some abnormal cells so I'm really glad I went. The way I see it, it's relatively short term discomfort for long term gain.

I assume carabos was referring to the risk of cervical cancer rather than the risk of the smear itself.

I think the stats are something daft like 35,000 women have to be screened for 10 years to prevent one case of cervical cancer (or something like that - I don't have them in front of me).

I recently had a mildly abnormal smear and did some reading about them which has led me to question screening. My mild result gives me about a 1% chance of developing cervical cancer but has caused me a lot of anxiety and if I had blindly followed my dr's advice would have led to treatment on my cervix (but I prefer to adopt a wait and see approach as 90% of mild abnormalities clear up by themselves and treatment can have some pretty bad side effects). Having given it a lot of thought, I want to keep having smears because I would want to know if a severe abnormality or cancer cells are detected, but frankly I wish they hadn't told me about the mildly abnormal result! Apparenly up to 40% of women will have an "abnormal" smear at some point, which actually makes having an abnormality pretty normal!

They are really not bad at all, they use lube, it doesn't hurt and the nurses who do it are always lovely and very understanding and gentle with you.

I'm used to them now I had a few problems with cervical erosion a few years back meaning I had to have an internal, and I'm on yearly smears. LOiuke others have said treat yourself to something afterwards. The worst bit is probably after you'll feel quite messy because of the lube!

The reason for trying to have the Pap test around mid-cycle is because the cervical epithelium (skin) changes with your hormone levels.
When oestrogen is low, the epithelium is quite thin and immature - a sample taken then can be harder to interpret and read because the normal immature cells share similar features with abnormal cells.
If the sample is taken during or shortly after menstruation then you can end up with more blood and endometrial tissue (womb lining) than cervical cells to get an accurate reading or they can get in the way of reading the sample.
Other things that affect the appearance of cervical calls are:

• use of depo proverb
• use of IUCD or Mirena
• use of OCPs or POPs
• infections e.g. Candida
• use of other medication such as Tamoxifen, HRT
• previous treatment e.g. LLETZ
• previous treatment e.g. Radiotherapy, chemotherapy
• conditions such as endometriosis

What bad side effects, euro chick? I had a colposcopy earlier this year, which was fine, and I wasn't told about much beyond slight chance of infection and early delivery in subsequent pregnancy (very small chance). My aunt died of cervical cancer at 38 though, which is 2 years older than I am now, so I find it hard to be cavalier about.

IMO, cervical screening is much nicer than dental treatment!

If you don't want to wear a long loose skirt, a tunic length top and long socks with trousers means fairly little exposed flesh while having it taken.

You can ask for a speculum of a different length/width if the first one used isn't quite the right size. I find the sensation of a speculum being opened inside me really odd, the best way I can describe it is as a sharp ache. I classify it as mildly painful rather than as 'uncomfortable' or anything else, but it's well within the realms of sensations I'm willing to tolerate once every three years for a screening test.