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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To find smear tests so painful?

51 replies

Aliveinwanderland · 03/03/2017 19:41

I've always found them painful but today was the first one since giving birth 4 months ago. I figured if a 7lb baby can come out of there surely a speculum going in can't hurt?! I was very wrong! I screamed the place down, even after the nurse had swapped to the smaller one. Why on earth do I find them so painful?

OP posts:

AlmostAJillSandwich · 03/03/2017 20:24

I'm 27 and haven't had one. I have OCD that would make it really difficult for me to have one done as i'd feel as dirty as if i'd gone to the toilet without washing my hands to undress, have them fiddle about then re dress, and i'd panic it would somehow cause me to wee or something when doing it.
It WOULD be possible however, but i felt really uncomfortable at the thought of the first person to ever be fiddling round down there (still a virgin) to be a complete stranger and not someone i wanted to be intimate with. I really struggled with my boobs being seen when i had to have a heart scan after a suspected blood clot, the thought of someone seeing my genitals is too uncomfortable.

TheHuntingOfTheSarky · 03/03/2017 20:25

I have always hated them too until my last one, where once it was obvious I was in pain she just tried a different shaped speculum (I believe it was narrower and longer) and, lo and behold, no pain whatsoever. If only I'd known different shapes were available 20 years earlier

Pibplob · 03/03/2017 20:27

Agree with jaguarama. If you put your hands under your bum it's much less painful. I'm tilted apparently and find it painful. She has to use the smallest speculum and I need to do the hands trick to have eve a chance.

strangeclouds · 03/03/2017 20:34

I've only had one. It was one of the worst experiences of my life. I cried from the pain during the smear. As well as the physical pain I felt traumatised and cried on the way home and for some time after that. I bled for the next two or three days. I've had transvaginal ultrasounds and other internal procedures but the smear was still atrocious. I'm glad it's not like that for everyone.

PippaPug · 03/03/2017 20:40

Sorry to jump on your thread Alive but do you get a letter every three years or are you supposed to remember?

CPtart · 03/03/2017 20:53

I find it hard to see how you did your own Shania Twang. I'm a practice nurse that does smears and you need to see the centre of the cervix clearly (the os) to get the sample. Physically impossible to see yourself! Also we don't use a swab, we use a brush. Was it a high vaginal swab or a smear you did??

CPtart · 03/03/2017 20:54

....and Pippa, you should get a letter.

Ledehe · 03/03/2017 20:58

All you tilted cervix ladies. A deep cough and a jump. Hands in fists under your bum right away. Works a treat with me since my new nurse started and used these tips. Mines used to be hard to find too

Catlady1976 · 03/03/2017 22:01

My last one was horrendous. The nurse did her best but couldn't get a sample. It was so painful. Came back and saw a different nurse and got it 1St tine. Still damn uncomfortable but far better

MinesaPinot · 03/03/2017 22:37

I have always hated them with a passion. Always been very good and never missed one, but OMG they have always hurt, whoever is doing them. They have got noticeably worse since the Menopause I have to say. Lots of deep breathing and the thought of a recouperative bacon sarnie in the caff afterwards......

Palegreenstars · 03/03/2017 22:39

Oh god. I have my first post birth one tomorrow and should not have clicked on this thread. Some good advice though - am going to take a pain killer first.

NameChangedddd · 03/03/2017 23:05

Are you having this experience with the same nurse?

I only ask because the practice I go to had a nurse who was experienced (in the sense of older and a lot time as a nurse) but was very bad at doing smears. I only knew there was a problem because I'd moved areas and never had an issue before.

After 2 or 3 years of seeing her and having her struggle to get the speculum in and it being extremely uncomfortable/painful and her huffing and puffing, I then specifically requested the other practice nurse and haven't had a problem since.

Not all nurses are equally competent. May not be your issue here - but thought I'd mention it.

Hidingtonothing · 03/03/2017 23:14

The nurse at my doctors is a sadist so I go to the family planning clinic for mine, it's done in 2 minutes flat and pain free, guess they've had a lot of practice

ollieplimsoles · 03/03/2017 23:33

Oh dear op I really feel for you, I have a tilted cervix and uterus, putting fists under my bum helped a bit

Internal exams were the worse part of being in labour, I had to have gas and air to get through them.

hollinhurst84 · 03/03/2017 23:35

Fists under bum or lie on side. Ask if you can insert speculum yourself

bananafish81 · 03/03/2017 23:37

I have speculums up my fanjo at least once a month as part of my fertility treatment. Have also had a few smears and a colposcopy and cervical biopsy recently, so it's been speculums a gogo. Speculum technique definitely varies. My fertility consultant has an amazing technique, which is handy as he's in there whacking a catheter up my cervix every few weeks. The smears however, whilst they didn't hurt, felt like I was being jacked open like the channel tunnel

I've never been in labour (evidently, hence all the fertility treatment!) so no comparison. I'd suggest breathing out as the speculum goes in - they should tell you 'deep breath' when they're about to insert it

I did nearly break the speculum last week as I have a hypertonic pelvic floor Vagina of steel wouldn't have been my super power of choice, the poor consultant was trying to wrestle the damn thing out of me...

SabineUndine · 03/03/2017 23:39

I bloody hate them. My last one, the nurse was really insensitive and going on about me 'making a fuss, we're all the same down there', well no we aren't, women come in all sizes and she should know that. Then she told me I was pushing the speculum out and shoved it back in, so hard I started crying. That resulted in another tirade. So I got dressed and on my way out I had to step down and as I did my bladder gave way.

Obsidian77 · 03/03/2017 23:41

I have always found them painful and the last few, since having DCs, have been horrible enough to make me cry. And I don't cry.

SallyCanWait · 03/03/2017 23:47

I used to think they hurt too but ladt week I had to have a biopsy and jesus Christ the smear was a walk in the park compared to that.

normastits5 · 04/03/2017 00:05

I have always dreaded them as always painful. After childbirth that changed and I managed to have a couple of mildly uncomfortable ones, happy days 😀. However the last one was awful again, almost cried as now I will be dreading the next one again. Really really hate them

bananafish81 · 04/03/2017 00:18

Question to those who have given birth (who presumably also have smears!). I have always been under the impression that labour was the most painful thing you could experience alongside third degree burns and kidney stones. I have chronic pain and often get asked to rate my pain on a level from 1 to 10. I've never been in labour so I assume that I've not really known serious pain yet.

In the last few weeks I've had smears, cervical punch biopsies and last week endometrial biopsies punching holes out of my womb, and considered these mildly uncomfortable. Given I can't seem to get or stay pregnant, the likelihood of me ever experiencing labour seems vanishingly small. But I always assumed something like a smear would be like a tickle compared to squeezing out a person. Is this not always the case? Sorry for naive question but have no experience of delivering a baby and am curious!

MommaGee · 04/03/2017 00:21

Hate them, always cry in pain. Find using the lower one is actually better, think I'm a bit tilty

MommaGee · 04/03/2017 00:25

Mine came out the emergency hatch so no idea banana but good luck xx

HelenaDove · 04/03/2017 01:13

Im in a celibate marriage. I find smear tests excrutiatingly painful and my next one is due later this year.

The PP who mentioned it feels like glass up there is absolutely right.

Original poster

Aliveinwanderland · 04/03/2017 01:37

Bananafish- I found that labour was a totally different pain. It was much worse, but I was ready for it and expected it. However I remember finding internal exams during labour very very painful and worse than the giving birth part.

OP posts:

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