To remind you to look after your cervix (cervices?!)

[FourForYouGlenCoco]

I know it's been done plenty of times, but one more won't hurt, right?
So long story short:
Went for (overdue) first smear last year, after DC2 was born. Borderline changes & HPV - sent for colposcopy, they went for 'watch and wait' and asked me to come back in 6 months.
Went back, severe dyskaryosis/CIN III. Back again a few weeks later for lletz under local.

The hospital is an hour+ away. The logistics of it all, organising someone to take DC1 to/from school, trekking baby DC2 back and forth with me - not fun. But I am so so relieved I didn't put it off, so relieved I didn't just assume everything would be alright. In the 6 months between colposcopies, cell changes happened really fast. If I'd left it...who knows?
The lletz was really not that bad either - I was very apprehensive beforehand but it was maybe 5 minutes and done. Minimal pain, minimal bleeding afterwards, and definitely a damn sight better than cervical cancer.

So please, please, PLEASE book your smear if it's due or overdue. Go to your appt, don't bury your head in the sand, don't put it off. I know it's not how you'd choose to spend an hour, but it's really not that bad. And it's so fucking important. So do it.

Polly i hope that if you have tested yourself for HPV and have been found negative, you still have your smear test.
Because HPV is not the only way you can get cancer. You can get cervical cancer EVEN IF you are HPV negative (or have aall clear smear tests as dyingToLive explained).

Please be mindful about misconceptions like this.

PollyPerky, it is one thing to share an experience. However, when you add into that 'you must go for this because of this one experience', you cannot be surprised when others interject with reasons why they wouldn't, or why it is unreasonable to expect all women to do the same. I don't feel I have been 'nasty' to the op (or any other poster), merely said why I disagree with the whole 'you must go for a smear' sentiment. It is not goady to disagree with being told to have a smear test.

Well, i think that people only get arsy when they are on the defensive because actually they know they dont have a leg to stand on.

So I ignore.

I'm due one soon I think I just wish they were easier to deal with.

I for one find them incredibly painful, I have a high pain tolerance usually but seem to have a quite sensitive vagina/cervix internals during labours were awful. Taking a couple of paracetamols before hand does nothing. I just wish there was a clinic you could go to that specialised in it and they could offer you proper pain relief gas and air would be enough just to get you through it.

I think that if there was a way to make them more bearable then more women would get them done. It's not just the inconvenience factor that's the issue.

A lot of the guilt is aimed at "woman must equal mummy" as well - the poor kiddiwinks dying because mummy didn't take the test she was told to. It's quite sickening.

Someone shared a picture of a little boy crying on a stair case with the caption mum missed her smear test, now I miss my mum and I just remember breaking down in tears when I saw it. Everybody is just going to think I was irresponsible and didn't attend smears when that is so far from the truth.

I had a family member die due to missing smears.

I find this comment really hard to understand. Missing smear tests is not what kills a person. That implies it's that person't fault, rather than the cancer. There's no guarantee a smear test would have picked up cancerous cells early enough for it to be treatable, and more often than not the "pre-cancerous" cells that are picked up by smear tests would never have become cancerous in the first place. There are no statistics on how many women diagnosed with cell changes but refusing "treatment" go on to develop cancer.

I was diagnosed with CINII and told I absolutely needed surgery. I asked for a second opinion (because the gynae was very odd) and was referred to St Mary's for further colposcopies and was told I had mild dyskariosis that did not need treatment....but due to the previous "diagnosis" they followed me up for the best part of 6 years with regular colposcopies and biopsies!

Polly i hope that if you have tested yourself for HPV and have been found negative, you still have your smear test.
Because HPV is not the only way you can get cancer. You can get cervical cancer EVEN IF you are HPV negative

Smear tests only pick up cell changes that have occurred due to HPV.

If your cervical cancer is one of the 0.03% cases that are not been caused by HPV, then a smear test would't pick it up anyway.

There is just so much ignorance around this. The only reason your GP hassles you so much to have your smear test is because their surgery's funding will be cut if they don't manage to get a sufficient % of eligible women to participate in the screening program.

I speak as a survivor of cervical cancer btw, I now self test at home (by urine test strip) for HPV. As long as that stays negative, there is no need for cervical smear tests, they are totally obsolete now.

FWIW, vaccination against strain 16 and 18 HPV is incredibly beneficial to all women to protect against cervical cancer.

It doesn't offer all the protection that it would do had we (adult) women had it before we became sexually active, but it does still have significant benefit over non-vaccination.

Edmund I 100% agree with everything you've just written, and would extend the sentiment across the entire healthcare spectrum, not just re smears. Women and girls need ready access to full and balanced information, with the pros and cons from both sides, and to be able to make a truly informed decision with no judgement. (Am thinking particularly of maternity care!)

No you are not being unreasonable. I have had Lletz 3 times now and would back up the OPs message to go and take up the invitation of smear test

Dyingtolive - the poster you mentioned was absolutely shameful. Women in particular are quick to point the finger at other women as if, in so doing, they will protect themselves from the thing they dread most. Sending you love and strength.

For people who find it very difficult to undergo the test you could ask your doctor to prescribe valium to take beforehand. I'm getting a painful biopsy done soon and I'm nervous of things like that so the consultant said to take a valium.

I know this wouldn't work for everyone - and may make some people feel worse - but it might help some people. (Feel like I have to be careful on this thread as some people might feel I'm being insensitive - but I'm only suggesting something which works for me and might work for some others).

I, personally, am pro-smear. I am happy to accept the risk of a false positive and treatment that might (had it not happened iyswim) have proved unnecessary. I think women should be encouraged* to have them in full awareness of the facts and, vitally, in full awareness of the symptoms that indicate something may be wrong, clear smear or no. I'm not in the UK but on local forums have read of women being fobbed off with alarm-bell symptoms and ending up with full-blown cancer. Horrifying.

*Which obviously does not mean 'bullied' or 'strong-armed'.

WideHorizon
I had the HPV test done at the same time as the smear by a consultant in Harley Street. I pay. I have them more often than the NHS deems necessary having had friends who have waited 3 years ( 5 in my age range ) and had serious changes.

Wide your post (on re-reading) is completely mixed up.
On the one hand you say I (and presume you mean all women) should carry on with smears if the HPV is negative.

But at the same time you say that 0.03 cervical cancer is not related to HPV but cancer can still occur without HPV. And smears only detect changes not related to HPV.

Yes, I know this. I opted out of NHS screening many years ago and yes, I am well aware GPs are funded for the % they do. You are tending to assume some women know nothing

But why do you think your own need for smears is obsolete simply because you are now HPV negative?

Doesn't add up.

It's not nervousness having a smear is not uncomfortable for me I find them incredibly painful. Whilst I am aware not many have this issue I wish there was some way people that do could be catered for.
However as with any sort of "womens problems" You are just supposed to put up with it.

Thank you for starting this thread, I've been meaning to book in for my first Smear and haven't got round to it yet, due to hectic life and my forgetfulness, I am booking mine right now.

Cheers for the nudge, OP. Have dug out the reminder letter and booked. I always do get around to it, but mums can often deprioritise their needs, so it's good to be reminded why it's so important.

not in the UK but on local forums have read of women being fobbed off with alarm-bell symptoms and ending up with full-blown cancer.

That's not screening, though. Screening is specifically perfoming tests on asymptomatic people. People with worrying symptoms should absolutely be seen, and given diagnostic tests, but that's a different proposition, and crucially a different risk profile, from the screening of people with no symptoms.

As it happens, I get my smears, although largely because it's the easiest way to stop the NHS nagging me. But I think there's more than enough "encouragement" to get them already, without nearly enough information on the pros and cons. And as you observe, Haybales, one of the problems and risks of screening is that women sometimes ignore worrying symptoms that occur later because a screen was clear. We'd arguably be better off if the NHS dropped routine screening and devoted more resources to educating people on symptoms of concern. Many medical professionals are far from convinced of the case for routine cervical screening.

I'm thankful we at least live in a world where the NHS does risk assessments on screening tools and manages access to them, cutting down on unnecessary screening (it's a free-for-all in the States). But far from there needing to be more encouragement to get screening, we could do with more publicisation of the downsides, and a lot less paternalistic sexism of the "go for your screening like a good little girl" variety.

I don't get the sniping directed to her, I really don't.

It could be because they are scared. Anyone who can see this thread as a negative must have something wrong with them.

It is not goady to disagree with being told to have a smear test.

I will tell that to the nurse when I go for my next smear. She might move me on for other types of help.

oh Dying, what an awful insensitive image! I have seen horrible ones that imply this kind of thing but not one which actually says it. I'd have lodged a complaint if I had seen that.

I have not actually criticised the OP. But in fairness, there's bound to be some criticism when you use language like this "So please, please, PLEASE book your smear if it's due or overdue. Go to your appt, don't bury your head in the sand, don't put it off. I know it's not how you'd choose to spend an hour, but it's really not that bad. And it's so fucking important. So do it."

There's also no acknowledgement at all that there are risks for the procedure itself. A thread in chat saying "I just had this happen to me" would have received a vastly different response than a post in AIBU which effectively says (patronisingly) "oh just go and do it, you are whining if you find it awful, it's really important."

sorry to posters who found it painful and damaging.

also yy to those saying some women might miss other symptoms due to tests being clear.

I have exercised my right to say no and it is still being ignored.

How only you can make the appointment they cant force you. You do have rights to say no and they are perfectly within their right to send you reminder letters. They need to cover themselves because you rock up to the doctor with issues down below and you get a diagnosis it won't look bad on them. You're getting upset over nothing.

Polly the part of my post within the stars is a quote from someone else's post. My comment is below.

Smear tests only detect cell changes caused by HPV. I was quite clear on that in my post. No HPV = No risk of (smear test detectable) cervical cancer.

I'm genuinely baffled by the logic on display on this thread. Surely it is a far better use of NHS resources to identify women with active, high risk strains of HPV and direct treatment to them/

The levels of hysteria about SMEAR TESTS SAVING LIVES! just point to a highly gullible and unquestioning population tbh.

I will tell that to the nurse when I go for my next smear. She might move me on for other types of help.

Perhaps she can suggest some help for you to accept that other people not agreeing with 'you must go for a smear' and 'it's not that bad' doesn't equate to having 'something wrong with them'.