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.

Expat, to my mind, that is one of the disadvantages to having a non-nationalised health system - the overprovision of screening, especially since no doctor ever gets sued for ordering more tests.

It's good that the frequency of screening recommended has now decreased in the US. And I've certainly heard and seen Americans online say they hated their Pap smear, or were afraid to get it done, so while I can see how it might be more accepted as a norm, I definitely don't think that's unique to Brits.

For the general population of women, the risks of screening are outweighed by the benefits, so a screening programme is worth doing.

I dispute this. I think it's costly and ineffective. You could argue that for the general population of men the risks of screening are outweighed by the benefits so it's worth doing. But most men in their 40s are put off by getting screening for prostate cancer, unless they themselves are of a certain race, because the resultant tests would be far more expensive to the NHS or private funding sector because it would indeed put up false negatives and they would probably outlive the cancerous cells observed.

Women are seen as dirty and carriers of cancer is the subtext. Simply put. But both sexes have pre cancerous cells running around their bodies for most of their lives. It's just that women are more routinely triage'd because they are the ones who get pregnant.

MisBax They are not lesbian nor gay, they are bisexual.

And you really need to get over the fact that gay/lesbian people are not attracted sexually to the opposite sex from puberty.

It's good that the frequency of screening recommended has now decreased in the US.

How often does women have it done?

Its every 3 years in the UK.

Elendon - nope, you're wrong sorry!
So you think that every gay man / woman has NEVER been with someone of the opposite sex?
Someone may have been straight / bi and gay in one lifetime. Sorry to break it to you.

I have never heard of women being forced until now. Where did you get this from anyway women not knowing they had smears. Did they see it in their medical notes or did they receive a letter. The clinician has to send it of.

There are accounts online of this happening, and women being told oh we did a smear while we were in there doing x. Certainly I can tell you of at least one clinic where women didn't routinely receive a letter informing them of smear test results, unless further action was needed. The GP clinic I temped in a few years back. Wasn't cost effective. You could still ring up and ask for the results though, for reassurance.

And the other examples I mentioned, they are from this thread. These are women where there was some element of coercion. It's not ok to simply say oh well, the patients should complain and the doctors could be struck off then. So ok you didn't know before, but now you do know. Do you get how it's not as simple as you're not being forced, and it's up to you to complain when you experience coercion?

And you really need to get over the fact that gay/lesbian people are not attracted sexually to the opposite sex from puberty.

I don't know what you mean by this 😕

Its opened my eyes I'm shocked.

MissBax Let me suggest you are being homophobic.

There is no form to sign to give consent is there so its hard to prove that the doctor forced and coerced them into it. I see your point.

People have a right to decide what happens to their own body. If you accept the risk, that's fine, go ahead and write to the screening organisation and get your name scrubbed off.

However, I find it grating when people try to make cervical screening into a big patriarchal conspiracy. A lot of women don't find it frustrating or unpleasant. I don't mind going for a smear. I'm not an agent of the man that thinks women are filthy carriers of cancer.

Some of the talk on here is utterly paranoid.

Elendon - WHAT?! I'm being homophobic?! That's hilarious considering I'm bisexual myself 😂 what on earth are you talking about, you strange strange woman.

I think there is a form now, I am pretty sure that I signed something last time. They are supposed to 'counsel' you on a number of points too, and it says that they have.

HorridHenry - it was annual afaik up until about 3 years ago. After I had my DS, the OB said guideines had changed and I could skip paps for a couple of years as long as my sexual circumstances didn't change (i.e. no new partners), so I did skip the next one. However, then moved to new state and new OB, so did one and then this year i didn't really ask/care about skipping plus the whole cheating husband thing so OB just did another one anyway (good thing that!).

also to be clear, i could have opted out of pap smears at any point in the last 20 years. i'm not sure those doctors would have still agreed to prescribe bcps - never tested that option out, although obviously the one who said i could skip as long as i had normal results did continue prescribing.

i could have opted out of this years pap if i really wanted but to me it's not a big deal to have a q tip go up there and swipe some cells.

i could now opt out of the leep (lletz) procedure, but personally i don't think leaving precancerous cells in there to do who knows what is a good idea. and, as a dr friend pointed out, there's no guarantee some of the cells haven't turned cancerous already. so i'd rather have them out, get them tested to see what's there and be sure i don't have cancer and that those particular precancerous cells will never have the chance to become cancer.

Women under anaesthetics were used routinely for pelvic examinations by students.

www.ourbodiesourselves.org/2012/09/conversations-we-shouldnt-still-be-having-pelvic-exams-under-anesthesia/

Oh for goodness' sake. Having a pelvic exam under anaesthesia is nothing to do with going for a smear test!

MissBax You are the one who is strange because you have no idea what being gay is. Nor do I. Bisexuality is not the same as gay/lesbian.

Elendon, what? Are you really suggesting that if a woman has ever had sex with a man, she isn't gay? She can't have had sex she didn't particularly enjoy, but felt like she was expected to have, as a teenager before she figured out she wasn't into dudes? What if she's been raped by a man, or had coerced sex? I'm pretty sure she knows better than you what her sexual identity is.

Obviously what matters for someone's cancer risk is who they've had sex with, not how they identify sexually. But there's a reason they call lesbians who've never had sex with a man "gold stars" - because they're relatively rare!

www.gov.uk/guidance/cervical-screening-programme-overview

There is a lot to read here on protocols.

There is a lot more about informed consent now, and a lot more information for you to consent. However, the system is designed for you to consent. There is only one long winded way of dissenting.

Elendon many lesbians have slept with men in their youth when they were not "out", the same is true of gay men. It doesn't mean they have to hand in their lesbian membership card and only hang out with us bisexuals.

I assume you're heterosexual, so why tell gay people what they are?!

I'm 27, i didnt have the first smear i got a letter for when i turned 24, and i won't be having this one i just got a letter for.
My main reason for not getting it done is i have severe OCD that i am irrationally afraid of ever wetting/soiling myself, even just a few drops. I panic the procedure either due to discomfort, pain or just being touched in that area, (especially as i have an oversensitive bladder nerve) may spontaneously make me pee/defecate, even a tiny bit. Years of this fear mean i psycologically associate not having knickers and sanitary protection on as being vulnerable and gives me a really panicked physical discomfort. I also would feel like my hands got contaminated by undressing, even if i go to the loo and shower right before going to the app, i just won't feel clean undressing, and then re dressing, and i have no idea if there are sinks and antibacterial hand wash available in the room where it would be done.

A second reason i really don't like the idea of having it done, is I'm a virgin, and i don't want the first person to see/touch the most intimate part of my body to be a complete stranger and not someone i care about and have chosen to get intimate with.

I read the leaflet that came with my letter, and it said virtually all cases of cervical cancer result from HPV. As a virgin it is almost certain i cannot have HPV, i've not had any kind of sexual contact with anyone to have caught it, so my chances of cervical cancer are very, very low.

I have a docs app on the 12th and i do intend to discuss this with my doc, but for those calling people who don't have it done crazy, some of us have illnesses that make having a smear practically impossible.

What in the name of Christ are you on about woman? You're saying that in order to be gay/lesbian, you can't have EVER had a sexual experience with someone of the opposite sex? And you have the gall to call me homophobic?!
I know two gay men who had relationships with females in their teens. I know many straight women who have experimented with other women when they were younger. They aren't all bisexual, you imbecile.

Undersecretary yes his palatine care is first class as has all our dealings with the NHS. I too have no wish to get in a futile argument about people who wish to decline screening but I wish they wouldn't on grounds of embarrassment or just not liking the thought of them which is often the case.

As to the case of people who identify as gay not having sex with the opposite sex. I know personally 2 gay women who also have sex with men but still identify as gay. They have had sex with men for various reasons. I know one would had unprotected sex with a number of different men with the sole intent of getting pregnant. She admitts she doesn't even know the full name of the father of her child. It could be any number of men she used and never saw again.

Almost I hope you're having treatment for your OCD, as it sounds very disabling.

Expat - yes, I hear many complaints about American women being made to feel that getting their contraceptive pill was dependent on having an annual cervical smear.

I'm also hearing that in the US men are being advised to have routine colonoscopy over a certain age? Crazy, but presumably profit driven.