To consider opting out of cervical screening?

[justcurious40]

I am very fortunate to have just received normal results for my latest smear test.

However, the weeks I spent waiting for the results were hard as I suffer badly from health anxiety.

I am nearly 42 and have been having smears since the age of 19, so I now have 24 years of smear tests behind me without ever having an abnormal result.

It is my understanding that something like 98% of cervical cancers are caused by hpv, which is sexually transmitted. As I have been with my husband since 1999 and am 100% sure he is faithful, would it be unreasonable to opt out of the screening after so many clear tests with no hpv detected?

I think some Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands use hpy screening as their primary test and only offer smears to women who are positive. So I am thinking of having a private hpv test and, if that is negative, opting out of the screening.

Before anyone says it, I know that cancer and cancer treatment would be a damn sight more horrific than having the screening and being anxious waiting for results. I'm just questioning the need for screening under these circumstances. Thanks for reading.

Go right ahead, what's the worst that can happen?

Yes, you would be fucking mental.

I had stage 1 cervical cancer picked up at my scheduled smear (with no symptoms) last year.

This is what I do OP, the hysteria over smear tests has a lot more to do with GP's surgeries having their funding cut if they don't meet their targets for eligible women having smears than it does for women's health.

I was't allowed to opt out though, I still get the reminders, I just bin them and have my private (urine) HPV test instead.

At 42 my dm skipped hers for a few years. At a Dr visit for a cough he persuaded her to have a smear. Cervical cancer requiring a radical hysterectomy. She just made it.
Don't dice with your fanjo!

I had cin 3 cells on my first ever smear and had to have loop diathermy treatment. That was a lot less fun than a smear...
But it's totally your choice.

It’s your life to play with.

I had stage 1 cervical cancer picked up at my scheduled smear (with no symptoms) last year.

If you had had HPV testing instead, you would never have developed the cancer in the first place - it would have been picked up at a far earlier stage!

Would you expect the NHS to treat you if you were diagnosed with cervical cancer?

What's the reason not to, apart from 'can't be arsed'?

Having lost too many relatives to cancer that probably wouldn't have died if they have been in screening programs, I take every test I'm offered.

So 430

You have no knowledge of my HPV status, but bang your head all you like, I would imagine it hurts a hell of a lot less than a hysterectomy.

Would you expect the NHS to treat you if you were diagnosed with cervical cancer?

Of course she would, and she'd be right to.

Since she will get private hpv screening and opt out of smears she will be saving the nhs money as well as giving herself a better chance of never getting cervical cancer in the first place.
www.theguardian.com/society/2017/sep/20/hpv-screening-better-at-detecting-cervical-cancer-than-pap-smear-trial-shows

OP you are going to get lots of people who don't understand what you are talking about shouting at you. Be warned!

My thought would be that given your age and impending menopause a lot of symptoms you would be looking out for were likely to come up so you may as well stay on the path for them?

@430West you do know cervical cancer can occur even if you don’t have HPV? That’s only one cause

If you had had HPV testing instead, you would never have developed the cancer in the first place - it would have been picked up at a far earlier stage!

This interests me. I tested negative for HPV, and about 2 months later my smear found CIN 3 cells which had to be treated. I have tested negative for HPV since then too.

It's thought that more than 99% of cervical cancer is caused by hpv.

To be fair, according to the NHS 99.7% of cervical cancers are caused by persistent HPV infection and this is the reason that the primary test is now for HPV. I genuinely didn't know this at all until I just looked it up. Why is the NHS still routinely offering smear tests in this case rather than testing first for HPV as they do in Australia?

I was obviously the unlucky 0.3% then.

Wow, 430. Way to judge somebody's cervix

There's always the "your body, your choice" argument but I'm another one who's had a very close call with this disease and am lucky to have caught it early and survived. Have your private HPV screening: no harm in doing that if you want, but as no medical test is 100% infallible, I'd still not be taking any chances and be having the smear when it's offered..

I was 100% that my husband was faithful until I found out that he wasn’t and had had sex with a work colleague and I then had a smear that diagnosed abnormal cells and a HPV infection.

So, my advice is to stick with whatever testing you can get as absolutely nothing it 100%

HPV doesn’t cause cervical cancer but it dramatically increases your risk of developing it. HPV produces proteins E6 and E7 which effectively turn off tumour suppressing genes... which in turn increases the likelihood of cancer cells developing.
Being clear of HPV does not mean you won’t or can’t get cervical cancer. Also having HPV isn’t a certainty for getting it either... it just increases the risk.
Not getting a smear is a silly way to play roulette with your health because if caught early enough then cancerous cells can be treated easily

It seems pretty dumb to increase your risk of actually dying from a health problem in order to avoid addressing the irrational feelings you have about waiting for the results of a test which would save you if you had that health problem.

I've not read all the other posts. The UK will be moving to HPV first screening in the next couple of years - woman will get a smear but it will be tested for HPV and if it's negative then nobody will look at the actual smear for abnormal cells.

There is good evidence to suggest that screening via HPV might only require a couple of tests in your lifetime but the screening programme isn't at the point of adopting this yet.

If you wanted to be super safe you could get a private HPV test then get privately immuinsed against HPV (I know you say you trust your husband etc).

I'm in a similar position to you and I wouldn't personally stop participating in screening but that's partly because it doesn't bother me getting it done and waiting for the results. I do think you are in a low risk category and you're making an informed choice so honestly I don't think it would be ridiculous to opt out (but I would get the HPV vaccine too).

NHS smear test is now a hpv test. They only look at the cells if you are hpv positive. So there is no point having it if you don't have any chance of picking up hpv.