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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To cancel my smear test today - do you go for yours?

266 replies

Wheresmyappetite · 30/05/2018 09:02

I feel panicky and sweaty with fear at the thought. I have two days of hospital appointments this week and just don't think I can face another one today. It was due at the start of the year, so thinking about rescheduling in a couple of months.

I do have vaginismus which means penetration really fucking hurts unless I'm aroused and enthusiastic, which obviously is the complete opposite of feelings you have during a smear.

Do you go for yours bang on when it's due? Is it pathetic of me to cancel?

OP posts:
Mummyoflittledragon · 30/05/2018 11:50

You’re doing really well. I’m sorry it’s hurting.

Birdshitbridgegotme · 30/05/2018 11:50

Definitely go. I know its uncomfortable and a little embarassing but it could save your life

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 30/05/2018 11:51

Also remember you do not have to have a smear. No one does

You are making a choice to which is really important. Hold your head high OP Star

Celebelly · 30/05/2018 11:51

Don't cancel. Painful and awkward as it is, it's a lot less painful and awkward than having cervical cancer. No one enjoys having smears (last time I went, the nurse delighted in telling me I had a longer than average vaginal passage and she needed to use some sort of longer instrument to reach! And she said I have to remind the nurses at future smears that I need the longer tool, so that's a fun conversation starter) but it's really only a few minutes of discomfort and pain and the potential benefits are huge.

londonliv · 30/05/2018 11:51

I would go. My cousin had cancer diagnosed from a smear test & had to have a hysterectomy - she was lucky it wasn't a worse outcome.
Smear tests aren't the most fun thing in the world but they are a necessary fact of life. Putting it off will not make it better but will just delay the inevitable.

lamerde · 30/05/2018 11:51

Sorry I’ve just seen you’re going.

Good on you. You know it’s for the best.

And don’t worry that they can’t see your cervix. Same thing happened to me. Everyone’s bits can be a different shape. They just need to root around a wee bit.

Moonkissedlegs · 30/05/2018 11:51

READ THE THREAD - SHE IS THERE!

PurpleDaisies · 30/05/2018 11:52

So cancel it then.....against everyone’s advice.

It isn’t against everyone’s advice.

Smears aren’t compulsory. There is a genuine debate about whether they are helpful or not for many low risk women.

The op is a grown up. She is entitled to make her own choice about this.

Celebelly · 30/05/2018 11:52

They just need to root around a wee bit

Yes! Last time I went, the nurse was almost elbow-deep in there (it felt like) before she located it! I felt almost like I should apologise for having such an awkward cervix...

CookPassBabtridge · 30/05/2018 11:53

I can't believe posters are telling her to put on her big girl pants.. vaginismus really, really hurts. It feels like you're being stabbed by a hot knife even when a soft headed penis is trying to get in. I'm the same as you OP, sex is good now but still takes a few minutes to get in. But a smear test makes me wants to clamp my legs shut. I've never had one but only had one partner so the chance of HPV is small.. I really hope there is a non invasive test in the future.

Rachie1986 · 30/05/2018 11:53

Hows it going OP? Have they managed to do it?

Big respect from me for going even though you knew it would be hard. Well done!

Sprogletsmuvva · 30/05/2018 12:01

OP - I’m the one who mentioned cervical stenosis.

It was actually found during a hysteroscopy/ combined myomectomy a few weeks later (reason my cervix was hard to get at -hence jabbing away by the nurse- was because my uterus was so full of fibroids it was tipped on its side). My surgery report said the consultant had had difficulty dilating my cervix due to stenosis. (Thankfully I was under GA for the whole thing.)

Having been told by my consultant while pregnant that the CS shouldn’t have an effect on labour (this was a couple of years after my surgery), I then started having full-on contractions while my cervix stayed closed. Maternity staff said therefore I wasn’t in labour, even while mystified as to my racing temperature and pulse, and vomiting in pain. EMCS finally called in when DD’s. heartbeat went erratic- at which point I’d dilated a grand total of 2cm. I was at a major London hospital , aware of my medical history - not sure what the outcome would have been (for patchwork uterus or DD) elsewhere.

I’d disagree that the smear procedure wouldn’t be done even if there was significant risk of side effects: these might not be known, or might be considered acceptable at the population level ‘for the greater good ‘ of fighting CC. So it does come down to your personal risk factors (and mine were probably unusual) and of course your personal attitude to risk.

PeakPants · 30/05/2018 12:03

Op someone I know has smears under general anaesthetic. Ask about this?

Sedation maybe, I do not believe that any hospital would offer an GA to perform a smear. Despite what you read on here, the chance of getting cervical cancer is actually quite low. You have to have a particular strain of the HPV virus to get it and not everyone with that strain will get it. The NHS often removes abnormal cells, but this can cause problems of itself. When you read about young women dying of cervical cancer, it is usually unlikely that a smear would have saved them. Often their cancers are fast-growing and already in situ at the time of the smear, so will not be picked up anyway. Removing abnormal cells can cause its own issues.

The better thing is to test for HPV rather than subjecting people to unnecessary tests and potentially to unnecessary cell removal.

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 30/05/2018 12:03

Purple yes in Britain

She has a v complex gynae hx that I'm not privy to. Is a mum at baby group. We were discussing births and she had had elcs as she had "loads of surgery down below and even have to have smears under GA"
Didn't ask Qs as not my place so don't know more

MrsJayy · 30/05/2018 12:04

Hopefully you are getting seen the rummage for cervix isn't exactly dignified but it will be ok the tilting just happens sometimes

PurpleDaisies · 30/05/2018 12:05

She has a v complex gynae hx that I'm not privy to.

Ah, it won’t be a routine cervical screening smear like the op. They’ll be monitoring something that has been an issue before.

No hospital would do a routine smear under a general.

Alwayslumpyporridge · 30/05/2018 12:05

My friend was told by her consultant that if she hadn’t gone for her first smear test that she would t be here now, don’t delay, take some ibuprofen 30 mins before hand and try to relax, it’s literally a few minutes of your life, that might save your life

PeakPants · 30/05/2018 12:06

Johnny it could be that they are doing a pelvic exam at the same time or some other procedure. I am really not sure you could get a GA for vaginisimus. The cost to the NHS would be astronomical.

Original poster
Wheresmyappetite · 30/05/2018 12:07

Complete fucking disaster. I started getting dizzy and sick and couldn't proceed, when she was wiping off some discharge to look for the cervix. Rallied and asked could we have one last go to see if I could power through but she wants me to re book as I'm sensitive and at a different time in cycle it might be easier.

Massive fucking waste of the whole morning and I'm just upset and shaken with fucking nothing to show for it.

OP posts:
Chocolatecoffeeaddict · 30/05/2018 12:07

Yes I always go for mine. I know they are not nice, but all of mine have been over very quickly and worth the peace of mind that my four children won't lose me to cervical cancer.

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 30/05/2018 12:07

Peak possibly. People sometimes exaggerate or lie

Anyhow it really cannot hurt for op to ask about hospital grade sedative and analgesic options. The dr can just say no if it is not the done thing

BastardGoDarkly · 30/05/2018 12:19

Oh op. What a nightmare.

Are they going to give you something before the next one?

Try and be kind to yourself, you did really well today Flowers

Minionoftheantichrist · 30/05/2018 12:19

Really well done for going. So sorry you couldn’t have it done and out the way today though. Can you (or have you already) spoken to your GP regarding why it’s so painful for you and asked if there’s anything they could think of to minimise the pain as much as possible? Valium perhaps as it’s a muscle relaxant?) . Mine is painful enough as cervix is tilted backwards and off to one side and there is much poking and pain but nothing like I imagine you must have with vaginismus. If you’ve not talked about this with your doctor I really would. It’s so important to have smears but you shouldn’t leave the surgery in shock afterwards in this day and age. You should be proud of yourself for going today even though it didn’t work out.

PurpleDaisies · 30/05/2018 12:20

I’d make an appointment with your gp to discuss your personal risk and whether it is worth the trauma of smears in your situation.

Minionoftheantichrist · 30/05/2018 12:21

Sorry my post was a bit unclear. I didn’t mean ask why it’s so painful. You already know why. I meant to tell the doctor why a smear is so painful and ask if there is anything they can think of to help make less so,