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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask why you’ve missed/delayed/declined cervical screening?

936 replies

chickentikkawhatswrong · 19/02/2022 13:56

I see a lot of the campaigns on Facebook about women not going to smears or putting them off for too long.

However it’s generally stats and doesn’t seem to delve too far into the actual reasons?

If you are reluctant what holds you back from attending?

OP posts:
RedToothBrush · 19/02/2022 17:43

What is clear from this thread that one of the top reasons for not attending is not embarassment, but poor previous care and appalling attitudes from NHS staff that patients don't want to repeat.

Not exactly the narrative that the NHS PR people and government want to hear and promote. Easier to lay it on women and tell them they are being petty and pathetic.

We should all be asking them to 'do better'.

PenCreed · 19/02/2022 17:43

I've never been because I wasn't sexually active til quite late, and then I discovered later that I had vaginismus. I figure that it would just be distressing and set me back - the horror stories here aren't changing my mind that it would be painless and easy. I figure I'm low risk, so I just don't go.

RedToothBrush · 19/02/2022 17:45

@mogsrus

Just reading these and wondering if the people fell prey to c/c. Would it make them think how stupid they were to avoid going for ten minutes to see that everything is ok
Are you illiterate? Or just an arse who doesn't like listening to women?

I'm curious.

CrocodilesCry · 19/02/2022 17:45

Cervical screening is not fit for purpose. It's resource intensive, invasive and the campaigning around it is condescending.

To prevent 10 deaths from undiagnosed cervical cancer, 10,000 woman would need to be screened for 35 years.

JanisMoplin · 19/02/2022 17:47

Not RTFT. I have a smear next week. Really dreading it. 3 years since my last one though so better get it done with gritted teeth. I find them painful, intrusive and embarassing.

teddyclown · 19/02/2022 17:51

It's not the actual procedure, I don't mind that. However, I suffer from really severe anxiety and the waiting on the letter to drop through the letterbox I find really stressful.

SpaghettiArmsMurderer · 19/02/2022 17:53

@MarchCrocus What exactly do you think my view is? I expressed surprise that people are weighing up today's certain pain vs tomorrow's less certain but greater pain and coming down in favour of avoiding today's pain (which I suggested may be down to optimism bias, a cognitive bias everyone has which makes us think bad things won't happen to us), and concern that the women who develop cancer despite being low risk may be missing out on smears that could help them. How is that misogynistic?

And men are guilt tripped about prostate cancer risk. There are regularly stalls with people accosting men about it in my local train station. If anything I've previously wondered why there are stalls for that and not cervical/breast cancer!

JanisMoplin · 19/02/2022 17:53

Ok I have a question. Not a troll promise. Do I need to shave? Or just trim? I am quite old and have lost touch with what is expected these days.

Letsallscreamatthesistene · 19/02/2022 17:54

@JanisMoplin

Ok I have a question. Not a troll promise. Do I need to shave? Or just trim? I am quite old and have lost touch with what is expected these days.
Your normal pubes are just fine
AliBear90 · 19/02/2022 17:55

Not reluctant and do attend when able. I missed my last one due to pregnancy so wasn’t allowed it, did have it after baby was born though. Annoyingly next one will be due in summer but I’m pregnant again and will be then so will be another delayed for me. So some are probably simple reasons like that.

RedToothBrush · 19/02/2022 17:55

@CrocodilesCry

Cervical screening is not fit for purpose. It's resource intensive, invasive and the campaigning around it is condescending.

To prevent 10 deaths from undiagnosed cervical cancer, 10,000 woman would need to be screened for 35 years.

And how many of those 10,000 will have unecessary treatment?

These numbers are important

Beachbreak2411 · 19/02/2022 17:56

36 and never had one. I’m too embarrassed and shy / uncomfortable. I was also told by a friend the nurse doing hers weighed her before and lectured her on being overweight during the procedure. I’m over weight and just couldn’t handle that.

SpaghettiArmsMurderer · 19/02/2022 17:56

@JanisMoplin no need to do anything like that unless you want to Smile

bitemyarsenic · 19/02/2022 17:56

Given they don’t actually look at the cervical cells unless they detect HPV it could be argued that not examining the smears they do do could also lead to cancer if you develop a non HPV related one.

No that type of non hpv cancer is usually not found on cell examination either.
It usually presents as looking like a cyst which is why you are examined.
Just to add that no screening system is 100% effective ( HPV is more effective than standard cytology)so anyone experiencing symptoms betweeen smears should always see a gp.

JanisMoplin · 19/02/2022 17:57

Thanks! I am not really of the generation that takes it all off. I am going to have a glass of wine before I go and treat myself afterwards.
I find mammos also painful and embarassing but not as bad as smears.

venusandmars · 19/02/2022 17:58

I didn't miss any during my 20s, 30s, 40s

But during menopause my cycle were all over the place, booked appointments got cancelled because I had an unexpected period. Rearranged, and re-cancelled. Then I had vaginal dryness and couldn't face it. Then I dropped off their radar....

pawpaws2022 · 19/02/2022 18:00

@JanisMoplin

Ok I have a question. Not a troll promise. Do I need to shave? Or just trim? I am quite old and have lost touch with what is expected these days.
Nope, I just went as I was. Left my socks on because she said "nothing worse than having a smear AND having cold feet" Smile

For people that haven't been for a while or have never been (and I'm not saying go, but it has changed a bit and if someone is reading that has never been and all that...)

Speculums are plastic and you can ask for a small one
The scrape is a brush thing
You don't HAVE to lie on your back, they can do it when you're on your side

crosstalk · 19/02/2022 18:03

@bitemyarsenic

I hope people read your post.

However: if you've been monogamous throughout your life, presumably HPV isn't a problem? or can you inherit genital warts etc?

What is the NHS using instead of steel?

How widespread and reliable is home testing?

Is the NHS addressing the issue of women's reluctance to submit themselves to testing?

CrocodilesCry · 19/02/2022 18:03

@RedToothBrush - I agree, figures are important. The screening programme is massively flawed.

In the NHS cervical screening programme, 10 000 women need to be screened for 35 years to prevent 10 out of the 25 deaths estimated to occur without screening. Raffle and colleagues (p 901) analysed the screening records of 350 000 women in Bristol across 20 years and modelled cases of cervical cancer and deaths with and without screening. According to their model, for each death prevented, 152 women have abnormal test results, 79 are referred for investigation, and 53 have treatment. The authors draw attention to the fact that because screening is resource intensive and potentially harmful, good evidence on all its outcomes is required.

JanisMoplin · 19/02/2022 18:04

Reading back through the thread, it is interesting to see how anxiety manifests. I have a friend who has never been for a smear because she is too scared they will find something wrong. My 50 something anxiety has taken another form: I now go for every medical test offered to me because I am anxious that something which is easy to fix might go unfixed because I forgot to go for a test.

bitemyarsenic · 19/02/2022 18:04

And how many of those 10,000 will have unecessary treatment?

These numbers are important

Difficult to put it in terms of unecessary.
Would you like a watch and wait system for cell changes then?
Treatment usually means that following it and then after a normal smear women can go back onto the usual programne of recall
Vs worrying about it for years, then potentially needing more invasive treatment.

Bumpy23 · 19/02/2022 18:05

I think maybe the campaigners could do with reading this thread,!! I've often wondered why some women don't go.

I've definitely been enlightened. I'm sorry to all those who have suffered the uncomfortableness of pushy campaigning.

CrocodilesCry · 19/02/2022 18:05

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC153831/ if anyone wants a read.

RowanAlong · 19/02/2022 18:05

Yes it’s a bit uncomfortable but better than going to the dentist..

JenniferWooley · 19/02/2022 18:08

Because I'd have to take the day off work (hour each way commute & appointments always after 11am & guaranteed to be running at least 30mins late so pointless going in when lunch is at one so I'd be working 3 hours), because they stopped doing them during covid, because the nurse who carried them out at my surgery obviously trained in butchery, because I've not been sexually actively for the past 4 years.

I did go last week to get my coil removed (2 years overdue because of covid) & they did my smear & a biopsy (cause I'm old) while they were down there anyway so that's me for a while.