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

[chickentikkawhatswrong]

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?

@PurpleDaisies The ladies who are vaccinated are right, it's a small risk. The ladies that aren't are at risk, abnormal cells tend to come back when women are in their fifties and they put abnormal bleeding down to menopause. Nobody has a gun to people head, it's your choice, your body. The service is there if you want it. It has saved an awful lot of women's lives.

@JustLyra

Trying to time an appointment around irregular periods has delayed mine since they started doing smears again post lockdown.

You can't get an appointment thats any closer than 5/6 weeks away. I have, and have always had, massively irregular periods. Sometimes 3 weeks, sometimes 12.

You can guarantee that if I book a smear I'll start the day before.

Unfortunately my GP don't offer any way round it. I even suggested I could call for cancellations (they always have a notice up telling you how many last minute cancellations there are, as well as missed appointments), but they won't.

I used to get them done at the sexual health clinic, but theyre only seeing people with worrying symptoms atm, everything else is still phone or online.

This... and I work full time as a teacher so nigh on impossible to take time out for medical appointments. Haven't been for a smear test in 15 years, am 45 now and can't see myself ever going again - I also have a tilted cervix which makes it vomit inducingly painful.

@katya213
To quote another poster
Well, quite. Any opportunity to hector and berate and zero compassion.

Give it a rest with the utterly tone deaf, insensitive, rude and patronising lecture.

The system is stacked against women.

Theres always a good stick to beat us with. Never enough time to actually listen and address problems though.

@thingymaboob

I am absolutely shocked by the majority of these posts. I simply cannot believe that so many people would risk not knowing whether they have a cancer because of a couple of minutes of embarrassment and discomfort. You know cancer is quite painful, too and cause a lot more discomfort than a smear:

Why are you shocked? Be fair, you didnt read any posts, cos if you had you would have read that

Very few to no posters have said it's about embarrassment or discomfort.
A lot have said trauma a fair few have said pain ( not discomfort) some have decided that as the cells aren't even tested and you can buy a home kit for hpv, or you've never had sex or they just dont want to.
Those of us for any reason or none are allowed to say NO.
It's a complete sentence and its valid.
We have explained why and you haven't listened, just like the NHS dont listen. They keep spouting on about embarrassment and a two minutes thing, when it's their own incompetence and their staff who assault patients and patronise.
If I die of cancer it's far more likely to be breast cancer, I dont care about dying, it doesn't scare me. But I will no longer have people pawing at me and gaslighting me.

I got a letter to book mine yesterday. I don’t mind having them and it just takes a few minutes. However, last time I ended up a few months late because my practice only offered them during term time because of the working pattern of the available nurse and I’m a teacher. I asked about the local sexual health clinic but they only saw you if you had unusual/worrying symptoms and couldn’t get in with your GP. I ended up having to take time off work and have someone cover my class so I could go. I’m hoping this situation has improved since then as it’s been 3 years.

@KattyR786

But, BiteMy Arsenic, breast cancer kills far more women than cervical cancer, and we don’t have continuous awareness campaigns and hysteria over that, and women who don’t attend mammograms ! And bowel cancer affects both men and women, ditto! Where are the posts and threads aimed at bullying men into screening? Or women for that matter? A woman’s lifetime risk of cervical cancer is less than 1%! Be she a nun or ordinary Joanna Public! Women are adults and can choose for themselves! It’s so sad here, the women who have smears under anaesthesia, who use pessaries for vaginal atrophy, who dread smears but still force themselves to go, when there is a self test option that the NHS could roll out tomorrow if it wished! That Dutch and Finnish women have had access to for years and their CC rates and death are among the lowest in the world! As to Ms Goody, she had adenocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of this cancer that affects mainly younger women and that the smear test rarely picks up, and she had her first abnormal cells removed at just 15 or 16 when we know the cervix is still maturing and can produce wildly abnormal results at one screening and reverse to normal by the next. This is why the screening age was raised. I always think Ms Goody was damaged so badly by possibly unnecessary treatments . My personal opinion. To those who liken screening to getting their hair dyed… really? Some. Women might choose no smear and no hair dye. Their valid choices. To those who say, why be embarrassed the nurse sees it every day, it’s not about the nurse it’s about the woman’s feelings! I opted out in 2015 and haven’t had a smear in 22 years. My vagina my decision!

There are continuous campaigns, fund raising and awareness surrounding breast cancer . Im not overly keen on the term " hysteria" used in the context of womens health. Internalised misogyny given that womens health concerns are often dismissed and on average womens diagnosis take 8 times longer than men for shared health concerns.

I agree that hopefully less invasive testing will be forefront and with the vaccine this awful disease will be eradicated.
Im not party to Jade Goodys medical history so will not comment regarding that.

Adenocarcinoma in young women however is highly associated with contraction of HR HPV at a young age.

@thingymaboob

I am absolutely shocked by the majority of these posts. I simply cannot believe that so many people would risk not knowing whether they have a cancer because of a couple of minutes of embarrassment and discomfort. You know cancer is quite painful, too and cause a lot more discomfort than a smear:

Having to take the maximum strength OTC painkillers and bleeding for 3 days after having one makes it a bit more than "a couple of minutes of embarrassment and discomfort". If that's all it is in your experience then all I can say is lucky you.

@thingymaboob - I ended up needing valium for four days last time as I couldn’t cope with the flashbacks after, bit the back of my hand and ended up bruised and that was with a GP and nurse I feel very safe with . I jumped so much when the GP touched me that I almost kneed her in the nose . GP phoned me the morning after to make sure I was OK and was on phone 20 minutes .

That’s not a couple of minutes of embarrassment or discomfort .

Believe me, I’ve had dozens of gynae appointments - twice a year from age 16-28, first internal I had was age seven, have had multiple surgeries (disorder of development), and NHS eventually had to apologise to me fourteen times in a five page letter for what they called systemic abuse - I can’t hack smear tests because of past treatment . People are saying on here to get counselling; apparently unaware of the fact that counselling for PTSD is very very limited on the NHS .

I’m well aware of the risks of cervical cancer, but genuinely think my risk is very very low given I’ve never had sex or anything close with another human, have never been touched by another person who wasn’t wearing gloves at the time . Unless you can catch it from the GP couch or a swimming pool .

@thingymaboob

I am absolutely shocked by the majority of these posts. I simply cannot believe that so many people would risk not knowing whether they have a cancer because of a couple of minutes of embarrassment and discomfort. You know cancer is quite painful, too and cause a lot more discomfort than a smear:

My chances of getting CC are extremely small.

I risk not knowing whether I have cancer every day. I could develop cancer anywhere and I won't be aware until I get symptoms. I live with that risk and knowledge. Same for CC. If I get symptoms I will seek medical attention.

I am much more likely to develop heart disease with my family history. No one is screening me for that, except the occasional blood pressure check.

I am absolutely shocked that you have downplayed people's experiences here. If you read the thread you will see that it is not just a 'couple of minutes of embarrassment and discomfort' for everyone.

[quote Katya213]@RedToothBrush nobody on here cares whether you get a smear or not. The doctor doesn't lose sleep over it either. Your body, your choice.[/quote]
So why all the patronising, minimising posts on here and the constant reminders from the doctor?

Yes, I was offered hydrocortisone cream for my vaginal atrophy by my female GP. She seemed most uninterested in the fact that I was finding sex so painful that we had stopped trying. A gynaecologist prescribed vagifem which made some difference but not enough to make me stop tearing at the smear test.

Generally women who stop going, like me, will have done their research, and have no need of being patronised or policed by other women.

[quote Katya213]@RedToothBrush nobody on here cares whether you get a smear or not. The doctor doesn't lose sleep over it either. Your body, your choice.[/quote]
Thats not true.

I was removed from the roles of my previous gp because i wouldn't have one. Numerous women have had the same problem.

GPs have to get a certain % of women to have them. Otherwise they dont get cash.

Many women report feeling bullied to have one. They go in to the GPs with a problem with their neck and the first thing they are asked about is why they aren't up to date with their smears.

They have it on their notes 'do not ask about smears' or its not relevant to them because of their medical history and it gets ignored.

The way the system is funded creates a massive conflict of interest. The level of pressure to have one is huge.

Then theres the social pressure - if you don't have one you are stupid, ignorant, think of the children, you will die.

Theres examples of this coercion all over this thread.

It is appalling. Don't tell me that no one cares when there are deliberate campaigns to 'encourage your friends etc' to have one. There is a deliberate tactic by public health officials to use peer pressure and to make your health other people's business.

Once again, i say I sick of tone deaf people who dont bother to listen to the actual experiences of women.

The NHS seems to have done a good job of promoting LGBT awareness, my local hospital had rainbow flags and painting on the road all over the place last week and "how to be a trans ally" on the NHS values page (and I had some terrible ignorance as a lesbian in the 90s) - why can't they do something similar around getting staff to understand the impact of trauma? It affects so many people and would make their lives easier as well as ours. When my DF was dying in hospital I spoke to staff a number of times about his trauma reactions, but they just looked at me blankly and kept doing the same things and being surprised when he was distressed.

I went to a gynae appointment last week in which I'd called up a couple of times to check that it was with female staff and I was told it was even that morning, but when I got there there was a man (masked which was even more unsettling) in the room because the female member of staff had to be accompanied. Little acknowledgment of why that might be an issue. It's in an area with a large Muslim population too so you'd think there'd be more sensitivity.

If I knew that staff understood trauma instead of just saying "There's nothing to worry about, I've seen it all before" then I'd feel much better about going, and being less tense would help with any procedure.

Your ignorance and dismissal of pain and trauma is breathtaking.

[quote 123usernamesilly]@RedToothBrush give it a rest will you
NHS is offering you something for free, an important life saving screening test- oh how dare they????
Drop your letter to the bin and end of.
Jesus Christ some women here are worse then kids- yes it’s not comfortable of course and it’s humiliating but come on cope on - it’s just a test.[/quote]
Its not an offer though is it?

Not when you get dropped from the GP if you do just put the letter in the bin.

This is going on. Its known about. Its been said its unethical. But its still happening.

[quote 123usernamesilly]@RedToothBrush give it a rest will you
NHS is offering you something for free, an important life saving screening test- oh how dare they????
Drop your letter to the bin and end of.
Jesus Christ some women here are worse then kids- yes it’s not comfortable of course and it’s humiliating but come on cope on - it’s just a test.[/quote]
Haven't you read the posts on here? Women aren't refusing because it's uncomfortable or humiliating, they are refusing because it's fucking painful. It's not 'just a test' when people are in pain and bleeding days afterwards, fainting during the process.

Jesus the stupidity from some posters. (And I don't mean those refusing a smear test)

WOW I am actually shocked so many don't go for them!

Painful ?
Embarrassing?

Pretty sure cervical cancer will be way more painful and embarrassing not to mention the fact it can kill you!

[quote Katya213]@RedToothBrush nobody on here cares whether you get a smear or not. The doctor doesn't lose sleep over it either. Your body, your choice.[/quote]
Well that's simply not true. Whenever I've told people in the past (after they've brought the subject up first) that I've never had a Smear Test, their almost angry and irritated reactions do not suggest they don't care. Many responders on this thread are reacting the same. I get a HPV self-test, which I've explained to people before is the same as having a smear now.. but they still don't accept it (probably because they don't understand).

I've just had uterine surgery & was advised by the consultant to let everything settle for 6 months as my cervix is a bit reactive to faffing. I did have a sample taken last year prior to the surgery though but because it was 3 months early it wasn't allowed to be counted as my smear. It did check for everyone though so I'm not overly concerned. My GP practice know this but they're still writing to me weekly & I'm getting the national letters monthly.