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?

@Iwasonline

A family member says she doesn't need a smear...she's never been sexually active. These are her reasons

It's true that if you've never been sexually active the risk of cervical cancer is so incredibly low that it's probably not worth have smears. I didn't become sexually active until my 40s so didn't have any smear tests before that.

I continue to go for mammograms but I detest those too. Surely they can devise something better than squashing your breast painfully between two plates? And the radiographer treated me like a piece of meat when I had my last one.

I wont let any HCP near me with anything, let alone a speculum. The thought of it makes me feel sick.
As a pp said, the fact it is just for HPV now makes it seem overly intrusive when it does not need to be at all.
Plus the ads/campaigns are patronising as hell.

I’ve never had a smear test and I am 55. My reasons are:

1 Didn’t have sex until age 33
2 Only had one sexual partner
3 Never used a tampon, I expect the test to hurt
4 Most of my friends all get told they have abnormal cells, they are very stressed for weeks/months, have a biopsy and told its ok
5 I think it’s an unpleasant test with iffy results, if they come up with a better test I will consider it
6 Don’t particularly trust the medical profession, some great people but also too many obese nurses who are clock watching and more interested in the biscuit tin

Had a mammogram twice and not going again, put me through the ringer for 6 months of waiting for extra testing and then it was a false alarm.

It was too difficult and frustrating to arrange it at my GP surgery:
When I got the letter to arrange an appt I tried to call them. Answerphone message said basically do not call us use the website. So I filled in a web form and they sent me a text message back saying no appts are available please phone up. So that was a complete waste of time.
Then I phoned back again and was on hold for ages and didn't get anywhere and by then I had exhausted all the time I had for that job.
If they send me a reminder I'll possibly try again.

I have always had them, but since I found out my smears aren’t even tested because I don’t have HPV I don’t know if I’m going to bother. My fiancée is female and also doesn’t have HPV, I have endometriosis so smears are incredibly painful for me, to the point where I’m shaking and almost faint, I just don’t see the point of going through all that when they’re not even tested.

I've done my privately in different country. Also my flatmate left UK to go to her home country during covid and never returned, so she's still on NHS record. I imagine there are few people like that so the actual statistics aren't accurate.

Trauma from DD2 birth when midwife did unnecessary interventions without permission and didn't stop when I cried for her to. (She admitted the alternative was to just wait but felt she could speed it up by doing painful interventions) it was unbelievably painful and causes flashbacks even now.

I have no faith that they would stop if I needed them to and have tried to overcome it but 12 years on I'm still paralysed by fear and haven't made it past bookinng and cancelling.

I got the letter in December. I’ve never delayed before but I find them so painful I was in tears last time. I know to ask for the smallest speculum and to lie with my hands under my bum but it still really hurts me. Never used to though but does now. The thought of it makes me want to cry. I take paracetamol before I go too. I need to phone up on Monday but keep telling myself that and don’t do it.

I'm a bit late doing mine because it takes so fucking long to get through to the surgery and get to talk to a human being! Phoned a couple of times and was 111 in the queue. It then gets put off

The first one I had was very painful.

Then I kept getting sent reminders while I was pregnant.

Then its just time. I work full time & have two young kids, and honestly, I just have so little time that self care (including preventative screening type medical stuff tends to get deprioritised). I also havent seen a dentist for years for the same reason.

Because I am terrified of doctors

Because the nurse at my surgery is an unkind, uncaring woman whom gives not one f* about my comfort. I could get it done at a local sexual health clinic but you have to make an appointment and the lists are too long, much longer than I can predict on my shift roster.

I'm done, I live nothing but a life of pain. The only thing I see in my future is more pain.

I'm 100% not suicidal i wish I was but I'm not going to do anything to keep me alive longer than need be, If I had a smear and anything was found I'd refuse treatment, same with breast screening I won't go to them either. I don't see any point in using much needed NHS money on tests for me that would be a waste.

My friend didn’t go for her smear tests as she had been sexually abused as a child and found it traumatic. She didn’t tell anyone this or that she’d been ignoring the screening invitations. I wish she had, as friends and family could’ve supported her.

As it is, she found out she had terminal cervical cancer and died 6 months later.
36, 3 kids. Such a bloody tragedy.

Please get some support if you’re traumatised or scared. Don’t miss these screenings.

I will also add that I had a smear 3 years ago that was fine, but my recent one showed pre-cancerous cells. I’m getting treated next week. I would never have known otherwise. I’m 45, fit & healthy.

I thought it was just me! I really did. This is eye opening.

DimplesToadfoot .

1. I’ve had the HPV vaccine.

1. I’ve done a less invasive HPV test from Superdrug and it was negative.

1. I find the procedure unnecessarily invasive for something that only tests for HPV

1. I’m worried about unnecessary procedures because if abnormal cells wfh get aren’t cancer which could impact my ability to carry future pregnancies.

Because the last one I had 25 years ago hurt like hell and I bled for 3 days afterwards ( not a period). All the patronising "it's not painful, just a bit uncomfortable" bollocks that gets trotted out on every ad campaign just makes me want scream "LIE"

GP here. There's actually been loads of qualitative research on this. Mostly not because of not knowing or understanding what it's for.
It's mostly previous sexual trauma, previous painful smear or medical examination, fear of the unknown, fear of the known, a perception that they're low risk (not inaccurate in some cases), and access difficulties (particularly physically disabled and people with learning disability)

@TimBoothseyes

Because the last one I had 25 years ago hurt like hell and I bled for 3 days afterwards ( not a period). All the patronising "it's not painful, just a bit uncomfortable" bollocks that gets trotted out on every ad campaign just makes me want scream "LIE"

Exactly. I bleed for days after as well. For so long I thought it was just me because of the "it doesn't hurt" bs.

I had three previous appointments cancelled due nurse absences and have had to cancel my last due to irregular periods.

My grandmother died of cervical cancer so I will persist, but it is so bloody difficult to actually get a flexible appointment, and thats before the embarrassment and pain of the actual smear 😞

I second @ChaToilLeam that self-administered testing would be beneficial for so many of us.

I was housebound due disability for over 6y they don’t do these at home visits even when doing a blood test at home requires far more kit. So I couldn’t have one. Most GPS I’ve been in barely have room for wheelchair and no one ever has a hoist so if you can’t self transfer its tough and even then many beds can’t be adjusted and practically shoulder hight. But nothing is done about practicalities.

For any HCPs in the know, why can’t women do a self administered test for HPV, send it to the lab in the post (like we have for COVID PCR tests), then for those of us who are positive, we are invited to make a smear appointment. It seems more logical. Does such a test not exist? Or is it not done due to cost? If such a test exists and would improve rates of testing it seems unethical to withhold it.