… to be so embarrassed I’m considering writing an apology letter to my GP?

[embarsandash]

Before I start, please don’t judge me. I am so embarrassed and have never had anything like this happen to me before.

I am an exceptionally clean person, I shower daily in the morning and bath every evening, I have never had any concerns with my hygiene and nothing like this has ever happened to me before!

I have been having some very painful stomach cramps over the course of the last 3/4 months, along with some bleeding - and so I have been in and out of the doctors surgery several times to be seen for various tests, scans and blood tests etc.. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment with my gp to discuss my recent scan and blood test findings, so I attended as normal after a super busy morning / early afternoon at work.

when I got to the doctors room, she discussed my results and advised me that she will now need to conduct an internal scan. I was mortified as I was given no prior warning. Usually for something like this, I’d have a shower before going, change into clean clothes and underwear etc… but I had no idea this was going to happen.

I was asked to get changed behind the curtain and lie down for the examination. When I was changing, I noticed that there were no wipes / towels to freshen up like there usually is, so I was then panicking even more.

when I laid down to have my examination, I noticed that my GP had a strange look on her face, almost like concern? She was not speaking to me so I eventually asked her if everything okay. She then told me that I have an ‘unpleasant’ odour ‘down below’ and that I should consider getting that looked into.

Well, I am absolutely mortified. I’ve never ever had any kind of hygiene problems before, never had any issues ‘down below’ and I don’t know how to take the comment.

what do I do! I’ve not stopped thinking about it since. I am so embarrassed in case she will always remember me as ‘the patient that smelled bad’…

I’m considering writing a letter of apology.. is that over reactive? I don’t know what to do!

You'd rather people just let others share stories which might be potentially used by a pervert to get off on?

Nobody is being nasty. They're either trying to understand because scan to exam isn't a typo, it's two different things, or trying to make other posters be aware and approach cautiously

Basically yes.

she inserted the speculum and then did an internal examination with fingers to feel around my cervix.

She made her comment, and then told me I was free to get changed.

I really can understand the concern and I am sorry to have raised them, but truly I have no time or interest in fabricating a story like this.

This happened to me, and I wanted to ask for some advice on how to proceed without embarrassing myself asking friends and family.

I’ve been a long term MN user, as I’m sure they can confirm if there really are so many concerns for my authenticity.

I appreciate there are some awful, disgusting people in the world that take pleasure in writing horrible things, but I am not one of them.

Because the comment wasn't nasty

And made sense. There have been a lot of suspiciously "new posters", OP says they understandably name changed for this, recently posting about bodily functions regarding "down there". There are mistakes in this post with gives it enough cause to potentially be fake to get "pervert material"

It's not a "fit of the vapours" to point out why someone isn't being nasty ffs

@UsingAMansNameInAWomensWorld

scan to exam isn't a typo

I'm happy for you that you live in a world of absolutes, but I have had predictive text turn the most anodyne words into all kinds of weirdness. Scan to exam is completely believable, especially when you consider the ease of accidentally hitting the e instead of the s.

Does it facilitate the use of fingers to examine a cervix?

Scan to exam is two different procedures

Firstly, this clearly isn't a hygiene issue if she is suggesting you may need further investigation for this odour so no need to feel embarrassed. I know it's a natural reaction but your GP will not have been phased by it.

Secondly, she clarified what you should do in the follow up conversation...

she said the findings were normal other than the odor, and that I should monitor it and return if it ‘doesn’t improve’ - no further clarification on the ‘get that looked into’ comment!

I don't understand what else you want to hear at this point. Monitor it over the next few days and if you notice that the odour is still there go back for another appointment. If there's no odour then you don't need to do anything more about it.

Telling people not to respond to the poster isn't nasty? Clearly we have different standards. And absolutely the psychology of someone who considers nasty comments acceptable but feels moved to correct a person objecting to them is interesting. Especially as there have been far stronger objections than mine which seem to have had no affect on you whatsoever.

To clarify once more - I made a mistake. I’ve had various tests over the last few weeks. And I apologise for the mistake I’ve made.

Again - I have no reason to be making up a story, and I am certainly not a pervert doing this for the thrill.

At this point I am genuinely so shocked at some of these speculations, I welcome MNHQ to validate my authenticity.

Anyone who doesn't think this is a genuine poster should report the thread to MN so they can look into it.
You aren't allowed to troll hunt on here and unfortunately people can get banned for it.

Meanwhile, people should be very cautious about sharing their own experiences. Not everyone posting things like this is genuine and even if they are, you're putting up a lot of detail for others to read and "enjoy".

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

Come on now, that is a stretch. OP’s explanation is a thousand times more believable than you claiming two words which have just one letter in common is a typo.

GPs do not do internal scans. They don’t even have the machines in their rooms to do those scans. You can see why posters doubted OP’s initial post. Many of us have been on MN long enough to know people like to post all sorts of weird stories to get traction and attention or even a kick from others sharing stories. It’s not nasty or unreasonable for posters to be alert to a story that started with such an obvious flaw.

Absolutely agree, and I welcome MNHQ to look into this post and my user history to confirm that I am in-fact a genuine poster and have been for many, many years.

Ignore them. There are two ways of dealing with a thread on mumsnet. If you believe the OP and have something to contribute, respond. If you don't believe the OP and/or have nothing to contribute, you ignore the thread and move on. Putting on a deer stalker and launching a troll hunt is not part of that equation. Just ignore them.

I didn't claim it was a typo. That was another poster. I referred only to predictive text. But you do you.

if you shower so obsessively as you say, I doubt the odour was due to not having had a shower just before but more likely that there is a medical reason. Just get it looked into (agree with PP, shouldn't the GP lead the investigations with swabs etc)?

Apologies - I must have got confused with someone else with the same username as you who tried to explain how scan and exam could be a typo / predicted text error. You better get on to MN to sort out the issue of two people have the same username 🙄

Thank you. I guess the GP didn’t do the swabs as they will want to refer me back to the gynaecologist.

I don't know what kind of doctor you've been dealing with but this one doesn't have eyes on her fingertips.

Is this how you spend your time?

On a social media forum when I have some spare time - yes. Isn’t that what you’re doing too?

The GP won’t do that because it was a PRIVATE consultation and therefore the OP would need to pay again for further investigation.

OP - have you had swabs? BV? Thrush? Chlamydia/gonorrhoea? All normal?
Are you up to date with your cervical screening?

Do you use soap? Vaginal douching? If so, stop. These can upset the microbiome and cause malodour and irritation.

Book an appointment with your NHS GP.

@Fly1ngG1raffeI’ve not yet had any swabs, only the scan that I had previously, and the blood tests, and then this examination that I’ve just had.

I am very careful with shower products and scented products, I only use those that are made specifically for down below.

If you're washing that frequently you probably have BV. I had it and it was discovered during pregnancy. A short course of antibiotics sorted it out.