Smear test - is it normal to find leaves and twigs?

[User748937744]

Ok, clickbait title - for a reason!

I am in my 40s and had my first smear test today. It was so fine and so quick and so painless and so straightforward and I wish I’d been brave enough to go for all the many years I’ve ignored the invitations!

Aibu to tell as many people as I can who might also never have gone to just do it?

I’ll happily go back next time I’m called.

I only went today because I’ve had some symptoms that were concerning.

It was so built up as something embarrassing and possibly painful in my head and it just wasn’t either.

Please, please go. You can always say you’re nervous and would like to be seen by someone really understanding.

yes it’s important. But just because you find it easy and painless doesn’t mean everyone will. I find it painful and traumatic and my mum has had to return several times as they couldn’t get a test due to the shape of her cervix. It’s always agony for her.

Your post is so patronising

Agree re brain scan example. Way too much focus on 'bikini medicine' IMO. No one seems to question this though, as usual.

I read that screened populations see a 70-80% reduction in incidence and mortality re cervical cancer. Is that not the case after all?

Exactly what I thought. Hundreds a week...

I didn’t mean to patronise, I didn’t mean to upset anyone. The “click bait” title was simply to get people to open the post - it seems to have worked 🫣

I’ll leave the thread in agreement with everything that @UnintentionalArcher has written.

Womens health so often is poorly managed.

I had a good experience yesterday - partly because the nurse I saw knew that it was my first smear and that I was extremely nervous. She did everything to put me at ease and was extremely kind and professional. We all deserve kind and professional treatment.

Thank you to the women who have said they are now booking a smear. And thank you to those who understood that my thread (written in minutes without too much thought because it’s a Mumsnet thread and not my PhD thesis) wasn’t ill intentioned.

Mine have got more painful as I’ve got older, but I still go.
It took 2 people and a flashlight to successfully carry it out last time 😂I bleed a lot afterwards.

So you’ve had the total of one smear test and think youre an expert on the matter and can harp on about how easy it is?

I’ve always found them either painless or at worst mildly uncomfortable. It’s definitely better to go along and get it done imo.

Lucky you. I've always found them painful and it's got worse as I've got older. If I can't have it done in the colposcopy chair I won't be having another one

They're always painful for me (think screaming reaction) and last time the nurse really struggled. So I just do a private urine test for the HPV virus every three years. I've never had children and never had sex, so I am very low risk.

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like therapy would help. Your body, your choice of course but I think its a shame you're unable to have important diagnostic checks. Do you have children? I only ask because they will want you to be healthy and well, I'm sure.

I think most people would get that this was well intentioned OP. It's just that the societal framework for trying to persuade women to have smear testing is objectionable in itself. There are wider issues with minimisation of women's pain and with informed consent. You didn't choose that context and it's not your fault it exists, but nonetheless your post was still a product of it.

@SomeLikeitSnot It's good to see a nurse admitting some cases are unrelated to HPV. I've come across various estimates - 0.5%, 1%, 10% and 5 to 15%. I recently had a smear, and when I asked the nurse about the women who had non HPV related cervical cancer, who were now being overlooked, she said 'it's ALL caused by HPV.'

@User748937744 You're doing a good thing, encouraging women to have their tests.

What a vindictive post.

Yes. That’s exactly what I was trying to convey. I’ve spent the entire morning trying to persuade the RCOG to admit me as a Fellow as well. And I’m spending this afternoon applying for consultant gynacology jobs. After all, I have had one smear test so am therefore a bit of an expert! 🫣🫣

I've had 5 mammograms and all painless, but I go through anguish waiting for the results. Pain seems to be very personal. I have no problem with smears either. However after I broke my leg and had surgery I had to inject myself daily with blood thinning meds. I found it very sore, but other people told me it was no problem, just a little prick. There's no way of knowing if mammograms will hurt you. Hopefully not, but read the leaflet outlining the pros and cons. You might decide you don't want it for other reasons.

I used to find them an absolute breeze l, even with a tilted uterus and never missed one, then I had children and they became more uncomfortable. I then had an incredibly painful botched coil insertion and speculum prodding became unbearable particularly as I tensed up as soon as I knew what was coming.

I went from a chilled out, happy to be poked at girl into a nervous wreck of a woman.

I'm about 10 years overdue now and at my last GP appointment, she reminded me to book in for a smear. I said, well I'll need diazepam at the very least. She didn't even acknowledge me so I never booked it.

Women being relaxed for the procedure makes a huge difference but health professionals don't give a fuck about that.

It's medical misogyny at its finest. And the worst thing is, sometimes it actually comes from women themselves.

Yep, I've had it show up on and off in 20y marriage.

Yes. I had the HPV vaccine as a preteen and my first smear test came back as positive for HPV. It doesn’t guarantee anything. For everyone talking about it only being a HPV check, it isn’t. It is also a chance for a medical professional to see your cervix (although often a small part) and the inside of your vagina to check for any physical changes that may have occurred.

HPV can also lay dormant for decades, so just because you’ve had a negative result previously and not had any new sexual partners, it doesn’t mean the virus can’t come back and cause cell changes years later. It’s very important to go.

Why are people so petty you know what I mean. I think I probably do 45+ a week so around 9,000 a year. It that ok now it’s more accurate??

I've had loads of smear tests and all have been relatively painless except for the last one I had. It was extremely painful.

I've had cameras put through my cervix to view my uterus and have had a biopsy through the cervix into the uterus in the same way.

None have been as painful as that last smear test was. I wasn't worried about it beforehand, so wasn't unduly tense. Whether on not the nurse doing it was inexperienced or not, I don't know, but I never want to experience that pain again. It was worse than childbirth.

I guess what I am trying to say is, don't assume everyone will have the same easy smear test as you.

I had smears as a young woman, until I had a full hysterectomy.

It can be uncomfortable, but not painful.

I find mammograms much more of an uncomfortable nuisance.