I’ve never had a smear test and I don’t want one either

[Seventeenstars]

Controversial I guess, I’m 36.
I don’t think it’s necessary, as I’ve read about my risk factors and I don’t meet the criteria. All the men I’ve slept with (without protection) were virgins and yes I know they were for sure.
I also have no family history of any cancer.
My partner has prostate cancer in both sides of his family, his dad has it currently and he’s not even been offered a screening test for this.
I find this so frustrating and contradictory when women and men are treated so differently and if you refuse smear or breast screening you’re seen as an awful person, and those who do are morally superior.
Men aren’t coerced into invasive internal examinations.
I have an aversion to having things inserted in me internally and feel I have a right to that decision regarding my body.
There are home tests for HPV available, which I have done myself in the past - all clear.
My question is why do they persist with this archaic procedure when there are other options available?

I keep getting phone calls from my GP surgery trying to persuade me to book a test. I don’t understand why they’re always pushing it, but just totally dismiss other medical issues, which has been my experience several times.
Do they get extra commission for this or something?
There are even pop up ‘clinics’ and drop in sessions going ahead near me.

Of course I know I’ll be bombarded with replies saying I’m selfish, stupid and uneducated. I’ve even read other women saying that those who refuse should be denied any medical care!
But I have done my research and I am more than aware of the implications.

Would it solve some of those problems to allow the woman to do it herself, with privacy in the same place a smear would normally be carried out?

I get you @Seventeenstars and it is your right to refuse. I am over 20 years older than you, and women of my generation were bullied into smear tests. I was threatened with refusal of the birth control pill IF I refused the smear. I think they must have got a financial bonus for every woman they manipulated and bullied did a smear test on ...

Almost every smear test has been uncomfortable or painful. I have had just 2 or 3 that have been fine. I have refused them too since I was 50 - nearly 10 years. I keep getting mithered by the GP practice and have opted out and asked for no more reminders several times. They still send the reminders though. I wish they would stop. It's fucking annoying. There is ZERO history of cancer in my family. Yeah yeah yeah, I know there's always a first time, and it has to start somewhere....😴

I have also refused every breast screening 'offer.' I am not having one until they find a way to screen womens breasts that doesn't involve squashing them as flat as a pancake between 2 large metal plates, causing searing agony, and almost certainly damaging delicate breast tissue. They are also known for causing false positives and making women have procedures they need not have had. And GOD knows what damage is being done when the breasts are flattened.

This same way of breast screening was done in the late 1980s. How the fuck they have not come up with a better, simpler, less painful way to do it in 40+ years just baffles me. Same with smears. There are other alternatives, yet they make women have this gross, frankly medieval invasive procedure of having a speculum shoved up their vagina, and then their fucking cervix scraped with a spoon! And like with breast screening, they can - and DO - give false positives. And result in women having unneccesary treatment/procedures.

You can bet if either of the above were for MEN, they would have found alternatives within about a week!

But wait, there is an alternative instead of a smear test, yet they try to make most women go through the medieval way...

And why, just WHY have they not found another way to do breastscreening, in 40 years?!

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They don't test for pre-cancerous cells anymore. Screening these days is just a test for HPV. Which can be done via methods other than invasive/speculum. You're missing OP's point - OP@Seventeenstars - I agree with her, I won't do it either.

You’re perfectly reasonable, OP. If you don’t have HPV there’s no reason to get a pelvic exam as HPB causes something like 99.2% of cervical cancer.

I don’t have HPV and I’ve never had one. I have done the noninvasive HPV test, which is also used in the US where I’ve moved. From what my doctor has said in the States they have been using the HPV vaccine for a good 20+ years now and are moving to the swab tests to determine who actually needs a pelvic exam. I have no desire to have my body cavity cranked open unnecessarily and that has nothing whatsoever to do with sex.

It offends people, OP, because they have been brainwashed /conditioned to do as they are told and just because you are pointing out things they pushed aside or didnt even think about, they get angry because by agreeing with you they would have to admit to themselves that they could have done better at evaluating the situation.

I think you're talking nonsense with your morally superior comment and don't see what the point was of posting. What was the point for you?

I know how you feel, for a long time in my 20s I was terrified of getting a smear, I had a phobia of internal exams and it felt so unnatural to have a foreign object inserted into me.
I even had the nurse try and do it without the speculum as I hated that part. I finally got past the phobia as I knew it was important to get the test done. I'm so glad I did , having a smear test last Spring informed me that I have CIN 3 cells and HPV. I then got treated. If I hadn't done that smear , I would be walking about unknowingly with CIN 3 cells which could eventually develop into cancer.

But you do have the right to that decision regarding your body.
You will never be forced to have a smear test so if you don’t want one you don’t need to have one so I’m really struggling to see what you want others to say

Ok, absolutely your choice, I had an abnormal smear and pre cancerous cells removed, I have never had HPV... Not really that black and white, although unusual, but can still happen. Not sure what you are wanting to get from the post, are you wanting to find more evidence against them?

But that's how it used to be done, up until recently. They were checked for abnormal cells first.

However, there are lots of reasons that cells can be abnormal, so this was causing lots of women to have unnecessary treatment and repeat smears. If, however, you test for HPV, you get a very quick, easy and cheap answer as to whether that woman has a chance of developing cancer.

And, let's remember, that these "abnormal cells" are more often than not NOT cancer. It can take up to 20 years for cell changes to actually develop into cancer, which is why some cell changes are just monitored rather than treated.

The stories you hear of people dying because of one missed smear almost certainly had the more severe strain, which is the small percentage not caused by HPV, and therefore wouldn't have been picked up by the current smear test anyway.

Good for you, but it can't have been recent, as the smear tests they do today aren't tested for abnormal cells unless you're HPV+.

@Seventeenstars agree.

Pretty bloody obvious. More women need to post stuff like the OP has, to let them know they're NOT lumps of meat with a vagina who have to wilfully go along with everything they're told to go along with, like a fucking dopey goat.

There ARE alternatives to having things shoved up your vagina, and into your cervix, (to try and check for cancer) but for some reason the medieval way is the one the doctors/medics choose.

Why?

Because it's only WOMEN.

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It literally takes a couple of minutes to do. Stop being a whimp.

Ok, but HPV causes cancer. So it is still a cancer screen. There are many ways to screen for cancer. For example, a fit test screens for blood in your shit as that is a sign of colon cancer. A blood test looking at white blood cells is a cancer screen too because that’s how leukemia shows up.

Looking for the cause of cancer, an image of cancerous tissues, or for side effects in your blood or stool caused by cancer are all types of cancer screening.

Give me strength.

I know, and it's something that really worries me, I still get smears, but they feel pointless now. I had my pre cancerous cells removed 11 years ago, so yes a while. The nurse did say to me that during a smear they can still see if something doesn't look quite right and can refer if necessary

You cannot make such comparisons.

Blood in your shit is a symptom of cancer - it is a marker. As is abnormal levels of white blood cells.

HPV might cause cancer. These are two very different things.

It would be like saying testing your lungs for signs of cigarette use is a cancer screening when it quite clearly isn’t. It’s testing your lungs for signs of cigarette use. Yes, smoking will significantly increase your chances of getting lung cancer, but the presence of cigarette smoke in your lungs is not a cancer marker.

HPV is not a cancer marker.

Of course you are entitled to your opinion. However the 5 year old daughter of a school mate probably disagrees with you as she is growing up without a mother because she didn't get a smear test.

This is true and despite my 20+ yrs of yoga practice and being slim, I am not flexible enough to look up my own vagina all the way to my cervix. I also would have no idea what a healthy versus dodgy cervix mouth would look like. So that visual check by a gynecologist or nurse is as valuable as the swab. Another reason I’m not in favour of the diy swab approach. It’s better than nothing, but it’s not just as good as having a trained professional swab and examine you in a clinical setting where the swab will be handled, stored and shipped correctly to a lab.

Gynae care is a disgrace in the UK, I just cant get my head around it. So many women suffer from painful smears /as I read on here/ because they are not done properly. Women wait months to years to get an ultrasound. I can get that on the day I have a problem, in so-called Eastern European country.

You are so misinformed it’s staggering!

home HPV tests are available yes. They don’t test for any cervical cell changes which the smear DOES if you were HPV positive.

this has got nothing to do with whether you are male or female. Your partner will be invited for prostate tests when he reaches the screening age or if he has any symptoms. comparable screening is not offered to men because there is not a comparable risk!

the NHS genuinely wouldn’t be offering women regular smears for 30 odd years just for shits and gigs……

frankly your post is dangerous and I hope no one is convinced by it.

its all very well making decisions that suit you personally, you need to do what you think is best for yourself of course, but sharing these ideas on a public forum and potentially influencing others is not ok.

cervical screening saves lives every year

My sister had annual smear tests (overseas) didn’t miss one and still got cervical cancer requiring a hysterectomy in her mid 20s. I hate them but I will have them done and encourage my daughter to aswell.
your choice about your own body though

They don't call it smear test anymore because they're not testing for pre-cancerous cells. They call it cervical screening because they're testing for HPV.

They can test for HPV without the invasive procedure with a speculum.