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.

So if you did get breast cancer, would you just accept whatever fate that delivered?

Yes if it wasn't making me ill Same as if I had recurrence of cervical cancer. I wouldn't be going through treatment that made me Ill for the sake of living longer . I'd prefer a shorter life that doesn't involve endless doctors and hospital especially if I was in no pain.

Yep this. I can't believe anyone - in 2025 - takes this stuff seriously anymore. I'm embarrassed for them tbh.

Exactly. @Eightdayz is embarrassing themselves at this point! 😬

… this is a thread where some people
believe Jade Goody died because she didn’t have a smear test, that samples are still
screened visually and that the act of going for a smear covers off a whole range of gynaecological issues; so the bar isn’t exactly set high.

In that OP says she is having HPV tests, which apparently the NHS are going to be bringing in in place of smear tests anyway at some point, I actually think it doesn't sound all that unreasonable. Presumably if OP's HPV test ever showed positive she would then have to consider her options and as she has a child I hope in that situation she would agree to further investigations/treatment if needed. Hopefully that will never happen though.

Working as clinical support in gynae clinics/wards for several years, seeing women say very similar, under the worst of circumstances all I can do now is shake my head.

Sorry…stupid question I know…seeing women say very similar to what exactly under the worst of circumstances?
I don’t follow.

I am saying that a test that is looking for precancerous cells has a high rate of being falsly negative or falsly positive.
Reacting to a post that is talking exactly about that. Not sure why are you bringing HPV test into it.

I think she was just expanding what you'd written for the person you replied to who was under false assumptions.

I'm guilty of doing the same and not writing "I agree and want to add...."
Instead it can look like correcting the previous poster, which I haven't read as being the intention here.

I guess if you’re saying that if you had cancer whatever type you would just have pain management and not treatment then yeah theres probably no need for screening. I was young when I had cancer and my kids very young. Older now but even if I got cancer now I would do all I could to live as long as possible (obviously depending on pain and quality of life).

What if you didn’t have symptoms but screening could have picked it up and treated it relatively painlessly but without screening you go on to have symptoms which show too late for treatment and then you do ultimately get symptoms as the disease progresses including pain?

To the partner in the law firm: it does seem pretty odd and controlling that a smear should be part of the medical and possibly the job pulled if you don't have it; as stated elsewhere it's a 1:142 chance of getting it. On a site elsewhere, and airline pilot disclosed she was booted off her GP list for refusing a smear. Every year for her job as airline pilot she has a full extremely thorough medical, full body scan, countless tests but she has NEVER even been asked about when her last smear was (she never had one ever) and it's not a requirement of her job she has one either

I wouldn't trust those home tests. My friend did one that came back negative, and her NHS one came back positive - I'd be really careful OP.

Evidence is they're reliable - why did your friend test twice?

But apparently Australia has issues with unnecessary pelvic examinations being performed during cervical smears in Australia, a practice that is now officially discouraged and recommended against.

Oh, for the love of God, leave me alone. Given my mother died of ovarian cancer - she was diagnosed at the age I am now, thanks for asking - I am quite pleased to be getting a more thorough examination when I go along for my (incredibly excruciating, again, thanks for asking) smear tests.

The reason I know that HPV self-testing is not readily available at all GPs throughout Australia - ie not "standard" - is I was desperate to do it for years prior to my last smear. It is possible, as I am so fucking old - hence how I know the value of a visual and felt examination done by other than myself, as that is how estrogen-related skin changes were discovered and I was placed on vaginal estrogen cream which has made a great difference to my life - that I shan't have another test. It is possible self-swabbing in my area will become more readily available and acceptable, and I shall proceed with that option.

I have not once criticised selfswabbing (that would be odd, given how desperate I was to move over to that method), only pointed out there can be advantages to the original method - as have many other people on this thread.

Gosh.

For those lurkers who are reading the thread, here’s my perspective and experience. I was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago by screening. I’ve had treatment and the pain relief was brilliant - I was surprised at how little pain I felt after my surgeries. Things were well managed through my chemo. I look back on it now, such a short period in my life, that I now have a much greater chance of living for longer. I can’t imagine not having had that treatment and having to watch my children’s faces as I dwindled, knowing that I could have done something about it.

What treatment for breast cancer doesn't include either mastectomy or chemo/ radiation ( which has shed loads of side effects? ) If there was an " easy" cure id probably feel differently

Lumpectomy?

I’d rather that and a full cure, than die of a completely treatable cancer (death from metastatic cancer is unpleasant). But obviously it’s fine for other people to feel differently (and I do mean that entirely sincerely, tone doesn’t always come across in text).

Which is usually combined with radiotherapy or lymph node removal which can cause all sorts

It's not a personal attack.

I'm just sharing the facts so people are well informed, and correcting misinformation.

I'm glad you're happy with the treatment that you're getting, but you said that a person's care was substandard and ignorant if their GP didn't give pelvic exams to asymptomatic women, or thought that a self-swab was fine for the average woman, and you were wrong about that. It is in fact the recommended practice.

ETA: And given your mother died of ovarian cancer (my sympathies) it makes sense in your case to value the pelvic exam.

It was a personal attack. A deliberate, snipey, snide little personal attack. You went out and googled that so-called "information" purely to have the last word and to prove me "wrong" - for some weird reason - in stating my own personal experience of the last thirty-odd years.

This is quite a tin foil hat theory that GPs are trying force invasive tests on you because they want to earn cash and they don’t care about your discomfort because you’re a woman and not a man. It’s simply a matter of early detection being much easier and cheaper to treat than full blown cervical cancer and therefore better for you and better for the NHS.

What would you do if you had symptoms of cervical cancer like unusual bleeding or discharge? That would involve an “invasive” examination.

No, it really wasn't. You were claiming things that I doubted - not just that you'd always had pelvic exams with cervical smears, but that pelvic exams with cervical smears were standard. You said: "But it is not a replacement for a five yearly cervical smear for most women, who don't - as that exam offers so much more. Are you going to palpate your own abdomen and check for ovarian cysts or masses?"

It sounded wrong. But I didn't know! So I went out and researched a little because I enjoy using threads like this as an impetus to inform myself, and saw that in fact you were wrong about that one thing. And given that women might worry they weren't being offered pelvic exams, I thought I'd share the correct information.

You're the one who said my GP's up to date and well informed practises "suggests she is ignorant, inexperienced at smear tests, or just lazy", and passive aggressively said "Sorry it's not been offered to you" about a procedure that, it turns out is advised against for the average asymptomatic woman. Honestly, I think you're just angry that I pointed out that you were wrong about pelvic exams during cervical smears being best practice, or standard for the average woman (of course, with your family history, it might well be different for you!)

I do like that you're calling the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners advice to GPs "information" in quotation marks, though, as though they don't know what they're talking about

I had lumpectomy (including lymph node removal), chemo and radiation. Apart from one breast slightly smaller. Not noticeable when wearing a bra I don’t have any side effects. This was over 10 years ago. I know I’m lucky but there are lots of people who are fortunate with how they get on with treatment. I’m not arguing and trying to bully people into having things they don’t want to. I appreciate its people’s choice. I just to put out positive stories as mine is so people aren’t afraid of getting medical help.