to wish men could have to have smears too?!

[RatherBeOnThePiste]

Had my regular smear test few weeks ago, happily got the positive letter today, but aren't they dreadful? Or is it me being a weed? I know how vital they are, I lost a good friend with 4 young children a couple of years ago to cervical cancer and we should feel lucky to have an established screening programme.

But, does anyone else find them so invasive ? It was different this time too and it made me bleed. I think they use a different tool than 3 years ago. The nurse was lovely too. i dreaded going, DH was like.. "go and get on with it" .... really "so whatish" if you know what I mean. He thought it was a fuss about nothing.

I wish he could have had one too!

They are not compulsory you know - it's optional to have a smear test, just because you get an appointment in the post doesn't mean you have to have it.

Anyway, I understand the prostrate exam can be very uncomfortable. Perhaps he'll need one of those one day

Don't worry...in a few years he'll have to have his prostate checked as the nurse at our doctor's reminds me every time I have to have a smear.....

It saves lives so it's pretty important!

It shouldn't hurt though, the speculums they use now are better than were. Perhaps it was at a tricky time in your cycle?

I don't think anyone enjoys going though do they, it is invasive but quick and then over with for a few years.

Yup prostate exam. I reckon that must be worse

Personally, smears don't bother me at all. Now dentists, that's another story...

it's not fun but essential to go...I dread them but do go..just a case of getting on with it. I'd rather that than a finger up my bum any day...

RatherBeOn - a rather sensible suggestion in my view.

I have a bladder/prostate condition that requires me to have a DRE digital rectal examnation) every year. Its not painful. More uncomfortable, strange and a bit embarrassing.

I encourage all women in a relationship with a bloke to badger and nag him into having a it done by a GP every year. Quick (30 seconds) and easy to do and could save his life. Women are much more used to regular smears tests and men avoid anything like that until too late.

If he still does not fancy going tell him what is more painful is having your epididymis checked which involves squeezing the testicle (the nice lady doctor did it for me last week). Even more painful is having a plastic implement pushed down your urethra to check for STD (had that too). Chemotherapy or surgery I have not had and know that avoidng that means having regular checks.

Having DRE or a prostate specific antigen test (just blood sample) is much easier and nicer - so get it done guys!

am going to show this to DH.........

Hate to say this, but any medical professional who advocated a digital rectal exam as screening for prostate cancer doesn't know what they are on about - it only detects prostate cancer at a relatively advanced stage. The PSA blood test, on the other hand, will detect prostate cancer at an incredibly early stage when treatment is easy and very, very successful.

Testicular self examination is something every man should do - easy to do in the shower too

Having been talking about cervical cancer for the last two days, I can't stress how much a couple of minutes mild embarrassment can gain you

CMOT - you are right in a sense.

Unfortunately, GP surgeries do DRE as standard procedure because it is quick and cheap and PSA tests do give false positive (i.e showing a man has prostate cancer wen he does not)and false negatives (i.e showing a man has not got prostate cancer when he has) so it is not fool proof.

Better than not having it done at all though.

Testicular self examination is very important too - agree with you very much there.

Yes, there are a number of reasons that PSA can be high - enlarged prostate, prostatitis etc, but the number of false negatives is very low. PSA is cheap to do, especially at the same time as other blood tests. As long as they don't do a DRE before the blood test.