PCR test - is it really as horrific as some posters are saying?

[Aridane]

I will shortly be having a PCR test on arrival at Funchal airport (Madeira). (Absolutely no problem with this and I welcome their prudent approach as a responsible approach to tourism).

What are posters’ experience on the PCR test? The posts I’ve seen seem to be at the extremes of the spectrum - is either horrific or “oh, I hardly felt it at all”.

I would assume it’s somewhere in the middle??

Ahh good to know. We discounted it as I've been struggling to do the tests and had 2 unclear results. If I had known they administer a test at the airport we might have booked! Although it you have to self test at the airport I'd still be screwed if it came back unclear again!

It's absolutely fine. Marginally weird/uncomfortable for a few seconds but all over and done with very quickly.

I prefer someone doing the test for me but self administered is ok. It's just a bit fiddly.

The last test I had done for me I hardly even felt. I congratulated the person doing it on his skills. It was at a main drive through so he's probably done thousands and thousands now and has definitely perfected his technique in sticking swabs up people's noses.😂

It’s not meant to be a swab, it’s meant to be a nasal puncture. They are supposed to stab your sensitive nostril lining deeply enough to get a sample from below the surface.
Mine was repeated by the doctor as he said the nurses never stabbed hard enough. And it was eye wateringly sore!
Anyone just gently “swabbing” risks getting a lot of false negative results.
There is a newer, painless, saliva test but I don’t think it’s in widespread use yet. The throat swab should also be firm enough to make you gag.

@Faraway20 - you don’t self administer at the airport (fortunately!)

I wouldn’t want to self administer either a PCR test or the antibody one where you prick your finger. Like you, rather someone else did it to / for me

@Babdoc

It’s not meant to be a swab, it’s meant to be a nasal puncture. They are supposed to stab your sensitive nostril lining deeply enough to get a sample from below the surface. Mine was repeated by the doctor as he said the nurses never stabbed hard enough. And it was eye wateringly sore! Anyone just gently “swabbing” risks getting a lot of false negative results. There is a newer, painless, saliva test but I don’t think it’s in widespread use yet. The throat swab should also be firm enough to make you gag.

Really? I'm glad I didn't see your doctor as everything I can find from the NHS says it should be uncomfortable at most.

@Babdoc I didn't know that about the nose bit, and its definitely not how it looks on the NHS video. That said I did the tonsil swab until my eyes were streaming from gagging and the nose swab was far enough up to hurt and make me sneeze so I wasn't being shy but I still couldn't get a result.

@Aridane glad to hear! We've booked Greece instead anyway to hopefully avoid a test, but if we get selected for a test I will ask for them to do it. Good luck!

Thanks, @Faraway20 - ironically I am in Greece now!

@Babdoc surely if they were going to puncture the nasal lining they'd be using something sharper than a cotton bud?

Exactly @DameFanny. I find it worrying if a doctor really did say that as nowhere does it mention puncturing the nasal lining on the NHS information!

It is most definitely a swab! You really dont have to puncture the nasal lining

I have had a few, it really varies as to who is doing it.

It is a swab. Ignore the scaremonger

Uncomfortable, eye watering, gag inducing but in no way horrific. A very strange sensation up the nose, stinging is the closest I can attribute it too but a bit different! I’ve had a camera all the way done my nose to my vocal chords in the past & again, it was pretty uncomfortable but bearable! I’ve also had a camera down my throat to my stomach without sedation- that was horrific 🙈

Have they changed the swabs? There’s so many anecdotes from people on here about it needing to stab your brain but the instructions I’ve followed with the swab was to push it in to the point of resistance and no further .. similarly to the instructions above?!

When I had mine done on Thursday it looked like a long cotton bud. She'd have had a hard job puncturing my nasal lining with that!

@Bol87 a quick google will tell you it needing to stab your brain is bs, it has always been insert to the point of resistance and swab.

There's some deliberate misinformation going round @Bol87 including a YouTube video showing the swab going into the brain like it's an Egyptian mummification process - it's the anti-maskers/illuminati/covid's-a-scam-but-there's-also-like-this-really-cheap-cure-THEY-don't-want-you-to-have types trying to put people off getting tested because, well, god only knows why.

I've had 3, two I did one was done by a nurse.

Both are fine, a little bit uncomfortable but over quickly.

Thanks all. I had been concerned a bit about anecdotes on Mumsnet about it being like @Babdoc Describes - so good have a counter balance to that!

Not nice but at least it's over within a minute. 4 dc did it twice with mixed reactions but we all got through it

It's a bit like a smear test for the throat/nose..... Slightly uncomfortable but very quick.

Oh don’t say that, @BatleyTownswomensGuild - I’ve been in hospital today for a smear test as previous efforts at GPs were prolonged, painful and ultimately unsuccessful

But I know what you mean - ie discomfort for a brief period

Believe me, I would rather have a Covid test than a smear any time! Last time I had a smear I was crying because of the pain, the Covid test was easy in comparison!

Another vote for Covid test over smear!

To the pp up thread who assumes there must be a lot of false negatives where nasal swabs don't 'puncture', when my DP was first tested they didn't get a good enough sample and it came back as 'inconclusive' rather than negative. He just had to go have another one done.