Smear tests

[miriam25]

Hi all,
I seem to have developed a phobia of smear tests - today 10mg of Valium wouldn't even help! I've read about HPV blood tests - has anyone had one or does anyone have any idea where you can get them done?
I've also thought of having a course of hypnotherapy - has this worked for anyone one??
Many thanks

No Shew you are wrong incidence generally is 1-2% of the population this is without screening.

Medics actually say knowing what we know now the Screening Programme would never have been bought in if was being thought about in 2013.

Women need balanced information not NHS hype to make an informed choice!

OP - would having the test done privately by a female consultatn be easier for you? I have being interfered with by doctors and always find smear tests a bit of an ordeal. The one I had at my postnatal check up by my consultant (private birth) was a revelation - I was calm and reassured and felt nothing at all. Sadly i think that if you are paying they are very careful not to hurt you!

shew only about 3% of cases of mildly abnormal cells would turn cancerous. And even for serious abnormalities, only a 30% chance, so still more likely than not to turn out fine. I don't know what kind of abnormal cells your friends had, but if mild, there is a 97% chance their treatment was completely unnecessary. Hence what I say about over treatment. It's great that your cancer was picked up, but I agree with what honeybee is saying about women making informed choices.

honey is spot on. The current cervical screening programme would not be considered fit for purpose if it was introduced today. It hasn't changed in over 50 years - apart from the introduction of "ThinPrep". IMO, if it were men that were having the ends of their penis scraped, zapped with LEEP and sections chopped off for a cone biopsy, I think that a blood test would have been discovered a long time ago.

Another one who has opted out of the screening process but still gets harassed any time I see my GP.

It was an informed choice for me after seeing the damage my sister suffered from unnecessary treatment but I'm amazed at how many of my friends admit to needing a sedative or experiencing pain and accept that its just something to suffer through. That just isn't good enough.

I get a little tired of the 'suck it up and get on with it ' attitude. For many women, it is an intimate, invasive, embarrassing procedure that they are ill informed about, treated badly, and suffer psychological effects from, and not just women who have experienced sexual abuse.

I was refused the pill because I wouldn't have a smear but when I pointed out that I was high risk for lung cancer, no one insisted on xraying my lungs. My cervix, my choice.

I'm sick of women being on the receiving end of poor maternity care and poor, ill informed sexual health care. If having a smear is a big deal for any woman then she deserves to be informed about any benefits, how the procedure will be done and reassured that the examination will stop if she experiences pain. She also needs to know that any precautionary treatment is again, her choice, and to be informed of the potential risks, not just have the cancer word thrown at her.

By all means offer smears to women who want them but it's time that women were told the truth and allowed to express concern about an intimate examination that they told they have no choice about.

I also have a smear phobia. I kept getting letters but ignored them. I finally went in July. As soon as I entered the room I broke down sobbing and shaking (and this was after a double dose of Diazapam). I was having a full on panic attack and was actually sick. The nurse was amazing, she went and got a female GP who was lovely. They spent a lot of time calming me enough that I had the smear.

Two days later I received a letter telling me I needed a urgent colposcopy. I then very quickly learnt I had grade 2 cervical cancer which had spread to my lymph nodes. Since then I've endured chemotherapy, radiotherapy and brachytherapy. I've had to display my fanjo to all and sundry. It has been painful, embarrassing and extremely distressing. I still cry every time I have to be examined but I wouldn't say I'm phobic anymore .

I know the chances of cancer are low but it does happen. I don't smoke, have had few partners, wasn't sexually active at a young age. I also had no symptoms of a 4 inch tumour.

I hope that smear has saved my life. I don't know yet how successfully treatment has been.
Please see your GP Miriam.
and explain your fears they will help you.

Wow lady how fortunate to have a lovely nurse and GP to help you through.

I hope your treatment is successful.

My sister put off a smear for 6 years. Like you, she was found to have a grade 2 but was lucky enough to get away with a hysterectomy and cervix removal.

I hope you get help in over coming your fears OP.

lady

I knew a lady who had breast cancer. She was an intelligent, high flying career woman who did some extensive research and came to the same conclusion that many of you have reached. She accepted the chemo and radiotherapy, but refused the double mastectomy because her research suggested that doctors are too quick to overtreat and in most cases this isn't necessary. She paid for that gamble with her life...

IMO rather overtreatment for the majority, rather than under treatment for everyone with the resultant loss of life. Nobody knows which group they would be in.

But as you say, it is a personal choice.

I agree she's, even if my treatment proves to be completely successful and the tumour is gone I will still be having a radical hysterectomy. I won't take chances with my life. My family neede.
4000 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year and around 1000 will die. I think those figures make having a smear test well worth it.
Well done on beating your cancer shrew.
I am not trying to scare you Miriam, as I said up thread I do understand how utterly terrifying smears can be.

Which is fine that is your choice but under no circumstances would it be mine and rather than be harassed/constantly hounded by the NHS I have completely and totally disengaged from it. Which means I cannot receive treatment for everyday aliments.

There are 2 sides to everything.

I get incredibly angry when the NHS fails to respect patients informed decisions. My decision is just as valid as anyone else's.

Due to constant hounding re screening etc from the NHS I have no alternative but to make the decision not to a GP. Quite frankly its just not worth having a GP due to the immense stress it causes me :(

I feel like I've missed something. Why the vitriol towards the NHS for having an extensive and successful screening programme that they remind us about?

Yes I agree, once you have made that decision, they should not keep hounding you.
Why does it cause you stress though? Just bin the letters and continue to say no like a broken record. Please don't let it stop you accessing medical help for other things.

It is not that successful again NHS hype knowing what medics know now it is stated in the medical press it would never have been implemented now.

The constantly hounding reminders/badgering my GP/nurses slap wrists I am naughty girl for not doing as I am told. Even though my decision is based on evidence it is never ever respected.

After years and years of it I am sick of it all and the stress it causes. So I made the decision to deregistered and decided to go without a GP.

When you join a bank you can opt out of marketing/promotional blurb but not without the almighty NHS you have to jump through so hoops and then your decision is never respected.

The NHS does not comply with the DPA re this junk mail and I do need to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner about this.

If it wasn't for my smear test Iwould be dead this is a no brainier and totally irresponsible to suggest otherwise

No it is not irresponsible if you actually look at the evidence. I have made my own informed decision. Women need to make their own informed decisions and not be hounded.

Its fine women want to part of the screening programme then you could opt in but do not hound the rest of us who have made an informed decision based on evidence

As a result of this I am left without NHS care

Lemon- to look at the evidence try reading Dr Margaret McCartney's book a Patient Paradox available on Amazon. She is a Glassgow GP who due to the evidence declines a smear test.

She states there are lots of women avoiding the NHS because they know they will be hounded so other potentially serious conditions are not be treated.

OP, I had a phobia of any internal examination, to the extent I asked for my much wanted baby to be terminated so I wouldn't have to go through child birth. I managed 2 births without any examinations or stitching.

I first went for a smear when my youngest was 2. I knew however hard it was, it would never be as hard as leaving my children without a Mum from something preventable. The only way I can have the smear done is to insert the speculum myself and then look at the ceiling and count to 10 whilst they get it done. You aren't alone, but you can get through this! PM if I can help anymore!

lemon with respect, on this thread there are three women whose cancer have been found via a smear test, another whose sister had it and the op herself said she was told about someone who died because they never had a smear test. Just based on the above, how can you keep insisting that it is not successful?
Your choice - fine, but the NHS is doing a good job IMO

Sorry honey

The evidence is simple. I was CIN3 and on biopsy some of these cells were cancerous. The doctor told me I was lucky they caught it in time. A smear is unpleasant, sometimes painful but I am still alive.

Shew I suggest you read Patient Pardox which lists/explains all the research and is written by a GP.

I have nothing against a screening programme if it is opt in. That is your choice but NOT mine.

However do not hound me about something I have NEVER EVER given my consent to be a part of.

The only I can stop being harassed by the NHS is not have a GP. This is totally wrong.

I don't understand how you could tell that treatment after abnormal cells were discovered was unnecessary?
I had treatment years ago, about 15 years in fact. Now I'm fine, but how would I know it would have been unnecessary? I might have been dead of cancer for all I know, and that it certainly what I was lead to believe.
I did not have cancer but abnormal cells and had an excision.
Screening where I lived at the time started at 30 and loads of women I know had weird cells. Some people died of cervical cancer. They used to start screening at 35 but advanced the sceme to catch more women in time, and now here's also the vaccination for HPV which should help with the younger girls now.
I don't get the problem?

Honeybee, obviously having a smear or not is your choice. I don't understand why you say you are so stressed to the point that you have decided to not have a GP at all.
What is stressful about it?. Every 3 years you get a letter inviting you for a smear. Then a couple of follow up letters. I think if you were absolutely sure of your decision you would just bin and ignore with no further thought.

I ignored my letters but every day was worried about the possible consequences so I eventually went. A decision that has savedy life.
The NHS testing programme is a brilliant thing that is savng lives. Just one life saved makes it worthwhile. I hope nobody reading your posts decides to follow your lead. It's really not worth even a tiny risk to your life for the sake of 10 minutes discomfort.