Should I be worried?

[SkivingAgain]

I went for smear test on Monday as I was concerned about some traces of blood every few days when I wiped after a wee. Saw GP straight afterwards, who said protocol was to refer to gynaecologist. On Wednesday I had phone message to book ultrasound. I phoned on Thursday and was asked to go to my local X-ray department that afternoon. Been told to expect a phone call to book gynae appointment within next few days!

Should I be concerned? Or is this how efficiently the NHS runs?

I'm 50's, post-menopausal.

I don't think you need to be overly concerned as it just sounds like your GP is being cautious and following guidelines. It doesn't mean your GP thinks there's anything to worry about, more that he wants to rule things out. Far better to have appointments and tests quickly and for it to be nothing to worry about than the other way round.

Thanks fedup.

Most nhs trusts do those things very quickly

Body parts have a grading system lol. So head/ brain, spinal, gynaecology... Will be done very quickly. While things like hands, physio, ingrown nails ect are very slow.

hi, any PMB (post menopausal bleeding) is considered fast track hence the speed of appointments. Turns out fine 99% of the time

Thanks all. I hadnt realised that the NHS was this agile or efficient. Feel a lot happier now.

How are you doing?

I've now got an appointment next week for a womb biopsy. Letter says it only takes 10 minutes and isn't too painful. Though it tells me to take some painkillers beforehand... Have you ladies any experiences to share?

I've never had anything like that sorry. But I would recommend migraleve and ibuprofen as if they telling you to take your own then there won't be any extra pain relief you can take there. Better to have taken strong painkillers than to be in pain & them have nothing for you, I know that from personal experience!

Why migraleve joker? Though I think it's good advice to take along some extra painkillers in case I need them. Thanks for that.

Migraleve has codeine in as well as paracetamol which is brilliant, very good pain relief. it's good to take extra but when you swollow it takes 20-30 to be fully absorbed so best to be fully dosed before you go in (by that I mean take pills about 50/60 mins before procedure.) So your fully covered with no painful wait for extra pills to start working.

I made the mistake of only taking paracetamol the first time and it was painful. I'm used to falling of horses ect but that made me cry! Second time was migraleve with ibuprofen full dose of both and was fine. Needed a pain relief top-up after the first lot wore off but after that it was all ok.

Sounds like it may be more painful than I was expecting, I'll make sure I take enough painkillers cause I'm a bit of a wimp

I've had two of these and it's not too bad, it does hurt a bit but it's all over really quickly. And I'm a real wimp...believe me :)
I took painkillers beforehand on the second occasion but I don't remember it making a lot of difference tbh.
Try not to worry....honestly it's not much more than a smear test!