Very painful smear test TMI - what now?

[TheHorrorOfIt]

Ok I’ve name-changed for this - for obvious reasons - and I need a talking-to please.

Today I had a routine smear test - almost four years since the last. I’m 52 and have been through the menopause; never had a problem with a smear before. I mean, that nippy pain as they swipe for the sample isn’t nice, but then you know it’s over and done.I am a huge fan of free routine screening and think it is one of the best things about modern healthcare.

But OMG this time it was SO painful as soon as the nurse opened the speculum; actually unbearable and she had to keep stopping and waiting until I was OK. I usually have a high pain threshold but not now! She asked whether I usually felt pain and seemed surprised but when, on questioning, I told her I no longer had periods, she told me that basically everything starts to atrophy up there and that is why it hurts so much. Yes, “atrophy” is the word she used…

Anyway she is concerned because she doesn’t think the sample will have worked - so I will probably have to go back a second time. Possibly having used some cream to, I’m not sure, soften things up? I was too busy being mortified about my 52 year old mummified vajayjay to take on board what happens now. I can’t go back, I really can’t - it hurt so much and was so humiliating, I could cry.

Can anyone talk some sense into me please before I quietly leave the country? I think from the ensuing questions she was maybe remonstrating with me for not using HRT but our surgery is rubbish for appointments so I’ve never been to discuss menopause with them and just got on with it. Clearly my decrepit hoo-ha is now taking the brunt of that decision. God, can come one just shoot me now?!

I'm 37 and my last two smear tests this year and 3 years ago were incredibly painful as soon as she opened the speculum. Nothing has changed in the time between the non painful ones and these ones, the nurse just said that for some reason my body now finds the understandably uncomfortable forced expansion of the muscle wall painful now. Test came back clear for hpv last time anyway so sample must've worked.

Just wanted to pop onto say that if you have tested negative for HPV previously that doesn't mean you won't test positive in future even if you never have sex again.

This is what happened to me and I am now regarded as very high risk for cervical cancer. So please don't think just because you have a negative test you don't need to keep being tested.

Those wanting a source see excerpt below

www.cancer.gov/types/cervical/understanding-abnormal-hpv-and-pap-test-results

What does it mean if a woman has a positive HPV test after years of negative tests?

Sometimes, after several negative HPV tests, a woman may have a positive HPV test result. If you have a new sexual partner, this is most likely a new infection. If you do not have a sexual partner, or if you are in a monogamous relationship, this is not necessarily a sign of a new HPV infection, and it doesn’t mean that your partner has a new sexual partner. Sometimes an HPV infection can become active again after many years. Some other viruses behave this way as well; for example, the virus that causes chickenpox can reactivate later in life to cause shingles.

There is no way to tell whether a newly positive HPV test result is a sign of a new infection or a reactivation of an old infection. Researchers don’t know whether a reactivated HPV infection has the same risk of causing cervical cell changes or cervical cancer as a new HPV infection.

Also I am having a test tomorrow and have had many without too much pain! Just in case someone reads this and it puts them off.

Sorry for all of those that have found it horrid.

@TheHorrorOfIt

Yes that sound sensible *@user1471453601* it must have been awful for her to have that pain each time

@StEval I did actually think I had heard that expression before; it is something completely different to have it dropped into conversation when your knees are spread and your modesty covered by only the smallest bit of paper roll. I appreciate you giving me the science behind it though! Honestly feel like a different description might be nicer

Umm thats the medical term for it Op. They are saying that to be unkind.

Arent