Abnormal smear/Colposcopy-panicing sister

[batey]

Anyone any experience of this? My lovely sis has just found out she's has abnormal cells following a smear and will need a colposcopy to determine the extent,and may then need laser treatment. She's really upset/worried and I would love some words of wisdom/experience to help her. I've looked up various sites that have helped but are all a bit "science'y". She's 39, has 2 dss (5&8),smokes a bit and is probably run down with looking after her boys,house,job and dh who's never there when she needs him. Hope someone knows something........

We are v. close but don't live near each other so any help is done on the phone mostly.

I have had two abnormal smears resulting in colposcopy and laser treatment both times. The first time I had pre-cancerous cells and the second was minor change cells. The treatment wasnt too bad (must admit I did cry but more cos I felt undignified, hadn't had ds then!). There was a couple of nurses there and they were really good at making me feel a bit more relaxed. Seem to remember it felt like period pains and a bit draggy in my stomach iykwim during the treatment. I bleed quite heavily for a couple of days. I would advise her to take it easy the day she has the treatment and if poss the next day. If you/your sis wants to know any more please ask. My thoughts are with her as I know how worrying it is.

Thanks for the encouraging responses,read them out to her and made her cry (in a good way). Anymore much appreciated.......

I believe that simply giving up smoking can cause cell changes to reverse themselves fairly quickly. It's so worth it. It's also an idea to take a basic multivitamin with antioxidants (esp C &E). I have a lot of friends who have had this and they have all been absolutely fine. Abnormal cells are NOT cancer, otherwise they would say so. This is very, very treatable - and has reminded me to book a smear.

I had coil treatment for abnormal cells in 1995(ish). It was undignified, in the same manner as a smear test, but didn't hurt as I had some local anaesthetic. I had a dragging feeling for about three days afterwards. The specialist did a biopsy at the same time, to determine the extent of the abnormality, and told me the results at the check up six months later. The coil treatment caught all the cells, and I have had annual check ups ever since, which is the silver lining to all this. I do think that three yearly smear tests is terrible, but that is another thread!

Give your sis my best batey, and tell her not to worry. At least they have probably caught it early.

Hi Batey

This is not as unusual as it sounds. One of my friends had a colposcopy and laser treatment at 21 - she's since gone on to have two lovely boys and she's fine. I've also had an abnormal smear, colposcopy and treatment for abnormal cells. The consultant was brilliant - she told me that there was a very tiny (pencil dot size) portion of carcinoma (small panic on my part), but as far as she was concerned - all treated and cured. Which was great as dh and I want more children - we had dd just over a year after my treatment. So all is well here and all smears since have been clear. Your sister will probably appreciate having someone with her for any treatment - I took my mum to hold my hand. Hope this helps.

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Batey, haven't read the other responses, so apologies if I'm repeating. Had this when I was 19 and a colposcopy and laser treatment. It was not nice, but not that awful either. The colposcopy was not much worse than a smear - the laser treatment a bit worse, but on a scale of 1-10 with childbirth, it was a 3/4 for me. Everyone's different, but I then had annual smears for 10 years (all OK) and then reverted to 3 year smears. Just had one and it was clear. HTH. She's welcome to contact me at [email protected] if she wants to ask anything else. It's all a bit hazy but I do have a friend who had similar recently who might be able to help with what it's like these days.

I've had a few "abnormal" smears over the years that turned out to be nothing when they redid them. Like robinw, the worst part was the messy cream that I had to use for 3 or 4 weeks.

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Mumsnet comes up trumps again! Thankyou all for reassuring me that it'll be fine. Now I can get on with reassuring her.

My mum is 57 and she had an abnormal smear last year which righted itself for the next one.So best wishes to your sister.

She found out today that her result is CIN3,i.e on a scale of 1-3 the most serious type of abnormality. I've spent alot of today on the phone to her and other places. The most helpful being a cancer helpline (as she'd convinced herself that's what it is), who said although her result is one step away from cancer, it's a huge step and even if left un-treated it would take 15yrs for any adverse effects to develop.
So the plan is that she'll be referred next week for her Colposcopy and treated quickly after with whatever she needs.
Had to tell my parents for her today too which isn't easy as my Mum just crumples into a heap at the slightest sign of trouble. Anyway it's been a long day with the upshot being she will be fine she just needs to calm down and believe it.

Off to have a beer or 3 now......!

Hi, yes CIN3 sounds scary but it's NOT CANCER. That's the important thing. The other one is to give up smoking. It increases the risk of cancer by 50% so now is definitely the time. The extremely common genital wart virus causes cervical cancer in nearly all cases but seems to need something else to trigger the actual disease and that is usually smoking. Cut out the smoking and you cut out nearly all of the risk. By the way, the strain of wart virus that causes almost all cases of cervical cancer is asymptomatic - ie there are no warts. Sounds crazy, but true. So you wouldn't know if you had it. The variety of the virus that causes warts to grow doesn't actually cause cancer. So your sister has a very treatable disorder, which isn't cancer and almost certainly never, ever will be, but if she stops smoking her chances of never getting cancer will be much higher.

Yes, I had CIN3 when I was 25 and had a cone biopsy as a result.(I had one dd at the time).No pain at all just a period-type bleed for one week after. Had annual smears for about 10 years after, now have 3-yearly. No sign of anything else abnormal since and I'm now 46, having had dd2 at 40. So the fact that your sister has had it found and it will be treated is all good news! Must admit, the first mention of it is scary but it is easily treatable.

I had same when I was 23, 10 years ago, and had laser treatment, which was just uncomfortable, and I felt slightly bloated afterwards. I had to go back to have my cervix cauterised after about a week as I was bleeding heavily, and going on holiday a week later ! So that stopped the bleeding.

I welcomed the annual smears, as it was always in the back of my mind that it would happen again - but ok so far.

We have since had 2 dds !

I had a colposcopy carried out in August 2000 after having abnormal cells (CIN1 - the most mild form - showing abnormal changes that need to be checked out). Had a colposcopy carried out on 8th August (remember the date - it is my friend's birthday) went private - got private medical cover through work. I went in in the morning and was out at lunch-time - no over-night stay needed. The result came back clear although it showed I had the thrush virus on my cervix. They recommended I have a repeat smear after 6 months. This one also had a slightly abnormal result. This was in January 2001.

For those of you worried about the fertility side of it (although I never had laser treatment), I had my coil removed on 19th January, had the colposcopy carried out on 22nd January and was pregnant by the 29th January (baby born last October). I had to have a cone biopsy where they cut away a tiny part of the cervix to check the cells and this time I got the all clear. I still have to have yearly smear tests, but the last one came back completely normal.

Just wanted to add, big sis got the test results from her colposcopy and all the dodgy cells have gone and she's clear. Big Hooray!! And thanks to everyone who took the time to reply, it really made a big difference to her.

that's great news, batey.

Great batey!

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