No pill without smear test?

[eilidhfi]

I've just been told off for missing my appointment for a smear test today (I forgot I booked it, does your memory ever come back after pregnancy?!) anyway the nurse told me that they wouldn't prescribe me any more contraceptive pills until I've had a smear test.

I've made an appointment for next week so it's not a problem but out of interest are they allowed to do that? Are smear tests mandatory?

no, not unless you specifically ask for them, a person is not routinely tested for HPV. instead, a smear test is used.

so how do men know if they have them

have hpv

Absolutley agree Expat.

If my sister hadn't had her routine smear she'd have never known.

WRT breast examination, surely if you find a lump then you get it checked out.
And this, in turn, can save your life.

they may know IF they have the strain that causes visible genital warts.

but the strains that are most likely to cause cervical cancer are asymptomatic in men and don't cause visible warts on the vulva.

so that is part of the reason why the strains that are likely to cause cervical cancer are so easily transmitted.

it is entirely possible, too, for a woman to have multiple strains of HPV, including those which can cause cervical cancer, and have no symptoms. ever. no abnormal smears in their lives.

right i think i follow that

certainly didnt know it

i think you are called for smear test less often once you get to my age anyway

tho i did have one whenever i was last asked

yes once you get to 50 it changes to 5 yearly

it also changes if you've had several normal tests in a row.

i had one abnormal, one colposcopy, one loop electroexcision procedure, then normal tests - touch wood.

i did go through a phase of abnormal ones in my twenties or thirties

i dont know why

i was just thinking you feel perfectly happy not using condoms and tyhen read something to worry you again

i am however back to feeling quite safe again

I think that's quite outrageous! I don't have smears, but I'm not on the pill. I'd tell them to stick it.

I'd say 'Fine I'll get pregnant then' what a nanny state!!

look here

Not being on the pill does not mean you will get pregnant, there are other methods!

Why do people feel so anti-smear tests? I dont understand.

nobody here is anti-smear tests, Elf

They are anti not being allowed the pill unless you have regular smears

there is a big difference

For what it is worth I truly hate having smears done, but do go whenever I get notification (except for the most recent one when I was already pregnant). I do understand that some women may actually be phobic or simply so averse to the idea that they would rather take the tiny risk. That should be their look out.

I have a friend who is terrified of flying. She drives where she can instead, increasing her risk of being killed in an accident as flying is actually safer than driving. Should she be denied the chance to travel? If you don't think so, you must agree that it is up to us whether we choose to take small risks or not.

By anti smear tests I meant why people did not go for them - I have seen it on a few threads, comments of "I have never been" and "I went for one years ago, never planning to again" and just dont see what the issue is about them.

I have just found this topic kinda emotional after reading a few articles in the mags/papers about girls who have not had smears / had to request smears as they were "too young" (under 24) and are now dying of cervical cancer. I think it is very sad. I am not saying smears would have prevented the cancer, but in some of the cases, it may have been beneficial for finding out earlier and it being treatable for these young women iyswim.

zippi- I just wanted to add- I don't think it changes to 5 yearly once you are 50. I was called for mine after 5 years - through the system- and told them I had already been, privately. I asked why they didn't do them 3 yearly as advised by most drs and they said they were changing to every 3 years, but I had slipped through the net in some way- caught between the 5 year and 3 year progamme- anyway it was irrelevant as I go privately and get the result in 1-2 weeks instead of 12 weeks with NHS.

I feel that the £50 is well worth it, and the dr who does it (who is actually a GP at my surgery anyway!!) recommends every 3 years, even for oldies like me over 50.

A lot of women are scared of smears - let's face it, you're being asked to take off your pants and spread your legs for someone you've never met, no foreplay, and someone is going to put a cock-sized object inside you (that they may have forgotten to warm up), and then brush your cervix which many women find uncomfortable and many actively painful. And if you have any difficulty with managing to relax enough for this to actually happen, the appointment will run over time. Add say one in ten women who've been sexually assaulted or similar who may be extra nervous, and it's not too surprising.

I'd like to see family planning clinics or STI clinics (or nurses in GP surgeries) offer smears by guaranteed experts, advertising themselves as good with nervous patients, just like dentists do.

Back when I was 20 I was lucky to have a wonderful GP who took about 15 minutes to talk me into a smear, assured me she'd do it herself and be in no hurry, and prescribed two doses of diazepam to relax me as well. Result - survived the smear and have gone regularly ever since. But if I'd simply been made to feel a nuisance, I'd probably never have had one.

And a couple smears since have been painful, with cack-handed nurses using a cold speculum, jabbing the cervix, etc (various friends say they're painful no matter what). Since then I've always asked who the best person is to do them - booked one just after a GP appt and the receptionist said "Why didn't Dr X just do it herself?" I told her that if Dr X recommended the nurse rather than herself, I really wasn't going to argue!

thankfully I don't have to have smear tests from what I have read here (I am supposed to start prostate exams soon and not too keen on a couple of fingers being shoved up my bum and wiggled around to find the prostate though). I suspect the nurse is going by government guidelines on this. the majority of pills are oestrogen based and as oestrogen is the ''female growth hormone'' any abnormalities in the cervix will be accelerated by taking oestrogen based pills. not sure why progesterone only pills could not be used as progesterone does the opposite of growth (mind gone blank as to the proper word).
the only real experience I have had is that my ex had an abnormal smear result a month before she found she was pregnant, she had to wait 3 months after birth to have another which was still abnormal and was refused the pill in any form. 6 months after that she had a normal smear