I had a smear test today and now am worried. Please can someone come here and talk to me before I google?

[BennyAndJoon]

When she did the smear there was blood on the thing. Not my period. I mentioned it in a surprised "is that normal?" was but she said no but then just glossed over it.

Any ideas?

I will google if not...

Google it but don't get too carried away with the results. Hopefully someone with a bit more nonce will turn up soon.

I've bled after a smear before I'm sure. Bet she was justa bit rough but didn't want to tell you that!

I'm not so sure that it isn't normal. My last 2 smears were both very painful and afterwards there was blood in my underwear, I had never experienced that before. Both smears turned out to be normal.

Have always bled and never had a problem!

I had that too- she said she could see some blood there after she put in speculum. She said it could be a number of things- she could have scraped me or it could be from intercourse the previous day. She wasn't worried- the only thing is that quite often it cause th smaer to be inconclusive- so I had to go back 4 weeks later for it to be redone.

I bled after my last one - I think it's since they started using those mini toothbrush-type things instead of the old wooden spatula. I agree with Stealth.

She could have been a bit rough, you could just have a sensitive cervix.

You could have a slight ectropian. Do you ever bleed after sex?

Ectropians are really quite common, particularly with women on the pill. Basically it's where, because of the extra hormones, some of the lining of your womb grows outside of your cervix. Your cervix looks as though it's pouting.

They're quite easy to fix, I had mine done last month. The gynaecologist cauterized it with silver nitrate. That sounds A LOT worse than it is.

A bit of discomfort and some cramps but now no bleeding.

If you are worried. Make another appointment with your GP or nurse, thats what they are there for.

Your cervix and vagina are very vascula so it only takes one little scratch to get quite a bit of blood. I would bet it was down to the speculum scratching/rubbing the delicate tissue and nothing to worry about.

Thank you all for the reassurance

I have never bled before, so was a bit taken aback.

I did bleed a little bit after sex a while ago KandV, so if it happens again I will look into that. Not on the pill though.

I will wait for the results and then maybe see one of the MOs.

Yes, it does happen - we have lots of samples arrive into the lab with varying amounts of blood in them.
As the other posters has said it's due to a number of factors:

1. the cervex broom used to take the sample scrapes cells from the cervix, so this can cause a little bleeding
2. if you have an ectropian (which many women will, its due to the hormones making your cervix bigger and changes it's shape slightly), the 'skin' is thinner, and so the tiny blood vessels are readily accessible and can bleed when the sample is taken.

So don't worry but if you have PCBs (post coital bleeds) or bleeding at random times then you should see the GP.

yes, in fact it needed repeating as the blood contsminated the sample, as Bella says.
Bella's post is very reassuring, glad you're not too worried any more.