Just went for a smear test..... is it meant to bleed ?

[meandjoe]

I went for my smear test today, was Ok, a bit sore at the time but OK now. When she brought the swab brush thing out it had a fair bit of blood on it and now I am still bleeding a bit. Is that normal? I am not really worried just not really sure what to expect. Also I am a complete worrier when it comes to waiting for results so does anyone know how long it will take for them to be posted to me? Thanks

It can do, some of us have a more sensitive cervix than others. My last one bled and came back all clear so don't read anything into it.

Oh that's reassuring thank you! Was thinking it could be an indicator of problems. The nurse actually said it all looked healthy and nothing obviously wrong so just a case of waiting for results now. Thanks x

Sometimes if it bleeds it means they can't look at the swab cells properly and you may have to have it done again mid-cycle.(thats what one of mine came back with once anyway)

The exact same thing happened to me and i posted it on here under smear test. Some really good reassurance i had if you want to take a look. I had several before without this problem so was abit taken back when it happened.Had mine yesterday and this afternoon stopped bleeding. HTH

Oh thanks biscuitqueen, I didn't think to read any of the other threads to see if there was any recent ones on smear tests, oooops!

I just wasn't expecting it to bleed at all and it took me by suprise a bit when the swab came out red and when I was still bleeding all afternoon I thought there might be a problem.

Thank you though, I guess it's reassuring to know that it doesn't have mean there is a problem. Hopefully we'll both get the all clear pretty soon and we will have been worrying for nothing.
x

Its a plastic fronded broom, rather than a swab. The plastic bits are fairly soft and flexible, and a D shape so there is a cutting face when rotated in a clockwise direction.
As the cervical epithelium can be quite thin and delicate with blood vessels close to the surface, when the broom is rotated (5 times), it can cause bleeding, it doesn't mean there is a problem.
A good proportion of the samples arriving into the lab are slightly blood stained so it is quite normal. The brooms are much better at getting good samples than the old Aylesbury and Ayres wooden spatulae, also no chance of splinters!
The new processing technique means the blood is removed so there are less inadequate or unsuitable samples. Most labs unsuitable rate is under 2% now.

just to add to what others have said, I also had a smear recently and bled afterwards. Result was absolutely clear.

I think it's because they use the 'broom' rather than swab nowadays. never had bleeding after a smear prior to this, but it was absolutely fine.

Phew! Thanks everyone for your help. I am not bleeding any more so I think everything's fine. Just waiting for the results now.x

Just a note of interest re getting smears done mid-cycle. It always used to irritate me that I would turn up mid-cycle, as instructed, only to be informed that I had an awful lot of discharge which may increase the likelihood of an inadequate result (less likely these days now they use liquid based cytology). Why ask someone to turn up mid-cycle, when a fertile person is going to be producing a lot of discharge, if you don't like discharge getting in the way, FGS??? The GP at my last smear actually admitted that it is not always the best thing to turn up mid cycle, despite the general advice.