I'm really nervous about booking my first smear test

[easythere]

I feel really stupid. I have had fairly irregular periods since i had DD2 9 months ago.

I turned 25, 6 months ago when I received my smear test letter.

I don't know when to book it, should I book it while I'm on my period so I can tell the receptionist I have irregular periods so she will perhaps book it for the week after?

Or do they book well in advance?

I've just come out of hospital for pneumonia and I was flagged up on the system for not having my smear test yet and it's given me a kick up the bum.

I've had 2 children and obviously had all sorts of tests down there but I'm so nervous

Book it for a time when you think you won’t be on your period, then if your period comes, rearrange the appointment and explain the situation. I believe you can have it done when you have a period though, but you should confirm this with the surgery.
Don’t be nervous, it’s not painful and the nurse doing it does it day in, day out and has literally seen it all. Far more important to get it done than avoid it.

It's over so fast, I barely feel anything since having DD!

The nurse doing it will have seen it all before, I've never had one who wasn't really friendly & chatty.

Once you've had it you'll probably wonder what the nerves were all about

How far in advance you’ll need to book depends on your surgery. I had a smear last week and when I phoned to book they tried to make it in the middle of my cycle but it’s not essential you have it at that time.
It took me longer to get my jeans off then to have the smear. It’s a tiny bit uncomfortable but just relax and you probably won’t even realise when it’s done.

I had a period unexpectedly appear the day before mine was booked. I just rearranged it. It took ages (difficult to get through to my surgery) and in the end all they did was test for HPV which I already knew I didn’t have. If they’d told me that they wouldn’t test for abnormal cells I wouldn’t have bothered going.

@Reginabambina HPV can appear any time. It can be dormant in the body for years. I had clear smears for years and then the last 2 I've been HPV positive.
Just to say I'm married and have we've been together for 15+ years.

Didn't mean my message to sound harsh.... just saying you should still for smears whatever the result.

@DanceDanceDance80 that’s interesting, I didn’t know that it did that. I knew it could ‘disappear’ but I didn’t realise that it could re-emerge. In that case I’m not longer so annoyed at the NHS.