Pressured

[mandyjones]

I went to see my GP yesterday and all they tried do was insist that i had a smear test or make an appointment for one shortly. The reason i went was totally unrelated to any form of sexual health. Has anyone else felt this, should i complain?

If your due a smear it’ll be flagged up on the computer.

Women still die of cervical cancer, like all cancers your better off diagnosed early or precancerous cells picked up and removed.

I don't think a smear is classed as a sexual health appointment, it's a screening and you will be told, written to etc if you are due one. Don't you want one?

Do you think a smear is concerned with your sex life?

This is why I removed myself from the screening programme. There was endless coercion and despite saying I'm not here for that the subject dominated the appointment leaving little time to discuss the actual problem.

The final straw was when I went to the gp distraught and in tears after a sexual assault. The male gp spent a good 5 minutes suggesting we could just do it now and it was not what I needed at all and totally inappropriate.

It does not matter if it's coming up on the computer or it's overdue or whatever. It's a choice, it's not compulsory and once someone says No the matter should be dropped. Coercing someone into an invasive test that they do not want is not ok and is not real consent. It makes me feel sick that gps do this.

Smear tests aren't to do with sexual health, they are just regular checks for abnormal cells/cancer and they regularly mean women find out early enough to beat the cancer. In the UK I get a reminder letter every 3 years I think but I live in Germany now and they do it yearly.

That being said you don't have to have it, just refuse if you don't want it but I wouldn't complain, I think it's standard practice to ask.

did they actually deal with whatever you went for?

@happyrainbow84
i thought it was regarded as sexual health because it is in effect a vaginal swab, and the risk increases massively by multiple sexual partners!
My next smear isnt actually due until October, i had my reminder letter 2 weeks or so ago, i just felt it very odd that i was there for an ear "ringing" issue and he was more concerned about booking a test for the other end of my body

If the pandemic continues I can see smears being pushed back like mine was last year & you were there in clinic with a dr so I can see why they’d kill two birds with one stone.

You can catch HPV from just one sexual partner. You’d have to stay a virgin for life to completely avoid it.

they are just regular checks for abnormal cells/cancer

No they aren’t — not in the U.K. anyway. They are a HPV screen with cells checked only if HPV positive. This is one reason why smear tests are useless for women with any symptoms.

@tootingbeclido

Yes he did, only after i agreed to book in my smear. I think they must get paid more for smears than ears !!!!