Be brutally honest, it's cancer isn't it?

[hopefulmummytobe78]

I had my first smear test today, I'm 24.

I bled during it and the nurse saw a yellow spot on my cervix. She said it's a normal cyst, called a nabothian cyst, but she also referred me for a colposcopy.

She said it was just to be safe, but why would an overstretched NHS do that? She's definitely seen something awful, hasn't she? She said I would be seen very quickly too.

Why would she do that if it wasn't sinister? It's cancer, isn't it?

Sorry but you are being way way over-dramatic here! They are doing this as a precaution. At your age, it is most unlikely to be cancer. If the worst was the case and I very much doubt it there's plenty of treatments and it's not a life sentence anyway.

There are all sorts of things this could be, and they are just being cautious. Stop getting yourself all wound up! Though I have a DD your age and I can imagine the drama if it was her too.

I'm a lot older than you and I had an urgent referral on the NHS, coupled with surgery quite soon after. A tumour was detected on my adrenal gland. They removed the adrenal gland but thankfully the tumour was benign.

My granny mum and aunt all got cancer so I understand your fear. I've had three urgent pathway referrals over the years for this reason. It's terrifying.

I'm still here, cancer free. A granny myself now.

Have faith.

Do you not have access to the internet or a library?
This, or a version of it, came up in every search,

'Cervical cysts aren't cancerous. The most common variety is a nabothian (nuh-BOW-thee-un) cyst, which forms when normal tissue on the outer part of the cervix grows over the glandular, mucus-producing tissue of the inner part of the cervix. When mucus, fluid or tissue becomes trapped, a cyst forms.
Nabothian cysts are so common that they're considered to be a normal feature of cervical anatomy. Your doctor might discover one incidentally during a pelvic exam. In general, cervical cysts don't cause symptoms and require no treatment.'
Nabothian cysts do not normally require treatment. In rare cases the cysts may become large and cause symptoms or distort the shape of the cervix which may require aspiration of the mucus or removal of the cyst in order to adequately examine the cervix.

And despite you asserting that the nhs is on its knees, and therefore is only taking cancer cases isxso very wrong. In these cases, as with obvious cysts in breasts or other bits of one's anatomy, a clinician is likely to refer you because they just do. Guidelines, innit

I hope some of the answers have helped you to feel less anxious. I had irregular bleeding and they referred me to the two week pathway for cancer screening just as a precaution. They did an assesssment but it all looked clear , could see no reason for the bleeding - they send me to see another specialist just in case.
All clear again.

I was worried in case it was cancer but I knew it was unlikely but I do get your anxiety

They were just being thorough which afterwards when I was calmer, I was extremely grateful for. They just want to be as certain as they can be that it is nothing.

the funding for GPS and hospital screening/pathways are different that’s why your GP may be rubbish with no resources but these pathways for cancer screening are better funded. I promise you it doesn’t mean they think you have cancer - it means they want to absolutely rule it out.

I hope you are ok and I hope you get seen quickly.

The NHS regularly refer on a precautionary basis, as several people on here have confirmed. To add my contribution, I was referred for urgent investigations on the two week pathway when I had anaemia because it could just possibly be a sign of cancer, although it was more likely to be a sign of numerous other things. In the event, it did indeed turn out to have nothing to do with cancer - it was in fact a stomach ulcer.

From their point of view it's always going to be better to take precautions, because obviously the earlier something is caught, the better; and if it turns out, in your case, to be just a cyst, fine, they can deal with that and sign you off. For what it's worth, it's also better for their finances.

I bled often during smear tests My results have always been normal. I think it is very very unlikely given your age that you have cancer. Even if there were some abnormal cells they can either clear on their own or they can be treated. I have at least three friends who had abnormal cells and treatment and we are all pushing 60 with no recurrence for my friends.

Well if , IF , it turns out you have cancer then she has done exactly the right thing, and like all cancers the earlier it is detected the better. A far worse scenario would be someone not referring on because they believe symptoms are perfectly normal and couldn’t possibly be anything sinister.

I can understand your anxiety, my mum was diagnosed with cancer in July last year (shes now passed away) and in August I went for a colposcopy after an abnormal smear in May that suspected abnormal cells and cervical ectropion and I'd been bleeding heavily every single day since May. The bleeding after the smear was even heavier.

When I had my coloscopy she did a lletz treatment and biopsy but did tell me she didn't see anything to immediately worry her it was cancerous though she can't always be sure. I was SO worried it would be cancer because I was carastrophizing because my mum had just been diagnosed for the second time and the first was bladder and a full radical hysterectomy she had including removal of the cervix. I've also had the same issue with my first smear at 21.

It was a long, worrying 6 weeks wait for results but they came back as cin 3 cells which were all removed and no cancer. I now have my first 6 monthly smear on Wednesday and will get them every 6 months for the next five to six years so they are very thorough at keeping on top of gynaecology issues. Your friends cyst might not of been as big or bled as much. These things need to be checked and sinusitis referrals aren't the same as cervical. It doesn't mean it's cancer.

Please get help for your anxiety op. This is no way to live and I hope you get help as soon as possible. This type of anxiety is crippling

I wouldn't start writing a will or anything just yet.....

The justification of 'why would an overstretched NHS do XYZ...' is baseless. Just because the NHS is overstretched does not mean we take this into account when providing quality patient care.

If something looks 95% like a benign condition and 5% like cancer, that 5% is big enough for it to be referred as a 2WW to rule it out. Because ultimately, if that 5% was correct and you weren't referred, you would be asking why they missed a cancer.

Diagnosis is a game of ruling out - from most serious first. Until any clinician is satisfied that the most serious has been ruled out totally, they won't rest because it is their name on the line. You do not need to worry until they tell you there is something to worry about.

Also see from your username your hoping to be a mum so if you've expressed any of this to your nurse or doctors they'll also sort any gynaecology issues, may be a reason why you're being referred and your friend isn't. Your surgery may also just be better at following protocol. You should be referred for anything abnormal, abnormal doesn't always mean cancer infact it usually isn't.

If it was definitely cancer they wouldn't fanny about with further tests they'd send you straight to oncology.
Most odd things are NOT cancer, but some are and early detection (smears) increases your chances of a good outcome.

I hope you feel reassured soon.

@hopefulmummytobe78 I had exactly the same experience. I too was pretty terrified to have something the size of a grape growing on my cervix, whatever the nurse said, and glad of the swift referral. At the hospital appointment they popped it and it went away! Try not to worry - easier said than done - but it's far, far more likely to be a cyst than anything else.

OP, you absolutely have to stop, please. I’m afraid you’re going to make yourself sick with worry and stress.

You said you’ve just been crying since you came home and it sounds like you’ve been looking up abnormal smears which is NOT what you had. A smear is looking at the actual cells from your cervix and seeing if they’re abnormal. You have no idea of this, at a cellular level. Did you look up nabothian cysts?

Your username indicates that you really want to have children. Nabothian cysts can heavily affect your fertility and if it was one large enough to bleed so much, then yes, it needs to be checked out and “fixed” before it causes any issues to your fertility.

But this is NOT a cancer issue. Or your referral would say so. Which is what people keep trying to tell you.

Also, if you are by any chance negative for HPV and not too old, you really, really need to get the HPV vaccine. The chances of you getting cervical cancer without HPV are tiny. Someone should have explained this to you were young, in hopes your fear of cancer (and the fact it would require a lot of needles) would be greater than your fear of a single needle you don’t even need to look at.

Good luck, OP, and please, please don’t worry about something you have had no indication of.

A referral doesn't mean its cancer.

I was referred to an oral specialist from my dentist for something she thought looked off on my tongue. Turns out I'm just allergic to the filling material used, but they did a tongue biopsy anyway even though she told me what it looked liked at my consultation. It's just standard procedure to be 💯 sure.

I also have had 2 hysteroscopys and had benign tumours and polyps removed. They told me before hand they suspected the tumours were benign but I needed the polyps removed to check for cancerous cells.

GP told my mum they thought there was a strong possibility she had ovarian cancer and needed referring (she did not have it) and told my partners mum they thought her cancer returned (it had)

Clinicians don't lie to you to spare your feelings, if she thought it was worrying she would tell you.

Really hope OP gets her health anxiety sorted before becoming a mum...

The justification of 'why would an overstretched NHS do XYZ...' is baseless. Just because the NHS is overstretched does not mean we take this into account when providing quality patient care.

The OP seems to have picked up a general message that "If the NHS treat you it must be cancer because they are so screwed that nobody is getting treated for anything else".

It's perhaps not entirely surprising that someone who perhaps doesn't have much knowledge about an area (the NHS in this case) hears repeated negative stories about it, and then has a poor first-hand experience of it (the missed ENT referral), and concludes that it the whole thing is indeed falling apart. Imagine that you're from the countryside, you've never been to London, everyone says it's awful but you decide to go anyway, a bit nervous, and you get off the train at Paddington and the first thing you see is two drunks having a fight. OMG, what they said was right, everyone's drunk and fighting all the time. You might get straight back on the train and hightail it out of there.

I'm fairly sure that whatever the problems in the NHS are with the well-known funding issues that they have, it's not actually "on the verge of collapse". For one thing, that's not really a very meaningful thing to say about an organisation that employs a million people anyway. But I can see how someone who doesn't know much about it, and perhaps complex systems in general, might take such messages almost literally.

Nurse doesn’t think you have cancer, but she is being thorough and referring you to be doubly sure so she doesn’t miss something. Try and look at the positives of that - this is a good thing that they are bothering to check. Would you rather she said that she was fairly sure it’s fine, so we’ll risk not double checking and then finding out she’d got it wrong? It’s almost certainly nothing and if it were cancer than it’s better that it’s caught early. This is why we go for smears - early detection is a huge part of battle against cancer.

I strongly advise you to get the HPV vaccine. 99.7% of cervical cancers are caused by the HPV virus. I understand the fear of needles but perhaps the terror of the possibly of cancer can put that in perspective and you can see it is worth the jabs to prevent that risk. You are eligible for it free if you are under 25.

NHS on HPV vaccine availability

OP where there’s a probability of cancer, not matter how small, the NHS steps up. I had a scare recently, and my likelihood of it being cancer was very small, and I got a scan 11 days after my GP appointment. I was fine. Chances are you will be too. Being investigated for cancer does NOT mean you have it. Hope all goes well OP and you manage to relax a bit.

I've had 2 of these fast track referrals after smear tests, and like almost everyone else on the thread, it was not cancer but something fairly trivial.
The chances of you having cancer at your age are very, very small. Please stop panicking. It's a routine check but they do it quickly just in case.

She’s being super cautious, very unlikely to be cancer. You’ve even seen the referral.

Are you vaccinated against HPV? Have you been going for regular smears? Do you smoke?

You are catastrophising, please get some IRL support, perhaps from Jo’s Trust.

Hope it all goes well OP.

You won't have had your referal for the ENT yet because the waiting list for that in most areas is at least 18 months. Cervical screening HAS to be done much quicker so that it catches those that DO actually have cancer. You have been told you have a cyst so the likelihood is you have a cyst - nothing more. I just had my bowel screening test that I only did a week ago come back as abnormal, I have a telephone consultation next week and will be having a colonoscopy very soon after. Do I think I have cancer? No. In all likelihood I will have a polyp or piles or I wiped until I bled which is the most likely thing due to possible food intolerances that I am waiting to see a dietician for. But guess what, the waiting list for the dietician is at least a year because it's not high risk. You possibly need to speak to someone about your anxiety though.

To add, try to stop reading online is only going to fuel your anxiety and deeply unhelpful as you are already anxious and not objective.

Cervical cancer is not a hereditary cancer, but understand the context is driving your anxiety.

Most people who get referred to colposcopy have high risk HPV which drive the cell changes, you don’t know if you even have HPV?

The statistics you quoted don’t apply to your situation.

Most people have a visual assessment, some have further samples taken, depending on results of those, some have laser to the cells to prevent cancer (treatment of abnormal but not cancerous cells).

The cervical smear is a screening test to prevent cervical cancer, it’s never been advertised as a test for cancer.

including the Jo’s Trust helpline details mentioned above, https://www.jostrust.org.uk/get-support/helpline

OP, I’ve bled during smears before. I also used to get abnormal spotting in between periods. I had a lot of gynae examinations due to various gynae issues but none of them were cancer. In my case I had a small polyp on my cervix which was a non-cancerous growth. I was trying to get pregnant at the time and they removed it incase it was causing issues with conception. I think they tested the tissue to be sure there was nothing nasty. Some women are more prone to bleeding during smears. I’m definitely one of them. Try not to worry.

You need support for your health anxiety, OP.

Whilst I completely understand a referral following a smear can be concerning, your catastrophising in my opinion, isn't normal, and it screams out in this thread.

You haven't been told you have cancer - you've literally made this up in your own head. I bleed during smears. After sex sometimes. I also get irregular bleeding. Had just about every test known to humanity for this. Some women do just bleed.

The nurse is being on the ball and thorough, well done to her. Better 'waste nhs resources' being safe than sorry, which I imagine is the exact line she is taking. She is responsible for your health and ensuring it is double checked, just in case.

I'm sorry it's caused you worry. You really do need some support though.