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?

You've been told nothing of the sort. I get you're worried but you're going to have to reign it in or you'll make yourself ill. The nurse is following protocol for a cyst.

Different departments have different waiting times. You're being given some really good advice from people who know what they're talking about

Step away from the Internet just now. Go & make a cup of tea (or something stronger) calm down, get yourself together & reread some posts on here.

Yes you're worried but you're really over reacting to what you've been told. We all do think the worst but you're seeing things that aren't there

If the guidelines say to refer someone with contact bleeding and a cyst - then of course the nurse has referred you if that’s what she saw. Also the smear may need repeating if it bled a bit.
I don’t understand the link that because someone forgot to send your routine ENT referral you’re catastrophising to the nurse lying and thinking you have cancer? Also a silly thing to lie about as you’re going to know exactly what your cervix looks like pretty soon. If there’s a huge tumour (this is what you think she’s seen right?) she’ll be pulled up on why she lied in her documentation and either look totally incompetent or dishonest.

I assume you’ve seen this

About 6 in 10 people will have abnormal cells found at colposcopy. The medical term for abnormal cells is CIN ('cervical intraepithelial neoplasia'). CIN is not cancer, but it can sometimes go on to develop into cancer.4 Aug 2022
www.gov.uk › publications

but you KNOW you’ve been referred for a suspected cyst and you’re more likely to be in the 4/10??

The laws of probability say I'm more likely to be in the 6/10

Actually, most people referred for a colposcopy are referred due to finding abnormal cells. You haven’t had abnormal cells found. You’ve had a cyst. why are you assuming you have abnormal cells too? The nurse told you you have a cyst. She didn’t say you have abnormal cells.

No they don't

You're just not going to listen to anyone are you

*About 6 out of 10 women who have a colposcopy have abnormal cells in their cervix. This doesn’t mean they are cancerous cells, but they can sometimes develop into cancer if left untreated.

Very rarely, some women are found to have cervical cancer during a colposcopy. If you have cancer, you’ll be quickly referred to a specialist team for care and treatment.*

Stop concentrating on the very rarely bit. All this is saying is that some women need treatment to prevent cancer.

You are being sent with a cyst anyway which isnt even the same reason a lot of women are sent

OP you, me, and anybody probably have several oddities in their body at any time that could be cancer.

When these come under examination, even if the nurse is 99% sure it isn't cancer, they will often use the two week wait protocol to make 100% sure. 95% of patients referred under the two week wait pathway do not have cancer.

I have had cervical cancer. The nurse told me at the time they were pretty sure it was cancer. I have had many friends who have been referred for colposcopy and all has been fine - it's a standard next step when the nurse doesn't feel qualified to categorically state it's 100% not cancer

OP I understand you’re very anxious, but you aren’t listening to anyone. I perform about 5 speculum examinations a day, I’d say around 75% of those women have at least one nabothian cyst. My practice nurse commented that I had two at my last smear.

I’m surprised you’ve been referred at all as they’re so common (and completely harmless), perhaps you just have an overly cautious and efficient practice nurse.

You haven’t been told you ‘basically have cancer’ in any way, shape or form. Suspected cancers don’t go to colp anyway, they go straight to gynae. With kindness, you really really need to calm down.

Abnormal cells take 10-30 years to turn into cancer. When did you first have sex? A GP cannot see cancer from examining your cervix with her eyes. The colposcopy applies liquids and dyes to be able to see anything abnormal through a microscope. There is no chance they are referring you for suspected cancer.

Why don't you just go and get a Superdrug HPV test - you can't have cancer without HPV.

I've been referred to colposcopy about 10 times including aged 24. Reason being I have HPV.

I have had two friends with similar findings who needed a colposcopy. One had it done twice.
They are both totally fine many years on.

This is also what the NHS website says about colposcopys

*Try not to worry
If you’re referred for a colposcopy after an abnormal cervical screening test, you shouldn’t assume you have cervical cancer.

Less than 1 in 1,000 women referred for a colposcopy are found to have cervical cancer that requires immediate treatment.

Cervical cancer screening is successful because cell changes can occur many years before cancer can develop. Identifying and treating these cell changes at an early stage can prevent cancer from ever developing.*

Colposcopy!!!

You get referred because of the small chance it is not what she thinks and then it gets caught quickly rather than you waiting another 3 years for your next smear. It is good they refer to double check. What would you prefer ? Them to double check it now or find out in 3 years it wasn't what they thought and it's then too late?

Agreed when I had abnormal bleeding I was referred on the 2-week pathway to a gynaecologist not a colposcopist. The nurse would have to refer you to gynaecology if she suspected cancer.

It doesn’t mean anything of the sort. It’s standard good practice to get things checked out. It’s not a waste of resources. It’s the opposite.

A colposcopy is just where a gynecologist will look at your cervix with a light and a camera so it’s magnified. They’re getting a closer look. You have what the nurse has identified as a harmless cyst, plus there was some bleeding. So a big reason she might want to refer you is that it might have meant she couldn’t see all the skin/muscus membranes that she would have liked to see to be happy everything looks healthy. It doesn’t mean you have cancer. It means you definitely have a cyst and your nurse has passed you on to a specialist colleague to check she’s got the right diagnosis and to make sure she hasn’t missed anything sinister. She didn’t see anything sinister, but the cyst and the blood mean that if there was something problematic, her view would have been less good.
She will be working with a flow chart type set of instructions with different scenarios that need to be referred on. Not all those scenarios are ´suspected cancer’.

I don't understand why you are so determined to believe it is cancer. The whole point of screening is to work out which subset of people need the next stage of screening, which in turn reveals the sub-subset that are actually ill. There are different protocols for different types of illnesses and for some conditions, where is a sensible use of resources, they move rapidly to the next stage of screening even though the chances of a positive result are quite low. It just isn't true or sensible to say they only refer if there is actually cancer.

I am legit. I am absolutely terrified. But thank you, so much for this

I've been referred for cancer checks loads of times. Irregular bleeding, a 'polyp' on my cervix, a small cyst in my boob, several 'dodgy' moles. All completely normal, I've never had cancer.

NHS protocol for smears, breast lumps and moles is the 2WW or 8WW so they see you quickly to rule it out.

Because I've never had so much as a blood test before, the smear is advertised as this huge thing to detect cancer and now I've had this happen. I've never even spent a night in hospital, the only people I know who have had gynae issues are my mum and nan who have both died of cancer. I'm terrified.

I think this is more likely

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK542325/#:~:text=Histrionic%20personality%20disorder%20(HPD)%20is%20characterized%20by%20a%20pervasive%20pattern,late%20adolescence%20or%20early%20adulthood.

OP you might have been referred today but you could still wait a while to be seen.
In the nicest possible way, you need to calm down or your anxiety is going make you ill.