Ladies - how fussy are you when it comes to getting a smear done?

Pollycat

Strapped wrote: »

I beg to differ. My last (only) one hurt like hell. Sorry if that's an unpopular thing to say but I don't know why we women insist on lying to each other. (I'm not bothered about the stranger-looking-up-my-bits part either, having had two very complicated pregnancies, I think half the hospital staff have had a look).

ETA: I do however think people should have them and am actually about to have another myself. Painkillers before I go this time! And no I'm not a wimp about pain normally in case anyone was wondering (* cough * martial arts titles * cough *)

Strapped
I don't think it is necessarily a case of women lying to each other.

Everybody is different and has different pain thresholds.

Maybe women who have had children find it less painful.

Maybe it depends on the type of speculum that is used.

Probably it depends on who does the test.

Almost certainly it depends on how relaxed or stressed the patient is.

Who knows.

If someone says they find a smear mildly uncomfortable, then you can't say that they are lying.
It might not be YOUR experience but it is theirs - and isn't necessarily a lie.

amistupid

Men don't have it all easy, prostate checks can bring a tear to our eyes.

Strapped

amistupid wrote: »

Men don't have it all easy, prostate checks can bring a tear to our eyes.

But you don't have someone sticking a sharp lollypop stick down your jap's eye and scraping off the lining in there (which might be about the equivalent of a smear).

aliasojo

Strapped wrote: »

I beg to differ. My last (only) one hurt like hell. Sorry if that's an unpopular thing to say but I don't know why we women insist on lying to each other.

I can hand on heart say I had no pain at all. There was a slight uncomfortable and weird feeling when she brushed the area to collect cells but that's all it was, uncomfortable and slight.

No lying involved.

I do think some woman have pain but your comment about women lying, is well off the mark and completely wrong. Your experience is just that...yours.

Gettingtherequickly

Hate having it done with a passion! Lovely nurse in surgery does it, but the last time was a complete mare and she couldn't get access. She eventually decided to give up and suggested that it be re-booked but the look on my face must have said it all, so said that she would have one last go with the smallest probe possible - result, now my records have it highlighted that smallest one to be used in future!

Only consolation now is that I am now getting to the age where I won't need to have it done as often

welshdeedee

Gettingtherequickly wrote: »

Hate having it done with a passion! Lovely nurse in surgery does it, but the last time was a complete mare and she couldn't get access. She eventually decided to give up and suggested that it be re-booked but the look on my face must have said it all, so said that she would have one last go with the smallest probe possible - result, now my records have it highlighted that smallest one to be used in future!

Only consolation now is that I am now getting to the age where I won't need to have it done as often

'probe' how deep was she going :eek: :rotfl:

i always glad when they warm up the speculum

Gettingtherequickly

welshdeedee wrote: »

'probe' how deep was she going :eek: :rotfl:

Well, it felt as if it were going to out my throat!:rotfl::rotfl:

ormus

my wife doesnt understand all these namby pamby ladies. she says its a simple 5 minute job. slightly uncomfortable.
thats all.
maybe shes been lucky though, her nurses have all been very very nice.

foreign_correspondent

Diana_Prince wrote: »

Hi ladies,

I've been called for a test but as I've never been sexually active I don't think I need to go?!

Also, sorry if this is TMI and OT but I'm incredibly self concious about my ummm nether regions (hence me being this old and you know ). I feel like it looks abnormal Anyone else feel like this?? I'm even too embarrassed by it to have a bikini wax!!

I used to be a young people's sexual health worker... the amount of women who feel like this, ashamed and embarrased about their normal, healthy body parts is very high, and it is very sad.

I would bet everything is absolutely normal, we are all unique, and whilst we all have the same bits and pieces, there is quite a wide variation of shapes and configurations down there, but it is all normal.

Sadly, we are being presented with unrealistic ideas of what women's bodies should be like all the time, and it is damaging. We are all individuals and different, and I am sure that yours is perfectly normal. It is such a shame that so many women should feel embarrased and self critical about such an important part of their body, so long as all is healthy and functioning well, we should be pleased!

Avoiding medical treatment because of this is understandable, but a worry - the nurse will have seen it all before, I can assure you, and will not marking yours out of ten on aesthetics - they are just interested in finding your cervix and getting a few cells to pop on a slide and send off.

If your embarrasment with this part of your body is holding you back from having a sex life (which I think you are inferring) please do not let it... life is too short... most men are so delighted to be in bed with a naked woman that they don't notice what we perceive to be our 'flaws' - and sometimes, they even like them!

Anyway, that's me done for being Dr Ruth for today, but seriously, learn to like your bits and pieces - after all, most men love theirs dearly, even when they look like the last chicken in sainsbury's!

I don't know if you have seen this, but a guy in brighton has made an artwork of plaster casts of loads of women's vulvas... ('the great wall of vagina!':D) they are all different... hope the link works and that I don't get banned!

http://www.brightonbodycasting.com/design-a-vagina.php

aliasojo

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

I don't know if you have seen this, but a guy in brighton has made an artwork of plaster casts of loads of women's vulvas... ('the great wall of vagina!':D) they are all different... hope the link works and that I don't get banned!

http://www.brightonbodycasting.com/design-a-vagina.php

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

What can I say?

I assume the models plaster casted themselves? And shaved first.....imagine the hairs pulling out and being stuck to the cast. :rotfl:

Wide range of shapes and sizes there. Wonder if the people viewing are playing 'spot mine'?

*goes off to find a mirror to compare* :rotfl: