smear tests

price83

Gah why did you have to remind me that smear start at 25! I only have a few months left! I horrific experience at the hands of a university doctor when I was 18 and I don't think I could face having one again. I had gone to the docs as I was enduring thrush for the first time and she had to get a sample. She said should would do my first smear while she was there. I have never felt anything so painful in my life. She got no where and gave me a telling off for being childish. I then developed vaginismus which took three hard years to recover from. The worst part was when I come home from university my home doctor told me the ages had changed to 25 so the doctor should not have even tried! I am so scared of them!

bandraoi

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Bandraoi how did your comment help me with my original statement? You may have been late getting your smear done - my point is I am not late it is not 5 years yet. I am not 18 months late .

Like I said, the original comment wasn't personal to you, and as you say yourself it had no relevance to your original post and was not made with reference to your original post or any point you made. It was made with reference to the topic of the thread, smear tests

Several users had made comments about needing to make sure you kept track of appointments yourself and not relying on the NHS to do it for you, and I found myself agreeing with them and wondering why anyone would rely on the NHS to do it for them.

Being an engineer, my mind thinks laterally, and I made the comparison body maintenance to other things that need regular maintenance and when I thought about that - cars/teeth/gas inspections etc. I wondered why we expect to be reminded of NHS appointments when we don't for dentists appointments, car repairs, house repairs. It's an interesting issue with the human psyche.

Why you're taking my responses to the general train of thought on a thread as a personal insult I don't know. The comment was not meant to be helpful, it was meant to be an observation.

frivolous_fay

SPANIEL36 wrote: »

Please be aware that they have recently changed the way they take the sample too, no longer a spatluar thing but a brush thats swept across the area

In my experience, that's not an improvement _pale_

Whatever the policy, I always feel a bit uneasy about the reasoning behind smear tests.

When I was at school, it was 'Contact with semen increases your risk of cervical cancer - you should have smear tests' OK, fair enough, I'll go.

Then it was 'HPV increases your risk of cervical cancer.' OK, fair enough, I'll go, even though I've never had contact with HPV.

Now it's 'We have the cervical cancer vaccine for teenage girls, it's for HPV'. OK, so preventing HPV prevents cancer. Why are you still sending me letters?

I'm not looking for a fight... I just don't know anymore if it's a worthwhile precaution. I'd be interested to know what other risk factors might be... but doctors prefer to get you in than bother to discuss that.

vixarooni

Everyone is on about how it is up to you to remind yourself about smears.

But it is like smear tests are tabboo. Everyone distinctively knows that you go to the dentists every 6 month but with smear tests no one is really ever told anything! Im going back to what i said earlier here, and shoot me if im a div who doesnt look after herself properly but id never think of going on my own back, i dont like doing the doctors anyway, let alone go without a reason (if you get me)

If schools or even doctors told you about smears it would be so much easier, im 21 and my mother is 60 odd, she had me fairly late and had a hysterectomy awhile after i was born so she has no need to go for a smear test, so i never even saw her go for one to strike up a conversation about where she was going and what for.

You pay enough National insurance and tax over the years, if the NHS were run more succesfully then they would be able to run a smooth operating system that could remind women when to go for a smears.

ofnus

i find it odd how much practices vary from one health authority to another with this. some test from age 15/16, other not until 18, others not until you're at least 20. some are 3 yearly, some 5 yearly.

its hard for us girlies to know what to do for the best when the health professionals cant even seem to agree on a standard practice for the whole of UK

patchwork_cat

I think that despite what some have said it is very hard to know what is the correct age timetable for your authority. It is hard to rememeber something that happens every 3 to 5 years - I have real trouble putting visits to the doctor into a timeframe. We don't like going and so if we haven't been called it is not an issue.

When I first started having smears it was from when you first became sexually active not an age. I also seem to think it was annually if you were on the pill - that might be my memory playing tricks, maybe someone else from the 80's can confirm.So how on earth are we supposed to know what is current thinking. You put your life in your Dr's hands, but you can't trust them to send you a smear recall! Is that how you see it.

When posting on the thread Bandraoi it helps to answer with relevance to the OP or at least a passing acknowledgment to the OP .

frostyspice

vixarooni wrote: »

You pay enough National insurance and tax over the years, if the NHS were run more succesfully then they would be able to run a smooth operating system that could remind women when to go for a smears.

Oh dear - you do realise that that really would be a nanny state?

So your health is now the responsibility of the State? Come on, think about what you're saying. Remind yourself when to go for a smear, and get annoyed with YOURSELF if you forget - it's YOUR body and YOUR business.

Many of my close family have had bowel cancer. From the age of 50 I could possibly get called by the NHS for screening for this. If the letter doesn't get to me, and I do nothing about getting myself checked out because I'm waiting to hear from someone, whose fault is it if I develop bowel cancer which goes undiagnosed? It's MINE.

You're concerned about when to have a smear, I can see that from your earlier posts. Just get up and go to the doctor's/family planning clinic and ASK!!

dmg24

frivolous_fay wrote: »

In my experience, that's not an improvement _pale_

Whatever the policy, I always feel a bit uneasy about the reasoning behind smear tests.

When I was at school, it was 'Contact with semen increases your risk of cervical cancer - you should have smear tests' OK, fair enough, I'll go.

Then it was 'HPV increases your risk of cervical cancer.' OK, fair enough, I'll go, even though I've never had contact with HPV.

Now it's 'We have the cervical cancer vaccine for teenage girls, it's for HPV'. OK, so preventing HPV prevents cancer. Why are you still sending me letters?

I'm not looking for a fight... I just don't know anymore if it's a worthwhile precaution. I'd be interested to know what other risk factors might be... but doctors prefer to get you in than bother to discuss that.

I don't understand how you know that you have never been in contact with HPV? No one wears a badge saying 'I carry the following viruses', and it is not always detected, and does not always show any symptoms.

I don't understand everything about the causes of cervical cancer, I don't imagine anybody does (including medical professionals). Therefore I would rather be safe than sorry and have the test, than take a risk (in the false assurance than I am not at risk) and develop cancer.

frivolous_fay

dmg24 wrote: »

I don't understand how you know that you have never been in contact with HPV?

I'm very picky

Bunny

there have been a lot of changes in recent years regarding the best age to have a smear and how often between recalls, since I was 18, the age has changed 3 times (in 6 years) and as before mentioned the recalls.