Thanks mods for setting this up ❤
Quite a personal topic maybe, but do people here do the cervix smear test? Every year I get a letter from the GP to do it and every time that happens I start crying, shaking and can feel myself going pale. They explain the procedure through images in the booklet that comes with the letter but I just can't do it. It looks so violent to me...
Is it that bad?
I can't fathom a stranger looking at my vagina and messing with it
Due to sexual violence, I never had a successful one until having a hysterectomy but that was on me, not the smear test itself. The nurses all knew my history and were absolutely amazing but I just couldn't relax except for once.... I was so tense that I, well, for want if a better description, I spat out the speculum (plastic, not metal). The nurse was so surprised she burst out laughing and was full of praise for my pelvic floor muscles so I started laughing too. We calmed down, then tried again but I started laughing at the crucial moment and, well, it happened again.
We tried again the following month but my cervix was at the wrong angle (I didn't even know that was possible) and she didn't want to hurt me and then for various reasons that led to me having the hysterectomy, my cycle became so irregular we couldn't catch it at the right time.
But the process itself isn't violent.
There are some excellent gynaecologists on YouTube who do videos of exams (with their patients' consent) so you can see for yourself what it involves in real life rather than unhelpful illustrations.
My advice is to do your research, book an appointment to speak to the nurse who does the exams but just to talk, not to have it done (go when you're on your period if you need the defence).
Talk it through, touch the instruments, do the duck face thing with the speculum etc. Then book it for real and ask for a double appointment. If your don't like the nurse, all the receptionist to book another meet n greet style appointment with a different nurse and start again. You can take a friend who can go in with you or wait outside. Or you can ask for a chaperone. And you can tell them (not ask, tell) to stop at any point. You can pause and continue or end it altogether.
They are well aware of women's discomfort and embarrassment and horror at the invasive nature of the exam and will take it at your pace. My excellent nurse told me that she's seen it all (literally) and only cares if the woman has showered or at least washed recently. But when it's her turn, she panics about grooming and knicker lines and that pimple at the base of one of the hairs: they're all human.
