Fear of Pap Smears

[HotI]

Just thought i would start this thread for those needing info support or encouragement to book in & get that pesky pap smear done.

[BellyBelly]

I have heard women using hypnotherapy to help them with things like this. You can speak to a hypnotherapist to give you techniques to calm yourself while you go through it.

[Amy_jellybean]

Hi love,

My biggest encouragement to have a pap smear is.......

That I went to my doctor when I was 19 because sex with my (then bf now hubby) has become painful, she gave me a pap smear and all came back ok. 4 months later things werent right so I went back and again she gave me a pap smear, after waiting a few days for the results I was told I had the highest grade of cells before they turn to cancer.....I was so lucky!!!!! I now have to have my pap smears every 6 months but that was engh to scare the life out of me.

Plus I always think to myself that the doctor would have seen a much uglier vagina than mine hahahaha.

[Heda]

I know we need them - but the last one I had was while I was getting my 'disolvable' stitches cut out of my perinium 3 months later (and on my wedding anniversary!) - the dr said 'we'll do this while we here anyways'. Gee thanks.

[angelaartsstudent]

Lay back and think of England?

I destest even the thought of them and have managed to only have one in my life...my post-birth one, way too late.

Horror horror horror.

I would rather be a guy and have my prostate checked, to be honest.

[Inertia]

I haad my first pap done at around 18yo after I had #1. My doctor however was a butcher. No bedside manner to speak of, and more than happy to lie through his teeth to cover his backside. Obviously I wont mention his name but by god do I want to! Utterly use he was, and probably still is. In fact, when the news first broke of the bundaberg butcher, I had to look up the name to see if it was the same person. I know this seems like a lot of unnecessary details, but I really feel that it is very important that you get a sense of the kind of man I had put my trust into. (Yes, this is the same Dr that told me 'You're pregnant, get over it' with my hyperemesis).

My first ever pap smear experience started in pain. It felt like he was slicing my cervix in half with a knife. I screamed through it. He berated me and told me to come back in a week for the result. When I came back for the result I was STILL bleeding from the smear. He said it was normal, but because I was moving too much when he did it, the smear he took was no good and he had to do another one. In my head I was screaming not a chance, so I told him I would come back for another one when the bleeding stopped. I went to the counter to sign the medicare form, and as I looked over the counter I saw my pap smear results on top of the receipt... It said "Unreadable. Obscured by red blood cells". A few days later the bleeding finally stopped. But I never went back to that doctor again.

Flash forward to 2009 and I am seeking help for my pelvic floor. Over the years I had always managed to avoid that all important pap smear but they are pushing the issue hard after Boo was born. So when I turned up at the womens health clinic for an assessment on my pelvic floor, it was not a surprise to me that she brought it up. So I bit the bullet. I told her all about my one and only pap smear experience. Apart from being utterly horrified and swearing black and blue that what i experienced is not normal, she said something that rung a tone with me. It was that she does pap smears every day, its a major part of her job.. never had any gone like that!

It rung with me because my sister and the Nepean Hospital had organised for a pathologist to come put my cannulas in because "she does it every day. Its second nature to her, you will barely feel it". So yes, I trusted her because she was so practiced at it. I didn't feel a thing and the results were normal. I was thrilled.

I was not thrilled however about the news that she could see where he took his smear from because my cervix is still scarred.

Moral of the story - DO NOT do it at your GP. Go to a Womens Health Clinic where the ladies there do it all day every day. I didn't feel a damn thing and I will never trust anyone else with my cervix again!

[luna moth]

My first one was at a GP and was a really positive experience. It was with a male doctor, who was quite down to earth and really easy to chat to. He was pretty no-fuss about the whole smear thing, made it quick and simple and I was on my merry way, there was no discomfort at all.

My last one was with a female GP, again, someone I felt really confident with. I went to see her when I was overdue for one (due to previous clinic failing with a reminder) but she refused, since I also had a staph infection and thrush and had been on ABs that weren't reacting well with me. I really appreciated that. Then I went back, got it done, again, simple, quick, no fuss, but she did mention that she knows she's got the right spot when your toes curl a little bit. Made me laugh.

There were a couple in between, also done by familiar GPs, fairly unremarkable. All of them came back normal, all of them simple and quick, and not amazing, but not unpleasant for more than a picosecond.

Next one will be with my super-awesome female GP up here after this baby is out. I was due for one when I was 8 weeks preg, but she didn't want to do it, because she worried that if anything went wrong with this pregnancy, that she or I would wonder if it was to blame and that wasn't a healthy situation.

So the moral of my story? Go to someone that you LIKE. That's what works for me.