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Smear Tests

Hello ladies.

I'm 24 (25 next month) and i've never had a smear test. After having my first daughter i visited my GP and requested a smear test as I thought that you were supposed to have one at 20. He said the new regs are 25 so i left it. When i got pregnant with my second daughter my midwife asked the date of my last smear and was shocked when i said i'd never had one. I told her what the GP had said and she said that was wrong and it was only 25 if you're not sexually active (which after having a baby obviously I am) but it was too late as i was already pregnant again. Anyway i got round to making an appointment earlier in the week for one tomorrow but in the meantime good old Aunt Flo has arrived so i phoned today to rearrange for next week. The receptionist was about to do this but then asked if i'd had a letter inviting me for a smear which i hadn't. She then wouldn't do it saying no matter how many kids i've had the age is 25 (which i am in a couple of weeks anyway!).

I'm so confused! Perhaps i'm a little mad wanting a smear when i don't actually have to have one yet but the whole Jade Goody thing has really freaked me out! There's no family history or anything and i suppose a few weeks isn't going to make a lot of difference but does anyone else know what the current regs are?

Thank you

Claire x

[Modified by: clairep1 on 04 December 2008 18:29:43 ]

Replies

  • When I was pregnant with Gabe the midwife asked if I had had a smear. (I am 20). She told me the new regs are 25 and not before BUT she didn't personally agree with this (and neither did I). I'm not worrying about it too much but five years seems a long time to wait for one, especially as I'm not too bad with that kind of thing anyway! I might ask next time I am at the doctors. x
  • the current recommendations are 25, regardless of how many kids, age sexually active, number of partners etc. the DoH does not recommend earlier screening, as it was felt that immature cells were being treated on as abnormal, thus many women having "un-neccassary" treatment, causing more problems later on (ie incompetent cervixes when pregnant!)

    the only people who should be offered prior to this are those who are immunosuppressed - ie HIV +ve.

    many midwives do still think that the guidelines are 20yrs, not 25, but they are wrong!

    personally, i still think it should be 20, but research suggests otherwise!

    click the link below for the recommendations

    http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/cervical/index.html#invited
  • having my baby saved my life i had a smear done just as i had coil removed to start ttc it came back that i had cin3 dysplasia (carcinoma in situ) which is the worse abnormal cells can get b4 turning cancerous. id of never have gone for a smear had i not wanted a baby, M y advice to anyone is to go every 3-5 yrs from the age you are sexually active. you can request a smear you dont have to wait to be told to go for one. xx
  • I had an abnormal smear when i was about 22.my first smear test,so i think its daft waiting now till 25 and after childbirth is it really a big deal girls????lol
    I had to have a laser treatment on my cervix and now seem to have a smear every year(30 now!)actually just got my letter through to go for another one!!!
    I also used to think as soon as you were sexually active it was advised to go for reg smears!
  • Ok I'm really confused now too?!
    I had a my first smear in December 2004 when my first child was 10 months old and I was 20!
    I went to the docs a couple of weeks ago and he told me it came up on the screen that I'm due for another smear and should make an appointment asap but I won't be 25 until Feb?!!!
    I haven't got round to making an appointment yet anyway becuase I'm working every day at the mo!!
  • sorry to gatecrash girls,
    I read the post and like many of you got confused as my sister just turned 20 has been for her first smear...........I believe she got a letter through from the gp as she has been on the pill for about 4 years.............so not sure whats going on there. I had my first smear at 20 too(28 now) i had no idea they had changed the guidlines. Not sure if I agree though as I worry if im not upto date with mine. Had results last week of my last one....all clear thank god.
    xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • thats wierd i had my first one when i was 17
    i was sent through an apointment so i just asumed that this is when they started doing them,
  • the guidelines changed in 2005/6, and if anyone had started on the programme then they continued on it, so some of you will have been recalled even tho' are younger than 25 now.

    the idea is that cervical cancer is very, very rarely an agressive cancer, so it should be found with abnormal cells, before cancer sets in, if smears are done with a maximum gap of 5 yrs. nearly all places recall after 3 yrs. (upwards of 10 years before very severe)

    if you havent been called, dont worry, it is just that you havent fallen into the age range yet. if you are over 25 and have never been called, go and let you GP know.

    it also shouldnt be done whilst pregnant, and up to 12 weeks after (because of pregnancy hormones). ideally also on day 14 of your cycle.
  • Thank you all for your replies ladies. I guess i'll just have to wait until next month when i'm 25 or until they send a letter x
  • Im 21 and have never had a smear, at my PN check the doc asked when my last smear was and I told her I'd never had 1 and she was horrified as Iv had 3 babies! She said I had to have 1 asap but i didnt pluck up the courage to make the app till the other day. Iv gotta have 1 on the 19th Dec. She never mentioned about me being under 25. If I was you babe I'd go back to your docs and ask her to make the app for you or ring and spk to the nurse.
  • i was abused by a dr in greece when i was 15. i didnt know what was meant to happen at an internal so didnt know. it was so terible i freak out at the slightest mention of them n i got my invitation for smear through n ignored it its not that im embarrassed just very traumatised. i refused to have internal exams done during labour as far as possible but the mws were great and very supportive they let me have gas n air so i was off my face for them! im so worried about going to have smear done i really dont think i can do it
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