Worried and anxiety about smear test .
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hello All, Hope someone on this forum can say that I'm not the only one on here that freaking out while waiting for results , My storey is I haven't had a smear for about 13 years now but Tuesday gone had a smear test and they removed my coil as well because I'm in my fifties and not need anymore , but waiting for results is getting too me reality bad ???? need too know anyone else going through the same thing .
0 likes, 3 replies
eliz52 anne81411
Posted
Hi Anne
The odds are overwhelmingly in your favour, cervical cancer has always been fairly rare, 0.65% is the lifetime risk. We might know lots of women who've had "scares" and biopsies/treatments but almost all are simply false positives and over-treatment. This problem is made worse with early screening, before 30, and over-screening.
Only about 5% of women have a small chance of benefiting from a 5 yearly Pap test, those aged 30 to 60 who test HPV+
So most women are HPV- and cannot benefit from pap testing.
The Dutch follow the evidence, they only offer pap testing to the roughly 5% who test HPV+ and you can test yourself for HPV, no need for a speculum exam. (they can be intolerable for some women, esp. post menopausal women)
Some women test or self-test only once, those HPV- and no longer sexually active or confidently monogamous.
Hope that helps...
anne81411 eliz52
Posted
Morning Elise , thank you for replying, it has eased some worried about waiting !! Just wish all of us didn't have too wait so long ????.
eliz52 anne81411
Posted
I don't wait at all, don't test, HPV- women cannot benefit.
All the best....