First Cervical Smear- nothing to worry about-book one!

I assume you haven't bothered to read any of the other posts on here, but plenty of women on here have HAD the test done and not had as pleasant as experience as you. And my first smear left me crying in pain whilst the nurse ignored me, thanks.

I'm really sorry to hear that you had a bad experience, and I hope that you complained to the practice about the nurse that dealt with you.

However, this lady's more positive experience is just as worth reporting as yours. Thankfully it would seem that most experiences are fairly positive, no one enjoys going for their smear but they generally find that it is not as bad as they expect it to be.

It is worth going for a smear, and if these positive accounts encourage women to go, then that must be a good thing. I have several friends who have been saved from cancer by getting a smear test, and I would much rather go through a few minutes of discomfort and embarrasment to hopefully safeguard myself against cancer.

Having said that, I do think that personal choice should be respected - it is your body and your right to choose whether or not to go for this test. I don't like the fact that surgeries put pressure on women to go for smears. Read up on the facts and statistics and make your own choice. I weighed up the pros and cons and decided it was a necessary evil. And when I finally went, I found it wasn't so bad. Hopefully most other women will make the same choice.

I have no problem with someone reporting a positive experience, and am glad the original poster underwent the procedure without problems.

However, there is a trend for some women to post \"well MY procedure went well so everyone else that posts bad experiences must be wrong and lying LOLZ\" which I don't think is helpful either. I accept many women have no issue with the test. Good. Others do however, and when there is a blanket refusal (from both other women and medical staff) to accept that the test can in some cases be difficult or painful, it really leaves those of us who do have issues with it no other option other than to avoid smear tests entirely, because it's clear (from personal experience) that some people are so brainwashed that testing is entirely unproblematic [i:84ab00ef77]that they will ignore someone crying in [b:84ab00ef77]pain[/b:84ab00ef77] in order to try and get a sample.[/i:84ab00ef77]

By the way, try complaining to the Practice that you had a bad experience with a \"simple and painless\" procedure. You won't get very far. That's why those of us that have had bad experiences generally don't bother.

[quote:8ba9f72a8a=\"Anonymous\"]I assume you haven't bothered to read any of the other posts on here, but plenty of women on here have HAD the test done and not had as pleasant as experience as you. And my first smear left me crying in pain whilst the nurse ignored me, thanks.[/quote:8ba9f72a8a]

Oh for goodness sake, just because you had a bad experience doesn't mean you have to have an attitude with someone who has had a good experience and is using it to reassure those who are nervous.