Originally Posted by lawleypop

By pap do you mean papsmear...?

They stick a giant metal shaped ***** into your ******, and then they loosen the screws which opens your ******. Then they take a metal scraper type thing and take some tissue from the inside of it.

If you have STIs, you fail.
If you don't, you pass.

I don't appreciate people making jokes out of these things.

Have you actually had a pap smear?

It is nothing like this. It may be slightly uncomfortable, but certainly not severely, and is easily tolerable.

Nor is it a big deal. It's a normal and routine test that is extremely beneficial, and you shouldn't spread the negative stigma that scares many people into skipping their test.

*Grabs popcorn*

way to stick up for modern medicine.

no pun intended.

Originally Posted by *hazel*

Have you actually had a pap smear?

It is nothing like this. It may be slightly uncomfortable, but certainly not severely, and is easily tolerable.

Nor is it a big deal. It's a normal and routine test that is extremely beneficial, and you shouldn't spread the negative stigma that scares many people into skipping their test.

I've had 3. But thanks.

My first one, she used a metal object to get the sample tissue. 2nd and 3rd, she used a Qtip.

And uh. I don't know how to say this without describing my ******, but yes, it was SEVERELY uncomfortable for me. All 3 times. Please don't tell me what I have and haven't experienced.

Where did I say it wasn't a normal routine and where did I say it wasn't beneficial?

I find it physically uncomfortable and I find it emotionally uncomfortable when it's a male doctor performing it. Is that hard to understand?

Edit: And yes, it is almost exactly like that. How else to describe it but as a metal *****? It's almost the exact shape. And it DOES stretch open your ******.

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

Re-read it and tell me that again

Haha did you read my edited post after you posted this? We must have been typing at exactly the same time...

Originally Posted by lawleypop

By pap do you mean papsmear...?

They stick a giant metal shaped ***** into your ******, and then they loosen the screws which opens your ******. Then they take a metal scraper type thing and take some tissue from the inside of it.

If you have STIs, you fail.
If you don't, you pass.

I don't appreciate people making jokes out of these things.

Just to clarify:

The purpose of a pap smear is to test for irregular cervical cells (abnormal, cancerous, or possibly infected).

Regardless of whether you're sexually active or not, if you're older than 21 you need to get a pap smear - especially if you have a family history of cervical cancer. HPV is a major cause of cervical cancer. For sexually active women under 21, you also need to get a pap smear yearly.

Aside from HPV, the procedure doesn't screen for STIs. However, it's become a common practice to conduct a separate STI screening in sexually active individuals while they're getting their pap.

Originally Posted by Jay

Just to clarify:

The purpose of a pap smear is to test for irregular cervical cells (abnormal, cancerous, or possibly infected).

Regardless of whether you're sexually active or not, if you're older than 21 you need to get a pap smear - especially if you have a family history of cervical cancer. HPV is a major cause of cervical cancer. For sexually active women under 21, you also need to get a pap smear yearly.

Aside from HPV, the procedure doesn't screen for STIs. However, it's become a common practice to conduct a separate STI screening in sexually active individuals while they're getting their pap.

Thanks for clarifying. I did know that, I was just trying to explain it in a "pass or fail" kind of way. =P

Originally Posted by madquarker

we're supposed to get prostates checked yearly after 30 or something? Sigh.

F that.

Usually a male doc will have a female health care worker come in the room with you if you are uncomfortable.

Lawleypop, ask for a plastic speculum next time

Originally Posted by *hazel*

Have you actually had a pap smear?

It is nothing like this. It may be slightly uncomfortable, but certainly not severely, and is easily tolerable.

Nor is it a big deal. It's a normal and routine test that is extremely beneficial, and you shouldn't spread the negative stigma that scares many people into skipping their test.

Pap smears can be seriously uncomfortable, physically and mentally. They are for me and I've had them since I was 18. They do not get any easier. Lawlypop wasn't spreading "negative stigma" - that is exactly how my experieces are with pap smears.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

I've had 3. But thanks.

My first one, she used a metal object to get the sample tissue. 2nd and 3rd, she used a Qtip.

And uh. I don't know how to say this without describing my ******, but yes, it was SEVERELY uncomfortable for me. All 3 times. Please don't tell me what I have and haven't experienced.

Where did I say it wasn't a normal routine and where did I say it wasn't beneficial?

I find it physically uncomfortable and I find it emotionally uncomfortable when it's a male doctor performing it. Is that hard to understand?

Where did I say this was hard to understand? You should obviously always be comfortable with your doctor, which is why it's your prerogative to choose your own, or to have a female health professional with you.

And it was your lack of acknowledgement to my above points that disturbed me. Obviously the pros of getting a pap smear outweigh the cons, and for many people this only requires a virtually painless test.
There is a negative stigma surrounding this test which turns a lot of people away, especially university age women getting it for the first time, and I think it's silly to breed fear of a test that could save your life, no matter how uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by *hazel*

Where did I say this was hard to understand? You should obviously always be comfortable with your doctor, which is why it's your prerogative to choose your own, or to have a female health professional with you.

And it was your lack of acknowledgement to my above points that disturbed me. Obviously the pros of getting a pap smear outweigh the cons, and for many people this only requires a virtually painless test.
There is a negative stigma surrounding this test which turns a lot of people away, especially university age women getting it for the first time, and I think it's silly to breed fear of a test that could save your life, no matter how uncomfortable.

I'm not breeding fear, I'm telling you how it is.

Want me to breed fear?

Pap smears are terrible. I've had the inside of my ****** gashed open and now it's painful EVERYTIME I urinate.

Ps: I actually acknowledged every single one of your paragraphs, but k.
I never said it was PAINFUL, I said it was SEVERELY UNCOMFORTABLE.

It's physically uncomfortable to begin with. Having ANYONE touch your private parts is uncomfortable. Having a male someone touch your private parts is even more uncomfortable to some people. Hence, why I said it's severely uncomfortable.

A girl I knew had a male doctor who was her neighbour so she was really uncomfortable with it. So, it's understandable.

Campus Health has great doctors, most of which are female. They try to make you as comfortable as possible during a somewhat awkward procedure. For example, they'll let you know exactly what they're doing and they're pretty quick with the uncomfortable parts.

Regardless of whether they're uncomfortable or not, pap smears are important.

The fear, discomfort, or pain felt by some women is very real and it's sad to hear it being discounted and made light of by another woman.

I agree that it's extremely unfortunate when other young women become fearful based upon stories and negative experiences that they hear about ( how often do women talk about PAPs otherwise?!) and then avoid having this important part of their healthcare. I just don't think it does any good to insult someone for expessing their experience, you know?

I'm sorry if I insulted, it certainly was not my intention.

Nor am I trying to make light of another's experience.

I simply feel that there was another side to the argument that was not being said and I think i stated it calmy and reasonably.