I've had an invitation for a cervical screening test

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I keep getting letters inviting me to a cervical screening test (smear test) but I keep putting it off because I've had these tests before and they literally hurt so badly that they couldn't be completed. I do tell the doctor about it but she seems to lack understanding or advice, she just says to wait a few months and come back when I'm ready, or just to relax.

I just have a phobia or anxiety of anything being inserted right between my legs. It causes real pain, not just discomfort. I'm jealous of my female peers because they all seem to get their smear tests done with no problems.

I think I do have vaginismus, I don't even have physical sex and I'm lucky my boyfriend understands and has a low sex drive himself. I would ask to be sedated but I'm scared of that because for one thing I might pee, poop or fart whilst their doing it, and another thing is someone said that they were sedated during a colonoscopy but they still felt it hurt. So I think that feeling pain under sedation might actually be scarier than feeling pain when not being sedated.
I have a low tolerance for pain.

Please someone help. I don't want to get cancer.

I've had the same issue. I couldn't believe how much it hurt.

However, I had an internal ultrasound and it didn't hurt at all. So I think it depends on the nurse/technician.

I noticed that at the ultrasound clinic they had a cushion for my to lie on so that my pelvis was tipped up, but at the doctor's, in the nurses room, there was no pillow. I was just on a flat bench.

Maybe take a pillow with you. I'm going to try that next time and explain why to the nurse.

Edited to add, the internal ultrasound thing is slot bigger than a small speculum they use for a smear.

(Man butting in...)

Are these invitations from a well-established and reputable medical facility?  Something like Kaiser-Permanente or Hoag Hospitals or the Mayo Clinic?

Some women receive "invitations" like this that turn out to be from people who just want to "play doctor".

Be careful, please!

(Man leaving quickly...)

Lol, don't worry. We women get regular letters from the NHS in the UK and a little booklet explaining what a smear test is and directions to go to your local doctor's surgery.

It's from none of those places because I don't live in the US. But it's nothing like that anyway, it's an NHS letter from my local doctors surgery, 100% genuine.

I used to have vaginismus so I understand how much pain you feel.
A nurse who actually understood and took it seriously gave me a lidocaine cream that I could apply to numb the whole area before the smear test. That really helped.

I hope I can have this.

I'm a huge wimp when it comes to pain. I have an extremely low pain tolerance, which is why I haven't got pregnant, even though I so badly want a baby of my own.

Well, when I say I used to have vaginismus, that's because my vaginismus was cured by pregnancy / delivering a baby. Labor was awful but I got an epidural which helped tremendously. I also got an episiotomy but I didn't feel it at all -- anesthesia really worked. And after labor, I healed up and the vaginismus was gone.

The lidocaine skin cream also was essential to conceiving the baby.

I understand you, i also have a low tolerance for pain and i never had the smear test done either. I am so scared of invasive medical procedures in general.

I wish i had some useful advice to give. We are on the same boat.

I'm terrible with pain; I have no tattoos, no piercings, I don't drink or smoke or take drugs, because I can't stand pain or unpleasant sensations (such as vomiting) so I avoid these things completely.

I am aware that cancer is worse (more painful and unpleasant) than having a smear test, but that still doesn't make me feel any less afraid of smear tests. I feel like my vagina won't let anything go in there, it feels like someone's shoving a sharp dagger up there tearing through my bladder and ovaries. Ouch!

Can somebody go with you?

I know this is really one of the bad aspects of COVID----people not being able to support each other within procedures and operations.

There are at-home screening tests now that you can do yourself, without a speculum.

You might want to ask your doctor which one they recommend.

I have a horrid time with these too. After many very painful ones i finally discovered something. If you know your periods when they come, do your best to schedule it right after your period has stopped. Like within 3 days maximum of it stopping bleeding. The cervix is still lower down so it isn't as much digging they have to do to get at it. I learned about this kind of on accident looking at diva cups (which i couldnt use anyway due to sensory issue). It was almost the only time it hasn't hurt bad.

That is fantastic, i didnt know there was such a thing. About time they come up with something less torturous!

I've told my doctor that if I have to have a smear test, then I have to have a general anaesthetic for it. I've had one test the regular way but that hurt so much that I cried.

Hi. I hate smear tests, because I faint afterwards. Sometimes in the waiting room, sometimes on the path outside. It is a horrible feeling, which is why I haven't been for many years. Here in the uk, there has been a media campaign to get more people to go by telling them that it doesn't hurt. This has made me feel like there is something really wrong with me as a woman, so it has been reassuring to read these posts; not because I am glad that other women have similar problems, but because here, people are talking honestly about the problems which exist. Thank you.