I'm not convinced of the benefits
- Women have to realize that asking for the Pill doesn't give a doctor the right to examine your breasts or put you through a pelvic exam or screening. Men are not asked to have their testicles examined if they need antibiotics or even Viagra (although I think they can just pick that up at the pharmacy!) or put them through a rectal exam "just in case". We have to remain in control during consults and only allow things that are clinically required and evidence based. For too many years doctors have taken advantage of our bodies and not only has that caused embarrassment and humiliation, it has harmed many of us. EVERY exam and test carries the potential for harm. I stopped the annual farce they call healthcare 12 years ago and only see a Dr when I have symptoms and need medical treatment. I don't have any screening. The harm caused to healthy people is too great to ignore in cervical, breast and prostate screening. I think medicine is out of control and has lost its way.
- —Guest Ingrid
I don't agree with all this screening
- I've never followed guidelines. I knew they were over-the-top. Unless you want to have lots of interventions for dubious benefit, it's better to pass. I don't worry about rare cancers and I won't have a test that produces incorrect results. I don't want the worry and have no wish to be a patient when I'm well. I'm suspicious of most preventative medicine. I have the basic stuff, but no gyn exams or screening. If people want all of these tests and exams, then they should be available, but I don't care for the attitude that we're all supposed to just fall in line when doctors say so. I don't know anyone helped by any of this testing, but know lots of worried well people. The demands for screening become longer and louder every year. There are too many snouts in the trough for my liking. Few of these exams and tests are helpful, but we're the last to hear about that. The worried well fill most surgeries these days, guess it's good for business. Worry is bad for your health.
- —Guest Betty
I don't care what they "recommend"
- Many of us feel let down by the profession. Those of us who had shocking experiences after abnormal paps as teenagers were sacrificed basically by doctors after more patients. They all knew this testing was harmful for young women and demanded we have testing anyway. I didn't want the test, knew it was unnecessary and I knew it should be my choice to have this test or not. I had a cone biopsy when I was 17 and now have post traumatic stress. I've lost interest in my study and in life generally. I will never believe anything a Dr says again nor will I allow myself to be bossed around and pressured into testing. I feel women have been let down by dishonest and greedy doctors. No, I will not be following their "guidelines".
- —Guest Anon
Get responsible advice, even by email
- My 92 year old grandmother was given pap tests until my mother stopped it at 88. We couldn't find a reasonable doctor and mom decided to get advice when she and my father went to London for their 25th wedding anniversary. The mammograms and pap tests were stopped and my mother also stopped testing. She gave me information which has helped me too. I haven't had a boyfriend yet and have refused pap tests. I'll get some more advice from London when I start my first relationship. When doctors question me and try to make me feel guilty, I hand them a copy of the medical notes from England and the name of the doctor they can call with any questions. They give up then but there is no doubt they'd test me if they could, even though they know I don't need them and they could harm me. I know that young women produce lots of incorrect results and can find themselves in treatment when they're perfectly healthy. We can't trust our doctors.
- —Guest Maria
It is unfair
- Will we look back in years to come and wonder why women were driven into day procedures rooms and had cells blasted off their cervix's "for their own good". Very pleased I'm not a woman, but my wife made me have a vas to get her off the Pill and out of a doctor's waiting room. Doctors certainly don't give women any choice about this screening, it's bully boy and give in or no Pills. My wife never goes to doctors now, she hates them and I'm sure its all the years she was forced into painful and embarrassing things. None of these things helped her. They caused pain and embarrassment and that's about it.
- —Guest Luke
Don't believe a word of it.
- I haven't seen an American doctor in 25 years. I use a Dr in Singapore - I travel there twice a year on buying trips. Doctors here take advantage of women and asking them for BC means handing them total control of your body. You then have no rights at all. Any disagreement and your script is held or you're refused more scripts and even asked to go elsewhere and taken off patient records. All of preventative health is voluntary, yet our need for Pills means doctors then make these things mandatory. I hate to see my friends being humiliated, in pain after another diagnostic event, stressed and worried about another abnormal test, bleeding after "treatment"for a healthy cervix. All for the benefit of the doctors. If you look at European countries you'll see their women have very few procedures because they control their own health and their doctors address their individual health needs. The local "doctor" here even insists on smears for 85 year old women. These people are dangerous.
- —Guest Nancy-Lea
Focus on wellness, not illness
- Bethany, I made an early decision to only see a Dr if I were unwell. I don't have screening. The annual physical and gyn exams marketed by your business minded doctors are not carried out in the UK. I'll agree to BP and cholesterol checks now that I'm 54, but nothing else unless I'm unwell. I have always known screening was a long-shot and hidden risk was ever present. When my number comes up, so be it. I have had a wonderful non-medical, biopsy-free, rich and full life. My mother shares my views and is an active 84 and her mother passed away at 103. The idea that we should scrape, x-ray, biopsy, excise and palpate our bodies looking for cancers every year has backfired with many people being harmed and the rest living a half life constantly worried about cancer. That is not living a normal life. The American medical system is big business called medicine, very harmful. I cannot imagine living a medically controlled life, focusing on cancer/illness. Get on with living is my advice.
- —Guest Olivia
Evidence-based exams & our civil rights
- These comments are interesting and accurate. There is no informed consent in womens health. Doctors force women into THEIR programs. AND there is no consent at all when you're forced to have exams and tests IN EXCHANGE for BC pills. I know informed consent is part of mens health. I guess doctors and government officials still see women in a childlike way, incapable of making their own decisions. Our parents make decisions for us when we're minors, doctors when we're adults. I think feminism has missed a HUGE area of inequality and unfairness that risks our health and denies us our civil rights. I reject all screening and live as an outcast, denied all medical care UNTIL I submit like a good girl. I use a Dr when I'm on business trips to Asia. I won't use a doctor who does not practise evidence based medicine and who has no respect for my rights. That means American doctors are out for me.
- —Guest Francesca
Is this really a good idea?
- I think the growing number of tests and exams for well women is becoming a bit intrusive and turning our lives into cycles of concern about illness and cancer. We're becoming fearful hypochondriacs. My grandmother had never even heard of cervical cancer and I think she was lucky this testing wasn't around in her day. Breast cancer was around but no one worried about it, you got on with your life and hoped for the best. I'm not sure all this screening is a good idea. It turns healthy people into might-be-sick people. I don't want to see a Dr unless I'm ill. There should be room for people who feel as I do. I'm sure we'd all be better off if we lived a healthy life and watched for symptoms.
- —Guest Bethany
I've had enough testing
- I'm over this testing, I've had it. Tested every year since I was 15 years old, suffered the indignity and embarrassment. I find them painful as well and they cause bleeding. I've had two colposcopies and biopsies, very bad experiences. Very degrading and frightening, left sore and bled for weeks. I've had enough!! Nothing was ever found. Our Dr's expect us to lie there and feel grateful. Any complaint and you're a troublemaker. I don't need birth control and have decided to refuse further testing. Its a battle, doctors say we have the right to refuse, but that's only if we agree to have the test. If you refuse then it's war! I'm older, wiser and sorry I got scared and pushed into this testing. It has been a major negative in my life and caused lots of unhappiness and loss of dignity. I feel like a cat that wants to hide and tend its wounds. Dr's always cast off these procedures as minor and that's unfair when a woman is in stirrups having painful treatment on her cervix.
- —Guest Marjorie
Doctors are to blame
- [...]We should have been given the choice of screening intervals plus evidence of harm with more frequent screening for little additional benefit. Doing it now confuses and makes some women suspicious.(cost cutting) Many women have had treatments due to false positives and that risk was greatly increased with too many screens and having them too early. It's inexcusable to keep women in the dark and take chances with their health - it's arrogant. [...]You only need to look at other countries to see women starter later, having far fewer smears, stopping earlier and having MUCH less treatment for false positives. My sister was tested when she was a virgin, had a cone biopy and hasn't tested since. Many women are traumatized by irresponsible testing. Dr's are entirely to blame for many high risk women choosing not to screen. This ordeal could have been avoided.
- —Guest Janice
Have the confidence to take control
- After living in Scandanavia for 3 years, I feel we've been brainwashed to believe our bodies are volatile things that need to be controlled by doctors. I now think this is nonsense and harmful. Since returning, I follow European guidelines and can't believe how much happier and healthier I feel - our doctors overdo it and we pay a big price. I think it destroys our quality of life. No more stirrups and routine checks for me. I might have a smear every 5 years, but my risk of this cancer is very low. I might not bother at all. It's so nice to feel in control of my health and to understand the real benefit and risks of these tests and exams. I'm no longer controlled by fear and doctors. I'll always be eternally grateful to these remarkable doctors who explained everything to me, gave me options and respected me as an individual. Our doctors could learn a lot from real doctors. Sadly, our doctors treat women badly - order & lecture, scare and mislead us, coerce and harm us.
- —Guest Deirdre
Maybe we need to be less trusting
- I've never been asked either. I feel like I'm carried along by my doctor. I'm certainly not in control and have never been encouraged to make any decisions. Even asking questions seems to tick off my doctor and I usually get talked over the top of...nothing I say is worth listening to. My BF and I were not sexually active and I doubt I need any smears or gyn exams. I'm not even allowed to raise the question. It feels like my body is not my own and everything in medicine supports that approach. One nurse even told me to do as I'm told and I should be fine. We have the accepted thinking that women are to be carried along in health care and are not to have any input at all. I don't think that's fair. I'd like a lot more say in what is happening to me. I can understand why some women stay away from doctors. Fear is the only reason most women give in....and I feel doctors overplay the risk of cancer to ensure we attend. I have real doubts about the need for all of these exams and test.
- —Guest Jo
You should make the decision
- My doctor has already said I'll be refused a refill on my BC script if I don't have annual paps, annual mammogram & pelvic, rectal and breast exams. I'm 41... I have doubts about the value of the last 3 as routine exams and have decided not to have mammograms at all and less frequent smears. [...] I won't be dictated to any more. My husband is having the snip next week. We made the decision together. He doesn't agree that I should be forced into these things in exchange for Pills. All of these things should be your decision. My husband said if his doctor tried that, he'd find himself in court. I wonder why so many women grumble about it, but don't do anything about it? I've felt the unfairness for a long time, but I guess like others, it's such a stressful and costly thing to take legal action. It means doctors keep getting away with it though...
- —Guest Lou
Who has a choice?
- You say that like we have a choice...you must know the reality is women are pressured into testing according to the Dr's agenda...you are irrelevant. If you want birth control, if you're pregnant or if you need to see a Dr for anything...extreme pressure. Your question is irrelevant as I believe very few women have a say in whether they're tested or how often. Women are excluded from the decision making process and rarely informed of risks.
- —Guest NH
