The hidden downside...
- There are a group of women rarely mentioned by doctors. Many women forced into screening end up being hurt. My sister was so devastated mentally by a procedure after a false positive that she ended her engagement. She felt degraded, dirty and was turned off sex. She has avoided men and doctors ever since and I doubt she'll ever recover.(9 years now)We only found out it was a false positive when she asked for the pathology. We were worried if she had "cancer" she might need chemo. No cancer or any other problem. She was never asked whether she wanted the test, never told the risks and had to get a second opinion from a family friend (Dr) on the pathology. She had been told, "you're lucky this time, you won't need any further treatment", clearly to make her feel grateful and to hide the fact the test was wrong. We never hear about these women. It's quite common for women to have all sorts of problems after treatment. Dr's don't want you to know about this large group of women.
- —Guest Catherine
I noticed that as well...
- I also worked in Sacramento for 3 years and couldn't get the Pill during my stay. I was quite amazed when the nurse asked me to totally undress and put the sheet of paper over me. I naturally refused and left the Clinic. I was horrified at the exposure and the callous use of stirrups. I contacted my GP at home in tears and she arranged the Pills for me. I had my blood pressure checked at the chemist. I also had to answer some health questions over the phone. She said the exams were of "no clinical value" when a woman is free of symptoms. She also said early and too frequent cervical screening caused lots of problems and served no useful purpose at all. These practices are the reason almost all of you will have biopsies, LEEP etc. I cannot imagine how you endure those exams. I can understand why some women stay away from the Dr. It's inhuman to treat women like that and seems unique to the States. Don't allow them to treat you like a slab of meat meat. Say NO and claim your rights.
- —Guest Fran
What is wrong with your "doctors"?
- I studied in the States for 5 years and was puzzled why women felt they needed these internal stirrup checks. They caused such distress and embarrassment. Our doctors think your doctors are total nuts. My doctor's advice was to refuse all of it for the sake of my health. The mental damage to your women is so sad, dehumanizing. The pap smear demands are also unacceptable. Cancer screening is always optional. It is more important for some women, less impt for others, but always the woman's decision. I haven't decided whether I'll have screening. It will be offered when I turn 30 and then every 5 years until I'm 50 or 60. I DO know one thing though, it will be MY decision and my Dr would never demand anything of me. I think your doctors have forgotten what medicine is all about. They have no respect for the rights of women...they're dictators. Be careful women of America! You deserve better, a lot better.
- —Guest Annika
No informed consent for women!
- If we're going to forget about informed consent and allow doctors to break the law, why only include women? Why not mandatory rectal exams for men whenever they need drugs? Of course, that would be ridiculous and unacceptable, yet so many people will say forced smears are for a woman's own good. Yet they would say my former example was outrageous. It is equally outrageous to do this to women. Even in 2009 our rights fall way behind the rights of men. The approval and promotion of forced smears is really an oppressive and warped way of thinking...and many of these people probably think they're intelligent and fair people and maybe even advocates for women's health! Having a penetrative vaginal exam forced on you can cause enormous and lasting psychological damage. I have no respect for people who promote this abuse of rights and body. We need to take legal action to end this once and for all.
- —Guest Jana
Demands "forced" research
- I might have considered smears (never pelvic or breast exams) if I'd been treated like an adult. That didn't happen, so I looked into this testing. I was fearful...doctors and others tend to make out no smears mean you'll definitely get cancer. When I saw how uncommon this cancer is and compared it to other sorts of cancer, I was pleased I'd been forced to look up the facts. Lung cancer kills a lot more women than cervical cancer (1 in 25 as opposed to 1 in about 200) No one walks around worrying about lung cancer. It was later I heard this test was not all they claim it is. It's a bit like sorting avocados the wrong way - rather than looking for signs they might be bad, you cut them all open until you find a bad one. You triumphantly say, you found a bad one and hope like hell no one asks about all the mutilated perfectly healthy ones at your feet. VERY PLEASED I was forced to research this topic. I use HOPE and before that we used condoms.
- —Guest Wendy
Check on-line
- There are a few on-line pharmacies that ship Yasmin and lots of other Pills all over the world. You don't need a script or on line consultation. I have my blood pressure checked by a pharmacist every 3 months. I lost all respect for the medical profession when I realized what they were asking of me just to get my Pills. No way - I have rights. I'm very low risk for this cancer and don't want the testing. Pelvic exams are something that should be used only when women have a health problem...to force them on healthy women is absurd and almost sadistic. UK and Australian doctors have told me that pelvic and breast exams just lead to more probing or biopsies. I've had no problems at all getting the Pill. If you can't work with doctors, you have to find another way. Going through all of that when I knew it was not needed or should be my choice, would have felt like an assault.
- —Guest Clare T
I'm free
- My partner just had a vasectomy and got the all-clear on Thursday. I won't need birth control anymore. For the first time in many years it will be my decision when and why I see a Dr. After so many years of being forced to have exams, I'm deeply resentful. I won't be having any more gyn exams, they ARE unnecessary for any symptom-free woman. Smears - forget it. I'm more afraid of another biopsy than I am of rare cervical cancer. I'm so over this whole extortion racket they call womens health. I'm free, free at last!
- —Guest Jenny
What "rule"?
- "whether this "rule" has encouraged you to be proactive about taking care of your health when you might have otherwise avoided the exam."(Quote) It is not possible to "avoid" an exam that is optional. It amazes me that so many doctors and educated people all accept women have no choice with screening. If you choose not to screen, the clear inference is you're being childish, irresponsible or reckless. No one would say a man is any of those things for choosing not to screen. This is paternalism passed down to the next generation. When will women be free of these chains? You also cannot make screening a rule, it's illegal. Informed consent is a legal requirement for screening. It will be my choice whether I have screening of any sort - no rules, no requirements and avoidance doesn't come into it. If your doctor refuses you a script, speak to an attorney or go to a community legal office...the doctor is breaking the law. One letter is usually enough to remind them.
- —Guest Irene
My husband gave me the information
- My husband is a pathologist. When we started dating he mentioned his concerns about screening and annual gyn exams. He gave me lots of information he felt I should read before agreeing to annuals & smears. I was really shocked & angry to see doctors have totally misrepresented the situation to us. I don't have routine exams, in fact, to say a healthy woman needs those sorts of intimate checks is dishonest and untrue. If it provides you with reassurance (false or otherwise) then fine - but your doctor should tell you it's of no/low value & has risks. Doctor won't be honest - it's easy and big money. Smears - If you're not happy to have a colposcopy and cryotherapy or biopsies, then look at your risk profile for cervical cancer. My risk was about 0.20% while the risk of cryo or biopsies about 96%...easy decision for me. It upsets me that women are being humiliated, harmed, deceived and manipulated - and that is the majority of women. Don't believe a word of it, find an honest source.
- —Guest Anita J
Go to Mexico or HK or the UK...
- It is coercion and I won't permit it. You can get birth control without exams either by using HOPE or picking them up in another country. (Mexico is close by for us) I travel for work as well and have used doctors in London and Hong Kong. I've never had any trouble at all. Like the previous poster, a blood pressure check and a few questions about my history is all that's required. I think women should speak to foreign doctors when you have the chance (not Germany, they are excessive as well) It's clear women are treated very differently in other countries. No gyn exams and although cervical screening is pushed...I've never been denied birth control when I refuse the test.
- —Guest Anna
A woman is a disease
- In this country women are diseases with no rights...well that is the way doctors treat us. We are not willing participants in our healthcare - we're victims. I don't see our doctors either. I travel to the UK every year on business and see a Dr there for birth control. A blood pressure check and I'm on my way. I told her how our doctors won't give you BC unless you agree to very invasive exams. She was shocked and couldn't understand that at all. She felt these exams should be confined to women with symptoms and screening is ultimately a matter for the woman. She said annual screening was excessive and leads to harmful outcomes. At the most, she recommends screening from 25 and 3 or 5 yearly to 50 or thereabouts. She readily agreed a low risk woman having no screening was only taking the tiniest of risks...crossing a busy street would be a much greater risk and it was even a very small risk for a high risk woman. I respect this doctor because she is respectful of my rights.
- —Guest Yvonne
It's down to condoms
- My husband and I have used condoms for years. (very carefully) I couldn't allow myself to be pressured into preventative health care. I firmly believe it should be my decision whether I have these exams. I could use HOPE at PP but my husband and I no longer trust or respect doctors. The way women are treated who just want to take a responsible approach to birth control disgusts me. I cannot understand why someone hasn't stopped this by now. We're not having children, my husband has 3 from a previous marriage and we've decided a vasectomy is the next best thing. If I'd been able to get more reliable birth control, we might have left that decision for a few more years.
- —Guest Cindy
Are you kidding?
- I don't mean to be rude, but how could you even ask that question? Obviously, the answer is no.. Cancer screening can never be required, it's an option that a patient can take up or not. I think the hallmarks of medicine as it applies to womens health are things like dishonesty, excess, lack of respect, paternalism and yes, coercion. Men would never be treated in this way. When a doctor put barriers in front of me, I went over his head and lodged a complaint. I got my script right away. Doctors know they couldn't justify this boycott in a court of law...it's a try-on...don't let them get away with it! It's clear doctors can't be trusted with the power to dispense birth control, so it should be handed to pharmacists. Doctors have all banded together to create this huge barrier to birth control. It's 2009 and we supposedly have all these birth control options. In fact, unless you want to hand over your body or you can stand up for yourself, you have few options. You're back in 1940
- —Guest Jillian
No medical care
- I was so traumatized by a Dr standing over me and stating I'd need rectal exams, pelvic exams, smear tests and breast exams every 12 months IF I wanted birth control, that I left and never went back. I could see that doctors had the power to do as they pleased with my young body. I had no rights if I wanted reliable birth control. I did some research and found none of these things are necessary in a healthy woman. I'd recommend all women spend a day in the medical library. I've managed over the years, it has put a strain on my marriage from time to time. My husband understood, I explained what the doctors would do to me if I wanted the Pill and he agreed picking up condoms was a better way. I think there is a principle at stake. My husband very kindly had a vasectomy last year. I think many men do that because they also disagree with the way their partners are treated or mistreated. Being a woman doesn't mean our bodies belong to doctors to do as they please.
- —Guest Katie
I found another way
- I was denied BCPs many years ago because I refused gyn exams and smears. My BF and I were not sexually active before we got together and I'd lived in the UK for a few years. I knew paps weren't necessary for me and I knew gyn exams were not done elsewhere. I studied the Billings Method. I've never had a routine gyn exam or pap smear. I don't believe I need either. I've never had an unplanned pregnancy and it's nice to be in control of my own fertility. My friends who gave in have been put through hell. LEEP, punch and cone biopsies. I felt sorry for them. None of them had cancer. I think the number of women who have treatments for pre-cancer is hard to understand. Before screening was introduced, approx 12,000 women a year died from this cancer, since screening about a million have pre-cancer. It doesn't make sense to me to do this to our healthy women. Most of my friends use HOPE now - Pills with no exams or test. They're all sick of smears, LEEP, biopsies etc... That's not living.
- —Guest Deborah
