(Untitled)

[solodanceparty]

On the radio, I heard, since Jade Goody found out about having cancer, she's been trying to get pap smears for women under 25. But someone in the NHS said there is no need, because cancer that young is so rare. When I was living at home in the US, I started getting them when I turned 18. When I moved over 3 years ago, it was the first thing I asked

Comments

[razorblade_eyes]

you should start getting them yearly the moment you become sexually active. At least, that's what I've always been told.
I live in the US.

[gethenian]

This is also what I've been told, but I get told something different every time I go in for a physical, it seems like. First it was 18, then when I turned 18 they told me they changed it to 21, then when I was 21 they told me they changed it to 25. I turned 25 yesterday and still haven't had sex so I have no idea what they'll tell me this time. XD

[mallyns]

From what I have been told and I could be wrong is that cervical cancer is only from HPV. If that is true then if you haven't had sex (of any type) then you don't need to worry about it. If you are worried about it, then ask your doctor for the pap. If they say no ask them to explain why not.

[thekumquat]

Cervical cancer is not only from HPV (about 70% of cases are HPV-related), so lesbians and others not at risk of HPV should still have smears, although they are at lower risk.

[mallyns]

My doctor started to do paps for me when I was 16 (in the us). They start not at a certain age but when you first become sexual active. Since one of the causes of cervical cancer is from HPV and that is sexually transmitted.

[thekumquat]

The age only got raised to 25 about 3 years ago - before that you were encouraged to go once you were sexually active or 20-ish, then every 3 years.

Then they did the maths, realised that on the whole this led to zillions of young women worried about false positives and saved less than a life a year compared to not screening until 25 and then every 5 years, but making a lot more effort to get people to come for screening (I had three snotty letters in 9 months for not going for my last one - somehow they lost the note that said I cancelled my smear because I was pregnant...)

However if you have a history of cancer in your family especially cervical cancer, or any symptoms of cervix problems like irregular bleeding, you should still get referred for a smear. And get them annually or more if you have a history of dodgy smear results.

[dativesingular]

That's BS, someone in my family who is my age had it a few years ago, and I'm 26. Jade can be a bit of a ditz sometimes, but I'm with her on this one.

[caramel_betty]

The issue in England isn't whether it's possible - because it's possible to get pretty much any condition at any age, even if it's more or less likely with certain groups - but whether it's cost effective and/or counter productive.

Better education on both sides (patient and doctor/specialist) seems to be necessary, because it is true that some tests can turn up possibly cancerous results while actually being nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, this isn't well understood (hence all the flap about it at the moment) and there are cases where people are given significant treatment who don't actually need it.

[dativesingular]

I'm sure, but on that same token her cancer wouldn't have been caught without that smear.

I guess maybe it's a cultural thing since I've had smears since I was 18 and wasn't sexually active until I was 22 (yes yes, late bloomer)? I don't know, the office just insisted that we do them.

(Incidentally, I *did* get the shot while I was still young enough.)

[imluxionverdin]

Doesn't it seem strange that in England they've raised the age to 25 because of the reasons Caramel_Betty said, yet in Scotland and in Wales the age to get a smear test is still 20?

The question is, which country is right. England? Or the other two?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article5775560.ece
or
http://tinyurl.com/cgx3gd

[nineveh_uk]

This seems the moment to raise what appears to be a cultural difference I've noticed in the past. I am 32, and other than cervical smears, no GP has ever mentioned that I should have or need any other sort of gynaecological/reproductive health examination. Well Woman clinics exist, as do those for contraception and of course sexual health, but when I visit the doctor s/he has never suggested that I have never been and perhaps I ought. But my impression from the internet is that Americans are encouraged to have a "gyn exam" every year or so, and that this involves a lot more than a simple smear. Is this the actual case (for the insured or can afford to pay at point of use) or merely an ideal that no-one really meets. And if the former, what is the attitude towards it?

[dativesingular]

I know at least with my previous insurer (not sure about this one) they would not cover prescriptions for BC without an annual pap smear.

[rosathome]

BC?

[rosathome]

Oh, birth control?