PSA: annual pap smears

[ovrclokd]

if you're female, and you haven't had a pap smear in the past year - please go get one. if you're male, and you love someone who's female, ask her when she last had one...

i never, ever again want to hear a friend tell me they have stage 4 cervical cancer.

she has HPV. which, apparently, 70% of everybody else has, too. which, apparently, doesn

Comments

[ovrclokd]

thank you! sent offline...

i've been lucky enough to have clean pap smears every year; my OBGYN actively talked me out of getting the HPV testing, because she said with my history, all i'd be doing is giving myself worry unnecessarily. apparently they automatically request the testing for any abnormal pap smear, so - as in years past - i just keep hoping not to get a call from them.

At least we do get Gardasil commercials now.

[sclatter]

Too late for us, but folks with young daughters should be encouraged to have them vaccinated against HPV.

Cervical cancer is one of the very worst sorts. (Pancreas cancer might be worse.) Pap smears are important.

Take care of yourself while you're taking care of her.

Re: At least we do get Gardasil commercials now.

[thewronghands]

Yeah, I'm bummed that I'm too old for it, but I'm delighted that it exists and that future generations of women will be safer.

Re: At least we do get Gardasil commercials now.

[ovrclokd]

talking with my OBGYN today (who's also a registered nurse midwife, and is very much into women's issues in general - this is why i go to planned parenthood!), she told me that any woman can get the vaccine. there's no age cutoff; it's just specifically recommended for women under 27 because that's the fat part of the bell curve.

the downside is that if you're over the age range, your insurance won't cover it. it's 3 doses, and was $130/ea thru them, so i opted for not - she said with 7 years of squeaky-clean results, there's no reason for me to either get typed for it or vaccinated against it unless i a) have multiple sex partners, or b) have an abnormal pap smear.

Re: At least we do get Gardasil commercials now.

[thewronghands]

Wow, that's totally not what mine said -- they told me that the study had cut off at that age range, and that's why it wasn't approved for women older than that. I have multiple partners, though my only bad pap was because there was too much blood in the sample and they had to redo it. (!!!) I have another appointment in a few weeks, though (consult about getting Essure done), so I'll ask then. Thanks for the data!

[jklgoduke]

My sympathies to you and your friend!

This isn't exactly on topic ... but I've been wondering about the rest of my body. Every year I get my private bits checked out (including my pap smear), I get my eyes and teeth checked out ... but that's it. What about the rest of my body? Should I be getting some type of annual physical? The last time I called my primary doc and asked for a physical, she expected to do a gyn exam on me when I showed up. It seems like I have a lot more working bits in this body of mine (heart? lungs? GI system... just to name a few) and I don't know what I should be getting checked out when. Anybody know?

[thad_delaplane]

You should be getting an annual physical/checkup. Some insurance companies consider an annual visit to your GYN AS your annual physical. However, I would recommend you go to your internist/family practitioner/witch doctor for a once over anyway. They'll listen to your heart and lungs, take blood and check your cholesterol (among other things), palpitate here and there and (most importantly) TALK TO YOU ABOUT YOU! It's an opportunity to discuss lifestyle, concerns, stress (yes, mental health is a part of this process), and take a checkpoint on any chronic issues you may have

[lintqueen]

*Totally* agree. I <3 my GP...have been seeing her for more than a decade now (and two other friends now see her due to referrals). She's amazing and really listens to me...what's going on in life, how everything interacts, etc. She's also quite close to you -- on Fayetteville just the other side of 54. Dr. Sabrina Mentock. 544-6461 (didn't even have to look up phone #)!

[darkfyre_muse]

As a note on convenience, alot of GPs, mine included, will due both your annual physical and GYN work at the same time. I like this because its convenient and I don't have to interpret one doc to another and put up with physician ego bashing.

[semantique]

So sorry to hear about your friend - that is definitely tragic. I have heard about more people with cancer in the last 3 years than in my whole life. You know what else? They were all women.

[ovrclokd]

weird. :( maybe we're getting to that age? it seems like i go through cycles - first a bunch of my friends were getting married, then having kids, then getting divorces... i hope this isn't a new cycle.

[candle]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

she says if this is something that caused cancer in men, you'd be seeing commercials for pap smears during the super bowl.

Just as a note, while it's much more rare than cervical cancer, HPV is closely linked to penile cancer in men as well as anal and oral cancer in both genders. It's frustrating to me that they won't apply the vaccine to both genders - an effective eradication program has to be applied to all possible carriers.

[morian]

HPV can also cause oral cancer in both men and women, but it's rising a lot in men. Merck, the maker of the vaccine, wants badly to offer it to boys. They're in tests. From an AP article earlier this month:

Merck plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the vaccine in men later this year, meaning a government decision would be likely in 2009.

[ovrclokd]

good point! :(