Looking for some advice. I had my first smear at 25 4 years ago (now ages 28). Got wrongly told and panicked by the doctor that my smear showed pre cancerous cells or early stage cancer but when going for colposcopy it turned out it was just pre cancerous glandular CIN3 cells that just needed removing.
I had the LEEP procedure to remove them and a 6 month follow up smear in April 2017 which was all clear and the HPV infection had also gone. The consultant said the “glandular” abnormal cells which had shown up on my smear were false and the abnormal cells were actually in the main part of the cervix.
I haven’t thought anything of it since, just knew I would be due for my next follow up smear in spring 2020. However, about a week ago I had some spotting and a couple of days ago during sex i had some pain and a heavy bleed which lasted 2 days.
I am on the pill so possibly could be down to missing a pill (I can’t work out for sure but may have missed one or two during my whole pack) but I don’t see how that would have caused bleeding twice and a really heavy bleed. I have been on the pill for 12 years and always missed ones on and off without any breakthrough bleeding ever.
My doctor did an internal pelvic exam and said all looks fine from what they can see without a microscope (cervix was red but they said this is likely because of the abnormal cells treatment) but if tests come back negative (UTI, STI tests etc) they will send me for a colposcopy to be sure, rather than just booking me in for my next smear which is due this year.
I am feeling quite worried as if the bleeding is not down to the pill then from what I’ve googled it sounds like advanced cervical cancer makes you bleed heavily. And apparently long term use of the pill (over 10 years) can increase your risk a lot.
Is it likely that I could have developed cervical cancer in the past 3 years, or that the treatment did not properly remove the abnormal cells (especially if these were glandular abnormalities which are harder to show up and may not have shown in my follow up smear)?
I know smear tests every 3 years are meant to catch pre cancerous cells in time but surely it’s not often enough in every case?
I can share some of my experience and fairly recent knowledge to hopefully shed a bit of light on some your situation.
Try and stay away from googling; it tends to play to one's worst fears. Heavy bleeding is not necessarily a sign of advanced cancer or even of cancer at all. I had heavy bleeding. without it being triggered by sexual activity, and my diagnosis was a lymph node negative stage 2A cancer: not a great result but not advanced. When I was diagnosed I asked why I had such a heavy bleed and was informed that tumours are, by nature, well vascularised.
Like many tests the smear test is not perfect; in the UK, the 3 yearly (5 yearly for age 50+) smear test is reckoned to prevent about 75% of cervical cancers. But of the cancers that are not actually prevented, many will be detected relatively early which enables easier and more effective treatment. It is estimated that primary HPV screening, recently introduced, should help prevent a further 500 cases of cervical cancer a year:
It's good that you've seen your Doctor about your symptoms and it sounds like you are getting thoroughly investigated. Also, it's reassuring that you were HPV negative only 3 years ago.
I'm looking for some advice, I have been in and out of the doctors and hospital for over a year for bad pelvic pain and cramps, I have had an ultrasound scan and they couldn't see anything that was a problem, yet I still have really bad pain. As well as this, I have had abnormal bleeding for around 5/6 months now and it began with just abnormal bleeding on and off (more like spotting) but now for around 2/3 months it's been a constant bleed (a lot of the time more like a flow than spotting). I'm constantly having to use tampons or lads everyday and it's really uncomfortable, and I'm always tired and worn out. I've been tested for STI and all came back negative. I've been my GP a few times and I just keep getting pushed away saying "see how it goes" but it's been like this for a while. I have the implant since October time but I've had the abnormal bleeding since before then, and pains for over a year now. I was just looking on some advice on what I could do because I don't know what or where to go next, but it's not getting any better.
