My experience

Hi all.

Been reading the forums for a while now but decided to get more involved.

Firstly a big hello to all you brave and wonderful ladies!

I hope that me posting my experience well provide at least information and maybe reassurance to some people.

I had my first abnormal smear in July 2014 and was called for colposcopy. Clearly I was worried. But spoke to friends and work colleagues, many of who confirmed that they had had this themselves or knew someone who had which put my mind at rest that out was quite common. My partner who I had only been with for a month at the time was supportive and tried to play it down into 'not a big deal' to help me stop being anxious. I should say at this point I have been suffering anxiety and depression for a number of years. It worsened last year due to this and other stuff. I'm currently quite ill at the moment and medicated and signed off sick but I'll come to that later.

So off I went for my first col in July 2014. My sister accompanied me as my partner could not get time off work. It wasn't that bad from what I can remember, much like a routine smear. They took a biopsy but did not need to do any treatment at that stage.

A few weeks later I got the results to say it did not need further treatment and that I could come back in a year for another smear.

I was very pleased it did not warrant anything further and pretty much forgot about it until the next smear. I was not happy about it at the time and of course it had exacerbated my anxiety but I managed to get it sorted.

Fast forward to July 2015, this month. I go back for my yearly smear. Letter comes back about a week later to say I have severe dy and need another col. Anxiety and depression hit the roof the day I got that letter. All sorts cross my mind, of which I'm sure many of you have experienced. 

At this point I am signed off with anxiety and depression from work.

I had the second col yesterday and lletz. Waiting for results. I had it under LA. It was uncomfortable I won't lie but do able. I have had no bleeding so far and it feels tender when the LA wears off. 

I'm a bit of an exercise freak and I can't for at least 2 weeks which is a pain.

Now waiting for the results of the lletz.

Please feel free to pm me :)

H xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey there :). I just wanted to say good luck with your results and I also have suffered from anxiety in the past. For me, my coping mechanism for all this has been to focus on the present as much as possible. I've done this to the extent of saying to myself "we're driving past a tree, and that's a road sign, there's 10 cows over there" etc when we were driving to my latest appointment. I know it sounds ridiculous but It worked to a certain extent! All the best. Xxx