i am 22 years old and I have been on the combined contraceptive pill for 5 years. I have suffered with bleeding after sex for years. I've been to the gp, a contraceptive clinic and I have been referred to gynae twice. The first time the doctor was said although I bled upon examination, I was too young to be treated as it was probably just ectropY ( Jan 2014)
the second time round I was referred to the colposcopy after an examination. i found the process awful and cried throughout. The doctor said there was ectropy but some other interesting cells that turned up white. I had a biopsy taken without any real explanation to what it meant and I'm waiting for the results. I am out of my mind with worry and I have so many situations running through my head. I have no children, but I am in the middle of an intensive teacher training course and could really do without this stress!
i am terrified of the result and the thought of another colposcopy is making me feel physically sick :(
if some of your cells showed up white it might be likely they will carry out some sort of treatment. I went for my first smear aged 24 and my cells looked like that to in the colposcopy so I had treatment called lletz the following week. Like you I found the whole thing very upsetting due to the fact I've never had anything like that or even given birth either. But in all honestly I'm relived I've had the treatment as its better to have it looked at now than later leaving it. It could be nothing but if you do have to have the treatment honestly it isn't really that bad. It will be nowhere near as uncomfortable as they use anestectic (honestly you will barely even feel this)!! I hope this sort of helps. There will be lots of other information available to you around his website.
Thanks for your reply, it's reassuring to know that you found the treatment bearable. I guess I'm worried that the biopsy is going to come back with something more sinister, as I have been experiencing symptoms since I was 19/20 but I was always fobbed off due to my age, I had one GP tell me I had thrush when I knew I didn't! The colposcopy showed that my cervix was very angry and the doctor said that there was ectopy and pre-cancerous cells there!
Thanks for calming my nerves about the treatment!!
I think I had worked myself up so much by reading horror stories and watching videos of the procedure on the internet. (Don't do this!!) so I was expecting something so much worse. You can feel the first injection but then after that it's just like mild period pains and some slight heat. whatever your biopsy comes back with be reassured there's always treatment either way. They always try fob people off who are younger than 25 as its 'very unlikely' but truth is they need to lower the age of smears I think. The ladies on this site are wonderful if you have any more questions or queries.
It's also probably worth remembering that all of the CIN levels (including mild) are "pre-cancerous cell changes", and as far as I know they all go white during the test that they do in the colposcopy. Mine certainly did, and mostly I had CIN1, which is mild.
The reason for taking the biopsies is to get an accurate diagnosis of the level of the cell changes. This is a good thing - they do it to avoid treating you for something that may well go away on its own. If the biopsies come back with CIN1 (mild dyskariosis), they may well wait and see, and have another look in 6 months. If it's more sever, they will need to treat it.
If you don't think you can cope with the treatment under local anaesthetic, you can always request to have it done under general. This is what ended up happening to me, as I couldnt take the injections for the LA (strange,because the biopsies didnt hurt me at all!).
And there's me thinking she took the biopsy because she thought it was cancerous! I can just about cope with the thought of pre-cancerous, but I guess I automatically came to the worst conclusion!
Thanks for your advice, I think I'd try it under LA first just because it would cause me less disruption! I'm glad it all worked out for you! I think I just need to stop reading horror stories and hope for the best!
Phew, no wonder you were worried! No, taking biopsies is perfectly normal and they seem to do it in pretty much every case. It really is just so that they have a clear understanding of exactly what they need to treat.
I am sure you'll be fine with LA. There are hundreds if not thousands of ladies on here who have had it, and most report no pain or discomfort and it's over before you know it. Don't know why I had to be the odd one on that score!!
