Hi Girl26. 
I'm in a similar situation right now. I've had bleeding after sex and a really long period, so went to my GP and he said he could see a blood clot on my cervix and will do an urgent referral to gynaecology/colposcopy. I was told it would be within 2 weeks. Now I've been told there are delays cos of covid and could take 4-6 weeks. 
I feel exactly the same as you, that it's dangerous to wait that long, but also reaaaaally bad for our mental health! 
 

I had some spotting after sex 3 times between august and November. I stupidly didn't act on it until I got a weird, long period at Xmas (lasted 2 weeks) and now I'm panicking that I've already let this go on for 5 month, and now there could be another 6 week delay on top of that!

Im sorry I cannot be much help to you. Just wanted to let you know that you are not alone, and I'm free to chat if you ever need to. 
 

Hello! 
 

thank you very much for your response. It makes me feel a little better knowing I'm not alone. It's just such a horrible time and so nerve wracking with all the waiting around. I'm really annoyed my gp hasn't taken me seriously sooner. I've been back and forth non stop since October and that's me just getting this noticed. Then with the waiting times it just seems really unfair although I understand there are many people in the same position. For me it's pelvic and back pain. Pain when having sex then blood after sex. When she had a look at my cervix yesterday she advised it looks like an erosion but she can't be sure so has to send me to gyno. I just feel so helpless and can only think of the worst. I'm only 26 and have had regular smears. My last one was 3 years ago and I was due this March but due to covid she said it's not until September this year and they won't give me another one sooner as she said a smear is just a screening test and I need to see a gyno for a diagnoses in whatever it is. I'm just so worried :( what age are you if you don't mind me asking. I just can't get my head around the fact it Is an erosion as I'm not in any birth control and hardly have sex with my partner because of the pain. I'm just worried I've left this for sooo long it's going to bad. 
 

thank you 

hope to hear from you soon and so sorry your going through all this to :( 

xxx

Hi Girl26

The smear test is just a screening test, and not a diagnostic test, so the nurse is correct in what she’s saying and you need to see a gynaecologist for a thorough examination and subsequent diagnosis.

I appreciate that the wait might be long and that can induce a lot of anxiety, but waiting is inevitable. I wasn’t seen within 2 weeks of an urgent gynae referral and that was pre covid times, and I did have cancer. Even on a cancer diagnosis there is a LOT of waiting and things don’t happen instantly. I waited 6 weeks for treatment to start and it’s very common to wait longer without any changes to the diagnosis or outcome. I had symptoms for almost a year for example. 

You haven’t had a diagnosis yet, but the wait is highly unlikely to change anything even if it were cancer. Cervical cancer is typically slow growing and things don’t change quickly, although there is no suggestion yet that you might have cervical cancer. 

I understand waiting is hard, but try not to worry about cancer before you have been seen. There may well be another explanation for your symptoms. x

Oh no, I didn't know that about smear tests!! Mine is due in March too....so are they putting them back by 6 months?! 
I don't rate the new smear tests much anyway. They only look for HPV, and don't look for abnormal cells unless you're HPV+. That worries me, because I've had abnormal cells in the past whilst being HPV neg. 
I guess in some ways, we're lucky to be getting a colposcopy cos that will be alot more reassuring than a smear. 
 

what was your bleeding after sex like? Mine was really intermittent....only happened once every 4-6 weeks, and was always a few streaks of red blood mixed in with clear mucus. Oddly it usually happened atleast 12hrs after sex too. It's probably happened about 30% of the times we've had sex (which admittedly is not often cos I'm too frightened of bleeding) 

Then I randomly started bleeding on Xmas night, and it didn't stop for 2 weeks. That's what made me go to the GP in the end. I'm so scared cos I can't find any similar stories of people having bleeding after sex and also abnormally long bleeds too. 
 

I dunno how to get through the next few weeks. My husband wants to book a little holiday for the end of feb with the kids, but I'm frightened I'll still be waiting for biopsy results/Ct scan or more appointments then! 
 

oh, I'm 37.

Thank you so much for your kind reply! I'm really sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I really hope your doing well now. I completely understand about the waiting times and appreciate I'm not the only one and many others are in the same position as myself or worse! I think it's because im only 26 and I know no one expects these sort of things to ever happen to them. It's just part of life I suppose. I suffer with really bad health anxiety so all the waiting just makes me feel so down. I'm really greatfull to have found this page and I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my messages. 
 

thank you so much xxxx

Hi Girl26

Health anxiety can be so debilitating and leads to so much stress and worry. It must be very difficult to manage. I do find it so sad to see so many people worrying so much about things when they have no diagnosis, but then again I didn’t suffer from health anxiety. So I had no real stress even going to my appointment for biopsy results, despite my outcome! The thing is, whatever the result may be, you cannot change it, and no amount of worrying is going to make any difference to it. 

I do completely appreciate you are worried, but it really may have a reason other than cancer, and hopefully it will. xx

Yeah that's what my doctor said to me. I would maybe check with your gp! It might be different depending on what area your based in possibly. In regards to sex in the same it's hardly ever due to the the discomfort and fear of bleeding. It's normally always straight away when I go to the loo and wipe there's all smears of it on the toliet paper along with with discharge. The last time I had sex was 29th of December and it was more blood than usual and that's what prompted me to go to the gp. I was also in pain a few days later I felt really raw down below do you get this also? I've also had late periods since October and my last period was the 23rd of November and I've had nothing since then. When did your gp say they were referring you? 
Like I said I'm 26 never had kids and never been on y contraception so my worry is it's not an erosion. I'm just so scared and struggling to manage my anxiety :( xxx

Your bleeding sounds like mine, just for some reason I get mine the following day ‍♀️
cervical ecropian is common in younger women as well as women who are on the pill. I'm neither of those things, but you are! So you do fall into the category of people who commonly get ectropians. 
Thing is, they're quite distinctive, and most healthcare professionals could be 99% certain it's an ectropian, but their NICE guidelines state they have to refer urgently to colposcopy as some ectropians can look similar to *early* stage cervical cancer. But it's so, so, soooo unlikely to be that! They're just being cautious...and we're so lucky to have a healthcare system that does that! 
I've no doubt that in a few weeks, this'll all just be a bad memory!

I think my only concern if not being an ectropian is because I've not had any children and I've never been on the pill either, so it makes me worry that it's not that! Cause I think to myself what else would have caused it. I know I feel really lucky to be sent to gyno as urgent! When did you get refereed as urgent? 
 

do you find sex painful and did the doctor say to you that yours looked like an ectropian? 
 

thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to myself. I'm glad I have someone to talk to that's in the same boat as myself, just makes me feel not so alone. 
 

take care xxx