Please don't worry. I was first diagnosed with one when I was 17 and never had an abnormal smear. I'm now 52 and still have one which was confirmed by colposcopy last year. 
I've had endometriosis since I can remember and I always believe it was that causing spotting  and soreness. 
Please please don't think the worse xx

Hi Megan,

I hope you're well! Just wondered how you got on? 
 

xxx

Hi Megan. 

I've not posted on this thread for ages either but have returned for reassurance after ongoing issues. Your experience sounds very similar to mine and I just wanted to reach out again to share stories / support. 

I also have had an ongoing ectropian , silly heavy periods, a colonoscopy which came back with CIN 1 and then 2 clear smears since as check ups after a year (in which time I had my son). 

My latest experience was returning to the GP again with post coital bleeding and she had a look and decided to urgently refer me after seeing a white patch and ectropian. The consultant once again told me it was an ectropian and sent me away. That was in September. 9 months later and I'm still get uncomfortable sex and very tiny bit of blood after sex so I've gone back again but obvs couldn't actually see the doctor this time, just a phone appointment. She said the wait is now super super long to see a gyne due to covid (we're talking 7 months min) so I'm thinking of going private to have some investigations. I'm so so tired of this. 

The stupidly long periods, the pain, the ever returning and anxiety creating ectropian, the uncomfortable sex. It's just rough. 

I totally and utterly get how you must feel.xxxxx

Hi All,

Just wanted to write on here as I'm a bit worried about a result from the dr's recently and wanted some advice!

I've been on Cerelle for 4 years now (progestrogen only pill), and about a month ago I started experiencing some dark brown/ pinky discharge / bleeding, I haven't had this before whilst being on the pill and it's been on and off, about a week and a half of light bleeding / discharge and then a few days with nothing. I called the Dr's and spoke to a nurse last Friday to discuss my symptoms and she asked me to go in so she could look at my cervix and do some swabs (I was thinking this would be a smear test). She said I had a small cervical erosion which was probably causing the bleeding and then took swabs for STD's, BV, Thrush and other various infections, I'm only 23 so she said I don't get a smear test until 25 which made me a bit nervous because surely she should have just done one whilst I was there as this is unusual for me? 
 

She then proceeded to say that I need to wait for the test results (about a week) and then speak to the Dr to see if they want to refer me or not... I don't know if I should be pushing for a referral or if this is normal at my age? I've been considering coming off all hormonal contreception recently as I want to find a more natural way of looking after my body.

Any advice / experiences would be helpful! 
 

Lauren x

Hey, I'm 21 and had similar situation but my symptom was just blood during intercourse. I'm on the combined pill and have been since I was 16 and this can cause the erosion so I may decide to come off it too. I had the infection swabs and they came back normal so I was referred to the hospital, so hopefully they will do that for you to. they said I have an erosion and that's probably the reason but I was referred to have a colposcopy to check. They saw the erosion but took biopsies to make sure that's what it was so I'm just waiting for that to come back, if it's just the erosion I can get treatment for it. I was surprised I was taken quite seriously for my age! They may do a similar process for you. Hope it goes well x

Hey Hattie! Thanks for your reply. So I did actually get the test results back and they said I had a really high level of Candida (Thrush), so had to get that treated, I'm quite prone to getting thrush! They also said there was a very minimal prescence of Strep B, which isn't something to worry about until I am pregnant (still worrying!), anyway a few days after these results came back, my GP called me again and said they have spoken to a colleague and they have decided to refer me to the hospital for a colcoscopy so I guess it will be a similar situation to you! I'm nervous about it but glad they are referring me.

For reference I have come off the pill completely and are just using condoms now and my symptoms have stopped! I hope your biopsies come back safe and it is just the erosion! Would be good to hear your result if you want to share :) 

Lauren x

Hi! 
 

Its good they've referred you just to be on the safe side probably. The colposcopy process was fine, it was only the biopsies that were slightly uncomfortable/painful but nothing extreme and you may not even have one. 

Im glad your symptoms have stopped! I've always been the one to never have any side effects from the pill but maybe I should just come off it too. During the colposcopy they put some silver nitrate on my cervix so that may stop the bleeding. Yeah I'm hoping it'll be ok but who knows! It's a horrible situation when erosion symptoms are very similar to cc.

Hattie x

Fingers crossed! Sorry to hear the biopsies were a bit uncomfortable, the procedures can be a little invasive sometimes. 
 

This was the only method of contreception I have found works for me with not many side effects (weight gain and loss of libido), I've tried the injection the IUD and been on a few other pills too. Although I'm sad that this one didn't work out, I'm grateful for coming off of it because I personally think they can be more dangerous to your body than dr's and sexual health advisers say... but that's just my opinion! 
 

I hope the bleeding stops for you and hopefully this will be the end of your symptoms, but your right, as soon as symptoms are remotely similar to cancer it starts to make you anxious, it would too anyone - it's good to try and stay positive and think that the chances at our age are very unlikely.

Lauren x

Hi! 
so I had my biopsy results and I have hpv and CIN1 which are the low grade pre cancerous cells and although these aren't great results, I know the bleeding isn't to do with cancer and it is just the cervical erosion. I'm glad I've gone through this as otherwise I wouldn't have known about the cell changes until I was 25 in which they could've progressed. I have another colposcopy in a year to check but this type of cell change and the hpv are expected to clear up within a year. I need to ring up now and find out what treatment I can get for the erosion or whether I should come off the combined pill. 
I hope it all goes well for you! As you said, our age is a positive factor in these kind of situations. 
 

hattie x