OMG, I have just failed mine today. It was too painful. It's been rebooked. I'm going to take painkillers and see how it goes. I'm sitting at home and still sobbing. It was such an unpleasant experience! 

Sending love to everybody who went through it!

Hey hon, 

Just to be clear you didn't fail this test. This isn't some right of passage where you have to endure excrutiating pain to be considered a finalist. The test didn't work becuase you were set up to fail. Had the health system listened to women, including many on this page, they would acknowledget that some women find this test excruciatingly painful and offer gas and air as they do in Northern Ireland. I've just had to be clear with my doctor today that unless she can offer me something stronger than x2 paracetamol then she can't do a speculum examination. After the last speclum encounter I had I vowed i would not allow them to violate my body in that way again. There are pain management options out there. Don't allow yourself to be gaslighted by them into thinking that you are being hysterical. 

Hi, i have just come across this thread and your post. This has really helped. I can't believe the amount of us in the same boat!! I have always been made to feel ridiculous and like i was a one off. Does the sedation just make you drowsy?

Thanks so much for your kind words. I finally had my appointment today, They were so nice to me.
We tried just normal way 2 times and then they gave me gas and air which of course made me laugh a lot and then i was feeling a little more relaxed and she tried again it was still very painful and i cried, and then we did some more deep breathing and it felt so so painful, like nothing i have ever felt before. and just as i was saying to stop they were able to take the sample - thankfully. 

I feel very glad that i was able to get it done, and grateful that i had such kind nurses that made me feel as comfortable as they could. 

I'm even more grateful to have found this thread when i did, because it showed me that im not alone and that its more normal than we realise that this is something that can be hard for some people. 

For anyone that is stuggling, im thinking of you and keeping my fingers crossed for you. 

I asked my GP today if I could insert it myself and she flat out refused saying I don't know how to take a smear. I said not the smear, just let me insert it part of the way. She wouldn't let me and forced it inside me while I shouted out in pain 

Hi I have literally just come back from hospital appointment at Colposcopy clinic.  I have had three smears under general anaesthetic due to problems with the position of my cervix making it impossible to take a smear test "normally"   I thought this appointment was just to be refered for day surgery but the consultant was very condescending saying she wanted me to try to have it done without anaesthesia. I refused as I said that many nurses /specialists have tried before and failed so was not sure what had changed!  I think it all comes down to cost! Hopefully I will be referred soon got a GA, so stressful!

This is awful and unacceptable!! 
I have had a GA for all of my smears. I suffer with vaginismus and have never had a smear the 'normal way'.

I'm late forties and will have a GA until I don't need them anymore. I have one coming up in July this year. 
 

I dread having it done even under GA as there are obviously risks. When the letter comes through I get very anxious. 

Hi yes I got it done under general anesetic it was fine  and all was good thankgod  

Even though this is an old post, I know exactly how you are feeling. I am female-to-male transgender, meaning I am biologically female. I still have a vagina so I have to have smear tests done and because I was raped a few times and had painful pelvic examinations, I tense up without any knowledge, even when I menstrate, I cannot use tampons anymore because they would often bend or won't go inside so I've been told by a nurse that I will have to have a gynecologist put me under what is called a "twilight sleep".

It is basically not the same anesthesia you usually have for operations, it's a very light anesthesia and only lasts for minutes rather than hours. It's the same thing that doctors use when you have a throat or rectal examination or a tooth removed. You have a needle in the back of your hand or in your forearm after taking diazepam and they give some strong benzo to make you feel extremely tired and confused but you don't pass out.

I hope you feel better knowing now that you are not the only one who has experienced this problem, it is quite common then you think.

I can't exactly remember the name of the condition but it is a problem that some women or some transmen experience from past traumas. This can be from a fear of penetration, a fear of bad pelvic exams or can be trauma from bad sexual experiences such as rape.

I'm a survivor of rape and I also get very uncomfortable from having anything inserted into my vagina, be it a smear test or my tampons, I tense or cramp up each time, even if I'm relaxed or aroused, my body just automatically shuts down and refuses to let anything enter me.

At first, I too thought it was just me or felt like nobody else has had this happen to them but it turns out there are so many people out there just like me.

Feel free to message me because I am having this problem too right now, the nurses at my GP can't give me a smear test and I now can't even use a tampon (which frustrates me because I hate pads!).

Sometimes people get operations for treatment but it's only as a last resort if nothing else works. Therapy for PTSD can help and sometimes the NHS can prescribe you vaginal trainers to help you overcome the pain fear. They look similar to sex toys but they are just for you to help your body overcome that anxiety and they come in different sizes so your body can overcome that feeling of discomfort.

Good luck and hope you overcome this.

- Alan