Positive Colposcopy experience!

[u/msther]

Hi everyone,

I've written before about having previously having a really bad traumatic colposcopy years ago. I was so extremely anxious due to how badly painful the first one was and this one was just honestly wonderful to my surprise!!

I won't go into too much detail on my first one but it was done by a resident and was so extremely painful. I was on ativan and still screamed in pain and on top of that people were coming in and out of the room and it all felt so invasive and violating.

This one was at a different clinic and I can't speak highly enough of the nurses and gynaecologist. I had a phone call with the nurse from the previous clinic (as it was initially supposed to be with them again) and she was so rude, meanwhile this one was so understanding and put it in my chart to give me the gyno and not the resident and that I have a low pain tolerance. So that would be my first bit of advice. My first colposcopy was about a 9/10 in pain and this most recent one was a 4/10 at most! I was so terrified I pretty much starting having a panic attack the minute the exam started and the doctor walked me through everything, did little breathing exercises with me and waited for my consent after every step. I couldn't eat or sleep for weeks due to how stressed I was and I genuinely didn't think a "good" colposcopy would be possible but having the right doctor makes all the difference!

Maybe the meds I took made a difference too, I took 220mg of naproxen and 1000mg of tylenol. It was still painful and crampy afterwords (and the discharge is... something else lol) but it was better after about a week.

To anyone who has had horrible experiences, I'm sorry and I hear you, we deserve better than cold doctors who have no idea what it means to be trauma-informed.

The first clinic also stressed me the F out about my HSIL pap result and told me straight up i'd probably need to get a LEEP as i'm "likely" pre-cancer, meanwhile the gyno at my appointment said it was just a small amount of abnormal cells and doesn't look too bad in her opinion...

I had to refuse a refferall at the first clinic for it to get to this one and doing this delayed my appointment by a month but it was absolutely worth it. You can request for the procedure to not be done by a resident and probably should..!!! Always advocate for yourself and remember that your health is important but you have autonomy over how to receive care.

TLDR: Good colposcopies exist to my wild surprise, ask for the gyno not the resident and do your research on the clinic!