MY FIRST SMEAR TEST

Hey guys, how's it going? Hope you're all good. In just a mere matter of weeks, I am turning 25 years old, which is fairly terrifying for a number of reasons. Mainly because I still look 16, which is a little bit worrying. I actually got ID'd for buying matches not very long ago, which you have to be 16 to buy. So that means that someone on this earth thought I looked 10 years younger than I actually am. So that's good. Other glorious parts of being nearly 25 include going on Facebook and seeing everyone you went to school with is now engaged, very successful, and having lots of babies. Meanwhile, I've still got novelty cat pictures stuck on my wall with washi tape and I spend my evenings watching Dan and Phil play The Sims. But one of the other glorious benefits of being a female human that's about to turn 25 is that I went for my first smear test. Woohoo! Yes, that's right. For the first time ever, I showed my vagina to a stranger. Smear tests have a very weird sort of secretive nature around them. I haven't really seen any girls talking about this. I mean, a lot of very successful YouTubers are definitely my age and don't really seem to want to tell the world that getting a smear test is okay and fine. So I thought I would step up and take on the challenge instead because it is fine. So a smear test or cervical screening as they call it these days because let's be honest the words smear test don't make it sound like the most pleasant experience in the world are just up there with many lovely things that you have to do when you are a female human being along with, you know, having periods and birthing future generations and being constantly told that you're inadequate by society. I found a fairly terrifying statistic which said that one out of three of girls that should have been for a smear test by now haven't gone. Obviously that could be for any reason sort of like laziness or forgetfulness but I suspect that a lot of girls don't go because they're kind of like terrified of them. I feel like there's this massive stigma around them and to be honest like when I was a little bit younger I did sort of have this image of a nurse diving in with a trowel. I know I've got friends that have put it off because they just don't like the sound of it and I think a lot of people kind of like envision some big hairy doctor man with a big Victorian clamp that he winds open to crank you open. There's all these awful things that people say. The word scraping is just generally not very nice when you pair it with vaginas so I thought I'd share the experience with you and let you know that actually it's not something to worry about and it's not scary in the slightest. It's not even painful. If you're going to use any word at all I'd maybe go for uncomfortable but I spent my whole life being uncomfortable in every situation in life so it really made no difference. So first of all it kind of makes sense to tell you what you're actually getting this done for if you didn't already know. So a smear test or a cervical screening is literally just the doctor taking a few cells from inside your cervix and then they get sent off to a lab for testing. That's it. It's not a big be-all and end-all of whether you have cancer or whether you're destined to have cancer in your future. It's just to see whether any cells are changing in your body. If you're getting this regular cervical screening it will make sure that the doctors are on top of what's going on inside you and it could potentially save your life. That's it in a nutshell really. It just shouldn't even be a question of whether you're getting this done or not because 3,000 women in the UK every year get cervical cancer and another statistic that I read which is fairly mind-blowing and proves that science is cool is that cervical screenings can prevent 75% of cases of cervical cancer which is just like amazing. So basically why would you not go and get this done? Are you crazy? I'm talking UK here so basically you need to be registered with a GP who's got your address and then if you're aged between 25 and 49 you have to get it done every three years and you'll find out that it's time because a letter will drop through your letterbox and you will open it one day and think oh crap it's time. Just think of it as kind of like a Hogwarts letter except slightly less magical. I actually got my letter when I was about 24 and a half so they like to get you in nice and early but the point is that even if you're not up to that age yet it's important to hear what happens and make it a normality in your life and just know that it's nothing to worry about. Okay so my own experience with the smear test was that I got my letter I rang up my local GP and said can I please book an appointment for a smear test? I've had my letter and she said oh lucky you happy birthday I said thank you. It's good to also know that when you book your appointment you can request a female nurse it's usually a nurse that does these. Overall I think I was in there with her for maybe 10-15 minutes but the actual procedure itself takes less than three minutes it's super quick and over before you've even whipped your knickers off. If you are particularly nervous about it for any reason you can also take a friend or a relative with you to hold your hand but to be honest I think the thought of having my friend there while I'm naked from the waist down would potentially be even weirder than just doing it in front of a medical practitioner. Just kind of like a weird thing to do with your friend. Let's go to the cinema, let's get a Nando's, let's go for a drink and let's get my cervix checked. So then before I started stripping off and having a party the nurse sat me down and just talked me through what the deal was and what she was going to do and asked me if I had any questions because obviously it's important to just make sure you're as chilled out as possible. She had a bed set up inside of the room which has a curtain that then drags around it this is my experience anyway and then she just asked me to get naked from the waist down. Top tip if you're wearing a skirt or a dress you can just take your knickers and your tights off and then you still have a bit of like clothing covering you if that's something that would make you feel more comfortable and then I had to lie on the bed and I think she either said I could put my knees up and then just like open my legs this seems like such a weird thing to tell you or sort of like open them and put my feet together so it was kind of like this attractive formation. So then comes the good stuff and the nurse gets out this instrument called a speculum obviously it's like a medical instrument so it's not like pink and fluffy like it looks like it would be a medical thing I'm trying to think how to word this in a matter that doesn't make it sound like weird porn stuff but the nurse will then slide this speculum in and it very very very gently will sort of like open up which then gives the nurse a lovely view of your cervix and she can see what's going on inside there because it's not a place that people gaze into very often you've basically become a small tourist tunnel for your nurse for a few minutes which is quite nice when it comes to speculums as with penises I guess one size doesn't fit all and you if you feel a little bit uncomfortable with the size that your nurse is going to use you can ask for a smaller one she will generally she or he will generally know what size to use because let's face it they do this multiple times a day no offence but your vagina is nothing special to these nurses but it's worth knowing that if it does feel really uncomfortable or is a little bit painful and quite clearly feels too big for you you can then ask for a smaller one might just be worth remembering that the nurse then uses this weird little sort of silicone-y brush there's no scraping involved there's no trowels there's no palette knives there's no scalpels it's a tiny little very soft brush you don't even feel it and she will then just sort of brush that around and sweep and collect the cells that she needs to then send off to the boffins you can sort of feel it but sort of not feel it it's quite a weird sensation but it's definitely not painful obviously the whole experience is just a little bit sort of odd the first time obviously you're supposed to be doing this every three years so it's going to get more and more normal to you obviously the first one is a little bit sort of this is peculiar and it was over before I'd even sort of realised what was going on to be honest it's never going to be the most fantastically marvellous experience to have this instrument widening your cervix but you've got to remember that this thing in your body is designed to push out a human being so this tiny little thing that's being put in you for a good reason that could possibly save your life is not worth worrying about and your bits and bobs can fully handle it it might be a little bit sort of sore for you that's fine don't feel like weird about that because everybody's body is very different but as the nurse explained to me it's going to hurt more if you're feeling stressed and tense and scared because everything in your body is going to be tensed up and cramped and that's not what you want to be happening down there for easy insertion and exit it goes without saying though if you are in the moment and your legs are open and you've got this thing and it's hurting tell them don't just sit back and think this isn't right because that's not cool if it hurts then it hurts and tell them so that was that that's a smear test that's a cervical screening that's literally all there is to it it's really no biggie and after that was done I put my knickers on and I went home and I think I watched Harry Potter as far as results go you'll then get another letter probably the chances are telling you that everything is a-okay in there and you are good to go for another three years the other option is that you get a letter saying that actually there might be something that we want to take a closer look at so then you'll get in contact with your GP and they'll sort it out basically the whole point of this video is I just wanted to say don't stress about it there's literally nothing to worry about five million women are getting this done every year so if they can do it you can do it and you'll be fine solidarity girl power feminism vaginas the horror stories really are not true but what is true is that cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer in women under 30 and the chances are that you fall in that category so the moral of this story is show your cervix a good time and get your smear test booked if you've been putting it off if for no other reason then you'd quite like to witness a speculum in real life because they're quite a sight to behold I remember thinking that looks like a weird plastic bird but yeah the moral of this story is that it's all cool and that being a girl is great and that you need to look after yourself and that's all there is to it really thanks so much for watching this was a little bit different but I thought it was a cool idea and once I thought of it I really wanted to do it because even if one person watches this and thinks actually I will book my smear test because I've been worrying about nothing then that's really cool I also think this would be quite a cool thing to discuss in the comments if you're willing to discuss that kind of thing let me know how you've got on with a history of smear tests general reassurance would just be nice for other people to read I think I hope this has been a little bit informative and cool science is bloody marvellous basically thanks so much for watching give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it subscribe if you're new follow me on twitter and I will see you guys very soon bye