Worst part of your gyno exam

Pammy32,

Sad, you don't have the option of choice. I have been lucky to have known my physicians for several years. I do know physicians who take the attitude you are experiencing.

I wish things were different for you.

Andie

Pammy32,

Sounds like you should take them up on their offer and go elsewhere...

If you want a chaperone and they will not give you one, then something is wrong.

Pammy32,

Sounds like you should take them up on their offer and go elsewhere...

If you want a chaperone and they will not give you one, then something is wrong.

I do not disagree with going elsewhere but Pammy32's wish is the opposite. The provider insists on a chaperone and she does not want one.

True I could go else where, but then I wonder after one creepy experience, am I being paranoid.

Pammy32#

"I wonder after one creepy experience, am I being paranoid."

Care to elaborate?

I think some of you are mistaken. Are you sure this so-called chaperone is actually not a nurse who assists the gyn doctor? Her responsibilities include initial vitals such as body temp, BP, and pulse and then she assists the doctor with your positioning, usually keeps a communication channel open with you, puts out the stirrups, provides the instruments to the doctor, does the prep and post work on the pap smear, etc. I doubt the doctor would know what to do without her. He picks her because of her support and they are integral. This is at least my experience perspective.

Nursekev

I had a dispute with a previous employer and was suing them. I had to be examined by their doc and then mine and then we would go and fight it out in court.

I do not know whelther they were doing deliberately to get me to drop the case or it was just poor nursing - but it was really creepy..

I went along to their physicians. I was met by the nurse who took me into an exam room. She told me to undress which I did down to my panties, but she insisted I take them off, all the time she was watching me. She led me over to the scales and took my weight, putting her hand on my tummy she said something like, "your weight is perfect but then I can see you keep yourself fit" before turning me around to take my height. No matter how you try you never get a straight back and she pushed me back, in the past people had touched me near my throat to push me back but she put her hand full across my boobs.

She gave me a gown which I put on and she said to go to the exam table and lay down. She pulled the top down to my groin and then took my b.p.before she carried out an ecg, and for some reason she felt the urge to lift my boob to put one of the pads on.

When she finished, she helped me bend up and she put the gown back up on my shoulders and tied one of the straps at the back before lowering me down and then she went to the bottom of the table. She raised my knees up, lowered the bottom of the gown down my legs and she said "I just need a quick look". I could not see what she was doing, but could feel her touching me Hense why I hate it when someone examines me down there, when I cannot see what they are doing and they do not give a running commentary

When she had finished she lowered and gown and my legs and she went and got the dr and it went as normal except that she stood behind the dr when he gave me a gyno and dre that horrible sneer always on her face..

The good news was I won the case and it bought us an outside pool.

Yes I have had nurses that have assisted the doc and I am sure were indispensable to the doc, but I have also been there when the receptionist has been dragged in. I am sure that unqualified people find it embarrassing witness such a private thing and do not want to be there, and its sad they so many physicians worry about false claims.

That's ridiculous. Sorry you had to deal with that.

My wife filed complaints and then switched docs because she tried to bring me back for her exam, and the assistant screamed at us about it not being allowed in the waiting room. Then the doctor copped a crappy attitude about it to her. We couldn't leave because her insurance was ending the next day (under her mom - this was before we were married).

Sometimes people are just jerks.

Alex2,

I personally know physicians who do all those things you just mentioned. Yes, chaparones, nurses, medical assistants etc take care of those things and whatnot that the physician, PA, NP delegates to them. My GP and GYN double check BP and temps. They pull stirrups out and retrieve instruments they going to use for various parts of an exam or procedure. If that instrument is not in the room, they push a button to signal the back office they need some sort of assistance. My orthopaedic surgeon and his PA conduct themselves just as my GP and GYN does. The nurse or medical assistant in the offices I have mentioned do make sure paperwork etc is properly attended to.

Front and back office help is integral to a physician practice! It just depends how the duties are delegated and assigned. Every office and clinic is a different from another either a lot or not a lot. There are countless things that impact it.

Andie

Pammy,

That is horrific, traumatic! Horrible memories! I hope you can eventually be ok with having exams when you are unable to see what is going on for whatever reason and or the one performing the exam is not proficient at giving a running commentary per what they are doing and why.

Thank goodness you did win your court case!!!

Andie

Actually the chaperonage is there to protect the doctor. A single person is perfectly capable of performing an annual exam. There are not a lot of interments and the exam is set up so one hand need not be gloved.

My personal perspective on this is that a chaperonage under the employ of the doctor makes a very weak witness should any charges of misconduct ever arise. I think I have stated this before but I believe that exams should be recorded and encrypted with two keys. The doctor gets one and the patient gets the other. In the case of misconduct the tape is provided to the medical board and both parties have to turf up their keys. If the tape can not be provided the doctor looses, if the doctor forgets their key, they loose, if the patient forgets their key, they loose. If all of the keys and the tape make it to the board, the case gets a truly unbiased review of the situation. The tapes are useless to anybody without both keys. It sounds kind of spooky but this same type of encryption is used the world over every day for millions of different uses. If it were broken, someone getting pictures of you on the exam table would be the very last of your concerns.

I think my least favorite part of the gyn exam is the recto-vaginal. It's extremely uncomfortable and feels quite strange. Due to internal problems I've had many of these since age 15 and they never seem to get better. My least favorite procedure is the transvaginal ultrasound. I'm very petite in size and very small down below......so the US wand feels like a baseball bat is being inserted into me. I had to be sedated the first few times I had to have it done.

Thanks all for your kind words in your pm's.

I like a physician, dentist etc that tells you what they are doing. It may be blinding obvious, but it is still reassuring. Also I do not want to go into a discussion on world politics, but when I am at the physicians I love a bit of small talk, how are the kids, where are you going on vacation etc, just so it is not so clinical.

My wife does not care for "extra" company in the exam room. Her doctor frequently has students or interns in tow and my wife is not interested in being a learning tool. The doctor always looks a little disappointed when she refuses to allow them to participate. You would think they would stop asking or put a note in her chart. It's not like she is going to decide one day to change her mind have a group exam.

For me it is the chaperone, 210%. I mean a nurse standing there like she is bored is really not helpful to anyone. Not to mention a nurse who actually admitted the Dr goofed would never work again in that field so what is the point. In my experiences the nurse only ever takes the pap kit from the dr and sets it on the counter, the Dr does everything else himself. The times I have seen a female Dr for the same exam there was no one else in the room and she did just fine.

I generally enjoy my exams but I have found that some of the cheaper plastic speculums can be uncomfortable if the doctor is not careful. Nothing worse than getting pinched down there

Late entry

If the patient requested and the doc refuses he could lose his licence or at least rapped knuckles and "sensitivity " training. Besides, that would make or cement his reputation as a prime ass.

The worst for me is the fact I'm so exposed and vulnerable. The exam itself didn't hurt, I could barely feel her finger inside, she was very gentle

The pain he puts me threw when he puts in the metal speculum in and opens it up.I am a petite!! and when its all done

As one who has had some very painful GYN procedures and exams, I offer the advice of learning how to properly learn and use deep breathing techniques specifically for pain management. It has made a VERY big difference for me. It also contributes to making it much easier to relax the muscles and the pelvic structures so the pain is not as terrible and the spasms are lessened.

A good way to start is learning progressive muscle relaxation and breathing techniques for yoga, Tai Chi, etc.including biofeedback.

This can also be applied to dealing with additional types of pain and discomfort.

Just my humble opinion.

Andie

My gynecologists have been really great. I still hated the really cold rooms, having to scoot down further and further, opening wide, the exposure and being probed with a chaperone watching.

I haven't had any biopsies, been pinched with the speculum or had any cramping after. I'm really sorry for those who have.

Standard exam for me there isn't really a worst part. Any time had the clank of the tenculum go through the speculum and grab my cervix that is a very unpleasant feeling.

For me, the worst physical part is when the little brush is used to scrape the cervical cells for the pap smear. It only takes a few seconds, but feels weird and gives me a slight crampy feeling. With emotional/mental, it's the waiting….both in the waiting room and then in the exam room.

I'm really sensitive down there. Pap smears hurt. I was offered Valium. I might take that offer next year.

The end of it!

I think the waiting is the worst part. The exam itself isn’t comfortable, but it’s not always uncomfortable. It really depends on the provider. Some are more gentle than others, but most of the time it’s the biopsies or large amounts of samples that are collected that are usually the worst part.

The worst parts for me are when the doctor opens the speculum and the scraping during the pap smear.

For me it’s probably the scraping during the smear. It’s a very sudden and unexpected crampy feeling. For me it feels different everytime so I never know what to expect. Sometimes it’s just a tiny cramp and other times it’s really uncomfortable

For me, there are three things that I don't like about a real visit to the gynecologist. Firstly, when I'm sitting in the waiting room with other women who tell each other their medical histories. The PAP smear because that nasty plastic brush hurts. Finally, the rectal examination, although I find this extremely arousing in my fantasies and keep developing it in my head, especially since I've had the dubious pleasure of a proctological rectal examination in reality several times. The worst examination for me is the visit to the radiologist for the mammogram, where both breasts are pressed flat one after the other. Ouch!

The scraping of my cervix is not so nice so I think that is the bad part of my gyn exams, I do not have discomfort with anything else. I would go without the stupid gown too if it was ok because they are fiddly and a nuisance, it would be easier if I just had nothing on and I would not mind that.