Uncomfortable Exams

Found this question on a different site, but thought it would be interesting to hear the responses from folks (women) at Zity:

Which female specific examination (anything from mammograms to pap smears) do you find the most uncomfortable and which ones the least uncomfortable?

Do you have any specific reason for that like general discomfort, feeling embarrassed or even actual pain?

Most uncomfortable that I had done would be colposcopy just the vinegar stings and if they do a biopsy ouch....

Hi

My wife found the Nip of the biopsy and the stretch of the large Speculam was not pleasant.

Microscope

The answers here, so far, seem similar to those on the other site.

What "most" women seem to reference, in one way or the other, is not so much the insertion of the speculum, metal or plastic, but the opening of it. Often the comment will be that the Doctor (play or real) has opened it just a bit too much for comfort.

Anxious to hear more responses here.

For me, uncomfortable are

Eg. Exam in ovulation time, used sims speculum, erased wound on cervix by acid

I turned the question to my wife....

She says the most uncomfortable procedure ( about gyno ex.) is bimanual exam. She said the deep finger insertion and pressure on the abdomen is uncomfortable and embarrassing....

Bimanual exam when i'm carrying extra weight. the doctor has to press so hard on my belly to feel everything that i'm usually sore for the next 2 days.

I would have to say in my Most uncomfortable exam would have been my first GYN exam with a speculum.

The most uncomfortable exam for me was a colposcopy and biopsy on my cervix.

Recently had a mammo. Took Advil before. Yes it hurt but because I have dense breasts, they give me a manual exam or an ultrasound at the same time. The manual exam was the worst! The nurse said that she was only using about half the amount of pressure for the exam and I was jumping off the table.

I'm a trans guy who hasn't had surgery yet so still need to go for a smear test. To me that's the most uncomfortable.

It'd done by a nurse and there's not really any more to it than the speculum going in and having the sample taken from my cervix but the actual stretching hurts me badly. Testosterone has made me much thinner and dryer down there and it always feels like it's going to split somehow. I'm also not used to vaginal penetration so it all just feels weird and uncomfortable.

My least uncomfortable, which I'd absolutely dreaded before the time, was a manual breast exam I had to have at a surgery consultation. There was a lot of nervousness about the appointment and what I'd be told, it didn't particularly go well, but the actual exam was an amazing experience. My breasts were very thoroughly examined and her hands felt good on my skin.

A Hysterosalpingogram. A test to help diagnose the cause of infertility. You lay on a table, naked from waist down. A small catheter type tube is pushed thru your cervix. An X-ray is above your abdomen and the images can be seen on a monitor. A dye is injected thru the catheter and you can see it running up and around your Fallopian tubes, it’s cool to watch. But I had a blockage on one side, the dye stopped dead while it continued its journey on the other side. I was 30, and the doctor made a joke about blowing the cobwebs out. It was funny until they actually sent a blast of air or liquid thru the catheter. It followed the same path and it felt like getting punched in the ovaries. My husband said he heard me shriek from the waiting room. The air/liquid continued for several seconds until I begged them to stop. The doctor was very nonchalant of the shock , of no warning of what he was going to do or the potential pain, and that “stop”’is essentially your safe word but they don’t tell you that, figuring that when you’ve had all you can take you’ll naturally say it. The pain stopped as soon as the air stopped, but holy cow. It was infuriating to have no information or say in those moments.

On the bright side, I was pregnant a month later 😃

The actual scrapping of the cervix during a pap smear has stung before and I don’t enjoy the feeling.

I find the bi-manual exam the most uncomfortable

My wife says that for her the most uncomfortable gyn procedure that she has had has been having an IUD insertion. Between having a larger than normal for her speculum used, the pinching of her cervix by the tenaculum, her cervix being dilated by a sound, and the IUD inserter being pushed into her cervical canal, the whole procedure was one long, very uncomfortable and briefly painful experience for her.

As far as routine pelvic exams are concerned, for her the speculum insertion and opening is the most uncomfortable part, followed by the rectovaginal exam and bimanual exam. She says the palpation of her ovaries is the worst part of the bimanual exam.

I think the worst procedure for me was a uterine ablation followed by an endometrial biopsy. Pain wise it’s 6 of 1 but the ablation goes on for longer. And, of course, giving birth.