When was your first Gynecology Exam?

I was 16 and completely embarrassed.

I was 15. I was so nervous for it and embarrassed by it, but afterwards, it wasn't all that bad.

18. For my first pap-smear! It was over in 3 min and l felt strong afterwords😃

I was 23 and about to get married. I was still a virgin. I was quite embarrassed that this man was touching my breasts and putting his fingers inside my vagina. After all these years I still get embarrassed going to the gynecologist.

18. For my first pap-smear! It was over in 3 min and l felt strong afterwords😃

@Losenord1 "Strong", meaning.....

I was 23 and about to get married. I was still a virgin. I was quite embarrassed that this man was touching my breasts and putting his fingers inside my vagina. After all these years I still get embarrassed going to the gynecologist.

@Elrei , did you feel at the time as if your virginity were being compromised? It sounds like you had never had a prior breast exam during a physical, and that this was all new to you.

Do you still have the same gynecologist, or have you switched? I was wondering if you couldn't get used to your original one, or if having new gynecologists contributes to your embarrassment. And also, if it would be less embarrassing for you if you were to have a female gynecologist instead.

I remember going to the GP with my then GF when I was 17 and she was 16 so she could go on the Pill. We went into the Drs office together and he went through the usual questions and basics with her. He then said I needed to leave the room while he examined my GF. I was sent back to sit in the waiting room having no idea what was going on in the Drs room.

My GF came out 10 mins later and on the way home she told me the Dr had made her submit to an internal exam despite her not wanting one. I was the only man who had seen her naked since she was a child and she was very nervous about exposing herself to the older male Dr. I think this was the start of my med fet thoughts.

Cuck Alex: Mmmh. A doctor should not impose an examination;.. especially an unneeded one since there is no relationship between the Pill and a pelvic exam. But some decades ago physicians "blackmailed" women for the Pill: no pelvic exam, no prescription...

@Pecan_nutjob In my country obgyn didn't prescribe me a pills without a examination. I don't know that they must done exams or not. But I always had gyno exam. And, as you said, it could be a threat.

ps. Docs often are told, that exam are necessary, because it was a medicament and women could had a higher risk about intimate infection, so they are need to check it

That is basically what it was - blackmail! The Dr was insistent on carrying out a breast and pelvic exam on my GF before he would prescribe the Pill. I am sure he saw it as a 'perk' of the job to examine young attractive women and he used his 'power' to do this.

We all know that there are a minority of Drs that misuse their position, and I think this was one of them. At the time we were young and naïve and did not feel able to say anything or protest about this.

He only gave her a prescription for 6 months and, of course, when she went back for a repeat prescription he also insisted on a repeat exam.

Cuck Alex: This is/was another issue with the Pill - short prescriptions that enforced return visits for no medical reasons. In some cases, they would do another exam. I however recall my wife going to her GP, no examination etc, just renewal of the Pill prescription. Completely useless but the doc could charge that to health insurance!

23, right before I got married.

I find the topic of unnecessary exams interesting. I know there are perverted doctors out there like the Michigan State guy but they have to be few and far between . To most it is another procedure just like nurses giving enemas and they do so many it is just something else to check off their list before they can go home. I know it happens but I bet the rate is very low.

I was 16 and was terrified.

I was 16 and was terrified.

Would love to hear about it. As I'm sure others would as well. After all, with your name being Gynoexamlover and this being about gyno exams, I'd suspect that this IS the center of your medfet...

I was 14 the first time I had an exam with a gynecologist.

I was diagnosed with a "transverse vaginal septum". Which is a long way of saying i had a bit of tissue stuff partially blocking it.

@Amethyst Somehow I wound up back at this topic today and noticed your reply regarding GYN exams in Argentina and wanted to reply to you. First, Argentina has one of the best, absolutely free, highly accessible public health care systems in the world. Anyone who is on Argentine soil visitor or resident can avail themselves of it at any time. There is a generally at least one community clinic in every "barrio" (neighborhood) and I don't think you'll find yourself more than 15 minutes away from a hospital anywhere in the Capital Federal area, although in the Provinicias things are a bit more scarce.

A colposcopy iis not what I would consider "an invasive or scary" procedure. Although the speculum remains inserted, the entire colposcopy is external and is nothing more than a lighted magnifying lens viewing the vagina internally, from outside it.

@Cuck_Alex the examination and follow up you are describing is completely routine, necessary, and ordinary. A complete examination including CBC, UA, and BE are required elements for prescribing "the pill". A breast examination is necessary in order to make certain there are no issues which can include fibrocystic breasts, a condition which is often caused by hormonal imbalances, and I'm sure you know that the pill is basically nothing more than hormones, so it's a good idea to get a complete "picture" of the patient's condition. The need for the pelvic exam and the labs speak for themselves, and a 6 month return and review is quite standard. I find nothing wrong with the manner in which you describe how this was handled and I admire the caution and precaution and precaution, and CARE that was taken.

@beccarnmommy said

@Cuck_Alex the examination and follow up you are describing is completely routine, necessary, and ordinary. A complete examination including CBC, UA, and BE are required elements for prescribing "the pill". A breast examination is necessary in order to make certain there are no issues which can include fibrocystic breasts, a condition which is often caused by hormonal imbalances, and I'm sure you know that the pill is basically nothing more than hormones, so it's a good idea to get a complete "picture" of the patient's condition. The need for the pelvic exam and the labs speak for themselves, and a 6 month return and review is quite standard. I find nothing wrong with the manner in which you describe how this was handled and I admire the caution and precaution and precaution, and CARE that was taken.

I think you might not have noticed that @Cuck_Alex is British, and what he spoke of did not take place under the American health care system. He was also talking about a time before such examinations for the pill to be prescribed were discontinued in this country, as some time during the 1990s it was felt that it was no longer necessary.

I think you might not have noticed that @Cuck_Alex is British, and what he spoke of did not take place under the American health care system. He was also talking about a time before such examinations for the pill to be prescribed were discontinued in this country, as some time during the 1990s it was felt that it was no longer necessary.

Yes when I met you @DrZ in 2003 I was 16 and I did not need to have a breast exam or have an internal exam or have to undress like I thought maybe I would need to. I think they stopped doing those exams a few years before it was the time for me. I think I got my blood pressure checked and I think the rest of it was just questions like if I smoked (I have never smoked) because that is a risk but there were no questions that I needed to worry about.

@Cuck_Alex

Women in the UK were not blackmailed into having a breast and internal examination before they were given the pill, it was a routine medical in the woman's best interests that all doctors were instructed to carryout by the health authorities at the time. The pill was a completely new method of contraception and an unknown quantity in a lot of respects back in the 60's & 70's.

The normal routine was to have the examination, get 6 months supply then back to see the nurse for another 6 months supply, and then see the doctor again on an annual basis.

I've spoken to a number of women who I know on a personal basis about this and they had no problem with it, they just accepted it as being for the benefit of their health and in their best interests.Ok for some women the first one did sometimes come as a bit of a surprise as the NHS wasn't very good at communication back then, but other women were pre-advised.

Smear tests were started in the UK in the mid 60's although a bit haphazard , but the well organised NHS Cervical Screening Programme (NHSCSP) wasn't set up until 1988 when the Department of Health instructed all health authorities to introduce computerised call-recall systems and to meet certain quality criteria.

So these pill checks were an important part of a woman's health care back in the 60', 70's and 80's.

I don't know exactly when or why these medicals were stopped but the NHS has only finite resources, and I guess that the powers that be decided that examining 1000's of healthy women, probably on a daily basis, was a waste of these resources, and if a woman has a problem she is mostly likely going to present with it anyway or it will be picked up in screening.

@Cuck_Alex Just to inform you a little history about the pill and prescribing it . When the pill was first introduced there was not much data available regarding it use in the long term or the effects it would have on women taking it . The pill at the time was believed to increase the risk of certain female cancers including breast, ovarian and cervical and so the manufactures instructed the GPs that a full gynaecological check ( breast and pelvic exam) was required before the pill could be prescribed to women and then every 6 months thereafter.

The pill at the time was believed to increase the risk of certain female cancers

Actually there is truth in it. Its not massive risk but certainly as get older there is increased risk of endometrial cancer, i think less so for progesterone only pill.

But you will not pick that up on a smear and by the time you detect it on vaginal exam you would likely have pretty advanced disease.

@Cuck_Alex some more evidence about the pill and prescribing it .

Regarding Microgynon 30, a pill which has been in use for about 40 years and very popular during the 80's and 90's I found this statement from the data sheet (and would have been enclosed with the pill pack), the last line clearly requires a smear test, plus examination of breasts and pelvic organs and states "at least annually"

Medical Examination/Consultation

A complete medical history and physical examination should be taken prior to the initiation or reinstitution of Microgynon 30, guided by the “Contraindications” and “Warnings and Precautions” sections. This should be repeated at least annually during the use of Microgynon 30.

Periodic medical assessment is also of importance because contraindications (e.g. a transient ischemic attack, etc.) or risk factors (e.g. a family history of venous or arterial thrombosis) may appear for the first time during the use of a COC.

The frequency and nature of these assessments should be based on established practice guidelines and adapted to the individual woman but should generally include special reference to blood pressure, breasts, abdomen and pelvic organs, including cervical cytology, and relevant laboratory tests.

I was 20 the first time I pulled my pants down to get my vagina stretched by the speculum. She didn't do it though as I still had my hymen visible. I just had an external (lips back, hood up, opening inspected etc). I finally had the speculum at 25 and it was so sore when she opened it. I sort of like it though.

My first time I was looking to get on birth control.

Spread totally exposed....nurse held my legs apart , female doctor, thank god.

Very embarrassing.

First time is the worst, stretching everything.

Spread totally exposed....nurse held my legs apart , female doctor, thank god.

Did they not have stirrups? How did the nurse hold them

@Cuck_Alex In my country it was few 'duties' which doctor should do when he/she prescribed pill. First thing, was a interview about possible risks, he must know why I want to take pills and he was asking about my routine (eg. that I'm smoking or not). Second thing, he should done necessary exams. Officially, it should be like that he ordered me to go to hospital to take blood samples to check level of homones and it should be basic on to prescribed pills. Also he should done fully gyno exam. However, in practice it was like that breast exam and blood samples are seldom (I think that it was mistake), What is more, if I was decide taken my first type of pills I'd prescribed 3 packages of pills. Then I must to go to the doctor again and if I haven't side-effect I'd 6 moths of therapy.

When I was 18 I decided to get on the pill, just in case I would meet the right person.

When I was 18 I decided to get on the pill, just in case I would meet the right person.

So you started taking pills before you even had a sexual partner? How long after you started taking pills was it before you actually had sex?

(wondering if you suspected it would happen very soon after you started taking them)

I was 19 and having severe lower abdominal pain, which later turned out to be ovarian cysts. The doc was a male, and it was pretty painful.

I was 18 and had a female doctor. Sure was a different experience. So exposed and vulnerable.