When was your first Gynecology Exam?

I was 18. It happened in the ER where I had gone for stomach pains. I mentioned I had vaginal discharge and it led up to me getting a pelvic exam. The doctor was an old black guy. I actually asked him if we could “skip” it and I think he really didn't want to. Looking back it seems he really wanted to do the exam. I had a full bush which I was embarrassed by. I don't remember much but that he did an external exam first which seemed to take forever, then I cried when he put the speculum in because he seemed to shove it in. He also did a rectal and said I was constipated. At the time it wasn't fun, but it gives me mixed feelings now…

I was 14, i had abdominal pain, the doctor inserted his fingers to check my ovaries but no speculum was inserted

@Hulk Were you a virgin? Did it hurt?

I was 20 or 21. Only went because my PCP would not prescribe antibiotics and insisted I see a gyn. Women who've had a UTI know you cannot mistake that for anything else! I wasn't sexually active yet, except for things short of PIV.

Anyway, since I had been in pain for a few days and now suddenly having some random doctor needlessly stick their fingers inside me, no, it wasn't fun at all.

I was 19, first semester away at college. I went to the campus health clinic where a nurse practitioner performed the exam. She did a basic physical like I had always had before, then the breast, pap, and pelvic. I was a virgin, so it did hurt some when she opened the speculum, but it wasn't the worst pain I had ever had. Definitely less painful than cramps and only lasted a few seconds. I had some spotting afterwards.

I was 18. I was still a virgin. I lived in the flat directly opposite the doctors surgery. I had gone to get put on the pill and the GP said I needed to have a smear test and that I should book one with the nurse. I didn't want to, I was incredibly nervous but I started to feel very guilty about not doing it.

The morning of my smear I remember taking a stupid amount of care about waxing my legs and bikini line neatly, having a hot bath and making sure my undies were clean and matching. I was embarrassed about what I looked like down there so my perfectionist tendancies were in full swing.

The nurse was an older woman, in her 40s, slightly plump and kind of motherly. She explained everything that would happen. She weighed me and took my blood pressure and then asked me about my periods and if I'd had any pregnancies before she told me to undress then lay on the couch.

I remember worrying that someone else might come into the room and not really wanting to open my legs fully. The nurse had to tell me to put my heels together and let my legs drop open until my knee hit the wall and she ended up having to guide my legs with her hands which I felt a bit stupid about.

The smear itself actually shocked me with how uncomfortable it was. I think now it was probably because I was tense and struggling to relax. The speculum was freezing, never since have I ever felt one so cold but apart from being cold, it didn't hurt being inserted. It was kind of pleasant feeling full at first but she must have opened it very wide and pretty quickly because it suddenly became very uncomfortable and I felt I was stretched open too wide. I lay there willing for it to be over because it hurt so much.

The scraping of my cells didn't hurt. I have never been able to feel that which, at the time, is actually the part I was most nervous about as I expected to hurt the most.

I was 18. I was still a virgin. I had gone to get put on the pill and the GP said I needed to have a smear test and that I should book one with the nurse.

I was 19, first semester away at college. I was a virgin, so it did hurt some when she opened the speculum,

@Patientlywaiting and @Robin82 I am very surprised that a nurse inserted a speculum in you if you were a virgin

This means that she deliberately tore your hymen to introduce the instrument. This is a practice that is absolutely not usual in gynecology.

The smear is only intended to check the condition of the cells of the cervix. We know that their mutation towards cancer is essentially due to a virus (HPV). This is a sexually transmitted infection so if you hadn't had sex yet it was impossible for you to be carriers.

In France, good practices in gynecology do not recommend intrusive exploration of the vagina for a patient who is still a virgin.

@Franklin58200 I expect that my hymen was already torn by that age. Sure, no penis's had been in my vagina at that time but other things, tampons and exploritory items had. I also had no idea about HPV at that time. I didn't discuss my virginity with the nurse as I was embarrassed enough. Maybe if I had I would have been told it wasn't necessary.

@Franklin58200 I expect that my hymen was already torn by that age. Sure, no penis's had been in my vagina at that time but other things, tampons and exploritory items had. I also had no idea about HPV at that time. I didn't discuss my virginity with the nurse as I was embarrassed enough. Maybe if I had I would have been told it wasn't necessary.

@Patientlywaiting : I understand that you are not accusing the nurse of having deflowered you but, at no time, does it appear that a complete interrogation was made.

I persist in asserting that, in the case of a 14-year-old girl and, except in special cases of worrying losses, it is never necessary to examine her uterus through a speculum or to take a smear before first sexual intercourse

Concerning @Robin82 the situation is more serious since we have every reason to believe that this examination tore her hymen since she says “I Had some spotting afterwards”

@Franklin58200 I was 18. I agree that the smear is unnecessary and possibly traumatic in a child as young as 14 but I believe that it should be done as soon as sexual maturity happens, if only to establish healthy routines and demystify the proceedure. I think the longer one waits to do these things, the more frightening they become. I do however think that the medical profession should take much more care and time to open that speculum slower so you have a little time to adjust. That would go a long way to making the process more comfortable.

@Patientlywaiting they stopped telling ladies they need to have a full exam or a smear to go on the pill in the late 1990s I think. It was a lot easier for me in 2003 when I was 16 and I went on the pill, it was just some health questions and my blood pressure was checked but there was nothing else. So they do not do what you had to go through any more. I do not think I would have minded a full exam so much with a speculum but it was just not done then because the pill not so new any more and the exams were not needed.

@Franklin58200 An acquaintance of mine got a complete pelvic exam in France as a teenager, late 1980s early 1990s. She was basically raped by speculum. Her mother wanted her to go on the Pill and told the gynecologist she was lying about not having had sexual relations, if I understand the issue correctly.

@Amethyst

they stopped telling ladies they need to have a full exam or a smear to go on the pill in the late 1990s I think. It was a lot easier for me in 2003 when I was 16 and I went on the pill, it was just some health questions and my blood pressure was checked but there was nothing else. So they do not do what you had to go through any more. I do not think I would have minded a full exam so much with a speculum but it was just not done then because the pill not so new any more and the exams were not needed.

This makes sense. It would have been 1995 at the time.

@Amethyst @Patientlywaiting I had a girlfriend at university in the mid/late 80s. She wanted to go on the pill, and had to see the practice doctor and ended up going through a Pap smear and full gynae exam. It was her first, and she found it very upsetting at the time. She actually wished she hadn’t elected to go the pill for a while after it. It obviously doesn’t happen now.

@Franklin58200

Concerning @Robin82 the situation is more serious since we have every reason to believe that this examination tore her hymen since she says “I Had some spotting afterwards".

Usually care providers inserting the cytobrush fully into cervical canal makes to bleed it.

She actually wished she hadn’t elected to go the pill for a while after it. It obviously doesn’t happen now.

Some girls are a bit shocked too when they find out what used to happen, I told one about about 3 months ago when she told me she was going to go on the pill and she was shocked when I told her my mum had to strip totally for her exam with a male doctor when she went on the pill. I am not sure if most exams were like that or not but that is what she told me hers was like and I have heard the same thing from others too. Well I expected to need to do that too when I went on the pill but it had all stopped by then so I did not need to get undressed at all.

The debate should not turn into a discussion among teenagers in the schoolyard. The gynecological consultation is a real step and it is not a question of making films to tell your friends "the speculum is not even bad for me"

The request for a prescription for the pill corresponds to a desire to act sexually.

As said @Amethyst , a medical consultation with blood pressure measurement is sufficient the first time.

Once relations have been regularly established, we must focus on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and the first among them is HPV infection.

Practitioners know that regular sexual practice will make vaginal exploration easier and less stressful because the tissues will have become accustomed to relaxing.

As a result, it will be less aggressive to proceed with the insertion of a speculum and to perform a vaginal examination.

As for young patients, many of whom will be vaccinated against the HPV virus in 2022, I think we can wait until they are established in a lasting relationship with a partner to launch the cycle of internal examinations.

This does not seem to pose any particular problem for women, even if for some it begins only between the ages of 20 and 25. Remember that the method is to examine the cervix and take a smear every year for 3 years. Then, if everything is normal, the smear will only be done every 3 years

To respond @Pecan_nutjob a gynecologist should not be manipulated by the whining of an overly intrusive mother who claims to know everything about the sex life of her darling daughter

Personally, I am totally against the presence of the mother during the exam.

Finally, we must not forget the duty of advice of a doctor. To start with a partner, condom protection is a way that should not be neglected. Let's not forget that the pill modifies the hormonal balance of those who take it.

In the 21st century, I believe that contraception should no longer be a taboo subject that makes girlfriends fantasize, boys must take their responsibilities.

@Franklin58200 Usually care providers inserting the cytobrush fully into cervical canal makes to bleed it.

@roccomonte You are right and I am personally in favor of a strong endocervical sample to be certain when the cytological analysis returns that none of the cells around the squamocolumnar junction zone are potentially mutant.

Yes it causes a few bloody drops

But @Robin82 is 40 years old and when she was 19, in the early 2000s, most smears (mostly done by a nurse) were taken only with the Ayres spatula and actually did not cause any bleeding.

I therefore persist in thinking that it was the forced insertion of a speculum that tore her hymen and she therefore noticed drops of blood in her panties.

@Franklin58200

But @Robin82 is 40 years old and when she was 19, in the early 2000s, most smears (mostly done by a nurse) were taken only with the Ayres spatula and actually did not cause any bleeding.

I therefore persist in thinking that it was the forced insertion of a speculum that tore her hymen and she therefore noticed drops of blood in her panties.

Ok, I get it.

@Franklin58200 I totally agree that the mother should not be present, and that it was inappropriate for the physician to believe the mother and not the daughter.

Keep in mind that this was more than 30 years ago.

I also think that what is described of the UK, where it was mandatory to give a full exam to girls or women who wanted the Pill, was quite “paternalistic” about women. Basically, enforcing a pelvic and a pap smear to get on the Pill, even for virgin girls, amounts to saying

I can only repeat what I have always said. The patient is the boss. I got my first couple of pill prescriptions without any exam except for bloodpressure. It was given by my doctor. I decided when I wanted to get a pelvic and I decided who is with me in the room. And a again it is me who decides what is done during the exam. The doctor can propose but not force me. If a doctor would introduce his finger into my rear end without having discussed with me before, he/she would feal my feet in his face.

For sure the things are different when a mother forces her 14 years old daughter. In this case the doctor has to respect what he swore to become a doctor…

22, I think

I think I was 20 years old? I was pregnant seeing a Female MD.

@Ladybug761

I like your input here! “22, I think”

I can't remember things either!

GyneDoll

Gwen

When I was 15 in 1981. It was for heavy periods. It was only a vaginal exam with a male doctor. I'm glad I didn't also have a breast or rectal exam with my aunt standing where she could see everything.

I wonder how many have posted on here who are still active on this site.

At what age did you have your first gyn exam? Who made appointment? Was it your mother? Was the exam compulsory?

And for you, Miss Tessa?

I was 21, had missed my periods first time in my life. Was due to stress but mom sent me for a checkup. It was a small clinic, part of doctor's large home

I was 16 for my first exam for heavy periods.

I was around 24. It was during my first pregnancy.

It must have when I was 19 or 20.

I was having pain while having sex with my bf and went to see what was wrong.

I was very nervous to show myself but I think it got me into medfet