Vagifem prior to a PAP smear

Submitted by louiseds on August 30, 2011 - 10:33pm
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Hi All

Wondering if any Vagifem users can tell me how long it takes for Vagifem to make your vagina and cervix really juicy? I recently had a PAP smear that had a few abnormal cells. They want me to have my next smear in 12 months time, instead of 2 years, and my doctor wants me to use Vagifem suppositories for 2-3 months beforehand because the report came back as being atropic (well that's no surprise at two years postmenopause!). They couldn't collect enough cells as they needed to enable them to assess the smear properly.

I googled all this last night and put all the info together and shook it. It looks like 5-7 days of oestrogen cream or suppositories was the advice given by most sites, with the rider that the doctor will tell you how much.

How long do you, our members, think I would need to use it for?

I would rather not use it at all, and may just use Replens instead.

These PAP smears are paid for by the Government. They know that menopausal women who are not on HRT, and other women whom they can predict will have low oestrogen levels, will show up atopic smears. Why don't they just tell us to use an oestrogen cream before we have any PAP smears from now on? What a waste of effort this last smear was!

BTW, I am making sure that I have a ThinPrep smear next time. The one I had this time was a standard test, which is not as good at picking up abnormal cells. If you have regular PAP smears make sure they are ThinPrep, especially if you have any family history of cervical cancer or other risk factors. As far as I can see there is very little point in having any test which has limited capabilities, when there is one that will tell you a lot more. You wanna know why? See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16029294 .

And make sure you use something to juice up your vagina and cervix for a few days prior to the smear and save everyone a lot of time, effort and worry.

Louise

Christine

August 31, 2011 - 6:57pm

Smearing artificial estrogen on your cervix in hopes of creating a normal pap smear so the doctor doesn't know what your cells really look like? Sounds like a scheme cooked up by a couple of old gyns sharing scotch and cigars as they plan how to increase their annuities. How about never setting foot through those doors again, boosting your anti-oxidants, and visualizing your cervix each day in perfect health?

louiseds

September 1, 2011 - 1:44am

Thanks for this reassuring reply, Christine. Yes, I think it is a bit nonsensical, seeing that the guidelines state that once a woman is 65 (only 7 years away) it is no longer regarded as important to have PAP smears. ie one of the reasons there are not many cells is that there is no longer a lot of cell proliferation happening at the cervix after menopause anyway. Go figure.

However, I am an inquisitive individual, always up for a scientific trial. Seven days of cream seems to be widely acceptable as enough. I cannot see the sense in 2-3 months of cream. It will be interesting to see if they can find enough cells after the oestrogen cream! Just wondering what effect the red clover is having, and will have, on the smear. I am also going to research about Replens as an alternative, as I am not keen at all in having my low oestrogen body exposed to more oestrodiol than necessary to enable them to do the smear in the most effective way possible. If I am going to do it, I want to do it properly.

Anyway, I have ten months to think about it, and a lot of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant tricks to improve on.

Louise