# Bleeding and cramping after pap smear test



## jrmorris3

Has anyone dealt with bleeding and cramping like your getting ready o start your heavy period after after ur obgyn gives u ur first pap smear? Told this was normal but i didnt expect the bright red color or the cramping. :cry: Please tell me ur storys so I can stop stressin again. Thany u

















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## Parkep

hey hun i havent had this yet but if you are bleeding from it 
its not coming from bubs its where they took the scrapings 
try not to worry :)


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## jrmorris3

Parkep said:


> hey hun i havent had this yet but if you are bleeding from it
> its not coming from bubs its where they took the scrapings
> try not to worry :)

Thank you, It seems like your always there for me when I need it the most. Thank You soo much:thumbup: I've had everything scary happen to me so far in this first trimester. Tomm. I go get a scan to make sure my bean is still there. I can't wait to see him/her.


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## Waiting4Baby

jrmorris3 said:


> Has anyone dealt with bleeding and cramping like your getting ready o start your heavy period after after ur obgyn gives u ur first pap smear? Told this was normal but i didnt expect the bright red color or the cramping. :cry: Please tell me ur storys so I can stop stressin again. Thany u

I've only ever had two pap smears (one a few years ago and one since the pregnancy), but that never happened to me. BUT! My mom warned me before my very first one that it happened to her _every time_ and not to worry if it happened to me.


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## Waiting4Baby

jrmorris3 said:


> Has anyone dealt with bleeding and cramping like your getting ready o start your heavy period after after ur obgyn gives u ur first pap smear? Told this was normal but i didnt expect the bright red color or the cramping. :cry: Please tell me ur storys so I can stop stressin again. Thany u

I've only ever had two papsmears (one a few years ago and one since the pregnancy), but that never happened to me. BUT! My mom warned me before my very first one that it happened to her _every time_ and not to worry if it happened to me.


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## marley2580

Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?


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## aimee-lou

marley2580 said:


> Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?

I was thinking the same thing. I was told that they would wait until after the pregnancy was over as I was due one this month (whoops!) 

I get a feeling like I was about to come one everytime I have one though....never had one while beign PG though....and never actually came on. 

Hope everything is ok at your scan hun. x


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## Waiting4Baby

It's common practice in the US to do pap smears on pregnant ladies. :shrug: I didn't know it wasn't in the UK.


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## DonnaE26

this is my 4th baby and ive never had a smear while being pg same with you aimee i was due a smear this month and they have told me they will do it 6 weeks after baby is born.... Hope everything goes okay for you jrmorris x x x :hug:


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## GersPrincess

I think its just because the metal thing goes so close to your cervix and it must aggravate it a bit. Every time I have had one, I've had the feeling I'm about to come on, but worse.
As far as I am aware, we don't have smears during pregnancy in Britain. I had to postpone one with my DD and now with wee duckie too. We are advised to have them done with our 6 week post natal check


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## overcomer79

I had one on friday in fact. The Dr. warned me that I would bleed and she was right!!! I also had cramping for a few days after. I didn't bleed a lot and it was BRIGHT red. It was probably just a busted blood vessel. Try not to worry, I'm sure your lil bean is fine.


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## Babypower

i had some spotting last night and went to hospital, they did a high and low vaginal swob and today my stomach has hurt all day bad cramping but no blood. anyone else had this


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## baby_mama

I'm going through that right now- had a pap smear on monday and am feeling crampy/achy and spotting since then. I was warned that could happen but I still dont like it!


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## Chaos

jrmorris3 said:


> Has anyone dealt with bleeding and cramping like your getting ready o start your heavy period after after ur obgyn gives u ur first pap smear? Told this was normal but i didnt expect the bright red color or the cramping. :cry: Please tell me ur storys so I can stop stressin again. Thany u

Ya, I had a pap with my DD (not time to have one yet with this pregnancy) and I spotted a bit and cramped for a couple days. All was well tho.


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## lesbianlove

aww hun hope ur ok, im in uk and never had a smear est when pregnant but nor would i want to do they still use the speculum and stuff? oft id be well refusing


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## dragonhawk

I had through the letter requesting I make an appointment the same day that I tested and found out that I was pregnant. So I haven't had one for about 3 years. The surgery told me to ignore the letter from the health trust, as they would resolve the issue with the trust for me. (I got a little emtional with them.) ;)


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## Sweedot

aimee-lou said:


> marley2580 said:
> 
> 
> Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?
> 
> I was thinking the same thing. I was told that they would wait until after the pregnancy was over as I was due one this month (whoops!)
> 
> I get a feeling like I was about to come one everytime I have one though....never had one while beign PG though....and never actually came on.
> 
> Hope everything is ok at your scan hun. xClick to expand...

Try not to worry too much hun, my friend who is 19 weeks now had a pap smear in her early pregnancy and she had a little cramping and some light bleeding!

I'm sure your little babber is just fine!
:hugs:


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## Chaos

marley2580 said:


> Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?

Just the way things are done in the States. They get yearly paps here. If your annual one falls around the start of your pregnancy, they will do it then. That's what happened with my DD. With this pregnancy my annual isn't due till half way thru so they are going to leave it until after the baby is born. Pretty run of the mill here.


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## nickyXjayno

Some women in the uk have it done aswell.
My midwife mentioned it as I've never ever had a smear done.

But I am so refusing as do not want the stress!


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## Ashley8806

I bled after my papsmear also.... they told me it was normal. Same with sex, I bled pretty bad afterwards, but it stopped and all is fine. I wouldn't worry hun unless it doesn't stop. It should only be some spotting that would last a day at the very most. :)


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## ProudMum

marley2580 said:


> Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?

i was JUST gonna say this.. not only is it unsafe but it'll give you abnormal results...... then your next will also give you an abnormal- which is likely to be followed by treatment. Not good.


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## Ashley8806

it is routinely done here in the us... there is no danger to it, just bleeding thats the same with bleeding after sex.... they know how to analyze the results, otherwise there would be millions of women getting unneccesary treatment.


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## ProudMum

Ashley8806 said:


> it is routinely done here in the us... there is no danger to it, just bleeding thats the same with bleeding after sex.... they know how to analyze the results, otherwise there would be millions of women getting unneccesary treatment.

there Are millions of women being treated unneccesarily for these so called Abnormal smears.
To save 1 life from cervical cancer, 10 thousand women have to be screened. Half of which will received treatment they didnt need...


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## Ashley8806

well everyone i know has never had any problems or abnormal results from papsmears during pregnancy...and i even worked in an ob office before... im not going to argue especially on someone elses thread they asked a question about and instead people are criticizing the us because they are not used to how things are here... just seems there is a lot of criticizing to the us on here and it gets o
ld to read.


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## ProudMum

Ashley8806 said:


> well everyone i know has never had any problems or abnormal results from papsmears during pregnancy...and i even worked in an ob office before... im not going to argue especially on someone elses thread they asked a question about and instead people are criticizing the us because they are not used to how things are here... just seems there is a lot of criticizing to the us on here and it gets o
> ld to read.

criticizing the US? I lived in the country for 7 years. Im not doing anything of the sort.


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## lesbianlove

no offence to the US but i think anything that gives you bad cramping and bleeding cant be good id be worried out my head as this lady is


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## ProudMum

lesbianlove said:


> no offence to the US but i think anything that gives you bad cramping and bleeding cant be good id be worried out my head as this lady is

I second this. They're not good.


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## Chaos

ProudMum said:


> marley2580 said:
> 
> 
> Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?
> 
> i was JUST gonna say this.. not only is it unsafe but it'll give you abnormal results...... then your next will also give you an abnormal- which is likely to be followed by treatment. Not good.Click to expand...

Seriously, that's not true. Are you trying to scare people??? It's just different countries, different practices. You think a whole country of Drs are trying to get malpractice suits? Just because it's not normal practice there it does not make it 'unsafe'. These people went to medical school for years and know what they are doing. At the end of the day the woman has the right to refuse it. It's not like they are tied down whilst it's done.

The bleeding has zero to do with the baby, its from the cervix. During pregnancy its' SO engorged with blood simple sex can make it bleed more. Every time you have sex and cum during pregnancy your womb goes in to Braxton hick type contractions. Is that dangerous too? Are you going to stop having sex all the time you're pregnant? The smear is also used to look for vaginal infections. (Along with the by-law STD test that has to be a swab)

Sure you have your own opinion and that's fine, but typing something that is along the lines of "you're get false abnormal results and it will be a wasted treatment" is absolutely irresponsible and could prevent someone who has serious valid changes from getting treated. People can be very impressionable by what they read on the internet and can take written word as law. It's why Google is such a bugger.


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## WayTruthLife

I had a pelvic exam 2 days ago and have my having brown discharge ever since. Sometimes, light pink. It is extremely scary but I just keep telling myself that if something was wrong, the dr would have seen it right? So it's probably because the cervix is sensitive. **hug**:hugs:


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## Lillybloss

From a medical training background I can only say the here in the uk we don't do smears during pregnancy because the results can be invalid due to the pregnancy hormones and the effects they can have on the cervix. However it may be that in the us they have different lab analysis techniques which analyze the samples differently and so get more accurate results in pregnancy.


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## Bebica

Waiting4Baby said:


> It's common practice in the US to do pap smears on pregnant ladies. :shrug: I didn't know it wasn't in the UK.

Don't scare me!!!! I go see my ob tomorrow for the first time and I am over 10 weeks and she may do pap...Don't know why she didn't do it when I was there at 6 weeks.Don't remember if they did it in my previous pregnancies but if they did it was very very early because I saw the doctor at my first visit.Both times I was in Cali too...


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## MyTurnYet

ProudMum said:


> marley2580 said:
> 
> 
> Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?
> 
> i was JUST gonna say this.. not only is it unsafe but it'll give you abnormal results...... then your next will also give you an abnormal- which is likely to be followed by treatment. Not good.Click to expand...

I just want to say it was pretty heartless to post this on someone's thread who is already worried about spotting. Also, it's simply untrue. 

jrmorris, many women (me for one) have had spotting after pap smears and it is both normal and safe. My dr. assured me that this is due to your cervix being sensitive and full of blood and is nothing to worry about. Of course you can always refuse the pap if you are worried, but too late for that now. Listen to what YOUR DOCTOR says. I would definitely call them for reassurance, if it makes you feel better. :hugs:


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## MyTurnYet

Bebica, I think you can refuse it if you're worried. I almost wish I did because I could've done without the spotting, but it is normal to have a pap in the US and normal to have a bit of spotting. So, if you do get it done and have spotting, please don't panic. :hugs: I even spotted a little from a transvaginal ultrasound. Dr. assured me that it's completely normal.


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## cyclingmama

I just had my first OB visit at 8 weeks and my husband was with me. All went well and he left so I could have the pap, which I thought she'd skip since it's been less than a year and I've had a miscarriage in the past and I'm older. Nope. So the day I left I was fine but the next day I began to bleed (yesterday). She never warned me that I'd bleed and I was stuck at a church confirmation ceremony and had to step out to call the Dr's office. The weekend nurse said it was normal to have "some bleeding" but to keep an eye on it over the weekend. Go the ER if it gets extreme or if I see tissue and on Monday they'll give me an ultrasound.

I asked why they would give a pap during pregnancy and she said it was early detection for HPV which can harm the baby. Also said that any "trauma" to the cervix can result in bleeding. (If it's considered a trauma then why do they do it???) She said nothing goes into the uterus it's just the cervical opening so there's no harm to the baby. Yeah, tell that to my husband. He's so angry that they messed with it this early. I am too of course but it was amazing how made he got. 

I left the service and went straight to bed and began cramping and bleeding more. The blood has been red, then brown, and now is red with some mucous. The bleeding has subsided and then returned but I haven't seen any clots. Reading this has made me feel a little better but I'm still freaked out and my husband is ready to blame them if this induced a miscarriage. 

Fingers crossed for a good outcome and wishing the same to anyone else going through this right now. My thoughts are with you!


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## babybaillie

where i come from they wont allow u to have a smear while pregnant due to risk of m/c


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## janeybaby

Here in the UK it is not recommended to carry out pap smear tests during pregnancy. I just had a letter inviting me to have mine. It come with a booklet that had info about being pregnant and having smear's IT IS NOT DONE. You have to inform your doctor that you are expecting and they need to inform the smear department that you are expecting. You will then be offered your smear 3 months after baby arrives.

I once had a smear done while I was expecting (I didn't know at the time) the results came back abnormal. They asked me to have a repeat one in 6 months however I knew I was expecting so postponed until baby was 3 months. The results came back fine, when I asked the consultant she said it is very likely that the abnormal result was because of the changes to my cervix during early pregnancy. She said as a rule they don't perform smears on pregnant ladies as they won't get a true result.

I find it strange how ladies in the US are offered them during pregnancy. I wouldn't have it done.

During pregnancy your cervix is softer more sensitive and has more bloodflow so bleeding after any form of abrasion to it will cause bleeding!!


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## Hansie

marley2580 said:


> Why did they give you a smear when you're pregnant?

I dont think they give you a smear when your pg in the UK. TBH I cant understand why they would go poking about :hugs: :hugs:


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## cyclingmama

Thanks ladies, it's good to know that this is NOT done in other countries. If I could do this all over again I would refuse and offer to do it at the 6 week post partum visit and walk out. Some US doctors can exert a lot of pressure so this would require standing your ground and not giving in as I suspect some may hound you during each monthly visit.

(skip this if it's TMI)

Last night the bleeding slowed down and I was hopeful. I changed my pad and then felt something slip through. I looked down and it was a giant clot. I called for my husband and dissolved into tears. We called the Dr's office and I have an appointment for an ultrasound this morning. The thing is, the clot was much bigger than what an embryo would be by 8 weeks. It was 1.5 inches and most of what I read says 1/2 and inch is about the size at 8 weeks. Also, they were worried that I'd have a lot of bleeding and would have to go to the ER but I haven't bled much at all. So I'm not sure what's going on. I'll post again when I have more news.

All I can say to US women is if you can skip the pap, that makes sense to me. The trauma to your uterus is not worth it and the possible false irregular reading may cause them to want to intervene while you are with child. Why would you want to mess with a precious start at life?


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## Ashley8806

I bled after the pap, but also after sex... after sex I had clots and it was a lot of blood, but they said it was all normal and everything was fine. I was worried about the clots but they said that clots form and stay in your vagina and when the bleeding starts it pushes them out... I hope all is fine, I've never heard of a pap smear inducing a miscarriage, just some scares of bleeidng that they are supposed to warn you about.


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## Ashley8806

And they know what the abnormalities are with the results that would show up for pregnancy - usually just increased inflammatory cells. I think it's imiportant to make sure I'm not passing on any infection that could harm my baby, but that's just me.


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## creatingpeace

Cyclingmama...i know it is a very scary time for you, and for that I am extremely sorry! I hjust wanted to reassure you that when I was 8 weeks pregnant I had a very bad unexplained bleed which including passing a huge clot. Two scans since and hearing the HB on several occasions, all has been well! Thinking of you


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## cyclingmama

Hi Ladies, just a follow up. I did miscarry. I had the ultrasound the day after and they told me it was a complete miscarriage, including the sac. Now I'm having my hcg levels checked and waiting for them to go down. It's tough going back and being around so many pregnant woman and newborns so I'm hoping the levels decrease quickly. We're going to try again as soon as we can.

My blood type is negative and no one bothered to tell me that I needed a Rhogam shot. But I knew that I needed one from previous miscarriage but I was shocked that I had to ask for it 3 times. I'm pretty sure that they never would have given me one and it's a top notch affluent hospital in a major city. It's a baby factory, details are not their strong suit.

My point in mentioning this is a warning to anyone with a negative bloody type: if you do miscarry you need the Rhogam shot within 72 hours or your body may become Rh sensitized and it will become difficult to maintain a healthy pregnancy. I can't post a link but you can google miscarriage and Rh factor to learn more.

Best of luck to all of you!


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## cyclingmama

CreatingPeace, thank you for your kind words and keeping me in your thoughts. I appreciate it and I'm so happy to hear that you went through this and you're doing well and your little sprout is growing. That's awesome news. I hope you have a healthy and easy pregnancy!! All my best!


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