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Cervical cancer prevented by routine check up |
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
by JULIA HARR
Lifestyles Reporter
It’s as painless as brushing your teeth, but most women fear it more than midterms, a first date and stepping on the scale after the holidays combined.
By either age 21 or three years after the onset of sexual activity, every female should have her first visit to the gynecologist.
Appointments are available through Student Health Services for pap smears and sexually transmitted infection
screenings.
Students can schedule appointments for as early as the following day.
Appointment times are either during health service operation hours or from 4:30–7:30 p.m. after hours.
A pap smear is $30 and STI tests are free.
Sarah E. Summers, family nurse practitioner at Student Health Services, recommends women to schedule appointments.
“Screening for cervical cancer is a reason why women should go,” Summers said. “[Screening] doesn’t take much time, it’s cost effective, there’s only mild discomfort and it’s the only way to screen for cervical cancer.”
Summers said after the initial exam, a pap smear should be conducted once every year until the age of 30.
At that point, going once every two to three years is probable.
“The risk for human papillomavirus (HPV,) which causes cervical cancer, drops after the age of 30,” Summers said.
Health services offers Gardasil, a vaccination for the virus, for $125 per injection. Three injections are required for a complete vaccination.
“Women in third world countries who don’t have annual pap smears die from cervical cancer,” she said. “The United States should never have a death from cervical cancer.”
In 2004, more than 11,850 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer, and over 3,800 women died as a result.
That same year, over $2 billion was spent treating the disease, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last year, 794 female students visited health services for a pap smear, which is only 12 percent of the female population at Appalachian State.
Summers recommends women do not have sexual intercourse or use tampons or douches for 24 hours prior to an exam.
She also suggests avoiding vaginal creams for 48 hours before the exam.
She said it is not recommended to schedule an appointment during a menstrual cycle, but any other time is appropriate.
“Women should be prepared to answer questions about when her last period was, if she’s irregular, when her last several periods were, what medications she’s taking, and her family’s health history about common disease, high blood pressure and hearth disease,” Summers said.
During a pap smear, a medical device called a speculum is inserted in the vagina to allow samples from the cervical canal and cervix to be collected.
These samples are used to check for STIs and any cell abnormalities.
Some STIs require a blood test to diagnose. If students are curious they should request to have this test done.
Summers suggested some things to speed the processes along.
“Patients sometimes have a hidden agenda,” she said. “If you are concerned about a particular disease, just say so and we can check.”
She also said patients have raised concerns about diseases after the exam was over, causing her to repeat the process to get the proper tests completed.
“If your visit is about contraceptives, you can do some research to help decide what you’re interested in,” she said. “That helps eliminate the time it takes to go through all the options.”
In addition, she said to think about what questions you might want to ask ahead of time and not to be hesitant or afraid to receive an exam, even if it seems uncomfortable.
Hallie A. Larson, a sophomore psychology major, was 17 years old when she had her first visit.
“Besides the fact that [the gynecologist] is poking and prodding you, the horrendously awkward conversation while they are doing it is the worst part,” Larson said. “Her hand is in your vagina and she wants to know if you think it’s cold outside.”
However, she says it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be.
“It was uncomfortable, but not life altering,” said Larson.
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