Sooner or later earlier than my smear take a look at, the nerves started to get me. I had opted for a full physique shave to provide me a confidence enhance beforehand, although not as a result of I anxious what my nurse would assume — in any case, she sees tons of of vulvas and our bodies each week. Nonetheless, I used to be nervous about anyone seeing me with no knickers on for the primary time, and much more anxious about what all the course of would really feel like. Dr Lee assures us that “a smear take a look at shouldn’t be painful,” including that “some ladies discover it extra uncomfortable than others” because of situations like vaginismus and endometriosis. She says that the nurse or gynaecologist finishing up the take a look at will do all they will that will help you as a lot as they will, and provides: “The extra you possibly can try to loosen up, by respiratory slowly and deeply by your nostril, the simpler it’s for the smear taker, and the faster will probably be over.”