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People of twitter with a cervix: Go get your smear tests. Sign up with Cervical Check as soon as you turn 25. All you need is your PPS no and it's done at your GP. I've had the HPV vaccine but it didn't stop me from contracting it. You need your smears to check the cells.
It's extremely likely that my body clears up the virus itself and my colposcopy camera test is fine, but the feeling of fear that I would have had this and not known about it if it weren't for my smear is unreal. Just go get it checked, it's worth the discomfort.
Cervical health is something that's really talked about a lot in the media, but we don't actually talk about the fact that 1 in 20 smears are abnormal. It's so common and it happens to nearly everyone with a cervix at some point.
Please no anti-vax sentiment here; there are over 100 strains of the virus and the vaccine covers about 6 of them, so I was unfortunate to contract a strain that wasn't covered.
We have had a scandal here with our screening system, but it doesn't actually change the fact that it's still been one of the most successful screening programmes in the world. We are lucky to have this service that will hopefully eradicate cervical cancer in the near future.
