Women Against Stirrups - Link between Pap Smears and miscarriage?

Women Against Stirrups
« Link between Pap Smears and miscarriage? »

Welcome Guest. Please Login or Register.
Jun 19, 2013, 2:36pm

Women Against Stirrups :: Childbirth :: Obstetric Myths :: Link between Pap Smears and miscarriage?

Author

Topic: Link between Pap Smears and miscarriage? (Read 1,850 times)

Yazzmyne
Administrator

member is offline

Joined: Oct 2009
Gender: Female

Posts: 172

Link between Pap Smears and miscarriage?
« Thread Started on Dec 30, 2011, 8:19am »

If you google around there is lots of talk of women on forums who are questioning whether the miscarriage(s) they experienced not long after a pap smear was caused by the pap smear.

There seems to be no statistical data about it or scientific proof of a link between pap smears and miscarriages, at least not to my findings.

However the amount of stories about women experiencing miscarriage after having a pap smear is worrisome.

Some interesting quotes from people on other forums:

"Pap or pelvic exam can be uncomfortable and stressful for many pregnant women (who might not find it so unpleasant otherwise). It can cause spasm, cramping and pelvic distress---if not done properly, it could introduce infections---all of this can cause miscarriage. So, supporters of pap can give all the statistics that they want but the truth is that 25% of viable pregnancies should not be resulting into miscarriage. Many miscarriages are due to an unhealthy embryo or situation such as blighted ovum--that means the pregnancy was not viable to begin with. Many miscarriages happen too early (5 weeks) and cannot even be detected. However, if large number of mc's are taking place right after a visit to on/gyn office for pelvic exam or pap--- there could be correlation's. 50% of my friends miscarried after their 1st pap/ pelvic exam. All went to different doctors in different states and were under 9 week pregnant. And finally here is the question-- the pap test can be negative or positive. If it is positive a biopsy (more invasive) is needed and can only be done after the delivery. There are more chances of a false positive pap especially during pregnancy-- so why is a pap necessary when it can even pose a 1% risk?"

http://www.steadyhealth.com/Miscarriage_after_a_pap_smear_t90852.html

'‎"Hello all, I am very curious to know if anyone has any statistics
relating to the frequency that miscarriages occur following pap smears
taken with brushes, spatulas, brooms, etc. It had always been suggested
that by disturbing the mucus plug, the chance of miscarriage increased
greatly. As I am seeing this apparent correlation on an extremely large
number of women I became quite curious to know if any statistics were
actually available or if this had become fact in the past number of
years. I know of 4 women personally that miscarried within a week of
their prenatal exam, all had pap smears with brushes and they were
almost all at 3 months. The path reports simply identified the presence
of chorionic villi and fetal parts.

Thanks in advance for any replies,

Jay Robb BSc. RT Cytology
Westman Regional Laboratory
Brandon, Manitoba" from http://www.mailman.srv.ualberta.ca/pipermail/patho-l/2004-July/021915.html

Even though it is known that it is normal during pregnancy to produce 'abnormal' cervical cells which often results in a false positive when doing a pap smear, you might wonder why gynecologists think it is valuable to do a pap smear as part of prenatal care in the first place.

I read some interesting thoughts on the Susun Weed forum:

"The reason doctors do pap smears on pregnant women has more to do with money and billing insurance companies, far less to do with the woman or baby's health."

Another person replies:
"I disagree. .. the reason why this got established as protocol has more to do with capturing women who might otherwise NEVER get screening/follow-ups."

Hmmmm..

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

Sue2
Guest

Re: Link between Pap Smears and miscarriage?
« Reply #1 on Oct 25, 2012, 1:04pm »

Brilliant posting, thanks for this. I have gotten queries such as "pap smear killed my baby" from women looking for information. Many women are also looking for information related to how to get out of having pap smears when they are pregnant, and have a difficult time finding someone to care for them who will agree to not doing a pap smear. A pap is pointless when a woman is pregnant as the results are even more unreliable than when a woman is not pregnant - why are they being pushed on women when it is dangerous to the fetus?!!

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

Yazzmyne
Administrator

member is offline

Joined: Oct 2009
Gender: Female

Posts: 172

Re: Link between Pap Smears and miscarriage?
« Reply #2 on Oct 28, 2012, 9:44am »

@ Sue,
usually most women are very trusting of their gynecologists, but phrases like 'pap smear killed my baby' tells us there are enough women (also from what I gathered on the internet) who have no doubt this routinuously, supposedly 'harmless' exam ruined it for them and this without the doctor ever admitting to them who was at fault.

I'm copy/pasting another anecdotal story in regards to pap smears during pregnancy from Lynne @blogcritics.org

"I would LOVE to add my two cents to this topic.

I was born in the mid 1950's, in the USA. My mother had a male OB/GYN, which was the norm at the time. When the "PAP" became popular (its been around for many decades actually, but got a push after I was born), my mother gave birth to my sister.

Her older sisters who had babies two to three years earlier were starting to get the PAP "push" from their docs.

My mothers' doctor (again this is a male) told her that he believed this test was useless. For one thing he informed my mom (who in later years informed me) that the cervix goes through changes throughout the life of a human female, and if you "test" at certain times you will get an "abnormal".

Another thing he cautioned about was what Sue talked about was disturbing the mucous plug.

The reason that the topic of the mucous plug came up is that at the time women who had irregular periods were encouraged to have a "pap". My mom's doctor felt that just in cast this "irregular" was due to a pregnancy, it would be better to not disturb the cervix.

This was well before the brush method was introduced!

My two cents about paps and pregnancy! Thanks for listening."

Link to Post - Back to Top IP:

Logged

Click Here To Make This Board Ad-Free