painful examination

[beekini.livejournal.com]

Yesterday at 3.30pm I went for my first ever GUM clinic exam, to get tested for chlamydia, gonnorhea, HIV and syphillis (a piece of mind check).  I've read quite a lot about these examinations, so I knew what to expect, but I was suprised by how much it hurt. I knew it would be uncomfortable, but some parts were really rather agonising, and I was just wondering if this was normal?
I think the woman who examined me was new, as there was her, an assistant nurse and another senior nurse watching over her at the foot of my bed. It took her about 8 minutes to find my os, and the amount of times she had to move the speculum around really began to hurt. She swapped the metal speculum for a longer plastic one, as she couldn't get past my vaginal folds to see properly. I had to do things like keep shuffling around and ball up my fists and sit on them as my cervix was tilted. I was too shy to say it was hurting, even though she kept asking me if I was okay, but my legs were shaking all over the place. The thing that hurt the most though was the urethral swab- she told me to expect a sharp scratch but it seemed to go on for minutes, like someone had stuck a pin up the hole and over 24 hours later its still quite sore, I keep getting sort of stabbing pains every so often. Is this normal or was it some over-zealous swabbing? Peeing still stings quite a lot.
Overall though, I have to say the exam was nowhere near as embarrassing/bad as I thought it would be.
What kind of qualifications do you need/ courses do you do to go into this field of work? Is it nursing with gynecology? I'm considering studying something like this next year, but I wouldn't know where to start. (i live in the UK, if that makes a difference.)

EDIT: Also, I posted here a long time ago about the fact that I had to pee ALL THE TIME. I went to my doctors who tested my urine for infections and sugars and it came back as negative. This was about a month or so before my GUM visit. I asked them to test my urine at the clinic again as I had begun to pee a lot again (it goes in cycles of being bad to REALLY bad) but this time I started getting stomach pains and stabbing pains where I'd imagine my bladder is. But once again it came back negative. Does anyone know what could be wrong with me? When I pee, I'm peeing a lot, even if I haven't drunk much liquid. My pee doesn't smell, theres no blood and no pain on urinating. I'm really fed up of having to get up 5 times to pee in the middle of films! It seems to get worse on a night too.

Comments

[ladysky61.livejournal.com]

Sorry it was painful. It sounds like the woman was a trainee. I would definitely go to a fully qualified GYN instead. But you HAVE to speak up when you are in pain. There is no way for them to know otherwise.

As for the pee thing, perhaps your bladder is just small? Also the stabbing pains could just be gas or something gastrointestinal.

[sweetcakes69.livejournal.com]

About the peeing, when I'm a nervous wreck, I have to pee a lot. Are you under some undue stress, maybe?

[paperispatient.livejournal.com]

Aw, I'm sorry you had an uncomfortable experience. I once had blood drawn by a trainee who was just learning how, and she transferred the rubber band thing from one arm to the other like three times and kept asking questions like, "Why can't I find the vein?" [no one has ever had trouble finding my veins] and "How do I hold the needle again?" I know everyone has to learn somehow, but it was an incredibly unnerving and unpleasant experience.

[skank123456.livejournal.com]

have you been tested for diabetes? i dont know if it was your post i mentioned this on before. i duno if the last line should have said 'on a night out' or 'at night' having to wee a lot of night is a sign you should get tested for diabetes :)