A little off topic, but has anyone here took the HPV vaccine shots?

Read a lot of severe side effects on the Internet, but FDA insists its safe, a little scared.. going for vaccination soon

Gosh, the whole topic has so much info about the vaccine! Read read..

florenceyeap, at the end of the day, it's still very much so your choice. Do what you feel with comfortable for yourself. If you have concerns, talk it out with your doctor (although I tend to hunt around for a female doctor because they usually handle delicate matters a lot smoother than men). If you're still not comfortable with it, don't do it. Oftentimes, it isn't easy to get the courage to go forward to a doctor and a male doctor at that.

This thread is mostly with good intentions to get ladies to go get a pap smear test done or HPV vaccine shots. The downside is Malaysians in general aren't very patient with people hence the abrupt manner. At the end of the day, all decisions comes down to the person. If you're comfortable with the decision that you've made, ok then. Don't look back and get on with life. If you feel regret, re-examine the decision made. Everyone makes wrong decisions, even ones affecting health but that doesn't mean that it's the end of the world either.

---

Added on March 22, 2009, 9:53 pm

Actually, maybe half the topic is on the vaccine and most of it seems to be on the parts that is the most interesting rather than the most factual. Everyone seems to be extremely caught up by the fact that there is a vaccine for a virus that has been link to cervical cancer but not everyone knows that vaccination may not be successful (yes, that's the damning truth about vaccines although most have high success rates). A good example is Hepatitis B.

I'm not sure whether it was mentioned or not but just looking at the wiki post on HPV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus), it's clearly stated that the FDA has approved the vaccine for ladies up to the age of 26. Beyond 26 years old, the FDA has not given their approval and in the US, that affects the medical insurance policy (again from the same post). There's also no conclusively studies that the vaccine will benefit ppl over 26. Wikipedia does have it's failings but most of it's medical and scientific info is fairly accurate.

Unless someone can find another link somewhere to share with us.

This post has been edited by myremi: Mar 22 2009, 09:53 PM

all, hope this not too late...the offer end this month...
however
just found out from bp lab...they are offering Cervarix vaccine from GSK...which prevent 2 type of virus onli (types 16, 18)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cervarix
...is that reason tat y cheap???

Gardasill (sanofi pastuer) can prevent 4 type (16. 18. 6. 11) wor

any one take Cervarix b4... i plan to go this 2 days..but now im thinking over it again...

i dont think so that cheap...

is it?

I just did my pap smear test for the first time a few weeks ago. basically I would need to go back and do another in one year time correct? Another thing is, I got the results of the test, and I'm just wondering if it is the same with everyone. As in the test they did, cause I think there was only 4 or 5 things that they checked for. But I can't remember it right now what it was. Will check on it later, if anyone has the results with you, can you please post up what did they check for, if you don't mind? Thank you!

i tot is free???? haha

Hie there,
Just gone through lowyat health forum, wow, so much information here. Just to introduce myself, I am just a medical fresh graduate from IMU, waiting for government to post me to work in government hospital.
To clear some doubts here, yes, as someone has mentioned above, the Malaysian clinical practise guideline (called CPGs in medical field) recommended any women who are sexually active to do PAP smear.
About the frequency of doing PAP smear, it depends on the result of the first test. If it is HSIL, LSIL (which basically means STRAIGHT forward abnormal) then the doctor will do a colposcopy (a magnifying machine to examine cervix) to further investigate the cervix to check for malignancy.

So if the first result came back as ASCUS (not definite - can be normal / abnormal). This case happens normally when cervix is infected and there are white cells and these cells cloud the results. If you get ASCUS in the first result, then you HAVE to get another PAP smear in 6 MONTHS time. From then on, the frequency depends on the second result.

And, of course, if you get a NORMAL result, then you need to continue doing it annually for 3 years, then if all 3 were normal, then you continue with the regime of ONCE in 3 YEARS. (bear in mind that if some abnormal results POP up in the middle of the routine, further investigations are required).

Yes, test can be done in LPPKN, not more than RM10, government subsidise mah.

A normal (tradisional) PAP smear cost RM40-60. A newer technique where no slide is used, where the samples are brush off in a bottle of liquid to be sent to the lab is more expensive, it costs about RM100 above.

Hope this piece of information helps.

just to supplement cheok's info:

The traditional PAP smear is cheaper coz it just uses a wooden Ayer's spatula, & the slide is prepared by the person who took the smear.. so it can turn out 'cacat' sometimes.. quite operator dependent..

the more 'canggih' one is called the "ThinPrep" method, the smear is taken using a cytobrush, then we shake it into a bottle of solution to dislodge the cells there..
after that, the bottle is put into a machine, where the solution will be sucked through a filter thingie, and the cells will be stuck onto the filter..
then the filter will be put onto the glass slide for reading..

Good info from medical related people... read people, read!

nice info.... i plan bring my wife to check (PAP smear) after give birth to my baby... It is hurt?

A bit uncomfortable and it may trigger her period. I'm not sure about the new method though, that ppl are mentioning here.

Doing pap smears do not trigger any periods. It may occasional cause some slight bleeding.......

is there any1 noe which clinic near pj got this service?prefer female doc.. paiseh la..if male doc =.=

Depends. The old method yes and it triggered mine. My gynae says it sometimes happen so be prepared for it. She mentioned some ladies experiences nothing, some experiences slight bleeding, some have their period triggered. Mine was.

I'm not sure about the new method though. Haven't read up on it and haven't seen my gynae in awhile.

---

Added on March 28, 2009, 10:39 pmI'm just thinking, this is so ironic. A male answering a female thread. Just like me answering the circumcision one. Haha!

This post has been edited by myremi: Mar 28 2009, 10:39 PM

Hmmmm.... not to say that you're wrong but pap smears do not trigger periods. Period. You mean to say that even if you had your menses 10 days ago, you still get menses when you do pap smear on day 10? If it really did happened to you, was it a one-off episode or do you get it every single time you do a pap smear?

I don't see anything ironic about that......

If you feel so strongly about it, feel free to speak to the only female gynae in Normah Hospital who mentioned this to me. And yeah, surprisingly, that's what happened to me. It doesn't happened all the time as what she mentioned, just to some females.

And read my post next time. I said it triggered mine.

Men.

It is probably just coincident and could be due to a number of reasons (e.g. missed period prior to doing pap smear, bleeding after pap smear). In order to get menses, the lining of your womb needs to be stimulated by the right hormones at the right time. Try doing pap smear around D10 (after menses) next time and tell me whether it triggers your menses or not.

Anyway, not here to argue with you. If you do believe that, then it is your right. I guess in medical, anything can happen.

Only female gynae in Normah? There are 3 female gynaecologist in Normah Medical Specialist Centre.

This post has been edited by kmarc: Mar 29 2009, 08:45 AM

OO That must have been within the last couple of years then. The last time I went was 2 years ago and there was 1 gynae + 2 male gynae.

kmarc, I'm just wondering : how come you're so caught up with pap smear and it triggering bleeding / menses?

Just want to clear up that 'myth'. Nothing personal.

Yeah, there are 3 female gynaecologists there now......