My doctor just called and told me my pap smear came back abnormal and i have traces of HPV. All i know is that it's a form of genital warts. And i'm freaking out. Does anybody know anything about it or have any experience?! I have a GYNO appointment tomorrow, but i wanted to get some feedback from you guys! Anything would be helpful!
Relax. If you search the women's issues forum for "pap smear", you'll find some info about this. About 80% of sexually active adults end up with this virus. It doesn't mean you're going to get warts. I had an abnormal pap smear. It was the same thing you have. I had to have a not-too-terribly-big-deal surgery for it last fall. They remove the affected tissue to prevent it from turning into cancer, if they determine that that's necessary. You're going to be okay. My doctor says that it's almost impossible to avoid getting this. You can even get it if you always use condoms. (I am NOT discouraging people from using condoms, though!) I was really surprised when my doctor told me that I had a precancerous condition. Especially after having been celibate for a long time. That doesn't seem fair! After the surgery, they called it a LEEP, I was sore for the better part of a week. Then I was fine, though. It didn't affect my fertility, either. I went home right after the surgery. So, don't panic. Don't ignore this problem either, though, because left untreated, it can turn into cancer. Good luck. Feel free to ask me more questions. Back in November we had a long thread about this. I am having trouble creating a link to it, though. One more thing. My doctor told me to tell my sexual partners. HPV has no negative effects on men's health, but they can spread it to other women. So, trying to be responsible, I told them. Well, I regret it. Because, apparently, the men that I have been with are convinced that their dicks are as pure as the driven snow. (That's funny, they didn't act like virgins...) They just acted like I must have slept around more than them or something. That's what I get for trying to protect their current girlfriends. So, use your own judgement there.
Oh, and since my operation, the problem has disappeared. The surgery worked. So, if you deal with this now you can totally take care of the problem. When this happened to me I confided in my friends and found out that it's pretty common.
I had two pap smears come back abnormal last year. I had to have a culposcopy ( I hope that's spelled right) where they do a little cone biopsy. the first one didn't hurt at all, and with the second one I had a lot of cramping (worse than my period) and some bleeding. I had to have a pap every 3 months after that one and after my last one 3 weeks ago (yay! normal!) I only have to have them every 6 mos now. I had a friend in the same situation 2 yrs ago and she had 2 abnormal paps too. She had to have a leep done. After that her gyno told her she had lots of scar tissue and she may have trouble conceiving in the future, and that when she was ready to have a kid she may need to have some scar tissue removed. She ended up pregnant a month after the procedure. She was also on the pill at the time, but had taken antibiotics for an ear infection. Her doctor never told her not to use other contraception while on the antibiotics (and she didn't know that).
there are a lot of different strains of hpv. some are "dormant" forever, while other times (whether it's a strain or individual difference, i don't know) it is evident much sooner. there are two types, one causes genital warts and the other causes cervical cancer. it is possible to have many different strains, as a LOT of women have this... someone above said 80%, which sounds close enough to the stat i heard last (75%). not to long ago the news said that hpv was becoming a "marker of sexuality." if it's the pre-cancerous kind, it can lead to dysplasia and then cervical cancer if not treated. the surgery is supposedly real successful, but if you got hpv from your current partner, he can infect you again after your treatment.
levi, good for you for telling your past partners! you are a wonderful person. even if they acted callously towards you when you told them, they still might have (hopefully) told their current partners, so maybe they could get treatment, too. or maybe they were just rude because they felt suddenly responsible for their current partners abnormal pap results. either way, you did your part, and that's what matters. sadly, it's people like those callous exes that cause more and more people to get infected... if they act that way about hpv, imagine how they would act if it were a worse virus. i can only hope that my future partners (and their exes!) are as wonderful and responsible as you are. thank you.
Human papilloma virus is linked to certain cervical cancers. Don't worry, that does not mean that you wll get cancer. The truth is, everyone has this virus as a normal microbiota of the genital area, it is when you get an abnormal strain in there , then that is a problem. (if what ive learned isn't wrong). Its a good thing for guys that it only effects women, it has nothing to do with men. but relax, its not the end of the world.
You guys are so awesome. Thanks for all the feedback! I just found out last night, that my sister and my mom both had the same problem. I feel alot better knowing that this is pretty common. I haven't told my boyfriend yet, i just told him i had abnormal cell changes. I wanted to wait and see what the doctor said first. I have a feeling he's going to act the same way Levi's partner's did.
Well, it doesn't make men sick, but it has plenty to do with them because they spread it. They spread something that causes cancer. When I first found out I was kind of upset. I remember telling my friend, "I don't remember ANY sex I had that was worth risking cancer!" But then, if most people have it, well, what can you do? Never have sex? Not likely.
Aw, thanks. I wanted to do the responsible thing. I feel bad now about telling her what a rotten time I had when I told my exes. It is the best thing to do. And if her boyfriend acts like my exes did, well, what does that reveal about his character? I know this might sound silly, but part of what made me feel like I really should do the right thing and tell my ex-husband, even though he is such scum, is that I feel sorry for his girlfriend. He's really nice to her now, like he was to me before I got pregnant, but I know how he can be. She's younger than us and she seems like a nice person. I wonder, if she gets pregnant, is he going to lose his mind again? I didn't want to throw cancer into the mix. I sort of doubt that he even told her, though.
Yes, it is possible to never have sex. If everyone chooses to have sex after marriage... by choice, then it is possible to avoid the spread of these diseases. Also, the mindset then would be "sex with the one you love", not "sex with the body you want".
well, i went to my GYNO and she pretty much told me what i already knew. I had to make another appointment to get a Colposcopy done. She said the results showed that something was wrong but it's unclear as to what. And i did tell my boyfriend. He, of course, freaked out. Then went on to worry about himself for about 20 minutes before he finally asked me if i was going to be okay. I think he's over it now. But we've been through worse...So he'll get over it.
Unfortunately, life doesn't always work out that way. Partners cheat. Women are raped. Children are born with STDs. Marriage isn't this perfect solution to everything that a lot of people make it out to be. Besides, I don't believe anyone should dictate why I should or shouldn't have sex. If I'm being safe, why shouldn't I be able to have sex with someone who I don't love? Sex and love go great together, but they don't always have to go together.
A 19-year-old guy is saying that it's possible to never have sex? I am surprised. They didn't make teenage guys like that when I was your age. Even priests have a hard time living without some sort of sexual activity... That waiting until marriage thing sounds logical, but it's a fairytale. Realistically, not many people are going to do it. Also, marriage and monogomy are not the same thing, as many people will tell you. Many people get married with that intention, but I think that most of the time, in reality, when people get married that does NOT necessarily mean that neither one of them is ever going to have sex with anyone else. Unless they tragically die in a plane crash on their honeymoon. Otherwise, people cheat. People get divorced. People are widowed and remarry people who aren't virgins. I have been in love a few times. Oh, yeah, I was sure, he was the one. A few of these relationships lasted for several years. Well, they didn't last forever. If I have that feeling again, should I wait, because maybe that's not the one? Should I remain celibate for the rest of my life because maybe I'm wrong again, and even though I wholeheartedly believe that I love someone, they might not be 'the one'? How will I know? So, while your solution sounds simple enough, it's not realistic. Most people aren't going to do that. Waiting for your one true love worked out for Snow White and Shrek, but the rest of us need another plan. So we need to think of more realistic strategies. HPV can even be spread if you use a condom. People should still use condoms, but the bottom line is that women need to get pap smears every year. It's unpleasant, but it sure beats cancer. Also, cervical cancer won't have any symptoms until it has progressed quite a bit. So, if it is detected early, it can be dealt with surgically very easily. If a woman doesn't have her annual exams and waits until she is obviously sick, it's probably too late. She'll die. So, use condoms. Get your annual pap smear done. And for crying out loud, don't expect life to turn out like a fairy tale.
No kidding! I am so sick of people acting like marriage will solve all of your problems. Yes, I know, some people are happily married. Fantastic. More power to you. That's super. Sometimes marriage really sucks, though. And some people who love each other and/or want to have sex aren't allowed to get married! Sometimes people get married young, and then they change and grow as people and they grow apart. I married someone who started doing methamphetamine 3 days after our wedding! I didn't see that coming. I was already pregnant. I stuck around, wanting to keep my family intact. He became violent and paranoid and abusive. I thought that with some support he could stop being a total shithead. As it turns out, he's only a shithead to me. He treats his current woman like a queen. Should I have kept my vows and raised my kids with a violent drug addict, fearing for my life? I think not. This isn't a fairytale. This is real life. And I don't like the idea of people telling other people (who are consenting adults) when they should have sex and with who. And what about the victims of rape and incest, Jedi? Where do they fit into the fairytale? I used to go to Take Back the Night events and they said that a woman is raped every three minutes, i believe it was. That's a lot of people being exposed against their will. We need to get real. I have known people who got STDs from their spouses. It happens.
