Cervical cancer,HPV, and all that

Yep, there's no way to test the guys, so every woman is sort of rolling the dice when the condom comes off and the guy can't do anything to help the situation.

I can only provide anecdotal experiences.  My kids' stepsister had HPV develop into cervical cancer and had surgery and is now fine 3 years later.  From what I gather she had the procedure where they freeze part of the cervix, but I'm not clear on the details.

I also had a friend from high school who also had cervical cancer, lost a significant portion of her cervix and was told she wouldn't have kids.  She got pregnant and they sewed her cervix closed until time to deliver and she had a healthy child.

I believe that treatments now are very good, particularly when it's caught early and addressed.  Sorry 'bout the diagnosis, that sucks, but I think with proper treatment, you should be in good shape.  Just another reason for the young women out there who might not have done so to get the Gardasil series.

Good luck! 

I would follow your doctors orders and hopefully treat it aggressively.  There are numerous different strains of HPV, some of which can be cancerous.  Other strains cause genital warts.  I was diagnosed with it probably 6 years ago and had a cone biopsy done as a day surgery in the hospital.  When I was diagnosed, it wasn't as widely known about so there wasn't as much info out there available to me.  Mine happened to be a cancerous strain and I was one step away from it being cancer.  They didn't know that though until they took it out and tested it.  Now that I am pregnant, my Dr. treated me as high risk for the first 24 weeks with a sono every 2 weeks to check my cevix.  Since it hasn't budged and another test they did came back negative she is now treating me as a normal pregnancy, so it doesn't ruin your chances of having kids.  It did take us almost 2 years to get pregnant and I am not sure that that didn't have an impact. 

As far as hubby went, he went to his GP and they gave him a thorough physical and checked for warts, but that is all they could really do at the time.  I have had clean paps ever since, and hope to keep that trend going.

When you get a pap smear, are you automatically tested for HPV or is it something you have to ask for? I have only recently heard of the hpv test and was planning on asking my dr. about it  on my next annual visit.

dubilpie

When you get a pap smear, are you automatically tested for HPV or is it something you have to ask for? I have only recently heard of the hpv test and was planning on asking my dr. about it  on my next annual visit.

I believe that if your pap smear comes back normal, then no further testing is done/needed. I had a couple of abnormal pap smears and they then ran it for the HPV virus, which I didn't have. I did have to have a cone biopsy though and that came back normal.

A friend had the HPV virus and had the areas frozen off. That was over 10 yrs ago and she's never had a problem since.

 Yep, they did the "high risk" panel, which is all the strains that cause cancer - the ones that cause cancer don't cause warts and vice versa (plus I don't have any warts to speak of - sorry if that's TMI). So it makes sense. I don't know exactly which serovar I was positive for, however.

 As far  as I know they only do the HPV test if your pap comes back abnormal (or if you request it).....

 I may be blowing all of this out of proportion. I keep thinking "Holy crap....hysterectomy" even though no actual neoplasia has been seen (they were simply atypical).  I'm 24 years old. I don't want a hysterectomy :( I'll  be getting a repeat smear soon, though I may opt to go and just get a colposcopy because I'd be afraid of them missing anything,

 Interestingly (scarily) enough, condoms don't really protect against HPV...any skin-to-skin contact in the nether regions can transmit it. Yikes.

10-12 years ago I had an abnormal pap, so my doctor made me come in for another after 6 mos, not a year.  The second was abnormal, so I had a colposcopy, which found nothing wrong.  Another pap 6 months later, abnormal again.  Went through the routine again.  After 3 years of this, paps started coming back normal, so am back to a yearly exam.  I was adopted and don't know my family history, so I worry excessively when things like this happen and I have no clue about what I may face.

Since the warts themselves will grow where it is dark and moist, a condom is no guarantee of protection.  All they need is skin-to-skin contact.  If the acid they use doesn't burn them off, or they are in an extremely sensitive area (like what's not sensitive there?), or there are an excessive amount, some docs will use a laser to get rid of them.

Not that I've ever been into random hook-ups, but it's just one more concern that makes that whole scene seem so...frightening.

whtsthfrequency

I may be blowing all of this out of proportion. I keep thinking "Holy crap....hysterectomy" even though no actual neoplasia has been seen (they were simply atypical).  I'm 24 years old. I don't want a hysterectomy :( I'll  be getting a repeat smear soon, though I may opt to go and just get a colposcopy because I'd be afraid of them missing anything,

I wouldn't start thinking like that yet although the same fears crossed my mind as well.  This is one of the many reasons it is so important to get your pap done yearly b/c if left untreated it could probably become a lot worse including ending up as cancer, but since you are aware, you can start fighting it now, rather than later.  From my understanding, most women's bodies fight it off themselves, but I have no idea if those women ever end up with an abnormal pap or not.  In my case, I had a repeat pap twice more and then a coloposcopy and then surgery.  I think the second pap they tested for abnormal cells again and the third one they tested for HPV.  Like I said, this was before it was a widely known about and I really was sort of in the dark about it until I came in one day thinking I was having another pap and they were really setting me up for surgery. 

I think it is more common for them to do an HPV test at the time of your regular annual pap, at least my Dr did for me, but I would definately discuss that with your Dr.

 Not that I've ever been into random hook-ups, but it's just one more concern that makes that whole scene seem so...frightening.

Errr....random hook-ups isn't the only way to get HPV. My friend got it from her husband, the only man she had ever slept with. He had slept with only one person before her. It only takes one.....and since it's basically untestable in men....I know you didn't mean to sound offensive or anything, but it just came out sounding a bit off. Plus I guess I'm in a sensitive state, being that I am the opposite of a college hook-up girl yet this still happened.

And again...the warts are a whole different set of HPVs. Not the unsymptomatic ones linked to cancer, which is what I have apparently got

From my understanding, most women's bodies fight it off themselves

Yeah, they said 80-90% of women pass the virus/it becomes consistently undetectable/nontransmissable within 1-2 years. So it's not like herpes or anything crazy like that. I'm more worried about the whole cancer deal. So it seems like usually people have to end up getting some sort of procedure done....

 

 

whtsthfrequency

 Does anyone know what the stats are on abnormal paps + a positive HPV test developing into actual cancer?

 

My sisters and I get the "abnormal cells" a lot, but no cancer yet (touchwood)

Abnormal cells might or might not develop into cancer.  Or to look at it another way, cancer is abnormal cells right?  But lots of other things can be abnormal cells too!  Don't worry about it.  Stress and worry are cancer's best friends.

whtsthfrequency

 Not that I've ever been into random hook-ups, but it's just one more concern that makes that whole scene seem so...frightening.

Errr....random hook-ups isn't the only way to get HPV. My friend got it from her husband, the only man she had ever slept with. He had slept with only one person before her. It only takes one.....and since it's basically untestable in men....I know you didn't mean to sound offensive or anything, but it just came out sounding a bit off. Plus I guess I'm in a sensitive state, being that I am the opposite of a college hook-up girl yet this still happened.

And again...the warts are a whole different set of HPVs. Not the unsymptomatic ones linked to cancer, which is what I have apparently got

OMG, WhtstheFreq, I didn't mean I thought you were having random hook-ups.  I don't know anything about you!  I am so sorry it came across like that.  I've done a lot of research on the whole thing - as I said, I had several years of abnormal smears - and I know a lot about it.  What I was trying to say is that it's just a scary world out there (the dating/having sex scene) and there is so much we don't know about other people.  Whether it is with one person or 100, there is still risk involved - even scarier than an unplanned pregnancy, life and death.  And being untestable in men, it puts women in an even more dangerous position. 

(Hopping away now to attempt to remove foot from mouth...)

Nah, it really didn't come across that way now that I look back on it - I think I've just been hypersensitive about the whole deal since I've always been rather uptight, even prudish, about sex compared to many of my female, er, peers and am going through the "why me? I've been the smart/good one! " phase of things. No worries :)

Don't worry first and foremost! The next step is to have colposcopy which is just a term for the OB/GYN looking at your cervix under magnifying device. She/he will paint it with vinegar solution which makes the abnormal cells turn white. These areas are then biopsied. The biopsy will be looked at by a pathologist and will be given a CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) score. Depending on the pathology, you will either have or not have further treatment. It is believed that CIN I is a benign, self limiting problem and likely will not progress to cancer. This not know for certain though. You have dysplasia, which is not cancer. Dysplasia is abnormal cells that are not malignant. We have historically treated this very aggressively, but this likely isn't needed. You are not going to get a hysterectomy because you were smart and got your papspmear/HPV testing done. You did the right thing and took control of your health. HPV testing is not always done and everyone should ask when they have their paps. If you are young and have a negative pap/HPV, get vaccinated! As you already said, most people have HPV, or have had HPV in their life. The reason you get vaccinated is that you never know if you are one of the people who are not able to clear the virus on your own. The vaccine is quadravalent and covers 6/11/16/18. 6 and 11 cause genital warts and 16/18 cause cervical cancer. 16/18 are the high risk strains. Don't believe the nonsense that untrained people have on the internet. Discuss it with your physician. Your best bet to get more info is to search pubmed. I think you will be able to easily understand the literature since you have a strong background in medicine ;) You can search CIN and probably get some good info.

 Thatnks ottoluv - a colposcopy was going to be my next bet. My GP wanted to just do another smear but....I wanted to make damned sure, even if it is a more expensive procedure. Paps are pretty accurate...buuuut me being me, I'd be paranoid of them missing it. The first smear wasn't true dysplasia, it was atypical eps, unknown origin - which can be caused by a great many things - but better safe than sorry.

Tee hee I know better than to browse interwebs too much.  I just liked hearing people tell their experiences. I mean, don't you love it when someone comes up to you and says "Gee, well I read on the internet that I can cure parvovirus by feeding dandelion root to my puppy!"  It's a great eye-rolling exercise

 

 I have abnormal cells and am positive for HPV. This happened a few years ago, I had a colopscopy done. I now go back every 6 months for paps just so they can keep an eye on everything. I'll have to do this untl everything is normal again. 4 other girls I worked with had this too, the one girl actually had to go every 3 months for 3 years straight and finally her paps started coming back normal.