Quote:
Originally Posted by rbella
I came up positive for HPV a few years ago during my regular pap. I had no friggin idea what it was. They did a re-pap and it was normal. They said that high levels of stress can trigger an HPV outbreak. I don't have the form that is "warts", just abnormal cells. After my last visit, the doctor said most likely it is gone from my system and I don't have to worry about it coming back.
She said if you go for a long time (years) without it showing on your paps, then most likely you are rid of it. She did explain that the time it did show up, that it could have been lying dormant in my system for awhile and stress/anxiety caused the outbreak of abnormal cells. But, she said after is appeared, if it was going to be something to worry about (in other words if it was going to stick around) then I would see it again and again on paps.
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Unfortunately, I know TONS about HPV and cervical cancer, as in 2006 I had a surgical procedure (LLETZ) to remove pre-cancerous cells in my cervix (CIN III - the next-to-last stage before cancer - although that does not mean cancer was around the corner time-wise). I think I might have been diagnosed with HPV from my very first pap and certainly while I was with my first sexual partner. It lay dormant for years and the test results quickly progressed from mild dysplasia to more serious dysplasia to CIN I, II, then III.
Firstly, HPV is NEVER gone from your system. EVER. Your body may "fight it off" so that it lays dormant but it is always there. Unless or until Dr Frazer develops the cure, which research is under way on - this is one of the doctors who developed the vaccine. He works at my university (Uni of Queensland, Australia) which is where I see my GP who knows him and his work. There are several vaccines and they only protect against the most common HPV strains, not all of them. The vaccine is only against HPV *not* cervical cancer, the link between these two is strongly believed but to the best of my knowledge a causal link has not been established. Even if HPV does CAUSE cervical cancer, you could contract a strain that the vaccine does not protect against. The vaccine does work best on those with no previous exposure to the virus although (a) clinical trials were on virgins and therefore the results can't be extrapolated to those who have been exposed, however (b) you may have been exposed to one strain but not another so might still benefit from the vaccine.
Cervical abnormalities are certainly treatable and your doctors would have to be negligent to an extreme to let any abnormality go untreated such that you would progress to cervical cancer. Not all abnormalities will necessarily lead to cancer - but these days no one will take the risk - anything worse than a CIN I and doctors will not let you wait and see if it clears up by itself. However, treatment is not necessarily as easy as some posters have indicated ... I had to have day surgery under a general anaesthetic. There are a range of treatment options depending on the severity.
Just to clarify: Pap smears are not "wildly inaccurate." Firstly, Paps don't actually test for HPV, they are looking for abnormalities (dysplasia). The problem lies in things beyond the doctor's control and well within YOUR control: don't have one when you have your period, don't douche (washing externally should have no impact), and some even say don't have sex the day or two before a Pap. Anything that could affect the regular state of your cervix. There are also improved methods that increase accuracy like the Thin Prep. There is of course still human error in interpreting test results (as with any test - and I'm a statistician).
And lastly, before I get off my lecture podium, I cannot believe what the nurse said to you. This is exactly why most doctors' surgeries (at least where I live), refuse to give out even the most benign test results over the phone. Results get mixed up, patients get anxious. Very unprofessional. But as the others have said, it is so prevalent (as is herpes). There should be no stigma. If you were a guy, you would never know if you had it as doctors will not test men, even if you ask (my boyfriend asked, we wanted to know if the possibility of me infecting him was irrelevant). I've read that the HPV test is nearly the same as testing if somone has had sex - THAT many people have it.
