I wrote this to the doctor on
ehealthforum, but I want to hear actual
thoughts other than just the doctor's
about this.. Maybe someone else has had
this problem, or maybe one of you might
know someone who does.
Question: a pap smear I had about a month
ago showed that I had ascus/hr hpv+
what is this, could the pap smear be wrong
in its findings if I had a yeast
infection, and how is it treated?
If anyone has this or knows what symptoms
occur when they have it, pleeeease let me
know. I'm worried to death over this.
:cries:
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Melissa_20
Especially EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Jan 2006 Posts: 6806 Location: Florida
Posted: 03-22-06 11:03am
I don't even know what hpv is. . .Or do
ou mean hiv?
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diamondsz
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 3173 Location: , Candyland-Canada
Thanks: 74
Thanked:104
Posted: 03-22-06 13:47pm
Hpv is warts!!
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Ingi
Supporter
Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 8768 Location: Grinning like a Cheshire Cat,
Thanks: 161
Thanked:194
Posted: 03-22-06 13:53pm
Hpv is not necessarily warts. There are
dozens of strains of hpv, the lesser
strains cause warts, the higher strains
are responsible for cervical cancer and
other cervical abnormalities (this is the
reason women get pap smears every year!).
You can have more than one strain of hpv
at the same time. What kind of hpv do you
have? There is no 'cure' for hpv, but
your body may eventually work it out of
your system.
Hpv can remain in your system before
showing up for up to a decade. It is
sexually transmitted and approximately
80-85% of the sexual population has hpv
and doesn't know it. There is no hpv test
for men, only women. This may be why it
spreads the way it does. Condoms don't
always protect you from hpv.
That is about what I know. Take care of
yourself and keep up on your pap smears!
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littlemisstery
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 95
Posted: 03-22-06 14:04pm
I don't know what strain I have really or
anything else. I can't even say that what
I had looked like hpv, much less was as
bad as the pap smear showed. I've only
been with two people in my life, and I was
careful with both. I honestly think it
was wrong, and when I go back in may i'll
have another one done. What I don't
understand is that they weren't even
testing for that, they were testing to see
if I had herpes, and they said absolutely
nothing about that at all. It's quite
frustrating.
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Ingi
Supporter
Joined: 09 Mar 2006 Posts: 8768 Location: Grinning like a Cheshire Cat,
Thanks: 161
Thanked:194
Posted: 03-22-06 14:09pm
You misunderstood. Hpv isn't always
warts! You can have invisible hpv. Did
they do a pap smear? Were those the
results of the pap?
If you may have herpes, you may have hpv.
You should definately talk to your doctor
about it. But please, don't worry, hpv is
very common. It just means you need to
take care of your cervical health and
never skip 'those' appointments.
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erogers33
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 141 Location: Littleton, CO
Posted: 03-22-06 15:39pm
Ok, I have (or had) hpv, so I think I can
help on this one.
Like ingi said, not all hpv is warts.
Mine wasn't. The strain that I had causes
atypical cells on the cervix, which can be
found through a pap smear. The sooner you
find it, the better - so to all the girls
out there, make sure you get a pap smear
every year! Anyways, I was completely
shocked when I found out, because I never
thought I would catch anything. But I
caught it early, the cells were only
pre-cancerous. So they took a biopsy and
then performed a cryotherapy (freeze the
cells on the cervix) to kill the bad
cells. After 2 rounds of all that, my pap
smear came back normal again. Still
having normal pap smears almost 2 years
later.
Littlemisstery, don't be too hard on
yourself if this is in fact hpv. 4 out of
5 sexually active people will have it at
some point in their lives, and only 5%
will be diagnosed. I had no symptoms,
nothing I could physically see that made
me think anything was wrong. Just had a
routine pap smear done. Get this taken
care of before the cells become
cancerous...
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littlemisstery
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 95
Posted: 03-25-06 01:40am
I don't really have the money to have that
done, i'm struggling to actually stay in
college as it is. Is it expensive to have
all of that done and does it hurt? I have
no insurance either, which doesn't make
things any easier on me. The only way I
had the pap smear done in the first place
is because i'm allowed one actual visit a
year due to the fact that I have little to
no income on my own. About the only thing
I can do right now is look to faith to
help me, because no one else can.
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Tylanas
Especially EHEALTHy
Joined: 13 Jul 2005 Posts: 12985
Thanks: 3
Thanked:0
Posted: 03-26-06 02:53am
littlemisstery
wrote:
i don't really have the
money to have that done, i'm struggling to
actually stay in college as it is. Is it
expensive to have all of that done and
does it hurt? I have no insurance
either, which doesn't make things any
easier on me. The only way I had the pap
smear done in the first place is because
i'm allowed one actual visit a year due to
the fact that I have little to no income
on my own. About the only thing I can do
right now is look to faith to help me,
because no one else
can.
or you could look for ways to apply for
some aid. I'm not christian, but "god
helps those who help themselves" or
something... So my advice is to check out
different ways to get money for important
medical examps and whatnot. Since this is
potentially life threatening (not to scare
you!) this is sort of a good thing,
because then you'll be able to get money
(i'd think) and get this taken care of
before it becomes anything serious.
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erogers33
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 141 Location: Littleton, CO
Posted: 03-27-06 11:44am
Well, I have insurance, so all I had to
pay was a $20 copay to have the procedures
done. However, in your situation, I would
call a planned parenthood in your area and
see what options you have. There may be
more options than you think. Does your
college offer student health insurance?
That might be another option...
Anyways, the cervical biopsy didn't hurt.
They just take a .V.E.R.Y small sample of
your cervical tissue, smaller than the
"o's" in this size of font. They put
numbing gel on my cervix before taking the
sample, so I didn't feel anything.
The cryotherapy procedure feels like bad
period cramps. They freeze the cervix for
like 30 seconds at a time, and they
usually do that twice. This causes the
"bad" cells to die off. After the cryo,
you usually have a clear, watery discharge
for about a week. It's annoying, but
nothing painful.
I hope this helps. It's really important
to get this taken care of while it's in
the early stages, trust me.
