My Doctor Found Abnormal Cells On My Cervix And I Have High Risk Hpv. Does This Mean I Have Cervical Cancer?
I’ve never had an abnormal pap smear but when I wanted to get the Gardisil shot, my doctor found that I already had the High Risk HPV infection and decided to do a coloposcopy. I’m so scared that I will have cervical cancer and not be able to have children. Please, anyone with some insight, help!
Tags: Abnormal, Cells, Cervix, Doctor, Does, Found, Have, High, hpv, Risk
February 6th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Be glad you have the HPV that causes abnormal cells rather than the HPV that causes warts. Seriously.
Having HR HPV means that you’ll have to have more frequent pap smears for a few years (or for as long as the doc deems necessary).
Doing this frequent monitoring and early treatment will help prevent you from developing cervical cancer. If the doctor is concerned about the colpo results then you might get cryotherapy, which is where the doctor freezes the superficial layers of your cervix to remove the abnormal cells.
Many people with HR HPV never need cryotherapy and the virus goes into remission and doesn’t come back.
February 6th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
No, if you had cervical cancer your Pap would have seen more than abnormal cell changes.
A positive HPV test indicates you have one or more of the high risk HPV types that are found in cervical cancer. It does not mean that you have cervical cancer or your virus will progress to a cancer.
Having HPV doesn’t usually affect your fertility but sometimes treatments may.
You may not have all four HPV types that the vaccine prevents….so you doctor may recommend that you go ahead and get the vaccine. The vaccine does not treat the HPV type or the abnormal cell changes you have. The vaccine prevents two low risks HPV types 6 and 11 and 2 high risk HPV types 16 and 18. They are over 30 high and low risk HPV types that affect the genital area.
The colopscopy will help your doctor see the cervix better then the doctor will take a biopsy of anything unusual and send this to the lab. This information will allow you to know how mush tissue involvement there is.
Here are some great sites to learn more about HPV
I wish you well.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/understandin…http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/facts…http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/facts…
http://www.thehpvtest.com
February 6th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I have done a TON of research on HPV. I have seen several HPV specialists too and I feel that I should pass on what I’ve learned so far to keep everyone better informed. I will talk more specifically about the high risk strain which is what I have…
HPV can be passed through oral, anal, vaginal sex and can be passed by mutual masturbation. I am about 70% sure that it cannot be passed through a toilet seat. I know 100% for sure that it can be passed it you touch your genitals and then with that same hand touch your partners genitals. That scenario would probably come up during mutual masturbation.
There are no tests for a man. There are several test for a woman (pap test, hpv DNA test, and the PCR test-which will tell you the specific strain of high risk HPV that you have – unfortunately most doctors havent heard of the PCR test and are weird about administering it..)
If you get HPV, woman will almost certainly have an abnormal Pap Smear which will show that they have it. This can easily be treated and shouldn’t be a big deal that you have high risk HPV in relation to vaginal sex.
Once I found this out my worries about HPV subsided until years later when I found out something much more awful about HPV that is just now making headlines. And that is that BOTH men and women can get Oral cancer, Neck cancer, Throat Cancer, and Head Cancer all from high risk HPV!!!!! The high-risk HPV is much worse than people think. Heres why:
1-theres no physical symptoms of it whatsoever
2-doctors aren’t sure if it ever goes away! which means you could probably ALWAYS pass it on
3-most normal dentists DO NOT check for signs of oral and throat cancer. you must see a specialists
4-the symptoms of ORAL cancer are often hard to notice and are NOT painful… so it goes undetected until its in its later stages
5-while ORAL cancer will not kill you (you may lose your lower jaw and all your teeth as a result of having it), the cancer advances into your lympnodes which are a gateway to all your major organs and once it spreads to the rest of the body, you will die…
6- 50% of all people diagnosed with ORAL cancer will be dead within 5 years. Age is NOT a factor in getting these cancers. In fact most men will get the throat cancer early and women often get it on their tongue).
7-this is the worst part of this whole list… you may be wondering if all this is true, then why dont we already know about this and why aren’t more people dying all the time from oral HPV? Well… heres why: Until now, doctors and scientists have thought that alcohol and tobacco use were the driving factors of oral cancer. Well now they are believing that all those cases they previously believed to be a result of smoking and drinking, were actually a result of oral HPV. A study was done recently that concluded that over 75% of oral cancer was HPV related and that drinking and smoking really didn’t worsen the chances of getting the oral cancer. That HPV was the complete driving force of it! If you have HPV, your odds of getting ORAL cancer are 32x greater!!!! If you drink and smoke regularly, your chances are only 2x greater!!
There are currently no tests that can detect oral HPV. There is talk of some sort of rinse that can but scientists have proven that the oral rinse test is very flawed so they dont use it anymore.
If you are like me, and you have High-Risk HPV (if your partner has it, you almost definitely have it too) theres several things you can do. While there’s no cure, you can make sure the female in the relationship is getting a pap smear regularly. That both of you are seeing an oral specialists at least once every six months (you will need to see an oral medicine speicialist – you can see them at am most major college universities for about $150 without insurance – prob only $15 with insurance – or see an ENT – Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor. The Oral Medicine Specialists can detect papalomas in the mouth for the mouth cancer and the ENT can detect problems in your throat for throat cancer). That you are checking your mouths regularly for any symptoms of oral cancer (I know I already mentioned that theres really not much to look for but what you can see is any patchy area that is either white or red in your mouth. All the cells in your mouth replace themselves every 2 weeks so if you notice something that doesn’t heal within 2 weeks, see a doctor IMMEDIATELY!!!!). If you have trouble swallowing, this may be an early sign of throat cancer. It often isn’t painful or if it is, will feel like a normal soar throat. This is why it often goes undetected until too late.
For those of you who arent infected yet (to your knowledge-I know its hard to tell with the lack of symptoms and test) GET VACCINATED IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!!!!! Gardasil (the major vaccine no the market right now) will protect you!!!! Yes it only protects from 4 strains and yes theres over 100 strains of HPV, BUT those 4 strains are the ones that cause the cancers!!!! DO NOT fall victim to the hype from the religious naysayers. For whatever reason, they don’t want this vaccine getting out and its the only thing that can save you. Research everything I’ve said if you are skeptical. You will see that this is ALL TRUE! The vaccine takes around 6 months to work so if you get it, DO NOT do ANY sexual activity with new partners. I’ve read that even passionate kissing can pass the oral HPV! Everyone needs to get vaccinated, even if you already have HPV, it can prevent you from getting any other strains on top of the strain you already have. Its like $60 total if you have insurance. GO GET IT NOW!!!!!! It protects from oral and genital HPV. If this post has helped you, let me know. I feel horribly guilty for passing my HPV onto several others already and this is the only way I can relieve some of that guilt is by helping you not get it!