KimRick

HPV, believe it or not, is a VERY common std. Some doctors refer to it as "the common cold of std's." Unfortunately, there is no cure, just treatments. About 80% of the sexually active population is infected and don't even know it!!! There are about 100 different strains out there, classified as "high risk" & "low risk". The high risk strains cause you to have abnormal paps identifying abnormal cervical cellular changes, that if left untreated, will progress to cervical cancer! They are NOT associated with actual warts. Other than abnormal paps, there are NO symptoms of these strains and because of that, men are considered to be "carriers" of these strains. The low risk strains are NOT associated with cervical cellular changes/pre-cancerous cells, but will cause you to have actual warts. It's completely possible to be infected w/multiple strains at one time.

Condoms will not protect you against this because it is transmitted through skin-to-skin contact and because of that, a blood test will not confirm infection either (the disease lives in the skin, not the blood). Currently, there are no tests available out there for men and without a visible wart, diagnosis is impossible (which makes the high risk strains so easily transmissible because men aren't aware that they are infected w/these strains).

There are many treatments out there for the high risk strains, such as the LEEP, cryo surgery (freezing the cervix), just to name a couple. The LEEP is a surgical procedure that involves a "cheese grater" like instrument that is used to "scrape" the infected tissue off of the cervix to reveal brand new, uninfected, tissue. Sometimes they put you completely to sleep (out-patient surgery), other times, they just numb the area of concern and go to work (in office). The cryo surgery is less invasive but just as efficient; it involves a "wand-like" instrument that literally freezes off the infected areas of the cervix. It's cheaper than the LEEP and is usually done in the office. The only problem with the cryo surgery is that doctors don't get a tissue sample to see if they've got all the infected area as they do with the LEEP. It's really not a big deal. The biopsy, in my opinion, is much more uncomfortable than anything else! Also, please be advise that this disease is NOT curable! It doesn't matter how many surgeries on has to remove it, the virus is still existant in the body - until medical scientists come up with a cure!

It is advisable to take good care of yourself to keep your immune system up in order to fight off the disease! Drink lots of water, take daily vitamins, stay away from sugars, exercise, etc. Also, you have to keep up with your paps every six months to every year in order to stay on top of this, so it doesn't progress any further!

ALSO, don't let any doctor jump right into doing a hysterectomy! It is considered high risk & major surgery and, in my opinion, you should get a second, maybe third, opinion before doing any type of surgery like that!

GOOD LUCK!!