Another HPV Thread!

[MissWorld]

Okay, so I came on this board for a whole other reason, but started reading up on everyone's worries about HPV.

I had an abnormal pap a while back and my Dr. told me I had the HPV virus. At first, I started to freak out; crying and even hyperventilating. My doctors (both primary and ob-gyn) calmed me down and assured me that I had absolutely NOTHING to be worried about; it was caught and will be treated and more then likely go away. They continued to tell me that it would not cause warts (if anything, there would be warts on my cervix but that was going to be HIGHLY unlikely). Futhermore, they ASSURED me this would not get in my way of having children.

I better stop reading up on here about HPV because now I am starting to get a little more freaked out about it, when I don't think that I should!!!!

[mhk4000]

Hey MissWorld, well yes and no as far as your worries. HPV strains are categorized into to two types, high and low risk, the risk being cancer, not warts. Low risk equals warts, which are in fact just benign tumors, high risk you get no warts (lucky you) but are at risk of cervical cancer (oops, spoke too soon).

What to do? Tell all future sex partners you have HPV, get a pap smear every 4 to 6 months, and cross your fingers. Your immune system should eventually suppress the virus, and perhaps over the next couple of years may actually clear your body at which point you're back to square one on the STD circuit. As far as your partners go... this type of HPV causes no symptoms in males, and rarely causes any complications (penile cancer, known anyone to have it?) however HPV is still highly contagious and you may just be passing the misery on to unsuspecting people, which as you know... just ain't cool.