Pregnant with CIN1

Hi all,

I am so glad to have found this site. I have had cervical dysplasia since 2003. I have only had a total of 3 colposopies the whole time. The last one I had was last July. The doctor told me to get another one this January or so but I was abroad so I didn't. Now I am 30 weeks pregnant. The doctor I have only did a pap and said the results were normal. I don't really trust the guy so much so I am going to see another doctor and get a colposcopy again. I always had faith that I could reverse my dysplasia by living a healthy lifestyle and taking folic acid supplements. Now that I have met the love of my life and we are ready to have a family, I really feel complete. I do have a little bit of fear that this could eventually develop into cancer, especially since for 3 years or so it remained the same. It hasn't gotten any worse but it hasn't gotten any better. I guess I will find out after the colposcopy that I will probably get this week. I try not to think about it so much but I also try to stay conscious about it at the same time. I guess I am wondering how long I should wait till I seek further treatment if the colposcopy comes out with the same results? Has anyone been in that situation? The doctors say to wait and see but I am wondering if my body is capable of fighting it off if I have had it for so long and it has remained the same.

Anyway, I read this book a lot called Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom and it talks a lot about the body's power to heal dysplasia and how emotional issues and stress can really affect it. Sometimes it gets a little too hippie for me but I do like the positive and holistic outlook. Does anyone have any good links or books about healing from dysplasia?

Kitkat83,

Congradulations on your pregnancy.

"The doctor I have only did a pap and said the results were normal. I don't really trust the guy so much"

I'm not here to raise the hair on the back of your neck, but, that doctor probably doesn't do the actual test. He just collects the sample and reads the results, to my knowledge. I have one of those doctors. I know what you mean. I don't like my family doctor at all, but, we don't get to choose too much.

"I always had faith that I could reverse my dysplasia by living a healthy lifestyle and taking folic acid supplements. Now that I have met the love of my life and we are ready to have a family, I really feel complete."

THAT IS AWSOME!! By the sounds of things, you did succeed!!!!!!!!Congradulations. You are strong and from the sound of it, very happy, with great reasons.

Concentrate on that. Don't do too much "homework" on dysplasia. (talking from experience on that one,,,I swear for awhile, all articles seemed familiar to me. It didn't do me any good, xcept that "it" took over my life.) That's what your doctor is for. Let him worry. Let him take care of that part of your life.

Keep up the good work.....eat well, stay away from stress where you can, be happy, keep taking folic acid supplements, and let him worry about your cervix, it's his job. You just take care of yourself.

It's surprising what your body can do, when you live happy!

My 2cents worth.

If it's not getting any worse than atypical cells (ASCUS), I wouldn't start jumping to treatment unnecessarily. Dysplasia is tricky. Too little tx can be bad but overtreatment can have it's share of issues as well. Now, if you have an actual lesion (low-grade, moderate or severe--referred to as LGSIL, HGSIL or CIN II or CIN III), most times you DO need treatment. The *good* thing is that cervical cancer oftentimes takes upwards of 10 years to develop so I wouldn't say you are in any imminent danger. So long as you get yearly paps and are keeping an eye on the atypical cells, you will be fine. Has doc given you an HPV test. If you have an abnormal pap, your doctor should be testing you for HPV. 70% of cervical cell changes are caused by HPV. A neg. HPV test would mean a lower risk for severe dysplasia and cancer.

As the other poster said, your doc isn't reading the slide but I KWYM about not trusting them--did the doc get a GOOD sample, enough cells to read, etc. The good thing is pathology would be able to determine if the sample was not "good" enough and they'd have the doc repeat.

Living a healthy lifestyle is fantastic! Keep it up--it could only help.

A good book to get is "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About HPV and Abnormal Pap Smears" by Jody Handley. It's a great book and explains pretty much everything you'd ever want to know. It's not a holistic book but it is a good book for information on HPV and abnormal paps.

HTH! GL with everything! It's hard to take a wait-and-see approach (BELIEVE ME...BTDT...currently doing that actually) but, when you only have very mild changes or atypical cells, it is generally the BEST approach!