too embarressed to ask

[message]

1st,sorry for the rambling.I know for certain who infected me with my GW's.I recently was married and prior to my husband no other man had known me in any way, shape or form. While we were dating,we had oral sex.I never had any issues with my throat/mouth to cause me concern.I did get a pretty bad sore throat and saw a ENT who told me I had a nodule on my vocal chord which was due to straining my throat and my smoky work environment,so I quit my job and have not had any problem since.Three months after I was married I noticed a bump and was diagnosed.I had laser surgery,but the GW's came back.I went through the acid treatments a couple of times before he sent me home with aladara and fluorouracil.I have one that just will not leave.After I was diagnosed, my Gyno insisted my husband go to a urologist.My husband has told me he never has seen anything abnormal on himself and this has all been a matter of guilt for him.My husband went to the urologist and came back with no signs of GW's.How can this be?Even before I was diagnosed,we had both intercourse and oral sex and after I healed from the laser treatment I know now I still had GW's and he was exposed,but he has not shown anything.How can I break out and he have no visible symptoms ever?Next,is it okay for us to still have oral sex?if he had this prior and we had oral sex before I knew about mine,without problems can we still now?Is it true that once your body clears this(i've heard 6m-2yrs)and you dont have any GWs come back they wont come back?What if you have cleared your GW's(for months or years)and you become pregnant, does becoming pregnant gurantee GW's come back because of the stress on the body?Is it possible for a pregnant woman to have had GW's and then not get them back when becoming pregnant?My husbands doctor told him transmission between mother and child is rare and the reason this is still stated in informational reports is because transmission does happen in more underdeveloped countries,but in the US this is not the case because of our medical care.Is this true?I dont want to put any child at risk for this.Once I clear,is it alright to have sex without condoms as long as we are not having an outbreak?Or does it matter since we are both monogamous and have the same strains?My Gyno said we could continue to re-infect eachother.I have read on other sites there are vaccines coming.Most of the information I have read states these vaccines are to protect people from infection.Will these vaccines do anything for people like me?Should I get my hopes up that I can be normal again?Does it have to be a theraputic vaccine to help me?When they state in informational websites there is a high reoccurance,do they just mean in the initial outbreak or do they mean for the rest of your life?How much does my immune system have to do with the virus continuing to affect me? Do I need to take supplements/vits?Thanks for answering everything.U R A good person and I feel better for asking.God Bless U

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

My basic response to you is this: 1) many of your questions are good and sensible and cannot be answered; 2) you should go for regular checkups but otherwise just get on with your life.

Yes, you can get warts even though your husband has no visible ones.  Maybe you contracted them from an earlier partner.  Transmission to children is rare; I've never seen a single case.  You don't need to modify your pregnancy plans.  Oral sex may theoretically transmit the virus, but again, I've rarely seen this happen.  Since there's no clear evidence that condoms prevent spread of HPV, there's not much point in your using them if there's no other reason to do so.  I can't do more than speculate about vaccines.

Bottom line: get regular GYN visits.  Have anything visible treated (same for your husband, if he gets any new growths.)  Otherwise, there's nothing special to do or worry about.

Best.

Dr. Rockoff