Genital Warts

[inneed12]

Help. Last weekend, I noticed I have a lump outside my vagina. So I went to a gynecologist and said it was a wart. She also said that I also have warts inside my vagina. She said that the only way I can get rid of it was to burn it but it's too expensive for me be because I'm only 18 and I can't tell my parents about it. Is there other way to get rid of it? If I have genital warts, does that mean I have HPV?

And also, I don't know where I got the warts because my boyfriend doesn't have one. We've been doing it for almost 3 years, if I have warts, why doesn't he have one, right? If I get rid of the warts in my vagina, and still have sex with an infected person, will I still have warts? Where can my boyfriend test if he has HPV?

Sometimes when we have sex and I urinate, it's painful. I also have like rashes near my vagina and anus. My gynecologist also told me that I have yellow discharge but I forgot when I started to have it because I thought it was normal.

I really need help. My gynecologist didn't really answer all my questions. She just said that I need to get rid of the warts but I don't have to worry because it isn't cancerous. I hope someone answers.

[BB2109]

First, it is good that you went to a doctor to have the problem diagnosed instead of just relying on information you found on the internet.  While some information on the internet is accurate, some is not, and can be scary.

Your doctor is correct about the best treatment for your internal warts.  It is hard to use topical treatments such as aldara cream or condylox for internal warts because then the treatment can cause harsh side effects to healthy skin that are unnecessary.  If you have external warts, or warts on the outside of your vagina, then those treatments will work, but your doctor probably has your best interest in mind when she tells you that the best method to remove the type of warts you have is burning them off.  

Having genital warts does mean you have the HPV virus, but warts are caused by low-risk strains of the virus, which are not cancer causing.  High risk strains can cause cancer, but if you have yearly pap smears, the likelihood of a high-risk strain developing into cancer decreases.

As for how you contracted HPV from your boyfriend of three years, there are several possibilities.  First, if your boyfriend is not the only partner you have ever had, you could have contracted the virus from a previous partner.  You could have had an outbreak of warts before, but not noticed, especially if the warts were only inside.  Also, your boyfriend could be a carrier of the virus but not show any symptoms, which happens often.  It is pretty useless to try and figure out who gave HPV to whom in situations like this, because so many people have the virus, and it can stay dormant in a person's system for months or years, although I recently found out from the dr.'s forum that is is pretty rare for it to stay dormant for years, but it is possilbe.

80-85% of sexually active Americans have HPV at some point in their lives.  If you and your boyfriend both have the same strain of the virus, you cannot keep giving it back and forth to one another, but you should be careful about other strains.  The good news is that most strains of HPV will clear themselves from your body in 8-24 months, meaning if you have a low-risk wart causing strain you will no longer see visible warts and if you have a high-risk strain your pap smears will no longer be abnormal.  I have read that just because your body has cleared the virus does not mean it cannot come back at a later point in your life.  My doctor told me that if you have another HPV infection after two years, it is from a different strain, but some doctors feel that HPV from a previously cleared infection can return at any point due to hormonal changes or a change in your immune system.

I hope some of this information was helpful to you.I know people do not like to hear this, but you may also want to have a talk with your boyfriend about him being faithful

[inneed12]

It's a relief that the warts are low-risk strains of HPV and not cancer causing. Thank you so much for replying and for the info.

I know that my boyfriend is faithful. We talked about it and I think I got this from my previous partner since he's first time was with me.

Anyway, I got another problem. After we went to the doctor, we had sex then I wiped my vagina. I noticed that there were blood spots in the tissue paper. It was really light like color pink. Is that also a symptom of HPV? Or I have another disease? It hasn't happened before and all of this are really alarming. I really hope that all of this would end already and it wouldn't cause some serious illness :(

[BB2109]

Did your doctor do a pap smear?  If so, these can cause spotting in some people which should go away within a day or so.  If you are very concerned, call your doctor back and ask for another appointment if the spotting does not go away.

[alexdelong]

You should telll your parents so you can borrow money or use their insurance to recieve treatment. It might not seem like an easy conversation, but I suspect that most parents are aware that their 18 year olds are, or soon will be, sexually active.

[inneed12]

No, my doctor didn't do a pap test. She just looked inside my vagina, saw the warts since it's just near the entrance. She also took a urine test maybe to check if I have UTI or something.

I really can't tell my parents about it. They would be furious if they did. They don't even know that I have a boyfriend. I have money to have it burned, but I'm still looking for other ways to get rid of it. But the warts aren't cancerous right?

Thank you so much for replying :)

[alexdelong]

Warts are not cancerous. Treatment is recommended in most cases as it may help the recovery time, and will certainly help prevent the warts from spreading in area and growing in size.

[kurai]

I was worried my insurance wouldn't cover  hpv treatments or seeing a gyn. My doctor told me I should try planned parenthood and that they're are usually pretty good ;) So it's worth checking out...

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/

[alexdelong]

Good advice.

[inneed12]

Thanks. I'll check it out :)