Is the HPV virus that causes Genital Warts the same as the one that causes warts in other body parts?

About 6 months ago, i noticed two white bumps in the opening of my vagina, that would itch and bleed occassionally. This was found after i was done with my last relationship(for that matter). The "pimples" stopped bothering me and as I had no health insurance at that time I couldnt afford going to a gyno. Two months later, i found a different type of pimple, flesh color, looking like a wart on my labia minora, very small and it would itch and bleed. I finally had the chance to get a Pap Smear test. When the gyno examined me i asked him if these pimples are genital warts and he could barely see them. He said they should be bigger in order to be warts and that NO, they are not warts. He said they are "nothing" and when i asked him "why didnt i have them before then?", he suggested that i shouldnt touch them and they might go away. Nevertheless, I requested to be tested for every STD. The bloowork came out "nonreactive", HSV1/2 was <0.91, but the screening showed that im Positive for one or more viral types from the group HPV 16/18...etc.
Im in the process of switching doctor and arranging a colposcopy. The nurse told me not to panic, but I am freaked out. I had another sexual partner after this "outbreak", what if i have infected them?
I have weak immune system, i know this, because when i was 15 years old, I had an infection on my hands and had severe warts outbreak and had to freeze them. Some are still there,visible, but they dont itch or bother me.
My question is: a) Is this the same virus that caused the genital warts? Was it already in my body and it was just re-activated with sexual activity or a partner infected me with this virus? (Like HSV-1 causes cold sores and genital herpes, does HPV cause all types of warts?- these in my genitals look like the ones on my hand)
b) Does this mean I will never again be able to have condom-free intercourse or have kids in the future?
c) Will these pimples-warts go away?
Note: I am 21 yrs old. A friend of mine is 40 and she told me she has the HPV virus although shes been married with her husband since she was 25 and she was diagnosed with it way later while being married.  

Also, excuse my english, I am a foreigner.

[vandykd3]

a) Yes and no.  Warts on the hands are HPV but of a different strain than HPV that causes genital warts.  According to the research, HPV wart strains have niche areas and warts on the hands don't like the genitals and vice versa.  Therefore the short answer to part "a" is no, it is not the same virus.  Also, it is doubtful it is reactivated as is most likely the result of infection by your partner.  That's a best guess though.

b)No, it doesn't mean so.  Studies show that most wart infections clear within 9-24 months with treatment, slightly longer without up to three years or so.  It's rare for treated infections to last two years or more usually resolving in a year to year and a half.  During that time it is wise to use condoms as even without warts you may be contagious but the degree to which you are is considered low and is not well defined.  It shouldn't affect your ability to have children, or better put, there shouldn't be any adverse affect when having children but I'm not too up on that knowledge.  THere is some risk but you'll have to research that.

c) Your experience is confusing because pimples is not a word that people use to describe genital warts.  Those are terms for herpes.  I've been on this forum for over a year and pimples simply isn't used nor is it a part of my experience.  When I first read your post I thought herpes not warts.  Of course I'm not saying it's herpes and I also don't understand the meaning of the number for HSV on your STD test.  



I also take issue with you saying you have a weak immune system.  The better truth is that you believe you have a weak immune system.  Your reasoning for why you believe your immune system is weak is what I found to be weak.  Be very careful you don't pronounce this judgement lightly.  You don't have any proof that your immune system is weak.  Revisit this and you'll see I am correct.  

Anyway. Hope this helps some.

[Redordead]

Excuse my wording. They def are not pimples and they dont look like blisters either. (It's the 'language barrier' that made me put it this way)
Also, <0.91 for the HSV1/2 bloodwork test means Negative. The Note on the sheet of paper i have here says Negative 1.09
So im sure for the time being Im infected with Herpes.
Seeing the new doc next week though.

Thank you for your answer.  

[Redordead]

*correction: Negative 1.09.

[Mags370]

Look at my pics of my warts :)

[vandykd3]

Yes, check out Mags photos, they are realistic as opposed to what you find on google.  

Okay, so you don't have herpes or they'd have found the antibodies in your blood test.  So, you might have warts.  I take issue with the one doctor dismissing the size of the lesions you showed.  Mine have always been quite small and some have been really small visible only in bright light at certain angles almost.  

Hopefully your new doctor will be a better fit.  Write down as many questions as you can between now and then so that you don't forget any and leave with questions.  Unanswered questions tend to lead to "what if" thinking and thus to anxiety and fear.  Good luck.

[Redordead]

Mags370, yes this is almost what they look like,a bit smaller though. So did you get rid of them? I have two or three of them :(
Its funny i used to have one in my mouth years ago when i was still a virgin, i guess it doesnt matter lol

Vandykd3 thats my case too, its hard to see them, but I can feel them if i touch them and under bright lights. My previous doctor was useless. Thanks alot guys!!!

[Redordead]

Also, a last question that I will be embarrassed to ask the doctor. My current bf comes back to the US in 6 months. Should i tell him about it? Will the warts be cleared up by then once i start my treatment in 2 weeks? What if he wants to have unprotected sex? We never had unprotected sex before, but what if? Excuse me for asking too many questions.

[Mags370]

The bigger one is the first and I still have it but I think maybe it is just kinda scar tissue because I have basically been nuking it. LOL

I have it and the little bubble blister looking one. When I found the first couple til when I finally had a doc agree I had them there was only a bit of change. Then I started the acid treatments, one per week for four weeks. The first treatment made them show up much better and even have that cauliflower look. Each week I would get a few new ones but then the acid treatment would kill them off. After I stopped acid treatment I have only gotten that bubble one and I am doing the Aldara treatments three times a week. I take it as progress that I only have the two right now.

As for you bf. If it were me I would tell him. If you do have warts it will take full treatment to get them to even go away and then you have to wait 3 to 6 most after you are finally clear of warts to feel free to have sex without disclosure. HPV is very common and almost all sexually active adults will have it in their lifetime. So, he has the same risks as the rest of us. There is no way to know how long it will take to clear your warts. If he wants to have unprotected sex then that is his own risk but warts are very contagious. I would say to you that you shouldn't have unprotected sex until you are in a very trusting relationship. Remember we all have secrets and you can't trust that all guys are going to be upfront about everything. HPV is spread via skin to skin contact so I can suggest some ways to enjoy sex with him without high risk. :)

Touching is fine, just don't touch your own genitals and the other persons. Same with them touching yours and their gentials. Toys are fine, just wash them with soap after. Use condoms for penetration and if you feel you are not fine with oral there are flavored condoms. Him giving you oral would have to be done with a dam or wrap. Deep french kissing might carry a risk factor but otherwise kissing is fine. I am a bit of a freak about the oral risks but I have had many doctors assure me this isn't something to worry about. My ENT doc told me it was fine.

[Redordead]

That was really informative, thank you so much! Some people say that HPV can be transmitted when active even with the use of condom.. I'm not sure how true is this.
The results indicated that i have "one or more" of the "high risk" type of HPV, but as far as i know this type does not cause warts, but the "low risk" does, so Im guessing i have both? :S

I do hope I can explain all this to him well so he doesnt think of me as a nasty girl or think that i cheated on him, cuz i hadnt been sexually active since he left. I know HPV has nothing to do with cheating cuz its not like HSV and the other STD's. But the fact that its still an STD makes me worried about his reaction. I dont wanna lose him over that. As for the use of condoms, the guys i had a relationship with in the past had no idea about HPV and so did i. Them and me were clear of other STD's so we would engage in unprotected sex, immature of us all. If only i knew about the HPV before.

Your answer sort of made me relax alittle though, this whole thing sounds so scary.
Thank you :)

[Mags370]

Well you are not a nasty girl, none of us with HPV are nasty! I think the first step is for us to feel ok with ourselves. Each day I think less about my HPV and know that it is just a matter of time til my warts go away, forever! HPV is simply a normal part of being sexually active as well all will prob have it. You could have gotten it from the bf. There is no reason for blame with having HPV.

I don't know what strains but my tests did say I have both high and low risk. Of course the fact that I have symptoms of both confirms that.

Condoms are not 100% because they can't cover every inch of skin. So men often get warts at the back of the shaft. Plus when there is skin to skin play without penetration, grinding, then there can be transmission. One way to prevent this is to keep undies on.

You are welcome. :)

[vandykd3]

Mags is right (of course :P ),  How your boyfriend reacts remains to be seen and there could very well be a difference between initial reaction and long term reaction.  I know when my ex found out I had it, she hung up the phone after saying some pretty ****** and hurtful things to me.  Then a few hours later she called me up and apologized and we hashed it out emotionally and maturely.  

As Mags said, condoms are effective for the parts of skin they do cover.  And as she pointed out, what good is wearing a condom if you're going to rub your shaft all over her down there prior?  That's where people mess up a lot I think.  

You're gonna be fine.  Keep that in mind.  

[Redordead]

Im pretty sure i got it from my ex, cuz after 5 days when we intially started having sex i was hurting at the opening of the vagina and i couldnt have normal intercourse after it. Even using KY hurt so much. I thought it was a yeast infection, but then after 4 months i saw those little bumps at the opening of the vagina and thats when i dumped him. Anyway, maybe it was harsh of me, but I was angry and im still mad at me.

Vandykd3 do you know how you got it first place? do you ever have unprotected intercourse after that?

As far as i know the virus never leaves your body :( and might come back at some point especially when you get pregnant.

I hope my warts disappear before he comes back around October and i lost precious time with the previous gyno.
Thank you guys so much!!! At least thank God we dont have something more serious... honestly.

[vandykd3]

I am pretty sure I got it from a girl I new and hooked up with two new years eve's ago.  We did that whole 'are we going to date' dance after that.  I slept with her unprotected twice in two weeks.  The day or two after that second time my shaft broke out in a crazy red and splotchy rash that lasted three or four days.  It resolved much as a bad sunburn would.  I found the wart in that area five days after exposure.  I'm almost positive I got it from her but she would never confirm she had it.  I did discover she'd had an unprotected fling with some dude on Craigslist right before me so that solidifies my theory.  

I had dated previously to that but we were religious about condoms so I guess it's possible that I got it from rubbing during foreplay.  It seems more likely the former story is the one though.

Yes, I had lots of unprotected sex after that.  Unfortunately, I was on a break up moment from an ex I really couldn't walk away from but with whom our relationship was long distance and really difficult emotionally.  Before I got diagnosed, I made plans to come visit her and work out the relationship. Then I discovered I had warts.  It was so hard confessing and the **** hit the fan but it later resolved and i went to Europe anyway.  I suggested condoms but she didn't want to and so we had sex for over two months without.  I even had an outbreak while I was there.  I spoke with her a couple months back and she said she doesn't have anything.  I guess that means it's possible to not get it even from an active carrier.  We did not have sex two or three days prior to my outbreak nor for about ten days after treatment.  

[Mags370]

I had read a lot about warts showing up in the 3-6 month window but one of the docs in the forum just this week said it was more 6-8 months. I think, I would have to go back and read that post. Whatever, that is just a norm and we are all different. For me it was 3 months on the dot that I found mine and I only found them because my pap came back abnormal and the HPV test I requested showed I have high and low risk. I didn't have the rash you guys had but I know 99.99% the day I got HPV. I went into my first hugh STD freakout and started getting musoceles in my lower inner gum (mouth). I know this could be just from stess and I was def stressing out. I can't link it to any medical info but I think it is related to HPV. Anyway, maybe some of us have some sort of medical issue that is the start of symptoms, not the norm and that goes away. I have never read anything suggesting this and in fact most people never have any symptoms.

Try to just be honest with your guy, be open and talk about your feelings and educate him. He may already know about HPV and like all of us feels like we can't tell others or talk about it. I have sex now and with care he has had no symptoms. We prob share the same HPVs but I request condoms while I have warts.

[Redordead]

Well the weird thing with me is this guy that i suspect he gave HPV to me, had no bumps on his penis and actually today he randomly messaged me on fb. We talked for awhile and i told him more about my current situation. He told me he never had any warts or anything like that. And thats the sneaky thing about this virus i guess. You can never tell when youre infectuous or when a partner actually has gotten it from you, like with your girl Vandykd3, she prolly has a strong immune system or something and she had no outbreaks. I dont know how i got it anyway. I suppose this is the reason some categorize HPV under the STIs and not STDs. Some systems are more vulnerable to these viruses. I have a 7yr old boy in my class and his elbow is full of huge warts its disgusting and he gets treatments. Perhaps later in his life when the time comes to start a sex life he will be prone to HPV because he already has a type of it, like I did! Im just guessing.

They usually say that it only takes one person to infect you, and that you dont need to be promiscuous to get it, but my ex had confessed that he had threesomes (with 2 girls) before and multiple flings, so i blame myself that i didnt protect me properly. Bad thing is they always reveal their dirty stories after theyve slept with you :( All he told me is he had no STDs (with him being a US marine he gets tested for STDs frequently). From now i should not trust anybody.

[Mags370]

We all have our secrets so just remember that with sexual partners. Of course they wont tell you everything so you have to insist on protection. I didn't see anything on any of the guys I have been with. They told me they were fine and I did use condoms with the guy I know gave me HPV. Just I didn't educate myself on STD's. I did the, not me thing and when I did have my freakout and educated myself online (scary) I realized there was no surprise I would have HPV. The activities I thought were safe put me at risk for it. Enjoying sex doesn't make us dirty people, it just sometimes comes with a price. For me HPV is nothing really, when you think of all the really awful stuff out there.

I don't think hand or foot warts suggest we are at more risk for gential (genital) warts. Maybe it shows his immune system has some issues and that would be a risk factor.

[Redordead]

Yes, Mags, I totally agree. I didnt see anything on their genitals either and they had told me theyre good, I mean my ex still claims he never had warts or anything like that. My ignorance on this subject put me in trouble indeed. I hope it works out for us. Ill keep you posted on what the doc says, i have my appointment this Friday. Did you have a colposcopy? I will have to undergo one,they say it hurts.. I just hope i dont have the "cervix dysplasia" or however its called.

[Mags370]

Cervical dysplasia..I have the mildest of the mild stage. Really it doesn't bother me at all and I don't even know it exists. I will go back in 3.5 months to be rechecked and my hope is that it is gone. Yes I had a colposcopy and it hurts only a little. I have had biopsies in the past so I knew what to expect. They use vinegar when they perform this test and that caused me to have bacterial vaginosis, just like using a douche can so then I needed a med for that. If you have some burning and redness in the days after then have them check you for that too.

Good luck Friday. It will all be fine.

[Redordead]

Okay so update!
I went to the doctor today and he pretty much told me the same stuff we had been discussing. Thank you so much guys for giving me this info, the doc was glad i knew this stuff already. He took a look and said i dont need a biopsy yet or a colposcopy. The warts are very small and at a mild stage tho he put that acid thing on them and ill go back in two weeks and then if they are not gone by then ll take aldara and another medicine i dont remember the name. Only problem is.. he didnt notice one of the warts on the right side of the vaginal opening and those are left acid free, i just found out now :( So what do i do now? i guess ill book another appointment for this tuesday so he can check them too and have another acid treatment. When i realize how much time i lost with the other stupid doctor i get angry, i had shown my warts to him and he was like "these are not warts". Anyway he said ill get vaccinated once we find out what type of HPV of the high risk i have, if its 16 or 18, both can be treated with Gardasil, 3 shots. Overall i was pleased today, he also said that there is not reason for me to tell my bf about it cuz by the time he gets back ill be okay, its a 6 month period.

[Mags370]

Thanks for the update! It is great for us and others to be able to read how things progress or what the results are. :)

I wouldn't put much energy into the past doc. It's just important that when you know your own body that you proceed to find out what is wrong and get it treated properly. I do think you should call and get the other wart treated. I did acid treatments once a week for four weeks and that really did a lot to get rid of mine. The Aldara is a cream that you put on, it's much slower, at least for me but then I only have two warts at this time. As far as I can tell, everything looks so much the same down there! lol

When and if you do start Aldara let me know and I will give you the tips I found out on my own for using it. :)

I am happy your doc confirmed our info and appreciated you having educated yourself! It is why I respond to posts here. To help others through the fears of the big HPV unknown, or wrose all the false and scary info put out there. Education and prevention are the key to good health.

[Redordead]

Hey Mags thanks alot for the response!
I called them yesterday but the office closes at 12pm cuz its a friday, Ill have an appointment for next week i guess. I wish i had that acid thing at home :D I liked the burning sensation and i hate my warts!! lol
He didnt sound like im gonna have regular acid treatments. Id love to have and ill ask for them.

Something weird tho is going on. There was a fleshy growth on my labia minora that had appeared 2 months after the other warts appeared and it looks different than the ones on the vaginal opening. I have shown it to both docs. Since my last visit to the other doc it turned double, with another growth next to it and both docs have said this is not a wart and like i said it does look different than the others. He treated it with acid anyway. Ill try to post a pic so you can see it. Its gross. (when it first appeared it was itching and bleeding, cuz i scratched it lol)

Question: With insurance ( i have Blue Cross) How much did Aldara cost you? Ive read its extremely expensive.

Also the doc said that i better wait and see if the warts go away with the acid treatment alone before i start using Aldara. Not to use it over 8 weeks and that i should use it 3 times per week, before bed.

The second drug he prescribed for later is Zyclara.. Have you heard of that?

P.S: I wish i knew about HPV and Gardasil before i get the virus :/ The doctor gave me some informative sheets about Gardasil. Well i misunderstood this, Gardasil prevents does NOT treat, but those who already have HPV can be benefit from it as it may prevent from warts reoccuring in the future. It says:

    "In clinical trials individuals with current or past infection with one or more vaccine-related HPV types prior to vaccination were protected from disease caused by the reamaining vaccine HPV types. Gardasil is not intended to be used for treatment."  

[vandykd3]

Actually, what that's saying at the very end is that the vaccine will protect you from the strains you haven't been exposed to yet.  It will have no effect concerning the strain(s) you already have providing they are the strain that the vaccine was intended to protect from.  

[Redordead]

yeap.. too bad i didnt know about Gardasil or HPV two years ago :/

[Mags370]

Yeah ....we all have those too bad's! haha