my x had hpv and i just found out...what should i do

ok....dis is my story...i was having unprotected sex with my x girlfriend of september 2009.....i asked her if she had any std's before and she mentioned that her x gave her HPV. since then i never had a bumb or a wart on my penis.. nothing at all...my current girlfriend has had pain that seems to be in the pelvic area. and when we have sex it hurts her alil...she says she feels a stabing pain for about a sec, she just started having dis pain recently.... so now im thinkin back and i remember that my x said she had hpv..i was never worried about it cause i heard you can tell you have it if you see warts on your penis...which i never had. but as im reading it now that you can have hpv and have no symptoms i am VERY VERY scared and worried..i feel like i have it and i have passed it on to my girlfriend. i dont know what to do...i hear theres no test for men..and that cervical cancer and happen to her and cancer in the penis and anus can happen to men...i am very very scared....is my life over? is it to late? its been approxamitly 9 months since last exposure with my x.

[Amie635]

First of all there are two strains of HPV. One is low risk and causes genital warts, the other is high risk and causes cell changes (which can lead to cancer), which strain did your ex have? Maybe the reason you aren't experiencing warts, is because you have the high risk strain and not the wart causing strain.

Tell your current girlfriend to go for a pap. Usually, there are no symptoms of high risk HPV, so the stabbing pains you describe could be anything. However, high risk HPV makes more of a profound effect in women than in men. It is easily treatable and with the right treatment your girlfriend should be okay. If she doesn't get tested/treated then the cell changes in her cervix could get worse and go from low grade (not very severe) to high grade (severe) and possibly cancer. Of course, these changes often take 10 years to take effect, that's why its easy to treat if you go early.

Of course, I am saying that in the case she has contracted high risk HPV from you because there is the chance she hasn't.

High risk HPV is unlikely to effect you as a male because the cancers it causes are rare and unusual, and you are right there are no tests for men. It is likely to go away in 2 years provided you keep healthy, stress free, with a strong immune system.

HPV is scary when you know nothing about it, but as long as you deal with it (in your girlfriends case getting a pap and treatment if necesary and in your case keeping healthy) then there should be no further problems.

[Amie635]

First of all there are two strains of HPV. One is low risk and causes genital warts, the other is high risk and causes cell changes (which can lead to cancer), which strain did your ex have? Maybe the reason you aren't experiencing warts, is because you have the high risk strain and not the wart causing strain.

Tell your current girlfriend to go for a pap. Usually, there are no symptoms of high risk HPV, so the stabbing pains you describe could be anything. However, high risk HPV makes more of a profound effect in women than in men. It is easily treatable and with the right treatment your girlfriend should be okay. If she doesn't get tested/treated then the cell changes in her cervix could get worse and go from low grade (not very severe) to high grade (severe) and possibly cancer. Of course, these changes often take 10 years to take effect, that's why its easy to treat if you go early.

Of course, I am saying that in the case she has contracted high risk HPV from you because there is the chance she hasn't.

High risk HPV is unlikely to effect you as a male because the cancers it causes are rare and unusual, and you are right there are no tests for men. It is likely to go away in 2 years provided you keep healthy, stress free, with a strong immune system.

HPV is scary when you know nothing about it, but as long as you deal with it (in your girlfriends case getting a pap and treatment if necesary and in your case keeping healthy) then there should be no further problems.

[jayswag420]

ok well i dont know which strain she has..you say it takes about 10years? where did you get this info from? now is it possible that i can have HPV and not her? i mean ive been with my current girlfriend for about 7 months...and we have been having unprotected sex since. they say HPV is uncurable...but you are telling me that it can go away in 2years?? how is that possible??? my girlfriend is going to go get checked out dis week...i will keep you updated...but in the case where she doesnt have HPV does it mean i can still have it???? and another thing...where did you get this information from? lol thank you i appreciate your help

[Amie635]

Well she wont develop cancer straight away after getting HPV will she? it takes years to get worse and worse untill it finally turns into cancer. Obviously it does not always turn into cancer, because HPV can go away on its own without treatment, but with treatment its more likely to go away rather than without.

Yes it is possible. Though if you've had unprotected sex theres a high chance she got it from you. The pap will detect it, although the pap doesn't detect all strains of HPV, around 13 strains or so but there are more high risk strains.

Yes HPV is not curable, but your immune system can 'cage' the virus. Meaning it lay dormant in your system and practically undetectable and no longer contagious. Although you are never cured because you will always have the HPV virus in your system, and when the virus lays dormant, it can become active again at any time - usually at times of ill health or stress.

Yes it can mean you still have it. 1) the pap might not pick up the strain she has 2) she could of not caught it from you (although that's unlikely)

[Amie635]

I'd also like to point out the wart causing strain is different than the cell changing causing strain. Above I am talking about high risk HPV (in terms of 10 years to turn into cancer etc) Warts wont cause cancer.

warts usually show up within first 6 months of exposure but can show up any time after that, it's just unlikely to go beyond years to show up.

But generally the two different strains work in round about the same way.

I suspect your ex had high risk as you never noticed any warts, i'm guessing you had unprotected sex and therefore if it was warts you would of more than likely shown signs of it by now.

[jayswag420]

wow that you for the information...its been really helpful...i just have 1 more question to ask u......since i had sex with my x unprotected back in september...and its now june...is it possible for me to still get warts on my penis??? and also is it true that for me as a man that it can go away without even treating it???

[Amie635]

So around 9 months? Well it's unlikely for warts not to show up in that time, usually it's something like up to 6 months or so. However that doesn't mean your safe because they could just be dormant in your system for now, or you could be asymptomatic. A small minority of people get an outbreak a couple of years after exposure (though that's rare)

Yes, but not just for men, for women too. Warts in women are exactly the same in men. Although it has been found that if you have warts and you don't treat them they can grow to a large size, go away or just stay the same and it's impossible to say which will happen so that's why if you have warts its best not to risk it.

Also, the sooner they are seen to the easier they are to treat and the more likely you are to be deemed 'clear', you don't want to be one of the unlucky few who has to live with warts for many years.