Aa
Still VERY worried
Over a year ago an ex girlfriend called to tell me she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer.
During the conversations she hinted that I should get a physical & I thought that was weird as she was the only person I ever slept with for years and thus never felt I needed to be tested and she said she had always been tested because she didn't know if I ever cheated on her. Everything was negative except for my doctor removing what appeared to be warts . more like a discoloration than warts in one area and tiny warts in another. I freaked out.
I asked if this was something I had to worry about because one day I want to get married and have children, he said he didn't think it would be a problem and that I had nothing to worry about. I mentioned my ex girlfriends cancer and he maintained his position, nothing for me to worry about. Its been a year now and I've had no new symptoms and just the scars remain.
My ex said she was told she developed cervical cancer because she was on birth control for many, many years and had tested HPV negative. Is that even possible?!
That info from her with the advent of my doctors opinion made me feel a lot better.
Now, I'm seeing someone new and we've had protected sex and even so I'm scared to death that I might infect her. We had the STD talk and we both discussed our last test results & I told her I had a scar but that everything was negative.
I want to tell her that my doctor removed "warts" and what he told me after (which I did do when I said I was negative) but I still feel I should just lay it all out for her because this is someone I see myself with for a very long time. Selfishly, I fear she might leave me but I will take that over putting her health in danger.
Is it possible to test negative for HPV but stil be diagnosed with cervical cancer? I've had no new symptoms, does that mean I'm clear? If not, what can I do to make sure they don't reappear? Was my doctor right in just saying I had nothing to worry about?
During the conversations she hinted that I should get a physical & I thought that was weird as she was the only person I ever slept with for years and thus never felt I needed to be tested and she said she had always been tested because she didn't know if I ever cheated on her. Everything was negative except for my doctor removing what appeared to be warts . more like a discoloration than warts in one area and tiny warts in another. I freaked out.
I asked if this was something I had to worry about because one day I want to get married and have children, he said he didn't think it would be a problem and that I had nothing to worry about. I mentioned my ex girlfriends cancer and he maintained his position, nothing for me to worry about. Its been a year now and I've had no new symptoms and just the scars remain.
My ex said she was told she developed cervical cancer because she was on birth control for many, many years and had tested HPV negative. Is that even possible?!
That info from her with the advent of my doctors opinion made me feel a lot better.
Now, I'm seeing someone new and we've had protected sex and even so I'm scared to death that I might infect her. We had the STD talk and we both discussed our last test results & I told her I had a scar but that everything was negative.
I want to tell her that my doctor removed "warts" and what he told me after (which I did do when I said I was negative) but I still feel I should just lay it all out for her because this is someone I see myself with for a very long time. Selfishly, I fear she might leave me but I will take that over putting her health in danger.
Is it possible to test negative for HPV but stil be diagnosed with cervical cancer? I've had no new symptoms, does that mean I'm clear? If not, what can I do to make sure they don't reappear? Was my doctor right in just saying I had nothing to worry about?
Thank you! I guess I just needed to hear the same thing from another doctor.
I've speculated over many scenarios, including me having had warts while with my ex because the visible ones my doctor found were under the shaft (I had never even seen those) but I've always understood that its still a different HPV type from the types linked to cervical cancer. During a later visit for something unrelated, I saw that my doc had indeed listed me as being exposed to genital warts.
Unfortunately, Gardasil may not be an option as my current partner is several years over 26 but her last pap (which was before we become sexually involved) was normal.
Having said all that, it was just a matter of getting a second opinion and knowing that we have nothing to worry about.
Thanks again.
I've speculated over many scenarios, including me having had warts while with my ex because the visible ones my doctor found were under the shaft (I had never even seen those) but I've always understood that its still a different HPV type from the types linked to cervical cancer. During a later visit for something unrelated, I saw that my doc had indeed listed me as being exposed to genital warts.
Unfortunately, Gardasil may not be an option as my current partner is several years over 26 but her last pap (which was before we become sexually involved) was normal.
Having said all that, it was just a matter of getting a second opinion and knowing that we have nothing to worry about.
Thanks again.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
You are overreacting to HPV. You should do some basic reading about HPV and genital warts. Some excellent websites are at my former health department (www.metrokc.gov/health/apu/std), where I wrote much of the information myself; the American Social Health Association (www.ashastd.org); and CDC (www.cdc.gov/std).
The most important things you will learn are that just about everybody gets one or more genital HPV infections. It's just about unavoidable. If you weren't infected by the first partner, you're going to get it sometime. So don't worry about particular exposures.
Most infections are asymptomatic and carry no important health risks. Certainly the risk of anything bad happening in heterosexual men is vanishingly low. Everybody worries about penile cancer, but it's very rare; and almost all cases present with a small spot and are easily cured by removing the lesion. No, penile amputation isn't required!
Just about all HPV infections clear up on their own. If indeed you had HPV when you were with your former partner, you can be pretty sure it is gone by now.
For what it is worth, most likely your partner had carcinoma in situ, i.e. cancerous cells on the cervix that had not yet started to invade. Typically it takes several years to progress from CIS to serious cancer. The important thing for you is that this means she was infected with a high risk type. But that is to be expected: it is the high risk, cancer causing types that are most common. It still doesn't signficantly increase the risk of any serious health outcome for you.
And that in turn suggests that your penile bumps might not have been warts at all. The HPV types that lead to cervical cancer are different than the types that cause warts. (Or you could have had 2 different HPV infections.) Since the diagnosis of the "bumps" apparently was uncertain, there is no way that I can know. Presumably the doc who removed them could clear it up for you.
To your specific questions:
Your partner's birth contol pills had nothing to do with her abnormal pap smear. She either misunderstood her provider or is minimizing the HPV issue.
Just as you were bound to get HPV someday, so is your current partner. If not from you, from some other partner. If she has had 3 or more other partners any time in her life, there is at least a 70% chance she already has been infected. Anyway, as I said above, it is unlikely you are still infected at this time, so you probably aren't a risk to her.
That said, all young women should receive Gardasil, the HPV vaccine. If your partner has not been immunized, she should start now. The vaccine will protect her against the 2 HPV types that cause 70% of cervical cancer and the 2 types that cause almost all cases of genital warts.
In summary, there is no reason to tell your current partner about your past exposure(s) and perhaps infection(s) with HPV. But there is no reason not to either. And it would be a good way to introduce her to the idea of the vaccine, which she needs regardless of your sexual history. Finally, I agree with your doctor that there is nothing to worry about.
Please do the reading I suggested before you return with additional follow-up questions. Best wishes--
HHH, MD
The most important things you will learn are that just about everybody gets one or more genital HPV infections. It's just about unavoidable. If you weren't infected by the first partner, you're going to get it sometime. So don't worry about particular exposures.
Most infections are asymptomatic and carry no important health risks. Certainly the risk of anything bad happening in heterosexual men is vanishingly low. Everybody worries about penile cancer, but it's very rare; and almost all cases present with a small spot and are easily cured by removing the lesion. No, penile amputation isn't required!
Just about all HPV infections clear up on their own. If indeed you had HPV when you were with your former partner, you can be pretty sure it is gone by now.
For what it is worth, most likely your partner had carcinoma in situ, i.e. cancerous cells on the cervix that had not yet started to invade. Typically it takes several years to progress from CIS to serious cancer. The important thing for you is that this means she was infected with a high risk type. But that is to be expected: it is the high risk, cancer causing types that are most common. It still doesn't signficantly increase the risk of any serious health outcome for you.
And that in turn suggests that your penile bumps might not have been warts at all. The HPV types that lead to cervical cancer are different than the types that cause warts. (Or you could have had 2 different HPV infections.) Since the diagnosis of the "bumps" apparently was uncertain, there is no way that I can know. Presumably the doc who removed them could clear it up for you.
To your specific questions:
Your partner's birth contol pills had nothing to do with her abnormal pap smear. She either misunderstood her provider or is minimizing the HPV issue.
Just as you were bound to get HPV someday, so is your current partner. If not from you, from some other partner. If she has had 3 or more other partners any time in her life, there is at least a 70% chance she already has been infected. Anyway, as I said above, it is unlikely you are still infected at this time, so you probably aren't a risk to her.
That said, all young women should receive Gardasil, the HPV vaccine. If your partner has not been immunized, she should start now. The vaccine will protect her against the 2 HPV types that cause 70% of cervical cancer and the 2 types that cause almost all cases of genital warts.
In summary, there is no reason to tell your current partner about your past exposure(s) and perhaps infection(s) with HPV. But there is no reason not to either. And it would be a good way to introduce her to the idea of the vaccine, which she needs regardless of your sexual history. Finally, I agree with your doctor that there is nothing to worry about.
Please do the reading I suggested before you return with additional follow-up questions. Best wishes--
HHH, MD
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
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