Is there hope that the virus will leave my body

[HPVsick]

I am a 27 year old female who is 6 months pregnant. A few weeks ago, I went into preterm labor, and during my follow up exam, my doctor discovered two warts in the opening of my vagina. At the beginning of my pregnancy, I had no signs or symptoms of genital warts/HPV or any other STD. I recently read that pregnancy can trigger a dormant virus, and I am sure that this is what happened to me. Being pregnant and being diagnosed with HPV at the same time has been very depressing and stressful. For the most part of my sexual history, I have been very safe. I always get check ups every 6 months and things have always been normal. I was so disappointed with myself when I found out that I had HPV. I have read that sometimes the virus can go away in two years and sometimes it does not go away at all. I am trying to be as optimistic as possible, and have even decided to stop having sex for some years. Other than not having sex, what else do I need to do to make sure that this virus leaves my body? And, am I being realistic in thinking that it will eventually go away? Please help me figure this out.

[empathy60]

I don't think you should give up on your sexual life over something as normal as HPV, but this is of course your decision.  Getting HPV a few times in this lifetime is a normal, human thing.  85% of women will get a strain of HPV in their lifetime.  The virus will eventually clear your body, or persist at such low levels it won't be transmittable to future partners.  Average clearance time for HPV is 6-24 months (low risk, the wart causing strains, typically clear on average in 8 months in most).  After you haven't had warts for 3-6 months, you can probably pretty safely assume the warts aren't coming back.  And after 6 months for sure, you don't have any ethical obligation to inform future partners of your bout with warts if you choose not to.  I would read through the expert forums, there's a lot of good advice about HPV there.  The CDC website and American Social Health Association also have some great information about HPV.  Be wary of other websites, there's a lot of old and false information about HPV out there.  And avoid melodramatic things people post about HPV on the net, it's not rational, and will only bring you down.

[joedirt]

In your above post you stated:

"I don't think you should give up on your sexual life over something as normal as HPV"

I still am not clear on the whole sex with APV thing.  I mean is it ok to have sex while symptoms are present, or does this interfere with the healing process?  Do they go away on their own whether you have sex or not? Or is it better to refrain while symptoms are present?

My symptoms have cleared but my GF's havent and I dont want to contribute to making hers spread or stick around longer by having sex with her.

[HPVsick]

Thanks for the advice. I am not really giving up on my sex life, it's just that I know that with most viruses you and your partner can continue to reinfect each other with the virus. I just want to give myself and him enough time to get rid of the virus. I don't cope well with any type of illness and want to be able to focus on my child not this virus and sex. To keep myself healthy physically and emotionally, I think that that would be best for me. I guess it is just disappointing to me because I have always done my best to be safe and not get any STDs because of other horror stories I have heard from friends. So I really wasn't expecting this. I know no one does either. I think I am just stressed with the actual warts. Seeing it freaks me out. Because most Dr. say that most types of HPV are harmless, I don't think its the fact that I have HPV that freaks me out. It is seeing the warts. I don't know. And it doesn't help with me being so emotional from the pregnancy. Its a lot. And there is so much contradiction in the information on HPV. It is hard to understand and know what and what not to believe. At this point, I will just turn to my religious beliefs and pray about it. I think I will be fine. Thanks for your advice. That info makes me feel so much better.

[empathy60]

"it's just that I know that with most viruses you and your partner can continue to reinfect each other with the virus"

This isn't the case with HPV.  Once you both are infected, you can't keep passing the same strain back and forth.  Once your body clears it, you become immune to this certain strain of HPV and can never catch it again.  Reinfecting each other is impossible, and you shouldn't worry about it.

I'd do a lot of reading in the expert forums about HPV, all of this information and more can be found there.  I've found that the information helped curb a lot of ignorance I had regarding HPV and made me feel so much better.