multiple HPV strains

[rw93535]

Question:   Will someone with multiple strains of HPV eventually clear all of them?

I am a formerly sexually-active gay male who has decided to become celibate. I am 27 years old and have no other STDs. I eat relatively healthy and have begun a regular daily vitamin intake of Zinc and Vitamin-C.

I don't know for certain if I have HPV, but I am assuming I do as I have been sexually active since I was 21, but very careful. Regardless, I know it is easy to catch.

[empathy60]

Yes, no HPV infection persists forever.

[rw93535]

When the virus clears, is there still a risk for HPV-related cancers? or, do that risk go away when the virus clears?

[empathy60]

No, if HPV isn't present, cancer complications would not be present either.

If you haven't been diagnosed with HPV, I would not worry about it.  HPV is not typically deadly or highly dangerous.  If HPV is the reason you became celibate, I might rethink this decision.

[rw93535]

I became celibate because I recently discovered a small pen-sized bump right on the lower section of my bottom lip.

It doesn't hurt and I'm not sure how long I have had it. I don't think it has exapanded and I am watching it carefully.

The problem is, I don't have health insurance, even though I work pretty much full-time. I am assuming it could be HPV-related because I have engaged in oral sex without a condom in the past. (I apologize if this is graphic, I am just being honest.)

I guess I will end up making a trip to the dentist office and paying out of pocket to have it looked at.

Everybody I know doesn't think it's anything to worry about, but I tend to worry more about my health than most, I guess.

[empathy60]

If you don't have health insurance, try going to a free clinic such as Planned Parenthood.  You'll receive great care and they won't charge you.  On another note, oral HPV is highly rare and typically almost exclusively occurs in people with compromised immune systems who are highly unhealthy.  It is likely this bump is harmless and definitely does not warrant celibacy.  Even if it were HPV (which I'm pretty sure it's not), HPV is not something that should cause anyone to give up their sexual life.

[rw93535]

Thank You for all of your support and information. I greatly appreciate it.

[rw93535]

This is my exact symptom:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/201250?post_id=post_2145316

I wish I knew what happened to the girl who originally posted, or what she found out?

[rw93535]

Do you know much about HPV and anal cancers? I know that, as a gay male, I probably have a risk.  

[rw93535]

I haven't officially been diagnosed with HPV, but I think it might be there. I was very sexually active in my early twenties. I was always careful, but never used a condom with oral sex. I have read online that oral-HPV cancer is on the rise and responsible for about 1/3 of all oral cancer. Reading statistics on HPV and gay men, it is likely that my last boyfriend infected me. Since there are no tests for males, I probably will never know...All I can do is eat lots of vegetables and fruits and try to take care of myself.

I am alarmed over this because a girl at my mom's church just passed away from a suspicious throat cancer. She was only 28 and was repeatedly misdiagnosed by the idiot doctors at Kaiser Permanente as having "post nasal drip". They realized it was cancer when it was too late.

I punish myself psychologically over this every day. How could a girl like her die of this awful cancer and a former sexually-active gay guy like me is OK, so far?  

I am finding myself becoming more anxious and paranoid and not sure what to do. I know it's not mentally healthy to do this to myself. Sometimes I try to meditate and pray and ask for God's forgiveness.  If I am just rambling on, I apologize, but it feels good to do this -- like a therapeutic journal or something.

[ibizan]

the incidence of oral cancers from HPV is very low....the doctors in the std forum here have very reliable stats to back this up.Stop beating urself up for being human!:o)

[mayflowers]

Usually oral cancers are related more to tobacco and alcohol useage than to HPV.  

Remember, several big pharma companies have just come out with HPV vaccines and I think that they are behind all these "scare" propaganda about HPV.  Almost all sexually active people have both high risk and low risk HPV but less than 5% have ANY problems with it.  

[rw93535]

I have a question:

If somebody was really sexually active for 6 years and they decide to become celibate, do you think they will clear any HPV from their body?

[mayflowers]

HPV is a virus and will always be with you but it will go dormant in most cases.  I hate that word "clear" b/c there is no such thing with any virus.  That is the nature of viruses!!!!!!!!!  It's like you become "immune" to getting the same strain twice, ok?  Think of it that way.  Your immune system kicks in and keeps it under control.  It's an easy virus for the immune system to control, unlike herpes which lives in the spinal chord and likes to pop out whenever a person is stressed.  HPV doesn't work that way.  It's a skin virus so it lives on the skin, which for men is usually quite tough.  

You are really going overboard with worry here.  Relax baby, it will be alright.

[rw93535]

So, when they say "clearance", they don't actually mean it?

My impression was that a person would clear the virus but keep a small copy of it in them. Kind of like when you get the Chicken Pox virus or hepatitis