Aa
will it go away
I just got an abnormal pap and I was told that I tested positive for HPV. She stated a very low level of cells were found. I haven't had a colposcopy yet. but in reading about the virus, I saw that the virus can go away after some time but if one were to develops warts would that still be the case?
First the burning that you have with urinating would not have anything to do with HPV—you should be investigated again for a UTI if the medication that you got is not working. Something is going on if you have burning. While waiting to follow up on the UTI you might want to drink cranberry juice. It fights bacteria in the urinary tract. I would make sure this burning that you are having is all cleared up before the colposcopy.
There is a lot inaccurate information on HPV on the internet. Since the tests for this are relatively new, some Dr.'s don't understand the natural history of HPV. HPV does not mean much for most people, it is usually a transient infection that clears in 6 -12 months and sometimes 24. For most people they can consider that the HPV is gone approx. 6 months after infection is resolved (no signs of symptoms—either normal Pap(HR) or no warts(LR)). HPV does not cause cervical cancer, only a persistent infection does with other unknown added factors—and either being repeatedly infected with the same strain and/or not clearing the virus and this is very rare.
I can’t comment on where to go because I know very little about Planned Parenthood. I do know that a lot of health care providers are doing colposcopy now and some have only had a weekend course. Nurse practitioners are also performing colposcopies. Since colposcopy requires doing a visual inspection as well as maybe biopsies, if it were me I would want someone skilled at this. Personally I would want a Board Certified Gyn. I don’t know your financial situation or if Planned Parenthood is cheaper or is easier to get in to, but it might be worth a call to them to see who is going to do the colposcopy. Then you can make a decision on what is best for you.
The next time you get a Pap, make sure you have it 10-20 days after the first day of your last period. Do not have sex, use vaginal lubricants, tampons or vaginal sprays 48 hours before the Pap for a more accurate result.
There is a lot inaccurate information on HPV on the internet. Since the tests for this are relatively new, some Dr.'s don't understand the natural history of HPV. HPV does not mean much for most people, it is usually a transient infection that clears in 6 -12 months and sometimes 24. For most people they can consider that the HPV is gone approx. 6 months after infection is resolved (no signs of symptoms—either normal Pap(HR) or no warts(LR)). HPV does not cause cervical cancer, only a persistent infection does with other unknown added factors—and either being repeatedly infected with the same strain and/or not clearing the virus and this is very rare.
I can’t comment on where to go because I know very little about Planned Parenthood. I do know that a lot of health care providers are doing colposcopy now and some have only had a weekend course. Nurse practitioners are also performing colposcopies. Since colposcopy requires doing a visual inspection as well as maybe biopsies, if it were me I would want someone skilled at this. Personally I would want a Board Certified Gyn. I don’t know your financial situation or if Planned Parenthood is cheaper or is easier to get in to, but it might be worth a call to them to see who is going to do the colposcopy. Then you can make a decision on what is best for you.
The next time you get a Pap, make sure you have it 10-20 days after the first day of your last period. Do not have sex, use vaginal lubricants, tampons or vaginal sprays 48 hours before the Pap for a more accurate result.
I thought HPV was something that one would have for life. I'm starting to see that even though HPV is very common, neither doctors or nurses know much about it. Which I find very odd. I do have a burning senstation when i urinate. I'm having the colposcopy done at planned parenthood. I don't know how experienced they are. I'm wondering if I ought to go some where else.
It sounds like you had a very mildly abnormal Pap as was stated, “very low levels of cells were found”. The term is ASCUS which means Atypical Cells of Undetermined Significance. It means that they can’t tell if it normal or not thus the reason for more testing, remember Undetermined Significance. This is a common result, it is more common in under 30 but still very common in over 30. It is so common in under 30, that they can’t do an HPV test with a normal pap, it is against the guidelines. The Pap is not a 100% reliable and either is the HPV test, you can have a false positive with both. Often nurses and Dr.’s don’t explain it well because they don’t know enough about HPV. The HPV test was added to the Pap test in a lot of offices sometime after 2004 for an ASCUS Pap. Many health care providers don’t even know the inaccuracy. Also, they depend on outside labs and some labs report more abnormals than others. Most women get 1 or 2 ASCUS Pap results in their life, due to inflammation etc. There are approx. 3 million borderline abnormal Pap results in the US yearly. I had an ASCUS result last year and I am over 30. I refused HPV test and had a Pap a year later—it was normal. Even if you have HPV which the statistics indicate about 80% of women will have at some point, it usually clears in 6-18 months. The fact that you had some symptoms that could be related to a yeast infection, and I’m not sure what testing they did to indicate that you did not appears unusual. Yeast and bacteria could affect your vaginal PH which could affect your Pap. Usually there are no symptoms for High Risk HPV it is just found when your Pap is abnormal. Make sure you have the colposcopy by an experienced gynecologist.
Well all my tests came back negative for yeast and UTI but they still gave me medication for it. I'm actually in my 30's and I think that is why i'm more paranoid about it. I tried asking the nurse that gave me my results questions but she wasn't very helpful.
A very mildly abnormal Pap and being HPV positive is very common in young women especially if you are under 30. This is high risk HPV and don't panic when you hear that, they only test for High risk. For the majority of women (over 95%) it means nothing, except further testing. It can simply mean that you had inflammation as the tests are not really specific. Even if you have a true positive, the virus usually clears in 6 months to 2 years.The new Pap test is liquid and it does pick up very mildly abnormal results more often than the old Pap smear, that is the reason that they changed testing to no Paps before 21 and every 2 years from 21 to 30. The virus that causes warts is entirely different and is low risk HPV. There is no reason to think you will get warts or low risk HPV from the results of the test that you had. If you had a yeast infection when you had your Pap, it is very possible the abnormal pap is due to irritation, inflammation or infection. There would be no warts on the inside, there would be inflammation or minor cell changes.
To think that I only went in b/c I thought I had a UTI and a yeast infection. Do you know if the virus will go away if you develope warts? I don't see any signs of warts but who knows internally. I was told even though I tested positive that only a small amount of cells were found. I'm still in shock since i've always been extremely careful but this time around the condom broke.
Yes-if you develop warts, there's a chance they will go away on their own, but sometimes treatment is needed. I really wouldn't worry too much unless something pops up. I tested for low-grade HPV for 1 year then everything was normal. Only when I became pregnant did the warts show up (due to extreme cell changes). But sometimes this doesn't happen. Hang in there, and I'm sure you will be just fine!
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