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Q: Quite Urgent
asked by: littlemisstery on March 22nd, 2006
Experienced User
I wrote this to the doctor on ehealthforum, but I want to hear actual thoughts other than just the doctor's about this.. Maybe someone else has had this problem, or maybe one of you might know someone who does.


Question: a pap smear I had about a month ago showed that I had ascus/hr hpv

what is this, could the pap smear be wrong in its findings if I had a yeast infection, and how is it treated?

If anyone has this or knows what symptoms occur when they have it, pleeeease let me know. I'm worried to death over this. :cries:
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Melissa_20
replied on March 22nd, 2006
Especially eHealthy
I don't even know what hpv is. . .Or do ou mean hiv?
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diamondsz
replied on March 22nd, 2006
Extremely eHealthy
Hpv is warts!!
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Mabel
replied on March 22nd, 2006
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Hpv is not necessarily warts. There are dozens of strains of hpv, the lesser strains cause warts, the higher strains are responsible for cervical cancer and other cervical abnormalities (this is the reason women get pap smears every year!).

You can have more than one strain of hpv at the same time. What kind of hpv do you have? There is no 'cure' for hpv, but your body may eventually work it out of your system.

Hpv can remain in your system before showing up for up to a decade. It is sexually transmitted and approximately 80-85% of the sexual population has hpv and doesn't know it. There is no hpv test for men, only women. This may be why it spreads the way it does. Condoms don't always protect you from hpv.

That is about what I know. Take care of yourself and keep up on your pap smears!
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littlemisstery
replied on March 22nd, 2006
Experienced User
I don't know what strain I have really or anything else. I can't even say that what I had looked like hpv, much less was as bad as the pap smear showed. I've only been with two people in my life, and I was careful with both. I honestly think it was wrong, and when I go back in may i'll have another one done. What I don't understand is that they weren't even testing for that, they were testing to see if I had herpes, and they said absolutely nothing about that at all. It's quite frustrating.
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Mabel
replied on March 22nd, 2006
Supporter
You misunderstood. Hpv isn't always warts! You can have invisible hpv. Did they do a pap smear? Were those the results of the pap?

If you may have herpes, you may have hpv. You should definately talk to your doctor about it. But please, don't worry, hpv is very common. It just means you need to take care of your cervical health and never skip 'those' appointments.
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erogers33
replied on March 22nd, 2006
Experienced User
Ok, I have (or had) hpv, so I think I can help on this one.

Like ingi said, not all hpv is warts. Mine wasn't. The strain that I had causes atypical cells on the cervix, which can be found through a pap smear. The sooner you find it, the better - so to all the girls out there, make sure you get a pap smear every year! Anyways, I was completely shocked when I found out, because I never thought I would catch anything. But I caught it early, the cells were only pre-cancerous. So they took a biopsy and then performed a cryotherapy (freeze the cells on the cervix) to kill the bad cells. After 2 rounds of all that, my pap smear came back normal again. Still having normal pap smears almost 2 years later.

Littlemisstery, don't be too hard on yourself if this is in fact hpv. 4 out of 5 sexually active people will have it at some point in their lives, and only 5% will be diagnosed. I had no symptoms, nothing I could physically see that made me think anything was wrong. Just had a routine pap smear done. Get this taken care of before the cells become cancerous...
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littlemisstery
replied on March 25th, 2006
Experienced User
I don't really have the money to have that done, i'm struggling to actually stay in college as it is. Is it expensive to have all of that done and does it hurt? I have no insurance either, which doesn't make things any easier on me. The only way I had the pap smear done in the first place is because i'm allowed one actual visit a year due to the fact that I have little to no income on my own. About the only thing I can do right now is look to faith to help me, because no one else can.
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Tylanas
replied on March 26th, 2006
Especially eHealthy
littlemisstery wrote:
i don't really have the money to have that done, i'm struggling to actually stay in college as it is. Is it expensive to have all of that done and does it hurt? I have no insurance either, which doesn't make things any easier on me. The only way I had the pap smear done in the first place is because i'm allowed one actual visit a year due to the fact that I have little to no income on my own. About the only thing I can do right now is look to faith to help me, because no one else can.


or you could look for ways to apply for some aid. I'm not christian, but "god helps those who help themselves" or something... So my advice is to check out different ways to get money for important medical examps and whatnot. Since this is potentially life threatening (not to scare you!) this is sort of a good thing, because then you'll be able to get money (i'd think) and get this taken care of before it becomes anything serious.
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erogers33
replied on March 27th, 2006
Experienced User
Well, I have insurance, so all I had to pay was a $20 copay to have the procedures done. However, in your situation, I would call a planned parenthood in your area and see what options you have. There may be more options than you think. Does your college offer student health insurance? That might be another option...

Anyways, the cervical biopsy didn't hurt. They just take a .V.E.R.Y small sample of your cervical tissue, smaller than the "o's" in this size of font. They put numbing gel on my cervix before taking the sample, so I didn't feel anything.

The cryotherapy procedure feels like bad period cramps. They freeze the cervix for like 30 seconds at a time, and they usually do that twice. This causes the "bad" cells to die off. After the cryo, you usually have a clear, watery discharge for about a week. It's annoying, but nothing painful.

I hope this helps. It's really important to get this taken care of while it's in the early stages, trust me.
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