HPV, also known as the Human papillomavirus is actually a collections of different strains of the virus. About 10 of these can lead to cervical cancer
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I am in the same situation as your aunt. I have been married for 15 years and absolutely know 100% that my husband has not cheated on me. I know it sounds like a cliche, but he would never do that to me. He is a devoted, loving husband and we have been through so much together. I have never cheated but was recently diagnosed with HPV through a Pap smear and now have pre-cancerous cells. My doctor has not offered much information when I asked how long it can remain dormant. He says he does not know but usually if a person has HPV they were infected recently. This I cannot agree with. I was sexually active (my husband too) before our marriage and even had one bad pap come back about 10 years ago (my doctor says they did not look for HPV back then). The only explaination is that I contracted in before my marriage and it has laid dormant. My health has been not the best lately. I was diagnosed with PCOS and about 7 months ago started an extremely stressful job. It is just disappointing and scary to me to constantly read that if you have HPV that a recent partner gave it to you. I feel like the only person in the world that feels that this can lay dormant for 15 years.
Re: Me too
anonymous
September 27 2006, 12:41:17 UTC
Sometimes informations on topics that concern women's health isn't up to date across all sources. HPV has been around for ages but it is until recently that this has been brought to the foreground and being addressed. My aunt heads an oncology unit at a prestigious, university hospital. She had never heard of HPV before. The literature she was given was by researchers in the field.
HPV is a virus. When you are first exposed to it, you may not know and your body defends itself from it. Like chicken pox's relation to onset of shingles, during times of stress or lowered immunity, HPV can resurface. The chicken pox virus can lay dormant for over 30 years.
I wish you the best and understand that you are not the only one. Good luck and hope everything turns out well.
Re: Me too
anonymous
September 29 2006, 02:03:14 UTC
thank you for the feedback. It is just really depressing because I feel I cannot tell anyone about the my situation. I feel like if I tell anyone that I have HPV and it has led to dysplasia, then they will think I or my husband have cheated on each other. I really cannot deal with that on top of having to deal with the pre-cancerous cells. HPV comes with a stigma because there is not enough information and people are not educated (even my doctor offered little support!). I am confident that my doctor is making sure that I am okay. I have a scheduled LEEP procedure and although the outer tissue of my cervix shows high grade changes, my inner tissue has no abnormal cells. This is great, if I have not had the Pap when I did, it could have turned into cervical cancer. So, for now, I will get this done, and continue to re-pap every 6 months.
Re: Me tooragingcanarySeptember 29 2006, 16:09:01 UTC
It depends on your personality. My aunt due to her career and past, she took the road of telling everyone to help educate them. For many years she headed Infectious Disease Units for hospitals and regularly taught courses and spoke at conferences about STDs. She later moved to Oncology to where she is now, she continues to speak at medical conferences and conventions.
Being at the forefront in a number of research hospital positions, she was surprised by HPV - something that she knew nothing about but some how effects over 90% of people. She talked my ear off about it, and educated everyone she knows.
The progression of her disease found abnormal cells/cancer in her uterus. She had a full hysterectomy and removal of surrounding lymphatic tissues. If she had gone another six months, she would have had to been on chemo and radiation therapy. If she had gone a year longer, her prognosis would have been even worse as the cancer found was the fastest spreading and most deadly. She has done well after the surgery.
HPV can lay dormant for many years. Google: HPV dormancy The length of time is subject of discussion. Many people can contract the disease but never show symptoms due to a strong immune system, but that doesn't rid the person of the virus it still sits and waits. Maybe you should talk your doctor into becoming more educated about the subject. If google can answer the dormancy of HPV, the information isn't too hard to find.
Best of Luck. Try to feel confident and self-assured. 90% of the population is purported to be infected with HPV and probably don't know it yet. You are lucky to have found it as early as you did. All the more reason for everyone to get their check ups - no matter how invasive they make feel.
I was sexually active (my husband too) before our marriage and even had one bad pap come back about 10 years ago (my doctor says they did not look for HPV back then). The only explaination is that I contracted in before my marriage and it has laid dormant. My health has been not the best lately. I was diagnosed with PCOS and about 7 months ago started an extremely stressful job.
It is just disappointing and scary to me to constantly read that if you have HPV that a recent partner gave it to you. I feel like the only person in the world that feels that this can lay dormant for 15 years.
Reply
HPV is a virus. When you are first exposed to it, you may not know and your body defends itself from it. Like chicken pox's relation to onset of shingles, during times of stress or lowered immunity, HPV can resurface. The chicken pox virus can lay dormant for over 30 years.
I wish you the best and understand that you are not the only one. Good luck and hope everything turns out well.
Reply
I am confident that my doctor is making sure that I am okay. I have a scheduled LEEP procedure and although the outer tissue of my cervix shows high grade changes, my inner tissue has no abnormal cells. This is great, if I have not had the Pap when I did, it could have turned into cervical cancer. So, for now, I will get this done, and continue to re-pap every 6 months.
What is the outcome for your aunt?
Reply
Being at the forefront in a number of research hospital positions, she was surprised by HPV - something that she knew nothing about but some how effects over 90% of people. She talked my ear off about it, and educated everyone she knows.
The progression of her disease found abnormal cells/cancer in her uterus. She had a full hysterectomy and removal of surrounding lymphatic tissues. If she had gone another six months, she would have had to been on chemo and radiation therapy. If she had gone a year longer, her prognosis would have been even worse as the cancer found was the fastest spreading and most deadly. She has done well after the surgery.
HPV can lay dormant for many years. Google: HPV dormancy The length of time is subject of discussion. Many people can contract the disease but never show symptoms due to a strong immune system, but that doesn't rid the person of the virus it still sits and waits. Maybe you should talk your doctor into becoming more educated about the subject. If google can answer the dormancy of HPV, the information isn't too hard to find.
Best of Luck. Try to feel confident and self-assured. 90% of the population is purported to be infected with HPV and probably don't know it yet. You are lucky to have found it as early as you did. All the more reason for everyone to get their check ups - no matter how invasive they make feel.
Reply
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