HPV

mp327 said:

HPV
Over the years, I had perhaps a total of three abnormal paps. One was many years ago in my 20's, when I was told it was an "infection," for which I was given a vaginal cream. The next time I was in my early 40's, when no treatment was given, only a repeat pap done a few months later. The last time was in 2005, with only a repeat. Each time, the test was repeated after a certain waiting time and the repeat tests came back normal all 3 times. I know for a fact that the initial one in 2005 came back as ASCUS (atypical squamous cells of unknown significance). I have always been very diligent about getting a yearly pap and had one in December 2007, about 6 months before my cancer was diagnosed in June 2008. The 2007 pap was negative. Since my diagnosis and treatment, I insist on HPV testing along with my pap every year, although my gynecologist normally just tests for HPV every other year. Each time, the HPV test has come back negative since treatment.

Marynb said:

Hpv
I don't know whether I had/have hpv or not. I assume that I must have since my ex. husband was a serial cheater, so I am sure I was exposed to hpv. I was also misdiagnosed for years as having a hemmorhoid, even though I suspected it wasn't. By the time I was diagnosed, I was in severe pain and getting in and out of a chair was difficult. I also felt sick and very fatigued. I developed chronic diarreah, which is what finally got me to change doctors, thank God. I knew something was terribly wrong and I quit my job, thinking it was stress related. I couldn't be too far away from a toilet. I felt so much better after treatment, that the treatment seemed minor to me. The burns were nothing compared to the pain I had felt before treatment.

I was tested for hpv post treatment, but was negative. The doctor said the tests were pretty useless. Not sure whether that is true. I am also not sure whether I still carry the virus in my body? I would really like to know.

Mary, 

Everything you describe here, and you describe it well sounds just like I felt.

I too think that we likely experience symptoms from hpv that can just feel like "the malaise" as my doctor used to call it. I never have tested positive either but with cervical cancer that cost me a uterus at 25 years old (I also had been married to a serial cheater) and then T2N1 anal cancer at 64 I believe it is one malicious crazy virus. 

Thank God both these cancers kill you slowly and not at all if caught in time and protocol is strictly followed. My pap smears back in the day were supposedly "normal" and my doctors  blew off my complaints about spotting, being horribly smelly down there, etc. until finally a pap came back a IV out of IV when I was young. Earlier detection and I may have been able to keep my uterus. 

This time around I was partly to blame. I kept going to Chiropractors and Accupuncturists for pain and fatigue and blamed it on my job also and grieving which I still think gives me some body aches certain times of the year. I had not gone to a gynecologist in 7 years but I had received a colonoscopy within a time period where it could have been diagnosed perhaps early but the GI had never see anal cancer before until mine. Oddly though, he diagnosed another case right after. I wonder if it was just that he missed the ones he could have caught early.

Anyway, like you, I felt a lot better and had hope after my diagnosis. Before my diagnosis, it was all downhill and life was just about a lot of pain. I couldn't imagine how people could sit down in chairs with abandon. I had to be so careful and I was bringing pillows with me everywhere. I would practice singing and not be able to stand throughout rehearsals but sit on a chair piled with pillows. All the light was leaving my eyes.

I feel bright again, but I have not gone back to my stressful sales job. Thank God we were not in debt and my husband draws a pension. We are getting by.

Good luck to you and God bless. Somehow it's comforting to hear another story so similar to my own.

Fondly,

Sandy

I did not have any of your early symptoms (yeast infection, hemorrhoids, fever or UTI).  I did have cervical dysplasia in the late 90's which was treated with LEEPs and eventually a conization.  It took 6 - 12 months before a got a normal PAP but all have been normal since.  I'm not sure if I was tested for HPV at that time but I do know that around that time is when the virus started to be recognized as a cause of cervical cancer.  My anal tumor was tested for HPV and came back positive. 

It is my understanding that most people's bodies rid themselves of this virus but some do not and it attaches to their DNA.  So, if it's true that it's attaches to DNA, why are the tests not accurate?  Personally, I don't think the doctors know much about this virus or seem concerned about it. 

get an anoscope done.... or proctosigmoidoscopy.....colonoscopies miss anal cancer most of time......mine was missed over year.....sephie