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| Sat, 07-26-2008 - 2:35pm |
I have a question...
Last year I was told I have HPV. The gyno gave me a pamplet and asked if I had questions and that was it. I didn't know what to ask and the pamplet didn't explain much about me personally. I was pretty upset the more I thought about it, why didn't she explain to me what this meant or tell me more about it? How was I supposed to know what to ask?
Anyway. She also found some abnormalities and said I would need them to be rechecked. So I found a new dr., being totally unhappy with this one. I had my yearly check up, told her I had HPV. She said she did not see anything abnormal, and my tests came back saying the same thing.
Does that mean HPV is no longer there? Or that it's normal besides the virus? I just feel like it's a dumb question to call and ask about. This dr. has been actually very helpful and easy to talk to. It just sounds like a silly question, you know...

Hi there,
Once you have the HPV virus, you have it for life. In most cases, your body's immune system will fight off any symptoms that the HPV causes, but abnormalities can come back in situations where your immune system is compromised. For instance, I have a friend that just found out she has HPV, which she must have had for years, but up until she started having a string of health problems, she never had any problems with it.
In cases of low grade infection, the standard response is to wait and see if your body can fight it off. This avoids any unnecessary invasive tests and treatments. If you have an abnormal pap, you should have pap tests every six months until the abnormalities caused by HPV either goes away, or you have been treated for any abnormalities, and the abnormalities clear up.
I was told I had hpv about 15 years ago. I had several follow ups to that, two children and regular annual paps including std testing every year since then. No test has ever detected HPV again! I think the first lab got my results mixed up.
Definitely call and ask and clear up the confusion.