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vaginapagina2008-07-01 07:26 pm
colourlesshade.livejournal.com) wrote in vaginapagina2008-07-01 07:26 pm
HPV positive
So in follow up to my last post... the nurse called me back (after office hours), and told me that I had an abnormal pap, and when it was run against HPV testing, I came back positive.
I spoke to my grandmother about it, who is very close to me on matters like this because of my mom's health history, and she really upset me. She acted like I was dirty, and said I needed to be "more discerning in my sexual partners." I was under the impression that contraction of HPV is pretty common, and happens to most people without much regard to amount of sexual partners and whatnot, but she went on quite a lecturing soapbox as if it was the contrary.
So that's my stressed out rant, and here's my question... I'm on birth control, and my partner and I are monogamous and long-term. Am I putting him at risk, because of HPV, by having sex without a condom, just using hormonal birth control as protection?
I don't understand a whole lot about this HPV thing... All I know is that I now have another appointment for a papsmear and coloposcy and I'm really really scared.
I spoke to my grandmother about it, who is very close to me on matters like this because of my mom's health history, and she really upset me. She acted like I was dirty, and said I needed to be "more discerning in my sexual partners." I was under the impression that contraction of HPV is pretty common, and happens to most people without much regard to amount of sexual partners and whatnot, but she went on quite a lecturing soapbox as if it was the contrary.
So that's my stressed out rant, and here's my question... I'm on birth control, and my partner and I are monogamous and long-term. Am I putting him at risk, because of HPV, by having sex without a condom, just using hormonal birth control as protection?
I don't understand a whole lot about this HPV thing... All I know is that I now have another appointment for a papsmear and coloposcy and I'm really really scared.
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high-risk is the cervical cancer causing kind. while these strains can be damaging to women if left undetected once they progress, men have no cervix to damage. so while they can carry the DNA and pass it along to fugure partners, it won't really affect them. there is a small chance of something... but i'm not recalling and don't want to include wrong information, so hopefully someone else can add to my reply.
low-risk is the wart causing kind. if you pass along this kind of HPV, your partner can get genital warts.
i found out i have high-risk HPV almost a year ago. while i was kind of... shocked at first, i did some reading and then things started to make sense. my paps have all come back normal, but an abnormal pap can be from many different things. try to stay calm until your next pap and colposcopy. cervical cancer is very treatable if found early, and having HPV does not mean that you are destined to get cancer.
i hope this helps.
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There is no test to determine whether or not a guy is carrying it, though. What are the numbers that I've seen on VP... 80% of all sexually active people either have gotten HPV or should presumed to be carriers?
I'd say one should tell one's partner, but... it's entirely probable that it won't affect said partner at all.
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So now I'm confused...!
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The digene HPV test, the only FDA-approved HPV test, tells you and your healthcare provider whether you have one or more of the 13 most important high-risk types of the virus...
(Although QIAGEN also makes a test for low-risk HPV types, its routine use is not recommended in medical guidelines or reimbursed by insurance.)
I did a little more poking around and found the test itself, (http://www1.qiagen.com/Products/digeneHPVTesthc2.aspx?ShowInfo=1) though it doesn't give any information about how common it is -- to my knowledge it's primarily used for research, but perhaps it's more commonly used in clinical settings now -- though the CDC still makes no mention of it. (http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm#test)
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Personally I have HPV in the form of cold sores, had it since i was a child. I know when an outbreak will happen and discontinue any risky behaviors during that time. No kissing any part of anyone else until its cleared up. So far I have not transmitted it.
Here is a FAQ I found from the CDC about HPV.
http://www.cdc.gov/std/HPV/STDFact-HPV.htm
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There is no clinically approved way (http://www.ashastd.org/learn/learn_hpv_men.cfm) to test for HPV in men.
Personally I have HPV in the form of cold sores, had it since i was a child.
Herpes - HSV - is the virus associated with cold sores. HPV, human papillomavirus, is associated with symptoms like warts and cervical cell changes.
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CDC wins again
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv-and-men.htm
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For instance, in my corner of Canada, from what I've seen and heard from many practitioners, even using the HPV test itself is extremely rare -- at least as of late last year it wasn't covered under universal health insurance, so it's not frequently used, and not even available in some provinces -- and Canada as a country was quite a bit behind the US in introducing that particular test at all.
I would frankly be surprised if anywhere in the world tested for HPV more frequently than the United States.
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You're right that HPV is very very very very common. If I remember right, you are with your first and only partner, who has only been with two other people? That's the exact same situation I am in. And I have HPV too (at least, I assume I do, as I've had two abnormal paps.
As far as your partner goes, assuming that my memory is correct, and that he's your first and only partner, you are not placing him at any risk whatsoever at all, given that he is probably the person who gave you HPV in the first place. Since it is a virus, its not something that can be passed back and forth the way bacterial infections can, so you don't have to worry about 'reinfecting' him. If he's not the person who gave it to you, then you might want to give things a little more thought. He might already have caught it from you, but then again maybe not. So then the two of you need to decide whether or not you want to try to prevent him from getting it. Condoms are only 70% effective against HPV, I think. It doesn't usually hurt men, but he could pass it to other partners in the future. But as I said, if you caught it from him, then there is nothing to worry about.
Oh, and if it makes you feel any better, there are tons of people in this community who have HPV. (See? (http://community.livejournal.com/vaginapagina/12956227.html)) I have only ONCE seen a post on here from someone who actually had cervical cancer. Only once.
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Thanks!
Tori
For the VP Team (http://www.vaginapagina.com/contact.php)
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*HUGS*
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HPV is extremely common -- as you'll see in some of the links above, 80% of the population will have HPV at some point in their lives. Because condoms do not protect fully against it, and because men cannot be tested (and do not show symptoms of high-risk strains), and because the large majority of the population that does get it shows no symptoms ever... for all those reasons, it is extraordinarily common.
At any rate -- you are not putting him at significant risk, no.He likely has already been exposed to the virus -- perhaps he was even the original carrier of the strain that is causing this abnormal pap. Either way, he doesn't really need to worry. If you read on the HPV test FAQ for men here, (http://www.thehpvtest.com/HPV-for-men-FAQ.html#testformen) you'll see:
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises men that they don't need to be worried about the lack of an HPV test for them. The agency states that "there is no clear health benefit to knowing if men have this virus, since HPV is unlikely to affect their health and cannot be treated. For most men, there would be no need to treat HPV, even if treatment were available, since it usually goes away on its own."
Further down on the page, you'll see this:
There is no need to stop having sexual contact with your partner if she is tested for the virus and finds out she has HPV. The virus is commonly exchanged between sexual partners, and by the time HPV is detected, it most likely already has been shared between the two of you. And, once a particular type of the virus has been exchanged, there is little risk of a "ping-pong" effect – in which you and your partner keep re-infecting each other with the same type. (In other words, you don't need to worry about passing the same type of HPV back and forth.)
So basically, no, your partner is not at any meaningful risk for anything. High-risk HPV is possibly linked to penile, throat, and anal cancers in men (depending on the site of infection), but the rates of those are, frankly, low enough that it's sort of a non-issue -- only about 1 in 100,000 men get penile cancer, for instance, and the majority of those men are over age 70.