(no subject)

[ardat-lili.livejournal.com]

So I had my biopsy today. Which consisted of taking 3 different samples. I had previously been under the impression that I didn't have HPV, miscommunication, I suppose, because they told me I have it for sure today. And then they sent me packing, back into the now horridly scary, lonely world. I go back next week to see if the samples were cancerous or not. For the time being, I'm just trying to adjust to accepting I have HPV. I wrote more about it in my own journal, the whole ordeal.. How have you accepted this?..For those afflicted?.. I'm afraid of being alone forever.

Comments

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

oh, honey... you're not going to be alone forever. people have all manner of ailments and illnesses and diseases; some contagious, some genetic, some terminal, some chronic. that doesn't keep people from loving you or wanting to marry you or being with you the rest of your life. i can promise you that the rest of your life is not going to be determined by HPV. you may be inconvenienced, you may struggle more, but this is not what is going to make or break you.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is one of the most common causes of sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the world. Experts estimate that as many as 24 million Americans are infected with HPV, and the frequency of infection and disease appears to be increasing. (http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1680.50761)

you are not the only one with this, it's not rare at all. you're one in 24 million. i'm sure you're going to find support and information and you're going to learn how to cope. concentrate on getting as healthy as possible right now so that you can enjoy your life, because it's out there for you to live.

[ardat-lili.livejournal.com]

wow..that many people.. i had no idea.. is it wrong for me to be feeling like i can't associate with other people who have hpv at this time?.. i feel really isolated. sigh..next comes the part of telling the person i'm dating that i probably infected them.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My doctor told me that though about 10% of women have been diagnosed with HPV, current estimates are that 50% of women actually have it. The rest just don't know it.

You're not alone. I had it for quite awhile before it was diagnosed, and my doctor thought it was something else for a full year before it was diagnosed for sure.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

there's no right way to feel right now. however you feel... that's how you feel. when i was diagnosed with a chronic pain disorder by a specialist, i went into a huge depression because i felt like i was condemned to live my life in terrible pain. i knew that it got so bad that people killed themselves. i didn't want to go to a support group, i didn't want to talk about it. i wanted it to go away.

i'm better now that i have been in years. it wasn't the end of the universe, it was more of a door down a different hall. i've still never relied on a support group. i found them to be whine and bitch sessions and i didn't come out of them feeling like i would ever get any better. i stayed clear.

if i have any advice for you, it's that you take the bare minimum of the "bad news" from everything you hear and read. give yourself a limit on how long you spend looking at worst case scenarios. educate yourself about your illness as completely as you can at the beginning and after that, try and stick to empowering and uplifting and helpful resources after that. simply turn off and avoid any doom and gloom machines you may meet, and that may include some of your friends. it makes all the difference in the world.

telling your present partner is going to be very hard, i know, but you are doing the right thing. it's really brave of you. i know there are people here who will be supportive of you. i hope you get some of the same in real life.

[danskpige.livejournal.com]

it's likely that he already had it, it is that common (also he may likely be carrying the virus without any signs, as so many are). since my diagnosis, i was with one partner who'd never had any problems, sometimes we didn't use condoms, he still never had any problems.

i was also diagnosed with it on my cervix. i have the strain that's more likely to cause cervical cancer. all i have to do is get more frequent pap smears. but it most definately rocked my world when i first found out, your feelings are totally normal!

when i met my husband, i found out that he'd already had warts before... so we didn't worry about it. i got actual warts on the outside for the first (and only) time after we'd been married for some months. a little creme took care of them and i haven't had any problems since!

[devi-pavarti.livejournal.com]

I have herpies. ack! - the horror! :) I used to feel so horrible about it. My husband and I had already been together for almost 4 years when I found out. There's no way to tell who had it first or when we got it but once we knew what was going on it was a lot easier. I have almost no break-outs and he's never had any, even though it's in his body. Since I found out first I had to tell him about it which was really hard, but he took it pretty well. Actually the first thing he said was "Oh my God - did I give it to you?" and then hugged me.

It will be OK. Promise. manhattan's right though. Learn everything you can and get comfortable with it and then move on. Your life isn't over and there are so many people in this world that have to deal with things like this. There's no reason to isolate yourself or stop dating. As long as you can be honest about it with yourself and the person you're with there's no reason for it to affect your life beyond taking care of your health and getting regular check-ups.

[shadowconn.livejournal.com]

If that many women have it then twice as many men ought to have it. Why do we only hear about it in wmen? Obviously it was given to you by a man.

[enigmae.livejournal.com]

I think women are just diagnosed more often. From what I've read there's no test for a man to tell whether he has it. The only way to know in a man is if he has symptoms (warts). In a woman however, it's diagnosed by pap smears. Also, women are more likely to have symptoms from std's in general than men are.

[oceandream9.livejournal.com]

I think women are diagnosed more because we go to our doctor's more (specifically gynocologists). Women tend to care more about their reproductive health more than men, and are more likely to not fear their image by asking whether there is a problem or not. Not only that, but women tend to show signs of HPV (not including genital warts), and are able to see the abnormal cells in their cervix. Men RARELY have issues with the non genital wart strain of HPV.

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[shadowconn.livejournal.com]

Ah . . . . That sucks for women. TOo bad there isn't equal symptoms or something. That way the spread of the desease could be slowed.

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[oceandream9.livejournal.com]

Well, yes and no. I mean, the less anyone has to deal with the disease the better. HPV really isn't an awful disease, though unchecked it can be. But if you're going to get any STD, i guess that is the one.
I think it'd be best if std's just didn't exist at all, but that's just wishful thinking :)

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[shadowconn.livejournal.com]

*nod*

[enigmae.livejournal.com]

You may be right that men rarely have serious issues with HPV, but it can increase the risk of penile cancer. I have no idea of the risk of this compared to the risk of cervical cancer for women, but it is a parallel.

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[oceandream9.livejournal.com]

I spoke to my doctor about it, and she mentioned the, as she put it, "so small a risk of penile cancer that the medical community isn't even sure it has anything to do with HPV." She made it sound like men get off pretty easy with this strain, and that the correlation may not even be a direct one.

[enigmae.livejournal.com]

Hmm...well, that's good news for guys.

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[oceandream9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, go figure.