HPV(STD): Advanced Realtionship Filter

[ExistentialLuv]

You have heard of HIV. But how many of you have heard of HPV? Human Papallomia Virus.[B/]

Human Papillomavirus, or HPV, is the most common viral STD in the world and it has no cure.

I am taking a risk posting this private information about myself. If I don't I am not going to over come a serious obstacle I do not need right at this time of my life. If I am flamed on the GB by some of you I just want you to know, there is nothing you can say that I have not already said to myself about this subject. Nothing could make me feel worse than I did (and do) when I was diagnosed with cancer because of this STD, having to have a hysterectomy and never having had a child.

It is time I start healing and stop being ashamed and isolating myself. I have HPV and would like to share how this STD has had an affect on my life. I hope this will help others who read this deal with any issues they may have. Admitting that I have this is the hardest step and about all the farther I can go this mornig besides a couple cut and paste with a link to the info.

This anxiety attack is leaving me exaughted and fuzzy headed but I know I will not sleep till I at least open up a little.

I have calmed down just getting that little bit off my chest and the tears have stopped. Many of you do not understand how something like this can affect one till they tell you or you get it yourself. Who know's, after reading some of the info I Cut/paste here you may be running to your doctor (I would suggest it if you have had more than 4 sexual partners). It is a virus not usaully detected unless you are having an out break and most times just shows up as an Abnormal Pap.

In no way am I trying to scare any of you but educate you. I was not and only wish I had been. This was not an STD talked about in health class when I was in highschool and they are just now starting to fully understand the effects it can have. Of course it effects a woman worse than a man. I also want to give some comfort, support, courage, and encouragment to others letting you know you are not alone.

 

[ExistentialLuv]

I was diagnosed with HPV in 2000 after being diagnosed with first stage Cervical Cancer. I do not know how or when I got it. There was only 7 months between the time of losing my baby in 99 and being diagnosed. In that time I had not been sexually active and it had never shown before on a pap smear.

I looked at the doctor oddly and curiously. "HPV, What is that?"

This STD is very misunterstood and not taught about. After living with guilt, shame, thoughts of suicide, self torture, anxiety, and a few other fucked feelings I feel I should educate some of you. You are not alone

According to the American Journal of Medicine in 1997, 74% of sexually active people (aged 15-49) will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. I have also heard 80% from other sources, and this could well be true because STD infection rises as time goes on. It is made up of three different kinds of people: 1. People who currently have warts or dysplasia, 2. People who have, at some point in their lives, had warts or dysplasia, and 3. People who are carriers of the virus but don't know it because they never had any symptoms. Together, they make up 80% of people having sex today. This means a lot of your friends are infected, too.

It is now 2005. Scary, isn't it? One in four of us here have it (less with all these virgins). Little humor for all the seriousness

Here are the sites I am cutting from if you want to read on and not bother with my drivel. I am not seeking attention or pity. This is the only way I feel I can heal. Also to support others in knowing you are not alone and I know how you feel. Till I read through these links tonight I felt I was alone. I am no longer going to feel sorry for myself but accept what I can not change.

HPV For Dummies
Myths and Misconceptions about HPV

 

[catalina_francisco]

I for one applaud you for being brave enough to make this thread with it's personal content in the interests of putting aside your own fears and pain to use your experience to alert others to the dangers and to provide an education which still in this enlightened time seems to be pushed under the carpet. I find it so difficult to understand why people want to keep such information secret, and prefer denial to awareness. One of the saddest times this happened was with the edvent of AIDS and the rush to keep it quiet, and yet now decades later when a new and potentially dangerous strain emerges, once again the experts rush to downplay the importance of education and informing the public in the interest of preventing so-called over reaction and panic!! I am not so sure we do live in an enlightened age.

Catalina

 

[ExistentialLuv]

I for one applaud you for being brave enough to make this thread with it's personal content in the interests of putting aside your own fears and pain to use your experience to alert others to the dangers and to provide an education which still in this enlightened time seems to be pushed under the carpet. I find it so difficult to understand why people want to keep such information secret, and prefer denial to awareness. One of the saddest times this happened was with the edvent of AIDS and the rush to keep it quiet, and yet now decades later when a new and potentially dangerous strain emerges, once again the experts rush to downplay the importance of education and informing the public in the interest of preventing so-called over reaction and panic!! I am not so sure we do live in an enlightened age.

Catalina

Your words touch me deeply and thank you for your kindness. I can see how you would not understand why some of us keep our dirty laundry a secret. If you have not been through it it is hard to relate.

Mine has not been out of denial but fear and shame. After I found out I did not seek help or support. Please find support and help if you have HPV. It is an emotional virus and you can fuck yourself up in the head if you isolate and bottle up like I did.

I did not have any physically emotion contact with a person for 4 years (1 prior to finding out) after diagnosed. The feelings that come with this virus are hard to explain.

Isolation is not the answer and you are right, just acting like it does not exist does no one any good. What could have been controled years ago has now become an epidmic in my eyes.

So please people read this and do not just close your eyes to it. Become aware and spread the word.

 

[ExistentialLuv]

Introduction to HPV

"I went to the gynecologist, and my doctor said something about HPV. What's HPV?"

Human Papillomavirus, or HPV for short, is the virus that causes warts. And by this, I mean any kind of wart - the wart you have on your elbow, the plantar's wart on the bottom of your foot, the skin tags that are on your neck. There are more than 70 different kinds of HPV - and 30-some of these cause genital HPV, which is what your doctor is talking about.

Genital HPV is not necessarily "genital warts." There are more than 30 strains that infect the genital area, and they are divided into 2 subcategories: Genital Warts and Cervical Dysplasia.
Genital warts may look something like skin tags - they are not always obvious warts. In fact, sometimes they may be so tiny that a doctor has to use a magnifying glass to see them. They only grow to large sizes if they are left untreated. Genital warts do not lead to cancer. They are called low-risk HPV for that reason.
Cervical dysplasia is the fancy term for an abnormal pap smear. Cervical dysplasia is not warts. Rather, it is when the cells in the cervix undergo abnormal changes that may lead to cancer. Cervical dysplasia only becomes cancer after it has been left untreated for at least several years, and because it can become cancerous it is called high-risk HPV.

The only reason that a doctor will give you a pap smear every year is to see whether or not you have a dysplasia-causing HPV strain in your body. If you get regular paps, you won't be significantly at risk for cancer, because the doctor will treat any abnormal cells before they can progress.

Having genital warts does not mean you will get cervical cancer, as having an abnormal pap smear does not mean you will get warts. If you only have one strain, you will only get one thing - warts OR dysplasia. (Although sometimes a woman can get an abnormal pap due to a wart-causing strain of HPV, but in this case it will only produce slight abnormalities and does not usually cause a big problem.) The only way you could get both warts and dysplasia is if you had more than one kind of HPV. Now, the HPV viruses do many times travel in clusters, meaning you can have both low-risk and high-risk at one time. However, many people only ever get low-risk OR high-risk and so diagnosis of one does not mean diagnosis of the other as well.

You get HPV from having sex with an infected partner. Some people use condoms and still get the virus, so condoms are not entirely reliable when it comes to HPV. HPV is really, really common - because most people never show symptoms, no one knows they have it. Experts think that only about 1-2% of the people with low-risk HPV and 3-5% of the people with high-risk HPV ever get diagnosed.


References linked form HPV For dummies:
*ashastd.org (American Social Health Assoc.)
*the HPV hotline

 

[SweetDevil1977]

Just to add something here that I read in an article.

There is no test for HPV in men. So unless a man is showing symptoms (i.e. warts on his penis) he will never know if he has it.

It's a shame that all the people in the world are labeled as "untouchable" or "dirty" because of this very common STD.

You are a very brave woman to come forward and discuss this topic EL. I commend you on that. Best wishes to you.

 

[catalina_francisco]

Your words touch me deeply and thank you for your kindness. I can see how you would not understand why some of us keep our dirty laundry a secret. If you have not been through it it is hard to relate.

Mine has not been out of denial but fear and shame. After I found out I did not seek help or support. Please find support and help if you have HPV. It is an emotional virus and you can fuck yourself up in the head if you isolate and bottle up like I did.

I did not have any physically emotion contact with a person for 4 years (1 prior to finding out) after diagnosed. The feelings that come with this virus are hard to explain.

Isolation is not the answer and you are right, just acting like it does not exist does no one any good. What could have been controled years ago has now become an epidmic in my eyes.

So please people read this and do not just close your eyes to it. Become aware and spread the word.

Sorry, I can understand that...what I meant was why, as you say, it is not one of those which feature highly in public education. The health profession, as with many government affiliated departments, seem to have an attitude of keeping certain things to themselves and denying the rest of the community information which should be freely shared and available to all. It is a power game with dangerous consequences.

Catalina

 

[ExistentialLuv]

Thank you both. I should be posting a bit faster but slow today. Damn anxiety kicked my insomnia in.


I do feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

 

[ExistentialLuv]

Is it curable?

There is no known cure for HPV. However, HPV does have different levels of virulency. These are:

1. Active HPV Infection - When you have symptoms of HPV, like warts or an abnormal pap smear. This is the time period where the virus is most contagious.

2. Subclinical HPV Infection - Your body has cleared up the symptoms, but the virus is still in your skin since there is no cure for it. Experts have differing opinions about how contagious subclinical HPV is, but my conclusion is that it is still quite contagious, because otherwise so many people wouldn't be infected with the virus and not know they have it.

3. Latent HPV Infection - HPV becomes latent if your body has not shown symptoms in a long time (years) and as such, has had a chance to greatly reduce viral levels. Latent HPV infection is not thought to be nearly as contagious as active or subclinical HPV infection - perhaps it is not contagious at all in this stage. However, it is possible for latent HPV to re-activate, and as such, a latent infection can become contagious again. Also, just because you haven't had symptoms in a while, you should not assume that your viral levels have become latent and as such you are no longer contagious, because there's no way to tell when exactly this happens.

4. Immune Suppression - Eventually the immune system does repress HPV. At the point of natural suppression, it would be unlikely, if not impossible, for a person to transmit the virus. Researchers don't know whether it is actually ever fully eliminated from the body, but personally I believe that it can be, and at any rate it quits being contagious after a while. The time it takes to get to this point varies from person to person, according to their immune system. Some people may never repress the virus at all, and others may do it relatively quickly - it all depends on how healthy your body is. This is why it's so very important to give your body healthy things to work with! The longer you have gone without having symptoms, the more likely it is that your body is reducing the viral levels.

What we do know is that HPV does not tend to be persistent in most cases, and most people who have contracted it are not thought to be permanently contagious.

Sources: The American Social Health Association and my new book, "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About HPV and abnormal pap smears" by Joel Palevsky, MD.

 

[ExistentialLuv]

Getting and transmitting HPV

Can I get HPV from having warts on other parts of my body (hands, feet)?
No, you can't! The types of HPV that cause plantar's warts, warts on the hands, and warts on any other part of the body are not the same as the kinds that cause genital warts. Therefore, they are also not transmittable to the genitals. If you have genital warts, do not blame it on the fact that you had warts on other parts of your body in the past. This is a new kind of wart, and 99.9% of the time, it's transmitted sexually.

Can I get genital warts if someone who has a wart on their hand touches my genitals?
Because warts on the hands and feet are caused by different types of HPV than genital warts, this is highly improbable at best.

HOWEVER: I recently read an article (“HPV Transmission—still feeling the way.”) that says it’s possible for mothers who have warts on their hands to transmit these non-sexual warts to their baby’s genitals if they are changing their diapers and in doing so are touching that area of the baby. This isn’t common, but it can be a reason that children end up with warts on their genitals. Also, if an adult has HPV on their genitals, sometimes the virus can get on their hands (from touching that area and then not washing their hands, or whatever), and then by changing a baby’s diaper they could transmit it that way, actually causing the baby to get genital HPV. The fact that a child has HPV does not necessarily mean that the child has been abused. (However, abuse DOES cause it in a lot of situations, so that cannot be ruled out.)

Can I get HPV from toilet seats, bath towels, swimming pools, hot tubs, etc.?
Straight from an email I got from ASHA:

“The issue of nonsexual means of HPV transmission has sparked a good deal of debate. There are experts who think this is possible, but it remains unclear exactly how this might occur. Such nonsexual transmission is largely referred to as theoretical and would be rare, at best. Still, one cannot discount the possibility. In the end, science simply doesn't have the tools to pin down explanations for these rare instances of alleged nonsexual transmission. We regret that we're unable to be more specific than that, but this remains an area of controversy.”

In my opinion: If you could get it from toilet seats, we would ALL have it.

 

[CutieMouse]

I am so sorry you are facing this. It amazes me that more people don't know about it. For men apparently HPV isn't *that* big of a deal. For women it means possible cancer. How can people NOT make education about this a higher priority? Sigh.

I know it won't help you, but they are doing research which they hope will find a cure for HPV someday, and it looks kinda promising.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/23/health/main625825.shtml

Again I am so sorry you are facing this. Thank you for bringing it up to educate others about HPV.

 

[ExistentialLuv]

Honey*Hugs* You can be sad for me but no reason to feel sorry. Thanks for that site. Your right, it can not help me now but in the future it can others

I have a lot to live for and a great life with my soul mate ahead. With the miracles of modern science She can carry my egg having our baby. I survived cancer. I am stronger from my battle with this. I am no longer affraid. I also learned all about my body in those years of being alone

Your right for men it is no big deal (YET, viruses do mutate). One of the many reasons I am making it my priority to spread awareness about it here. Spread the education around please. It really surprised me that it has not been talked about in some way on the board.

Most strains do not cause cancer but a small percetage does and can be orally passed. Even Condoms do not protect you from this STD.

I am so sorry you are facing this. It amazes me that more people don't know about it. For men apparently HPV isn't *that* big of a deal. For women it means possible cancer. How can people NOT make education about this a higher priority? Sigh.

I know it won't help you, but they are doing research which they hope will find a cure for HPV someday, and it looks kinda promising.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/23/health/main625825.shtml

Again I am so sorry you are facing this. Thank you for bringing it up to educate others about HPV.

 

[ExistentialLuv]

Oral sex?

You can, although it's not nearly as common as genital HPV. There are websites out there for oral HPV and recurring respiratory papilloma (HPV in the throat), and they say that there are two strains of HPV that CAN cause oral warts: strains 6 and 11. These warts most commonly come about because a mother gave it to a baby at birth, but even then, it is only 1 out of every 400 babies (pretty low risk). If a person contracts warts in their mouth later on in life, generally they don't have enough evidence to say for sure that it was transmitted sexually, but it could be and I'm sure that in some cases it is. (They are doing more and more studies on this, too.) There is also the fact that a significant amount of oral cancers contain HPV type 16, and so it appears that the dysplasia-causing types of HPV can be transmitted through oral sex. (I also came across a study on a scientific search engine that said, and I quote, “results strongly suggest that HPV-16 may be involved in the early stages of the development of some oral carcinomas.”) But then again, you must remember that the amount of the population which has oral cancer is pretty small, comparatively, and then take 25% of that small amount - so it's not nearly big enough of an epidemic for us to say that it's definitely transmissible orally all the time.

I read a study about mother-infant HPV transmission that also took samples from the mothers’ and fathers’ mouths to check for HPV. In this study, some people did have HPV in their mouths. But they concluded that “The difference between oral and genital infection rates suggest that there could be a high rate of transient virus that clears in a short timespan, explaining the different HPV types found in partners or in individual mucosal sites. Possible explanations for the low oral infection rate include the barrier effect of the heavily keratinized oral tissue, which makes it less permissive than the cervix to microbial infections that routinely exist in the oral cavity without producing disease or which prevents infection from invading the mucosa through microinvasive tears. Saliva has also been shown to protect against infections through a number of antimicrobial agents” (“Human Papillomavirus and Types in Newborns and Parents” 7).

And now for that in plain English: basically, this is saying: “Yeah, we did find it, in the adults and the children, but we didn’t find it nearly as much as we found genital HPV. This makes us think that the mouth acts differently than the genitals when it comes into contact with HPV, for instance, saliva is protective against HPV. So we think that maybe the mouth does get contaminated, but the infection doesn’t stay like it does with genital HPV. Also, maybe the mouth gets infected but just doesn’t show symptoms nearly as much.”

The theory that maybe the mouth just doesn’t show symptoms as much is also supported by a study on oral HPV in both HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals that’s located in the files section of the Picking Up The Pieces group on Yahoo. They did find oral HPV in the group of people, but I’ll let you read the study on your own.

My final assessment of oral HPV is that it is a risk, just not as high of a risk as genital HPV. Either way, I still wouldn't recommend oral sex when you have an outbreak. Yuck! Oh, and there are things you can do to protect your mouth, like using plastic wrap for oral sex (health department keeps telling us that all the time). Use your own judgment.

 

[BlueSugar]

I've reciently had, well, I guess one would call a "run in" with someone who has HPV. She has been living with it for about two years and has known about it for just about the last year or so. All the info she finds is contradictory, and she doesn't have much mental well-being.. she has been in and out of counseling for various problems and this one just added a whole new depth to her life.

I no longer talk to her because of injustices she did to me and M, related closely and unrelated to this topic. It was a difficult decision to make because I do care for people - but at the same it was such a horrible thing she did, it made it very easy not to talk to her anymore.
We (M and I) are fine as far as we have gotten checked out so far.

I do plan on getting this info to her somehow, it isn't a secret to me that she sees someone locally, so I may just print it out and give it to them to have in the office for everyone to read... I don't know, but I agree that this info needs to be spread and publicised.

My heart is heavy and saddened by the many that I do know and the many that I don't know that need to live with these difficulties in their lives. I cannot stress enough coming foward and speaking to others about HPV and other STD/STIs.
I have worked with many agencies promoting safer sex to young and old, doing alot of volunteer work educating others about their bodies .. going further then any after school special could.

And I'm sure if you PM anyone or email/aim and litster who has supported you and your lifestyle choices and has been here for a while following your triumphs and letdowns - we are more then willing to talk with you, I know I am.

::HUGS:: you're not alone in this world, dont let yourself be.

 

[ExistentialLuv]

WOW Sugar

I felt that hug across the barriers of distance.

Thank you

I finally know I am not alone.

 

[SkAoUt]

I didn't mean to be so glib about STI's. My situ is obvioulsy very diffent from yours. World apart really. My heart goes out to you EL. I'm happy you decided to post this thread not only for the educational value but also for it cathartic nature!