My smear results came back pos for high risk HPV and mild dyskariosis. I’m booked in for my colposcopy in a month and have some questions in the meantime.
This was my first smear test so I have no idea how long I’ve had both of these things…. Since it can take awhile for HPV to cause cell changes, does that mean I’ve been living with it for a long time? And if so, is it possible my body isn’t clearing the infection on its own? I’m concerned about chronic high-risk HPV infection because I know it can lead to a number of cancers besides cervical.
I’m also wondering why there isn’t more information on chronic infection/ related cancer screening. If there’s a much higher risk for those of us effected by certain HPV types- shouldn’t there also be early detection programs?
Hi @Maraleigh
Its typically thought that once we contract the virus it goes into a dormant state reactivating later in life and that we contract it within the first year of being sexually active, this is why they offer the vaccine to school children before they explore, so yes it is very likely you have had the virus for some time
High risk HPV+ in no way means you will develop CC or other cancers nomatter how long you have had the virus for, once we have HPV we always do when they talk about ‘clearing’ it we havnt got rid of it completely its just gone inactive making it undetectable… 80% of sexually active people currently has HPV its extremely common and compared to the amount of people who has the virus to the amount of people who are diagnosed with a cancer caused by HPV is rare, think of it like smoking and the link to lung cancer (not the percentage just the link)… not every smoker will go on to get lung cancer, just like not everyone who has high risk HPV will get a cancer diagnosis its just a known cause
They have attempted to produce testing for others, but the testing wasnt as successful as they hoped, although cervical screening isnt 100% it was the only one that was effective enough in actually preventing what it was made for whereas the other tests they tried didnt meet what they needed to get them approved xx
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Thank you for the reply! That’s interesting, I didn’t know it was stuck with you basically lifelong. I had Gardisil long before becoming sexually active which is also why high risk HPV was such a surprise. So does HPV no longer pose a risk to your health once it lays dormant?
Also, I wish the smoking analogy was more comforting but unfortunately there seems to be a strong link between it and many types of cancer haha. I don’t like those odds.
I had cervarix the vaccine before that one, way before i was sexually active too so im also in that boat lol but yes thats right it cant do us any harm while its inactive, cell changes are a possible reaction to the virus being in a active state
im sorry it didnt bring you much comfort x i just meant the comparison as in not every smoker goes on to get cancer like not everyone who has HPV will either, rather than the link to the amount of people who smoke and get cancer xx
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