I am having a really difficult time trying to figure out what is best moving forward. I’ve had CIN2 confirmed and have been given an appointment for the LLetz treatment. I have looked into this treatment myself and have seen personal experiences, mostly good, but often with women who already have children.
Being in my mid twenties I really am struggling with looking ahead with potentially a life time of issues towards periods and children. I know the treatment is relatively safe but cannot get the risks such as premature birth and miscarriage out of my head. I’ve been with the partner for some years and we have spoken about having children, I just feel like I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew the treatment had caused problems in the future (I know issues could occur anyway even if I didn’t have this).
Has anyone else been in this situation? If I had children I wouldn’t hesitate in getting the treatment straight away. I obviously wouldn’t want the cells to progress but have my reservations due to where I am at in life at the moment. I can’t get passed the idea of having things done to my cervix and not having any issues.
The standard treatment for CIN2 is to proceed to lletz but some practitioners are prepared to watch and wait especially in younger women.
The quoted figure is that 60% of cases of CIN2 regress by themselves but remember that this figure is based on small samples of women or on mathematical modelling because most opt for treatment which it would be unethical to withhold for the purposes of a large cohort study.
This means that an estimated 40% persist or progress.
If you do opt to watch and wait, you will have frequent colposcopies with the resultant anxiety each time waiting for results - how will you cope with that?
If the cells spread or become CIN 3, you are looking at having a larger area removed by lletz which may make premature delivery more likely.
I would look up the percentage of early deliveries in women. A quick google tells me that women are at approximately twice the risk than women who have not had lletz. But don't forget that that will be all lletz treatments - the more you remove the higher the risk so a small area removed will not be as high as twice the risk.
As for periods, I think they can be messed up at first but not in the long term from what I have read.
Discuss your concerns with your gynaecologist and see what they say.
