I’ve been treated twice in my lifetime for genital warts. I recently met a new guy and was completely honest with him. He ended things because of the hpv concerns. When I read about hpv online it says many people have it. Some don’t even know it and don’t show symptoms. I have struggled with depression over it for many years. Is what I have read online true? So many people really suffer from this?
Hi brandy55 and welcome
Yes, it’s absolutely true. The vast majority of women will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives. However, also for the vast majority of women (and men), HPV won’t cause any serious problems.
There are many different strains of HPV which are broadly categorised as low risk or high risk. Low risk HPV causes genital warts and is not associated with cervical cancer. It’s the high risk strains which can cause cervical cancer, albeit a only very small percentage of women who get infected will ever develop the disease, either because their immunity deals with the virus or because the cancer is prevented through the cervical screening programme.
There is reliable information on this website about HPV: https://www.jostrust.org.uk/information/hpv
It’s lovely that you were honest with the new guy and it’s a shame he decided to end things because of HPV concerns. In reality if he really wants to steer clear of HPV he will probably need to be celibate for the rest of his life, albeit the chances are he may well already have been infected with one or more strains of HPV from any previous relationships.
The subject of HPV does seem to cause a huge amount of anxiety but the key thing is that HPV primary screening (cervical screening) reduces the risk for cervical cancer. It’s a sensitive and reliable test which enables the health service to identify women who have a risk for cervical cancer. Close monitoring of those women means their chances of developing cervical cancer is significantly lower than for previous generations who, like myself, didn’t benefit from HPV primary screening.
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I’m so scared. I have very intense itching in the pubic area. No bumps that I can tell. Is this part of genital warts disease?
There are various reasons for pubic itching. My experience of pubic itching includes thrush and a sensitivity to detergent which I remedied by avoiding biological washing powder and extra rinsing of underwear. Best to get it checked it out by your GP or maybe a sexual health clinic.
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