Hello, 3 years ago I had my smear which said there had been some slight changes but HPV was not detected. I panicked at the time but it said not to come back for 3 years. I have just gone private as I started to worry and I have had it back to say low grade changes and HPV detected. I am now obviously bricking it, and wondering how I get referred back to the NHS, as it suggested a coloscopy. Also what does low grade mean? I know HPV is common, but low grade what? Thank you in advance.
If your previous smear was 3 years ago and you were told to come back in 3 years, then you are likely to soon be called for an NHS smear, and you can take it from there. You could try asking your GP to refer you for colposcopy, but low grade changes means changes to the cells of the cervix and low would be either borderline (borderline nothing) or CIN1 at most, and this condition can actually resolve itself over time without treatment. You don’t need to worry too much at this stage; it sounds like nothing dreadful is happening.
Here’s the link to the Jo’s Trust page explaining what ‘changes’ mean.
https://www.jostrust.org.uk/information/abnormal-cells/about-cell-change
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