I had a smear last year and I had HPV but no abnormal cells. I've just received my results for this years smear and I have HPV and high grade ( moderate ) dyskaryosis. I have to go for a colposcopy.
I spoke to my doctor , I ended up crying on the phone . He said that it looks like they couldn't establish if the cells were high grade or not , I'm not sure if he said they couldn't establish if the were normal or not it's a bit of a blur , but it looks like they've put it as high grade moderate because they couldn't tell . He didn't really say much more , he said I've been referred for colposcopy but doesn't know when that would be hopefully within a few weeks .
I'm petrified. I'm just in tears , looking at my children and just feel heartbroken that something could be wrong . I had normal smears up until last year , when I had hpv . I thought it took a while for cells to become abnormal after a hpv positive result and it's only been a year so I'm really worried now .
ive had no real symptoms- I did have slight pain during sex , before my last smear - but I have a tilted cervix and it was only in the one position it hurt slightly , I had a few very slight bleeds - I wouldn't really class as a bleed - once or twice after sex and once or twice not but when I had the first I kept an eye on when it was and it was always around when I should ovulate . I explained this to the doctor and was told that if it's not regular or severe plus my smear was ok then it's not anything to worry about . This hasn't happened for ages now .
Just before Xmas I started a home business and would sit on the floor bent over packaging orders . I felt my back start to hurt and I knew it would get worse and it did - for about 2 weeks I couldn't walk properly but I explained to the doctor , he said sciatica - sciatica excercises helped and it got better I just now have w very slight dull pain sometimes in the left part of my lower back - gets worse when I'm sitting in the same position I did before Xmas so I assumed that was sciatica - no pain at the front , no abnormal discharge I don't think , periods very regular and not massively heavy or anything but now I'm worrying are these symptoms ? I suffer really bad with anxiety related to my health and I'm always convinced I have some kind of symptom or something serious , I'm on medication for anxiety .
im just a mess in all honesty , I'm so scared , I don't know how I'll get through this wait.
Im 35 , no family history of cancer ( I don't know if that means anything )
Reading this is just like reading my own experience! I've had lots of issues similar to you. HPV positive at my smear last year, HPV positive with cell changes this year with a colposcopy booked for the 1st of March.
Before I received the smear results I wasn't worried at all, but since then I've been an anxious mess. I have had a lot of similar symptoms that you describe. Most worrying for me is the lower back pain which only seems to have occurred since I received the smear results. I'm telling myself that it's just anxiety which it making things worse but it's so scary. Much like you I struggle a lot with health anxiety and am constantly aware of little changes in my body which I convince myself are something serious.
I've also been worrying that I've been dismissing things that perhaps weren't normal like occasional pain during sex and occasional spotting. I had this investigated a few years ago and was told I have cervical ectropion which explains the bleeding but the pain was always put down to being psychological after no physical cause could be identified when I had an ultrasound.
I'm so sorry that I can't offer any words of advice, but hopefully knowing there is someone out there experiencing something very similar to you is helpful in some way! I hope you recieve your colcoscopy appointment soon, I'm relieved to have had mine confirmed quickly but it's going to feel like a long three weeks waiting!
Hi, sorry to hear how worried you are. Im the same, health anxiety is horrible. The cells can change like that although they say it usually takes a while. My smears went from mild to high grade changes in 6 months. Its good you returned for your follow up smear and very unlikely anything has got out of hand. If the cells have progressed to high grade they will be able to remove them for you by lletz and that will often give your immune system a kick to fight the hpv infection. I know how terryfying it is but know that its very common, a simple procedure to remove the cells and 98% cure rate i think they said to me. Also, try not to worry about other symptoms, I think your job explains your back pain and any symptoms you google will always tell you cancer, having health anxiety i have to stop myself from doing it.
In the meantime you can help your self by trying to have healthy lifestyle, if you smoke, stop as there is a strong link between smoking and cervical abnormalities. I started to drink green tea and eat healthy, just made me feel i was doing something to help and from original colposcopy where they said my cervix was inflamed and looked high grade to when I went for lletz, the nurse said it looks lots better.
I've not been on in a while (I was on almost every day before I got my results!) and yours is the first post I landed on. My first smear was completely clear, no HPV, no abnormal cells and I've been with the same partner for 8/9 years. Had my second smear in October and was HPV positive and high grade dyskaryosis. I've had back pain for a while but think it's because I work in an office and my posture is crap, I had alot of discharge but again thought this was 'normal' apparently not! I had the coil so can't comment on my periods but I sometimes bled after sex. I'm telling you all this so you can see that I also 'tick' several of the boxes!
The leaflet I got with my results and lots of things I read on Google lead me to believe this automatically meant CIN3 which is basically written in black and white as the worst of the worst! Honestly this isn't the case. I had my colposcopy and again I was petrified, the Dr was like woah it's too big you need surgery etc etc. That got cancelled because of covid but the surgeon requested to see me to try and perform LLETZ awake.
She did this successfully and I had a long wait for my results, I was convinced it was bad news. The results came back as CIN2 and I go back in 6 months for my 'test of cure' smear. I was still worried even after getting my results so requested a telephone conversation with the surgeon that did it who reviewed my results and she said she was confident she got everything and generally this gets rid of it.
Of course there's a chance there's some pesky cells left in there or that the HPV isn't gone but she said there is nothing I can do differently to make it any better, she said what will make it worse is stress so begged me not to stress for the next 6 months! I hope this has helped, even just a tiny bit to read my story. My advice is take each step at a time and try not to think the worst although I can totally appreciate it's easier said than done as everyone said it to me too and I didn't listen! It's the way our brains are wired.
Thank you for all your replies - they really do help!
yes I'm a smoker, however I've not had a cigarette since I got the letter this afternoon and I won't - i can just tell how I'm feeling I will not smoke anymore .
It's really odd I feel "sick" - like my body is convincing me I'm ill ever since I've received the letter - clearly all in my head x
