Hello ladies!
I, like many others I have come to learn, had persistent HPV for over 10 years (8 years confirmed via screening) and I am hoping what I’m about to type can be helpful to others riding the same wave.
Here’s my history:
2015 first smear test - the cervical screening programme was piloting HPV primary testing in my area. Results: HPV positive no abnormailities 12 month recall.
2016 - My results letter had no mention of HPV so this wasn’t tested! Results: normal cytology back in 3 years.
2018 - I had severe anxiety as I had just found out a friend of mine had been testing positive and was offered screening every 12 months, I kicked up a fuss with my GP and requested they take another smear, luckily it wasn’t rejected by the lab, Results: HPV+ no abnormalities back to routine recall?!
2021 - Results: HPV+ no abnormalities 12 month recall. At this point I was so unhappy with the lack of follow up since my first invite, compared to others. I raised my concerns with my GP (who was pretty clueless) after reading that after 3 HPV+ results you should be invited to colposcopy. At so at this point I mentioned on a couple of occasions I had some brownish spotting mid-cycle (I may have over played this and realise it was highly likely to be ovulation related) so I felt I had no other choice but to play on this to get seen by a specialist. With my history, my GP requested a referral to colposcopy which was rejected by the hospital, and then attempted to refer me to the gynecology clinic which was also rejected!
I felt I had no other choice but to go private - the anxiety of having had this for so long (reading “most” people clear hpv within 1-2 years really isn’t helpful!) was consuming way too much of my mental capacity and I didn’t buy that the HPV went away inbetween screenings and coincidentally “came back” just in time for my next smear (as my GP suggested). I tried everything to boost my immune system, AHCC back in 2015 and again 2018 for 6 months both times (when it was afforable!), in 2021, all types of vitamins from high dose vit c, folate, b12, gut boosting vits, vit E, tumeric, beta glucans, and the rest…drank green tea, ate healthy, exercised - I threw everything I could to boost my immune system to fight this thing and nothing worked. In the end I found a consultant who actually could treat the HPV infection on Harley Street in London using Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) with pretty high success rates (75% clearance) providing it is just that or at most CIN1, I went for the consultation where a colposcopy was carried out, as well as a HPV panel and cervical cytology - this came back as HPV+ve type 18 with normal cytology and that I would be a good canidate for the TCA treatment. I had the treatment a month later, he called me back for another colposcopy, HPV/cytology screen 4 months later which all came back negative which was back in Oct 2021. I thought I’d wait for my NHS recall before I posted just to triple check and I recieved those results this weekend which are also negative for HPV!
I realise that not everyone is in a fortunate position to be able to afford private follow ups and to be honest, I wasn’t sure whether it would be helpful to post my story and a treatment that not everyone will have access to, but I couldn’t not post the success of this treatment in the hope it helps someone in the future.
xx