Hi,
Hope you are all well.
I am quite worried and need some reassurance and clarity. I will give a bit of a background on my situation.
I am in in my mid twenties and was sexually active (handful of times) with one person in my mid teens but have not been sexually active since. I also got the HPV vaccine AFTER that relationship.
I have had spotting over the last year, just one odd day between periods and very little in quantity. Over the last 6 months I found that every time I exercised I would bleed afterwards. This concerned me but not so much that I would get it checked out as it was so small in quantity.
About 2 months ago I started spotting heavily in between my periods. Additionally I developed a pulling lower abdominal pain and lower back pain (which I attributed to medication I’ve been taking that can cause such a side effect). However, the pain I have had has been very mild.
Alarmed at having all the symptoms for cervical cancer, I went to the doctor and he sent me for a pelvic ultrasound which showed everything to be normal and did every other test which came back normal including sti‘s. A smear was attempted but because I have not been sexually active for such a long time it was very painful so I was referred for colposcopy.
I had my colposcopy a week ago but cannot stop worrying. The nurse said she could see mild changes on the cervix. I could see it myself on the monitor, it looked perfectly healthy (to my untrained eye) until she added the solution which turned a small bit of the cervix a transparent white colour.
I am confused which is making me quite worried. Apparently CIN does not have symptoms yet I have quite a few obvious symptoms. So the questions I have are:
Can cervical cancer still be found if biopsy only shows CIN 1/2/3?
If CIN is found does that mean there is no cervical cancer and only precancerous cells?
Would it be apparent from the condition of the cervix if it was cervical cancer?
Is colposcopy and cervical biopsy the most effective methods of detecting cervical cancer?
Has anybody experienced something similar?
Prior to my colposcopy I discussed my fears with the doctor. He told me that the chances of contracting HPV for me was quite low and cervical cancer can show up on a pelvic ultrasound as organs appear swollen which mine did not at all. He also said at worst it could be abnormal changes but nothing beyond that. But due to my symptoms I can’t reconcile this, how can mild abnormal changes cause such severe symptoms.
Apologies for the long post but I would be incredibly grateful if someone could give me some insight into their experiences and knowledge?
Thank you !
