Hi I’m in total shock and have been scouring the Internet for two days.
I’m 57 and have been married for 36 years.
I’ve always attended my smear appointments and always had a clear result. This time I’ve been told I have HPV but no abnormal cells so a repeat in 12 months.
We have both been monogamous during our marriage- husband assured me of this yesterday.
Can HPV be dormant for 30+ years?
Routine HPV testing has been a relatively recent innovation. When I had my abnormal cells 20 years ago there was no HPV testing in my area in the UK. I’m guessing I had it as I had progressed to Stage 3 cancer which was undetected until November/December 2020. I’m 64. You may well have had HPV (undetected or monitored) for many years, along with a significant amount of the population. I have been monogamous for 30 years and celibate for the last 6 because of my husband’s health problems. There is no reason to think anything untoward has happened in your relationship - seems to me it’s sometimes just the luck of the draw whether HPV becomes active and cell changes occur…
I was shocked at my HPV positive result too. Unfortunately I have cell changes as well. I’m 42 but I’ve been with my husband over 20 years and I had similar thoughts to you. My consultant says that for some lucky women like ourselves HPV can lay dormant for many years and then suddenly become active. It’s not really known why but it could be due to stress, being run down, hormonal changes, not sure if you’re experiencing menopause? I lost my dad 18 months ago and I suspect the stress of this has potentially caused my HPV to flare up. Like you I was completely unaware I had it until my smear in May. Good news for you is you know about it and they can keep a close eye on it. Plus even better you have no cell changes, you’ll likely get annual smears now too.
Thanks for responding. That’s interesting. I am menopausal. Avoiding HRT as we have hormonal cancers in the family. Dad died of prostate cancer three years ago and his sister died of ovarian cancer aged 61 in 2005. I just take sage tablets for the night sweats.
Maybe a combination of the menopause and dad’s illness and subsequent death have affected me.
I think there needs to be a lot more education about HPV. By the time I got to 50y (in 2007) I reckoned my risk for cc was negligible partly based on my assumptions about how long HPV can lie dormant. So I then took a very bad decision and elected to stop attending for smears - with very unfortunate consequences - see my back story.
So as shocked as you feel right now, I’m sure knowing your HPV status will mean you won’t be getting complacent about carrying on with cervical screening. Having a shock isn’t pleasant but ignorant bliss and complacency can be lethal.
x
So true, Jazza. I’m sorry for all that you’ve been through too. I count myself lucky because I had no involvement of the bladder and bowel in my cancer. I attended every smear test and did EVERYTHING I should have done, and still my cancer crept up, undetected by tests until it was stage 3. So even doing the right thing doesn’t mean you’re safe. Thank goodness there seems to be a more active approach taken to cell changes and testing these days and hopefully more women will be spared actually getting cancer in future.
X
Hi Jacks
It took me a while to come to terms with my feelings of remorse that, by dodging smears, I hadn’t done my best to prevent a cancer. There were so many ironies you couldn’t make it up e.g. my work sometimes involved handling colposcopy specimens on their way to the lab! And it was me that had cc all along!
According to one reference HPV screening could reduce the incidence of cervical cancer by 23.9% (in England): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5490776/
Onwards and upwards 
x
