Help I am so confused, I just got my test results back from my pap and it said I have HPV, not the genital warts kind but the cancer causing kind. I have no symptoms. I am married and have only been with him (for 8 years) married for 3. He just got tested too at his yearly physical and is clean. I have been tested every year at my yearly gyno and have been clean every year. Whats going on??? How did I get this? . . . I am actually thinking they mixed up the test results.
I asked my doctor the same thing, and he told me that some women are just more susceptible to developing HPV. He even treated a nun! Don't stress over it, and do the suggested treatment. My doctor is very confident that I won't need a colposcopy or LEEP again (since I'm not a smoker and don't engage in risky behavior).
Good luck!
HPV is one of those things that can remain dormant for a long time. If your husband had other partners before you, he could have gotten it from them and been carrying it without knowing. As far as I know, there is no test for HPV in men, so his being "clean" at his physical probably did not include HPV testing.
Men have no symptoms, so there would be no way for him to know. The majority of women will be exposed to HPV over the course of their lives, but most do not get cervical cancer. Just stay on top of it and get the recommended tests. And remember, you can always get a second opinion. I tested positive several years ago, and a doctor recommended aggressive treatment. I got a second opinion, and that doctor suggested more of a wait and see approach. Since then, everything has been normal, so I am so glad I trusted my gut instinct.
Good luck... just remember, you're not alone, many , many women have gone through this.
If you Google "hpv test for men" you will see that that there is no test for men.
"Currently, there is no test designed or approved to find HPV in men." [CDC]
Here's where I got the quote, and where you can find more info:
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv-and-men.htm
So he may have been clean of other STDs but they cannot test him for HPV. He has likely had it all this time.
There are several strains of HPV - over 100 identified, the most commonly recognized, of course, is the one associated with genital warts. 30 of those strains are related to genital HPV infections such as warts.
There's a ton of information on good medical sites such as MayoClinic.com, ClevelandClinic.com, WebMD, and CDC.gov
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/stdfact-hpv.htm#howget
HPV.com is a site sponsored by Merck, manufacturer of Gardisil, an HPV vaccine, but I didn't find it as helpful as the link above.
I honestly don't believe they mixed-up the results, but it is a small possibility. HPV can be transmitted by non-intercourse contact as well. It's possible that it's dormant from one of you having contact with another partner (non-penetration) and being dormant for years.
Chances are, your OB/GYN will redo your pap in a few weeks and begin discussing eradication procedures such as colposcopy if dysplasia is present and doesn't correct on it's own.
It's OK to ask for a repeat pap just to be safe, but your insurance may deny coverage, and it will be an out of pocket expense.
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I, too, contracted HPV about 11 years ago and while mine was from a partner who had cheated on me, my doctor when explaining the virus to me said that it's not just STD-related and that (similar to the other poster below) she had a patient who was a nun who had never had sexual contact who had it. At that time, I had one wart that disappeared on its own before my appointment to have it removed came up, and I haven't had anything since. I had one abnormal pap two years ago and the follow up HPV test and whatever other follow up test they did, came back negative for HPV and within normal range for whatever other cell test they did. This year's pap was clear as was the HPV test this year. As others have stated, HPV is super common and just because you have it now, doesn't mean anything bad will ever happen. Now you have the knowledge and just make sure you stay up-to-date on your paps.
Well from what I understand, because I asked, the test on the males is very incosistant. To do a real one you'd have to jab a q-tip up the urethra. Yeah what man is going to do that. There really is no good tests for men at this point. That was devastating to me. So yeah um yeah...
If he's only been with you I think you have the answer, the one you don't want to hear. If not he's had it for years and at one time it became active and you got it. It can lay dormant. Sometimes they have evidence 10 years!!!! Sorry. :(
I asked my doctor tons of questions because my husband did cheat and I was obsessed with getting it. My sister did, her husband cheated as well, and she had one of the 3 horrid strains. She's a very good nurse so you know she got her paps and when she did it was already sooooo severe it had traveled to everything. She lost all her female parts and part of her intestines and had to have radiation. She is still having major side effects from it. She did wean herself off caths by sheer will.
You can repeat the test and from what I understand it is a very reliable test so you'll pry get the same results. Just practice getting your paps regularly and all you can do at this point. I'm very sorry.
That darn virus is so easy to get. And from what I hear it can hide away for years before showing up on your pap. Think back to high school or college. Were you sexually active? Did you use protection all the time? You can even get it from heavy petting without actual intercourse. Children have been known to get it based on contact from towels that aren't cleaned and sharing them in the home. Or using the same soap. It's a tricky little virus that can easily travel without much energy if that makes any sense.
A friend of mine was diagnosed about 18 years ago. She had the cryosurgery and never had any issues since. Just kind of went away.
As Kristin T. said, there is no HPV test for men. The majority of the adult and and many in the teenage population in this country has HPV. If your husband had even one sexual contact before he met you, he is likely to have been exposed to HPV and it can remain dormant for many years. There are many strains of HPV and only a very few ever cause cancer. Most of the time, our bodies get rid of the HPV completely on their own. I tested positive for HPV about two years ago, and now it is gone. Please do not stress about this, and for sure do not blame anyone for this.
If you have daughters, please have them vaccinated for HPV before puberty - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPV_vaccine - to reduce the incidence of cancer, and to protect them against going through painful (and expensive) colposcopy procedures.
go get a 2nd opinion from a different doctor..its your right...you always come 1st-good luck
I just wanted to tell you that I also got a positive HPV of the cancer type. It was many yrs ago. I have never had another positive again and that has been over ten yrs now. My OB/GYN says that it was a false positive. Get retested. I myself would go to a different OB just so the test is looked at by a different lab. Because if it is wonge its the labs fault not the doctors.
Good luck
that could be a false positive. they usually test you twice and it can come back as a possibility the first time and negative the 2nd time.
another thing could be that you have had it for a while and just didn't show up. good luck
