From test results to treatment, everything you need to know about this all too-common STD.

 

 

 

by Kristin Burnham

 

After work one day last year, Amanda Tanay, 26, of Middleton, New Jersey, drove home and saw her answering machine blinking.  There was a message from her doctor’s nurse, asking her to call them back.  Because the offices were closed, Amanda had to wait until the next day to return the call.

 

After listening to the message, Amanda ran every scenario through her mind.  Two weeks prior, she had visited her gynecologist’s office for a routine pap smear.  She convinced herself, she says, that there was probably an error in the test and that she’d have to have another. She had heard of that happening before.

 

The next day, Amanda called her doctor’s office from her cell phone.  “They told me my pap test showed abnormal cells, so the lab did an HPV test on those cells and it had come back positive,” she says.

 

“I began crying hysterically the second I got off the phone with the nurse.  I was in the lunchroom at work and I was scared out of my mind.  The only thing I’d ever heard about HPV [was on] the Gardasil commercials where the main words were ‘cervical cancer,’” she says.  “I immediately thought I’d never have children because of it, and the cancer would spread and I’d die.  Like anyone else who has gotten this, I thought the worst-case scenario was now going to be my life story.”

 

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is the name for a group of viruses that currently affects about 20 million people in the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), HPV includes more than 100 strains or types—more than 30 of these viruses are sexually transmitted.

 

From work, Amanda called her husband.  She says he tried to calm her down and assured her they’d get through this together.  That was the last thing she wanted to hear.
“I wanted to hit him,” she says.  “Because he was the only person I’d had sexual intercourse with, I blamed him.  I didn’t tell him I blamed him, but in the back of my mind it was there. Then I called my parents.”

 

Amanda’s mother cried, and her father immediately began researching the disease on the Internet. “Knowing me very closely, they initially blamed my husband as well,” she says.  “They never said it to him, but I knew that’s what they were feeling.”

 

The types of HPV that affect the genital area, like in Amanda’s case, are spread primarily through genital contact.  Because most HPV infections have no signs or symptoms, infected people are unaware they are infected and can transmit the virus to another person, according to the CDC.  More than likely, Amanda believes, she contracted HPV from her husband, who has had other sexual partners in the past.  Amanda notes that other men she previously dated could have also exposed her to the virus; HPV can be contracted through oral sex, as well as sexual play.

 

When Amanda returned home from work, she followed her father’s lead and jumped on the computer to do research the disease.  She combed every web site with information on HPV and cervical cancer, and soon learned that “this wasn’t going to kill me,” she says.
Approximately ten of the 30 identified genital HPV types can lead, in rare cases, to the development of cervical cancer, according to the CDC.  Most women who develop invasive cervical cancer have not had regular cervical cancer screenings.  Most doctors recommend getting an annual pap smear test to screen for HPV and other STDs.

 

Two weeks after the phone call, Amanda arrived at the doctor’s office for a colposcopy, which is a procedure that uses a magnifying instrument to inspect the vagina and cervix. “I really wasn’t sure to expect [that day],” Amanda says.  The nurse told her the doctor would perform a biopsy of the abnormal cells both by scraping a section of affected area and removing a small piece of the cells.

 

“It was definitely uncomfortable,” Amanda says.  “My feet were in stirrups like any normal [gynecological] exam, but this time [the doctor] used a large, cotton swab to apply a vinegar solution to my cervix to make the cells more visible.”  The doctor then scraped some cells from her cervix; she felt some pressure in her abdomen, but says the scraping wasn’t too painful.  “After that, the doctor placed [the colposcope] in front of me and looked through it to examine the cells more closely.”

 

Next, the cells for the biopsy had to be removed, which Amanda says was the most uncomfortable part of the procedure.  “It felt like one big cramp,” she says. “My hands balled up into fists and I fought back tears, which were more of fear than of pain.” The whole procedure lasted between 5 and 10 minutes, Amanda estimates.

 

A week later, Amanda received a call from her doctor saying that the cells from the biopsy were only slightly abnormal, and that she didn’t want to remove them yet.  Her doctor said that she hoped—like in many HPV cases—that Amanda’s immune system would fight off the abnormal cell changes and the HPV would go dormant.

 

“I was thrilled, but I knew there was no end to this,” Amanda says.  “Whether they eventually find cancerous cells someday or not, I will always have HPV.  I asked my doctor if there was anything I could do, and she told me to stay healthy by eating right, exercising and taking vitamins.”

 

In January, Amanda returned to the gynecologist for follow-up pap smear.  The test came back abnormal, and once again the doctors performed a colposcopy and biopsy. Luckily, the cells came back benign.

 

“When you’ve had abnormal cells, you have to go for pap tests every six months until you’re totally in the clear,” Amanda says.  “Even though the abnormal cells are no longer a current fear, the HPV lies dormant in your system. The abnormal cells can come back, and could be even worse; it’s a fear in the back of my mind, but I know that by staying healthy and going for regular tests, I can beat this.

 

“Emotionally, I got through this by telling myself that I still had control. At first, I felt like I was nothing, but once I did research and spoke to other women who’d gone through it, I knew I was strong enough to beat it,” she says.  “Of course I still think about it and worry that the next pap test will be abnormal again, but I don’t let it control my mind.”
Like Amanda’s situation, 90 percent of cervical HPV infections become undetectable within two years.  For more information on the specifics of HPV and how you can stay safe, check out the HPV Fact Sheet.