Thought I'd share this with anyone who was recently diagnosed with mild dysplasia, and are worried about how it could possibly turn out. I put my history down below.

This last pap was my third one since finding out I had mild dysplasia on my cervix. They finally got back with me today. Turns out it's on the mend! It still came back as an abnormal pap, but it's looking better. I can't remember now what the nurse's exact words were. She said the Dr. said it looked better. Where last time, it hadn't changed in the six months from being originally diagnosed. It's now been almost a year (in April). Due to my doom and gloom outlook, I figured it probably wouldn't be better...yet I held out a small glimmer of hope they'd say normal. I got met half way. I can't rightly say what I've done to help myself out. No one really pointed out to me that if I took better care of myself, and boost my immune system, that I could help myself beat this f***er better. I had been on birth control a short while, until I ran out. Due to a change in my regular PCP (they left my hmo group), I never bothered to go back to get a refill. Then after recently reading more on this, I see that it can hurt in the mending of my cervix. I don't smoke or drink (extremely rare), though occasionally around secondhand smoke...but not too often anymore. Then in February 2007, I got a nasty cold, so I started popping Vitamin C regularly. Something I continue to do to this day. If you've been diagnosed as mild dysplasia, and your Dr decides to wait it out, have hope. I'm going to look into more ideas on helping my immune system kick ass. I suggest that to anyone looking to try to conquer this. Heard a lot of positive stories about boosting the immune system.

One thing that's hard for me to not do is stress out and be depressed. I'm dealing with a major bout of that due to trying to deal with the HPV, among other things. I'll spare you all the details. However, I've had other stressfilled events in my life since getting diagnosed. I know it's something I have to work on. It's just going to take a while for me to deal with this as I have a rather whole gloom/doom attitude about this virus and the effects it will now have on my life (future relationships especially). I have no shown any signs of visible gw. Though I've been on a paranoid trip for the past couple of weeks about "down there". I have an appointment to see my NP at the Dr's office to look them over. See if they are or not. If not, maybe she can enlighten me more on what's what...as silly as that may sound. One gives me great concern that I found on the side of my clitoris. I can't tell if it's white or flesh color. Looks whiteish when the light flashes down there, but when not, hard to say. It's soft/smooth, and you can't even tell it's there without seeing it visually. Of course, I'm convinced it's a wart, but that small hope within me thinks it maybe just something else...but I can't imagine what. We'll see how things go Monday. My NP supposedly has HPV, too, but not sure if it's low or high risk...or both. I'm also going to see about getting an STD check up, and if they do the HPV test. I'd like to know if I'm dealing with a high risk or low risk strain (or both...who knows). It may sound silly, but it'll help me cope better to know.

My History:
Last sexual encounter was Feb. 2006 (not sure if he was the one who gave it to me or not).

Had annual pap back in April 2006. Results came back with abnormal cells on the cervix...CIN 1.

Never been HPV type tested. Results only from regular pap smear. Dr. has no idea which strain of HPV I have.

Had the colscopy (sp?) done in May 2006. No cancerous cells thankfully. Dr. says it's mild dysplasia, keep an eye on it with pap tests every six months, and no signs of genital warts *.

October 2006 came back for a second pap. Results were the same. Not better, but thankfully not worse. Still no signs of genital warts *.

March 2007 went back for another pap test, and results should be in another week. Inspected and no genital warts * found. Two weeks later, was told that my cervix looks to be on the mend. Results came back abnormal still, but I guess the results looked a lot better from the last time. Going back to see what's up with the bumps I found.

Next pap: June 2007

Rogue,

Glad to hear you had a good follow up and that things are looking better. I'm always happy when one of our members checks in and updates us, so thanks for letting us know. Please post again to let us know how you're doing.

Fredo

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ASHA Moderator

I know you mentioned you were having some "bumps" looked at today and I wanted to wish you much luck. You were the one have gave me some much hope these past few days. You also gave me enough information to call my dr.'s office and ask questions that I wouldn't have known to ask without your help. I spoke with a nurse and I found out alot and I have to say, I am one of the luckier ones. Making a long story short... I am high risk (HPV18). She explained that I am one step under "normal" and there is a chance it may become dormant. Also that I may have had it for years but the abormal pap led them to have the HPV test for the first time. She also said the Atypical cells would be more of a worry then anything else. Also, taking care of myself, just like you told me. Her main piece of advice for ALL OF US... follow up with all doctor appointments! I know you are and I will continue too.
I just can't thank you enough for the support these few days you have no idea how much I appreciate it! I wish you so much luck.

Thanks mrobynb! I'm glad you got more answers, and help with your situation. It's funny that many times dr's office's are not so forth coming with answers and all. Especially with HPV. It takes you coming in/calling a panic to sometimes get more answers. Look at me.

I, too, got a little more info from my last visit regarding the bumps. My NP at the obgyn's office was great. She really only looked over the one that was giving me the main concern. On the side of my clitoris. She said it looks more like a cyst, not a wart. We then went on to have a pretty good conversation. At one point, she kept mentioning not having the type that causes warts. I was a little puzzled on how she seemed so sure about it. Turns out that they did indeed run an HPV test on me (and I had one of their nurses once tell me they didn't.). I don't know why they didn't tell me. I even mentioned it a few times, I thought, to the dr...but never got an answer either way. Very confusing. Anyway, not sure if it was from the first pap or after the colposcopy. I guess it must be standard procedure when the results come back abnormal. Anything can cause dysplasia, apparently, and in order to decide if it is HPV related, they do the test automatically. I always assumed they must've made that decision based on the pap test results alone. I've eve read that there are some practices out there who'll automatically assume that's what it is based on the pap alone. Not run an HPV test. Which seems silly if you ask me.

Anyway, it was a piece of mind to know what risk I have. Though I do know I could get low risk (you can end up with more then one strain), but my NP seems pretty confident. Course it was mentioned if I did indeed get a wart, we'd take care of it. However, I don't ever want one. lol. I can deal with the dysplasia no problem compared to a wart. Why? I dunno. So I walked away Monday in pretty good spirits for once. My next visit isn't until June for another follow up pap. Here's to hoping that dysplasia is gone by then.

Thanks for the support, and goodluck to you as well!