Hey Fredo, its been 10 weeks using Aldra and still no change. I've been to 3 different doctors and they all tell me not to worry about having GW and it's not a big deal because it doesn't effect your health. One of the doctors even told me to just leave them be and not to have any treatment. The last doctor told me that most of the times treatments don't work and they are a waste of money. I asked him after my 16 weeks of taking Aldra were up if he could freeze them. He said yes but said I shouldn't worry about having GW (easy for him to say). He told me that even if warts are present it doesn't mean that I'm contagous. Warts are a sign that i had a HPV infection but doesn't mean that i'm still contagous. He said as long as my immune system is strong the chances of me passing on the virus is small. He said that I shouldn't worry about passing the virus to others. He said that my GW probably flared up the first time because my immune system was weak. He said most times the body will clear the virus on its own within a year or two (which i already knew). He also said that if i run my immune system down in the future it is possible that i will be contagous again that the warts could return. Is what he's telling me true? or it this just another case of Doctors confusing their patients. Also is it a good sign if my GW haven't gotten worse, that there is no change? Anyways i will try and keep you posted on how things are going. I must say it does get better dealing with GW over time but it is still a battle some days. Right now i would really like to get back into the dating game but feel that i have to get control over my GW first. Also i still am having a hard time with thinking someone else will accept me once i tell them i have GW. From time to time i think maybe i should just pretend they never happend and never tell a new partner. If a doctor thinks there no big deal then why should I? But in the end i think my concious would get the best of me and i don't want to put someone i care about through this without them being able to choose for themselves.

From what I know, they're right. It's not a big deal in terms of affecting your health, as you say.

It's true that warts can go away without treatment--or so it is believed.

I don't think that most people believe that if you have warts there is a chance to transmit the virus. I think that most believe that if you have no warts, the chances of transmitting the virus are lower.

I do believe that most will say that most people will clear the virus in a year or two. Some people don't.

Personally, I have made it a case-by-case kind of thing when it comes to telling a partner.

I chose cryotherapy for treatment, because that was the first thing offered to me. It's kind of cool in that there is some sense of near-instant gratification, because you really see them go away. I have had recurrence. I have found some other lesions that seemed to be warts that we never saw before. I went for more cryo. I'm doing Aldara. I like the idea of both. It seems to be working for me for now.

My warts went away on their own... I was too chicken to get treated and they ended up slowly shrinking or turning white and flaking off. Too bad I don't feel any better about it since I don't consider it "cleared" if it has the possibility to come back/infect a girlfriend even when invisible.. and now any tiny bump I think is a wart returning so who knows.

Warts do sometimes clear on their own, especially those that are newer. I think for someone who has longer standing warts, say six months or longer, it's more common for treatment to be needed to clear the lesions.

It's true a weakened immune system might allow HPV to kick up down the road, but this isn't common and is thought to happen most often when the immune response is very severely weakened (not because you have a cold and are working late...). My understanding is that for someone who's clear of warts for 6-12 months it's unusual for more warts to develop unless they are exposed to an additional HPV type from a new partner.

Best,
Fredo

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