Persistent HPV

Hi dy23 and welcome to our group.

I’m not aware personally of anything you can do about persistent hpv, other than try to keep your immune system as healthy as possible-healthy diet, no smoking etc. It sounds like you’re young, so it can be easier for younger women to clear it-typically in a couple of years. However, that is clear in the sense of making it dormant and not causing issues as it’s not something that can be cured. 

It sounds like you’re doing your best to clear it and it may be that the next cervical screening will have a negative result as the virus can come and go. Keeping on top of regular cervical screening will identify the virus now as a first check, so that will enable any abnormalities in the future to be dealt with quickly.

From my point of view, I don’t give hpv any thought-I had hpv driven cervical cancer, I have the virus in my system, but I don’t spend time thinking or worrying about it. 

Discussion about hpv and treatment does come up in the group, but most ladies are posting about their diagnosis or treatment of cervical cancer. There are support groups online more specifically for CIN and hpv, but I can’t link to them in this forum unfortunately as it’s against the forum rules.

You’ve had a good result from your test of cure, so maybe that will be reassuring for you moving forward? 

Sarah xx

Hi Sarah,

Thank you for the reply. I've been referred back to colposcopy regardless (as I think that is the pathway for HPV pos. after LLETZ) so I will hopefully gain some more clarity over next steps.

I know stress is a huge factor in a reduced immune system, so really trying to focus on this going forward!

Yes, that’s my understanding of the process after LLETZ too. It’s good to be monitored so well to pick up anything untoward quickly. 

Stress is absolutely a big factor in your immune system, and I believe it most certainly was in my own situation, so anything you can do to reduce that is always beneficial.

As regards your partner, I was with my husband for almost 25 years, and my understanding has always been that both of us would have had hpv but would build a level of immunity to it over time rather than it being a re infection of the same strain or strains of hpv. The fact that there is no test for men means that can’t be confirmed though.

Sarah xx

Hi dy23, I have this same worry. It’s HPV 16 & 18 that are the strains that can progress into cancer as I understand it. I developed cancer after having LLETZ treatment. I’ve just finished cancer treatment and my husband and I are concerned about it returning if I haven’t cleared the HPV infection. I can’t seem to find any info on this either so hopefully someone here may know.

But, it’s not as simple as living a healthy lifestyle to clear HPV. Before my diagnosis, I did CrossFit 5 times a week, no processed foods or sugar, little alcohol. I ate 30+ different plants per week as is now recommended, had pre biotics, pro biotics and tracked all my micro nutrients using an app so that I could make sure I got everything I needed daily. There wasn’t anything I could think of that I wasn’t doing to aid my health and all that did clear the infection.

there doesn’t seem to be much info out there, as you’ve experience. So glad you have the all clear :) but I can imagine you feel it’s leaving it to chance when a nurse says ‘it’s unlikely’ to be reinfected. We need concise and precise info when so much is at stake. 

All my best wishes to you, let’s hope we get a bit more info x

Hi From the flames and welcome to our group.

I noticed you haven’t joined the group yet, so you may want to do this if you ever want to start your own thread-without joining the group you cannot start any new threads, although you can reply to others. 

I see that you have had treatment for cancer, so you may also like to add some details to your profile so that others can read your story-it helps others who are trying to connect with ladies in the same situation.

I can see that you’ve been living a very healthy lifestyle and doing all you can to clear the hpv, which is all really that you can do, since there isn’t a cure for this. I saw from one of your other replies that you have recently finished brachytherapy, so I’m assuming you are waiting for a scan now to check how things are? I hope it goes well for you.

Sarah xx

Hi Sarah, thanks for your message. Apologies, I wasn’t aware about joining a group I will go ahead and do that. And thanks for the tip off about my profile, I will go ahead and update with more info now. 
That’s right, Inhave a consultant appointment at the end of November then an MRI at the end of January. Feels like a long wait!

Hi From the flames 

Thanks for updating your profile. It does feel like a long wait after treatment ends, when you’re used to daily appointments at the hospital, but the radiotherapy keeps working in your body after treatment ends, so there is always a wait for a post treatment scan to allow everything to settle. 

I had a check up at 6 weeks post treatment and then an mri just around 3 months post treatment ending. Then of course another wait for the results of that! I was stage 2b also.

How are you feeling in yourself now? Hope you’re doing ok.

Sarah xx

Thanks Sara, I’m slowly getting back to normal. I have made a lot of progress physically since last week, not having to sleep in the day and not feeling nauseas etc but very tearful which I didn’t expect. 

I was really tired for quite a while afterwards, and I think it’s natural to feel quite emotional after what we’ve been through. Sometimes you’re so focused on getting through the treatment, the impact hits you more mentally afterwards. But it gets better as time goes by I found.

Sarah xx