Hi all,
Newbie here.
I have had a consecutive four years’ of HPV positive results for my smear tests (luckily I chased up this year’s smear as the doctor who I talked to said I didn’t need one, until they rechecked my info and told me to book in). This is the first year I’ve been told it’s high risk and have had a colposcopy.
I will start by saying it was a good experience for what it is (if you put the complete lack of dignity aside ha) - the lady doing my colposcopy and the nurses in the room were all simply fab. They said that they found abnormal cells only in one area of my cervix and took a biopsy - which is likely to be CIN 1 or 2 - and to wait for results which should take three or so weeks. (I get married in seven weeks, so at least I’ll know by then! Timing, eh?)
I know that should maybe be somewhat of a reassurance - that it’s likely very low grade - but I’m still really anxious awaiting results and I’m almost feeling that to be at that situation and to have to keep monitoring it will continue to be in the back of my mind? Will the biopsy show if cancer was to be present even though it’s unlikely? Has anyone else had these thoughts or am I just going a million miles an hour? I’ve got bad health anxiety (which is the problem right there!) and have watched people very close to be go through cancer so I suppose I kind of know the score and it’s all playing on my mind. I haven’t started a family yet because I’ve been career driven, but I’ve recently lost a very close family member, and this on top of everything else is really changing my perspective on what is important in life which is causing quite a debate in my head!
Am I being silly? Am I catastrophising? I feel like I am but I can’t help how I feel as I just never expected anything like this. I always thought it would never reach me, but now I’m just sat thinking well how can I be sure it isn’t me? Why wouldn’t it be me? It could be me.
I don’t want to burden anyone in my close circle with all of this (sorry online community) but I’ve just turned 27 and it’s all rather overwhelming! I also don’t want to be insensitive as I know I’m likely being dramatic and it could be worse. I’m really sorry if I do come across that way. Hoping someone will talk some sense into me, or feels the same way, but if not this has been such a help to vent
(Sorry again)
I should mention it was a punch biopsy 
Hi clh24022 and welcome to our group.
Please don‘t apologise for joining to ask some questions. I understand that it will be a worrying time for you, especially if you already have health anxiety.
The cervical screening programme is all about prevention and finding out if anything might be different from normal. The first part of the smear is testing for the presence of the hpv virus and only tests for high risk strains, so try not to let the words high risk worry you.
There are many different strains of hpv, and the high risk strains are the ones which could potentially mean issues with changes to your cells. Low risk strains are different and can be the cause of things like genital warts.
At the colposcopy, a small sample of tissue/cells is taken-that’s the punch biopsy. This is sent away to the lab to be analysed to check how abnormal the cells are and to determine if any treatment might be needed. Yes, the biopsy would show if cancer cells were present, but it’s reassuring that the nurse thought it was likely to be CIN1 or CIN2 which are low levels of cell changes. They may or may not need treatment, but are not cancer.
I think it’s natural to worry, but I’d recommend trying not to let your mind run away with itself at this stage. You have had an issue identified, which is a good thing as it can be dealt with if needs be. You are young, and hopefully your immune system will be able to get on top of the virus-you will be recalled in a few months to have another smear to check everything is ok. You may need to have some treatment, which would involve removing the cells in a clinic appointment, but you may not need any treatment at all. You’ll need to wait for the biopsy results to know for sure.
Try to focus on the upcoming excitement of your wedding-congratulations on that-and not let this worry spoil your preparations. Please let us know when you get your results, and feel free to ask any more questions if you need to.
Sarah xx
