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Are you alone? A young woman shares her story with you.

Do you know about Julie and her struggle?

Firstly, what is HPV?

The Human Papillomavirus is a large group of viruses, and catching it is easy. Fortunately, however, not all types are dangerous, and while some are linked to the risk of cancer, others do nothing or are very annoying. I experienced the latter courtesy of my first boyfriend, who had slept with someone else without a condom.

After finding out about the cheating, I left him, but not before my gynaecologist diagnosed me with an infection with warts. This type, which is among the low-risk types, manifests itself through warts around the genital area that burn and cause itching, and laser therapy may be necessary to get rid of them. As long as the laser works on the external areas, it’s ok.

But in the vagina, it’s a whole different story.

In addition to this, this infection with warts means that hygiene precautions must be raised to the maximum: never use the same towel twice, always wash it at high temperatures together with your underwear and be careful so that it does not spread to other areas, like the anus. Even with all these, you cannot be sure that the infection has completely disappeared and cannot return. And I say this because it happened. So I have some advice: don’t go for the guys who will cheat on you, use protection and take those relevant tests occasionally.

My daily struggle with Virus infection

A diagnosis can have many repercussions, including on a psychological level. One of our readers told us about it in this long letter, with the comment of the gynaecologist Eli Dulio.

The gynaecologist’s response: “HPV is not a disease, but a risk factor.” 18 June 2018. Around 2 pm. I was watching a soap in the kitchen with my mother. I checked my phone and saw a missed call. She is my gynaecologist. Just that morning, I thought about when I would get the results of the Pap Smear and the virus. Sometime before, my gynaecologist had written me a strange text message, asking me to return to her because she had “forgotten” to do the exam for me.

Even then, I suspected something was wrong.

That phone call confirmed it for me. I went to my room and opened the door ajar. I didn’t want my mother to hear. Sitting on the bed, I thought, “I don’t want to be sick.” I’ll call my gynaecologist. She answered me and told me that they found variant 16 in me. And I already know that it is the worst strain. The Pap smear shows it is normal, but I don’t trust myself to do the checkups again after 6 months.

I am writing to my mother’s gynaecologist. She recommends colposcopy, and I’m booking it for September.

I found a doctor who finally gave me confidence again: “Don’t worry. Checkups are widespread. The 16 is slightly nastier than the other strains, but I’ll see you again in 8-12 months.”

The tranquillity, however, does not last long.

Within a short time, I ended the relationship with a girl I wish I had never met. Just two weeks before meeting me, she had had some warts removed. She had told me that she had them, but not that she had just removed them, and she had also made me believe that, according to her doctor.

She could easily go back to having uncovered intercourse.

Just two weeks after removing the warts, which had continued to return for 3 years! She also lied to me about the use she had (not) made of condoms in the past. I will never forgive her, just as I can’t forgive myself for believing her and not knowing better.

Returning to my clinical situation, the colposcopy in September did not detect lesions, but these can also appear long after the infection. Likewise warts. Just this evening, while taking a shower, I felt a small pimple, but I’m afraid it’s warts.

Whatever neoformation is created, I now trace it back to the infection.

Continuous anguish. In a couple of days, I will visit the dentist after having already been to an ENT oncologist, a venereologist, a dermatologist, and a dentist. I have lesions in my mouth. And I don’t know how long they have been, but I haven’t had them forever. The doctors I have seen so far have hypothesised that they are salivary cysts, but I need a certain diagnosis.

Yes, because HPV testing also shows it attacks the oral cavity, as well as the uterine cervix, the anus, the penis, the vulva and the vagina. If your immune system is stronger than the virus, it will keep it at bay.

Otherwise, warts and precancerous lesions (up to actual cancer) will appear.

Warts are benign but highly contagious and often recur, even more than once. They usually need to be removed surgically. From a certain degree of severity onwards, the lesions must be removed, at least with an operation. Not infrequently, they also recur and other interventions. Women who have already had children can be directly offered a hysterectomy. But that doesn’t solve the problem. Because, as we were saying, it can also be found elsewhere.

It also affects men, although to a lesser extent.

And here, another problem arises, which is by no means insignificant. How do you manage a relationship? If you already have a partner, you probably share the same strains. This does not mean, from what I hear from women in this situation, that there are indeed sexual problems because you’re afraid that something will come back to you. Because if you have had surgery, you feel pain in certain positions.

What if you are single?

You wonder how you will tell a potential partner that you are infected. Most of the sexually active population have it. However, few people know this.

Often, men don’t even know what HPV exams are. How do you explain it to him? And how do you tell him that, although in rare cases, it can cause cancer of the penis, mouth or anus, and that condoms do not protect completely? Or that he could get warts? How do you explain to him that, once he has taken a certain strain, he could pass it on to potential future partners, to whom he risks causing damage with a much greater probability?

And how do we behave in sex if the doctors themselves are vague in answering this question and do not agree with each other? You end up feeling infected and destined for a life of solitude. In English, we use a terminology that gives a good idea of how it feels:

Damaged goods.

Even the diagnosis of the virus alone, without lesions or warts, is shocking. I found peace and serenity in a Facebook group dedicated to this problem.

If I went back, I would get vaccinated; I definitely would. The gynaecologist who did the colposcopy told me that if I still am positive at the next reportss, I will do it anyway because it can help the immune system. In an oncology centre in my city, it was suggested to me to do it even if the HPV exam report was negative, as the vaccine, in addition to protecting me against other strains, would reduce the risk of relapses.

I will do it. I didn’t trust science once.

And I won’t make the same mistake again. To those who don’t want to be vaccinated, I only say one thing: even if you were fine on a purely organic level, would you also want to experience “only” psychological anguish, which seems never to end? To mothers who oppose the vaccine, however, I ask this: do you want to expose your children to even one of the psychophysical repercussions that I have exposed to you?

One day, if your children accused you of not having protected them, what would you reply? If something happened to your daughter because she didn’t get the vaccine, would you be able to handle the guilt? I hear mothers linking the vaccine, without any scientific evidence, to health problems their daughters have.

The only scientific proof is that the vaccine is safe and that it causes very serious damage, even if only psychological. The vaccine does not cover all strains, but it does cover the most fearful ones. And this, too, says science, which is certainly never exact but is more reliable than many charlatans who promote conspiracy theories.

Oh, one last thing.

The other day, I was excitedly unwrapping a package, happy it had arrived quickly. Maybe a dress or a pair of heels, as expected from a thirty-year-old woman? No, it is a medical device for the prevention and treatment of HPV-induced lesions, which forcefully enter your life to the point of taking away your sleep, smile, and light-heartedness.

It also causes economic anguish, especially if you don’t have a job because treatments are expensive. However, it is much more; if you fall into the age group in which it is most effective, it is free.

Did you choose the vaccine?

And, then, the vaccine which perhaps, regrets.”The gynaecologist’s response: “HPV is not a disease, but a risk factor.”

Here is the answer from our gynaecologist, Dr Ellis.

“Dear reader,

First of all, I thank you for this long and sincere testimony. I thank you because by answering you, you allow us to talk to everyone, doctors and patients, about a topic often complicated by confusing and conflicting information. The main points that I would like to highlight are the importance of the vaccine as a means of prevention, the importance of doctor-patient communication and the appropriate use of diagnostic kits to avoid damage from excessive prevention.

Yes, because prevention is fundamental, but if used without due caution, it can also cause damage. We doctors often underestimate the consequences of such news. Receiving a diagnosis that is positive for an infection can touch on very delicate issues, the ones you listed with great awareness, linked to the stigma of the sexually transmitted disease, to guilt, shame, and the possibility of contracting a terrible disease such as cancer for “blame” of one’s sexuality.

Often, doubts are raised about the partner’s fidelity;

one associates one’s genital system with something infected and, therefore, dirty, and intimacy with the partner deteriorates. The triad “anxiety, time and money” is what women affected by HPV pay out of pocket, but it is never counted in the cost-benefit analysis of the proposed tests.

In your case, I would like to reassure you that the colleague who performed your colposcopy has already done it. However, I know that this will not be enough, so I also tell you that in extreme cases, there is the possibility of asking for psychological support to find a way to reduce the traumatic effect that this diagnosis has had on the quality of life.

In most cases, a clear and in-depth interview with a gynaecologist expert shows that a related pathology is sufficient to put one’s beliefs in order and restructure the perception of danger.

It is not a disease; it is a risk factor.

Like smoking, eating too much fat or having a sedentary lifestyle, they are for other pathologies without being accompanied by much anguish.

Viral DNA research and the Pap smear are very useful and effective tools, but only if used in the context of precise protocols and accompanied by all the relevant information.

Finally, your reflection on the vaccine hits the point perfectly. This constitutes a weapon of vital importance since no treatments are currently available to eradicate the infection, reduce contagiousness, or influence the development of cervicocarcinoma.

Diagnostic kits are “secondary prevention” tools,

They identify lesions early, and the vaccine is the only primary prevention. We have an effective tool, a vaccine that can prevent a very common cancer, the fourth most common cancer in women.

You’re right; the most sensible thing is to take advantage of it. However, vaccinating the population will not only reduce the number of full-blown cancers. The big impact of the vaccine will be the ability to reduce the number of abnormal Pap exams by about half. This will reduce the need for repeated Pap smears, colposcopies, HPV checks, biopsies, and minimally invasive treatments, and—no less importantly—will reduce the negative psychological impact that an abnormal result has on women’s lives.

Let’s spread awareness of prevention through the vaccine and of how important it is to undergo screening by asking that the meaning of the exams performed be explained; otherwise, anxiety and fear will become much more disabling problems than a simple infection.”