so so worried :( can anyone offer advice or opinions please?

[becks]

2 weeks ago I had my cervical screening test done ( smear )
Yesterday I received a letter saying that my result was abnormal Apparently I have low grade dyskaryosis. I also tested positive for HPV infection which apparently is a very common infection? They are referring me to have a colposcopy. As I suffer with very extreme health anxiety all I can think about now is that I may have cancer. Over the last 3 - 4 years I have sometimes bled after intercourse and now my mind is racing? Im so so upset and confused, I cant function properly worrying that I could have advanced cervical cancer.
As I got myself in such a state the Dr called me to explain what a colposcopy is for and basically made me feel a lot worse. His response was... 'well I cant tell you you dont have cancer because I dont know that' any advice would be soooo helpful to me right now xx

thank you in advance xx

 

[Ummi2boyz]

I'm sorry you received abnormal results.

When I have my smear tests, my nurse always reassures before I even receive the results, saying that abnormal results don't necessarily mean cancer. It can mean other things that are not cancer and are easily treatable. But you won 't know until you do the colposcopy.
The sooner you go for that test the better. Hope you receive good news.

 

[Tasha]

Oh my goodness Becks, that was pretty awful of the doctor and I would be complaining. A colonoscopy isn't even looking for cancer, it is looking for cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) and that is absolutely NOT cancer, they are cell changes which *could sometimes* (that is the important word here doll) become cancer. It is a more in-depth look at cell changes basically and whether they are mild, moderate or severe. Depending on those results, will depend on if you need treatment (this is just removal or the abnormal cells), more colonoscopies in the future, more regular smears or even back to the three yearly ones.

 

[Blah11]

Loads of my friends have had that. They get the cells burnt away with the laser thing and their repeat smears have been all clear x

 

[smileyfaces]

I had high grade dyskariosis, had colposcopy and LLETZ treatment and all clear 6mo later. Dont worry, its very common xx

 

[becks]

Thankyou girls... I am in bits and have no idea how long it will be before my appointment comes through for my colposcopy
xx

 

[loeylo]

Hey, I can understand your worries - I am also a health anxiety sufferer!

1/10 smears show abnormal results - most of these will not go on to become cancer (think about it, if we get smears every 3 years, chances are that you will have an abnormal result at some point!)

Your doctor will never guarantee you don't have cancer. I have asked mines so many times, and it isn't worth their job to make that kind of guarantee.

Why not phone and ask when to expect your appointment?

Also, stay off google. My health anxiety has been 100% better since cutting back my googling. I sometimes panic and have a quick search, and it never makes me feel better!

 

[becks]

Thanks hun. Its awful living with health anxiety at the best of times. When something like this happens i just cant deal with it. I will stay off google too... you are sooo right. I always feel worse after anyway x

 

[jd83]

I do cervical cancer screening for a living. If your pap came back CIN-1, or low grade lesion, that is the lowest form of lesion in the steps towards cancer progression. It is very common, as others have already mentioned, and is actually possible that it could clear up on its own with no intervention. However, given that you also tested positive for HR HPV, the purpose of the colposcopy will be to determine if the lesion is only a low grade lesion, or if its higher grade lesion that wasn't seen on the pap test. (A pap test is a random sample from a scraping, so sometimes the sample may not catch everything involved, which is why if abnormal cells are seen they will want to look further to see if what the pap showed is the lesion you have, or if a higher grade lesion is present that wasn't fully sampled in the pap. hope that makes sense.)

Cervical dysplasia is very common, and very treatable, which is why pap testing is so effective at catching the lesions to triage patients for further testing to prevent it becoming cancer. Sometimes the colposcopy will show a small lesion that they will choose to watch rather than removing (meaning more frequent visits over the next year to make sure lesion isn't progressing, to see if it clears on its own), to see if it clears up on its own (as I mentioned, many will low grades will clear on their own), and other times they will choose to biopsy or excise the lesion. Either way, its highly unlikely to progress to cancer if you are going regularly for visits, and take the recommended steps from doctor following colpo.

Cervical cancer is almost always in women who have not been getting regular visits for screening. If they had, a low grade or high grade lesion would have been seen and treated before progressing to cancer. In the 8 years I've been doing this job, I've only ever seen it actually be cancer in cases where it had been years since the patient had been in for a pap test, and then came in due to abnormal bleeding (likely caused by the cancer ETA I don't mean a bit of bleeding after intercourse, I mean full on abnormal bleeding, and the pap vial is grossly full of blood). And I can count those on my one hand (out of thousands every year that are screened, only a handful total in the entire time Ive been doing this job). it's extremely rare due to regular pap screening. I hope that can ease your mind.

 

[becks]

jd83.. I cant thank you enough xx ( and all of the other ladies that have replied ) I have had my appointment through now for my colposcopy and its on the 5th of November.. Im terrified of the result but you have put my mind at ease so thank you xx