Sex & Romance
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What does an abnormal pap mean?
Just wondering.
Re: What does an abnormal pap mean?
It could mean a lot of things.
It could be something as small as an infection. It could be something as big as cancer. It could be several things in-between.
An abnormal pap can me a lot of things and nothing. it could mean that you had sex too close to when you had it done or you got soap up there when you were washing. I've known girls who were called to get rechecked immediately after an abnormal pap (more serious looking cells) and they were absolutely fine. Sometimes they tell you to wait 4 - 6 months, and those usually turn out to be nothing. However, it could be HPV or something serious. Most women get at least one abnormal pap result in their lives. Most women do not have HPV or cancer.
Actually, most sexually active women do have HPV at one point or another. But it doesn't always lead to cancer.
something like 80% of women have HPV actually and it's not always sexually transmitted, sometimes it's caused by an infection that goes untreated.
I've had all abnormal paps since 18 up until this past summer and I had my first normal one. Mine were due to cancer but only in the surface cells which is easily treated with a LEEP procedure. They can also do a cone procedure too.
Biopsies suuuuck but the LEEP is worse =P depending on where they biopsy sometimes it's only a crampy feeling but they biopsied the birth canal once and I almost passed out. The LEEP is painful as well. You should abstain from sex at least 48 hours prior to a pap or colpo.
HPV is a virus. It doesn't just appear from another infection. It has to be transmitted through contact (not always sexual) with someone who is infected.
OP - if you have an abnormal pap, you need to have a colposcopy, as pps stated. I had one and they just put a solution onto the cervix to view the abnormal cells. If they see something, they may take a biopsy. When I had a biopsy, it came back with some pre-cancerous cells. I didn't have a LEEP though. I had a procedure called cryotherapy where they freeze the abnormal cells and then they fall off. I haven't had an abnormal pap since then. It was uncomfortable but not really a big deal.
Having had a colposcopy, a biopsy, and a LEEP before............none of them are that big of a deal.
Are they super fun and relaxing? Well of course not. But none of them were terribly painful, they were just uncomfortable.
If you find that your doc wants to perform any/all of these on you, don't sweat it.
This.. I just went back for the results from a colposcopy and it turned out to be nothing...
don't stress, it is very common.