Cervical Cancer Support Group
Cervical cancer is a malignancy of the cervix. Worldwide, it is the second most common cancer of women. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in advanced stages, which has made cervical cancer the focus of intense screening efforts utilizing the Pap smear. This is the place to talk about your experience with the cancer.
I'm told it takes years for cervical cancer to develop. I make sure I have my pap smear done every year (I have HPV and have had carcinoma in situ of the anus twice in the last 3 years so I knew I'm very high risk). Last year I had it done and it was completly normal. This year it came back with 1 area of CIN 1 and another area with CIN 3! So if it went from normal to CIN3 in 1 year how quickly will it turn into cancer!? I'm finding little help trying to research this on my own. I have an apt with an oncolygist in 2 weeks but my brain is freaking out and wants some answers. I was hoping someone on here would have some experience with this progression or knowledge that I have not come across yet that they could share with me.
Cervical dysplasia does tend to develop slowly, on average - but there can certainly be exceptions. I don’t think there is any way to know how quickly it will progress for you from here forward, or even if it will progress at all, but I’m glad you are keeping on top of it. I’m assuming you’ve already had a colposcopy? What is the next step being recommended for you?
Do you have any other health conditions, or taking any medications, that might influence your immune system? Some people who have particular trouble with hpv have low folate levels because they have a genetic mutation that makes it hard for the to process folate. Have you ever been tested for the MTHFR mutation?
As far as other health conditions, it's mind blowing you brought that up. I just recently found out I have the MTHFR mutation but no one ever told me much of anything about it other than the little I already knew (basically just that it can cause miscarriages and the issue with processing folate, my mother has it). I had no idea it had any effect on hpv.....
Let your gyn/onc know about the MTHFR, for sure. I'm no expert in MTHFR, but my understanding is that people with the mutation won't get benefit from taking regular folate supplements, but they can take L-methylfolate, otherwise known as 5-MTHF, which you can buy on Amazon. If for some reason your doc is unfamiliar, they can do a medical literature search on "folate and HPV", and there are many articles. One example is "Folate status and aberrant DNA methylation are associated with HPV infection and cervical pathogenesis", Janet E. Flatley, Kristelle McNeir, Latha Balasubramani, John Tidy, Emma L. Stuart, Tracey A. Young, and Hilary J. Powers, published in 2009 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. But there are many others. You can also google "HPV and folate" and there are plenty of articles for the layperson.
As far as the LEEP goes, I found it to be not as bad as I was expecting, actually it was pretty easy. Certainly I would think an easier recovery than from treatment for AIN 3 (carcinoma in situ of the anus), I've heard that can be pretty painful.
Good for you for being proactive and finding a new doctor to provide you better care. I hope this new doc is great. Sending you lots of supportive thoughts!
The next day I went back to work with no problems. I was only mildly achey for a day or two, another Motrin was enough for that, and had no bleeding. I had no problems with recovery. If I recall, the aftercare instructions were no swimming, no baths, and no sex for three weeks afterwards.
I hope you have as easy a time as I did! :-)