HPV Support Group

Human papillomavirus is a diverse group of DNA-based viruses that infect the skin and mucous membranes of humans. More than 100 different human papillomavirus (HPV) types have been characterized. Some HPV types cause benign skin warts, or papillomas, for which the virus family is named. HPVs associated with the development of such "common warts" are transmitted...

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thewriter 07/23/2016

I was diagnosed with genital warts about a month ago. I had uncontrollable itching in my vaginal area, and one day I felt around my vagina only to come across some swollen patches of skin. I don't really know how to describe what my warts look like. But I knew when I saw them that they had to be some STD. I thought they were herpes. The doctor looked and said they didn't look like herpes. I was relieved only for her to follow it with, "It looks like genital warts." I could have fainted.

So here I am. Afte hearing that they were genital warts I looked at this site and came across using apple cider vinegar (ACV). So I used that until I was able to make it to my doctor's appointment. ACV was not a strong enough treatment for me. The most it does is reduce the itchiness of my warts. However, I will say it was extremely successful on a few anal warts that popped up a few days ago.

Anyhow, for my other warts, my nurse practioner treated me with TCA. That stuff really, really burned. She told me to keep it on for 45 minutes then wash off. But I think I should have left it on for a few hours. The warts had turned white, then tuned black, then peeled off or simply disappeared after 3-5 days. However, they have come back with a vengeance. Let me just say this...do not have sex or masturbate when you are dealing with warts. They will spread and grow pretty fast.

So I have put some ACV on the new warts until I see my nurse practioner in a week.

My lifestyle: I am pretty active. I drink apple juice every day which gives me 100% of the recommended Vitamin C. I think I may add a multivitamin to my diet, but I am leary because I remember those things used to break me out.

I will continue to update the thread. Hopefully, I only need to update for a few months and not years. I'm not sure who or when I caught HPV. But I'll just measure my progress from the time of diagnosis. Currently I have about 20 warts in the genital area after the TCA temporarily cleared some of them. I started with 2 warts until I started to treat them. This is one crazy virus.

thewriter 07/23/2016

I wanted to make one more comment for tonight. I didn't talk about the side effects of TCA. Right now I have a few sores/ulcers on my vagina that look way worse than the bumps the TCA was supposed to eradicate. So I hope to get some idea of when or if my skin will return to normal when I go in for my follow-up in a week.

thewriter 08/02/2016

The sores/ulcers from the TCA treatment seemed to have gone away. However, the warts severely multiplied. They looked like circular bumps. These last few days I have been applying Retin-A-Micro to the warts. I think I read that Vitamin A or accutane have shown improvement in genital warts. So I figured Retin-A is a topical albeit milder form of isotretinoin (Accutane) and gave it a shot. OMG it burned my genitals like crazy and caused more itchiness. Then one day I used some hair removal cream, and I thought that was the end of my vagina lol. I had the worst bacteria infection after causing such chaos with my feminine Ph balance. However, the hair removal cream and Retin-A seemed to have improved the warts. Tomorrow I will see the nurse practitioner for another TCA treatment. Hopefully she gives me positive statements on the likelihood of clearance or recurrence after the second go round. I am hoping I do not need surgery or to gp on Accutane. I went on Accutane for my acne, and it was not an easy drug to handle. I would hate to be on it many months for genital warts.

thewriter 08/04/2016

I went to see the nurse practitioner, and she could barely find the warts. That made my morning bright. I told her I was using Retin-A, and her comment was, "I'm sure that's painful. And I don't see how it would help." Ha! I attribute the Retin-A for providing me some improvement. Anyways, she gave me my second treatment of TCA. Again, she had trouble finding the warts. I think she just ended up applying it anywhere. She commented that I made excellent progress. The TCA did not burn like it did last time. Even though she advised me to leave it on for 45 mins and no longer than an hour, I left it on for at least 3 hours. I was not in pain at all. I think I will continue to use coconut oil to promote healing. I will take a break from the Retin-A for a few days. Everything looks red and sore down there. Oh, and a word of advice, try very hard not to scratch. My warts itch so badly so I always end up scratching till they bleed, and that's how they got worse. But I am going to start bathing with a washcloth instead of a loofah to prevent the itching. I may also oil up before going to work in the morning.

Now a lot of people say a strong immune system is the key to success. They go on to take that as meaning they should try all different types of things to boost their immune system. I would say boosting the immune system is one part of the equation. The other part is reducing the amount of infections your immune system has to fight off. Remember it is not just fighting the HPV, but all other types of viruses and bacteria daily. So minimize the bacteria around your house. Take your allergy medicine. Do whatever it takes to reduce the number of other infections your body is fighting.

Okay, I think I'll do another update in 2 weeks. I am confident someone out there is reading :) and I hope my treatment diary can give them hope.

jedward 08/18/2016

Yes. I read it and positive stuff Writer. Hope you'll keep posting and all the best.

thewriter 08/19/2016

Hey thanks for reading. I am late on my update. So the last time I saw the nurse practitioner she told me that after 2 weeks if I wasn't satisfied after the second treatment of TCA then the nurse could could call in this medicine to the pharmacy that is supposed to boost your immune system. But she said in her opinion that drug wasn't that effective and really expensive. So I didn't ask for them to request the medicine because I haven't noticed any new bumps. I even went to the dermatologist yesterday for my acne but asked her to also check for genital warts. She confirmed that nothing was there. So really all I've done in the last 2 weeks was apply coconut oil in the area twice a day. The biggest difference I noticed was a reduction in itching. I only used the retina a when I felt a bump coming and it went away 2 days later. I can't really tell you what ultimately worked. But just chemically burn those suckers and follow up with coconut oil. It's healing and it has antiviral properties. Off topic, but I think I got warts after a bikini wax so be careful ladies. As far as dating goes, I told one guy and he didn't care. That isn't going to be the case all the time. But there are definitely guys out there that would overlook this. So don't stress too much about it. Accept it, fight it, then move on with your life.

amanda10023 08/22/2016

Some great treatment advice here! Thanks ladies, so nice to share information with likeminded people. Do I need to disclose the fact that I have genital warts when I get a bikini wax?

thewriter 08/25/2016

I would advise against getting a bikini wax if there are warts present. It will make the condition worse. I used hair removal cream, and though it burned like hell, I credit it toward speeding the clearance of the really bad breakout I had about a month ago. But if you absolutely cannot resist getting a bikini wax, then I would probably disclose but do what you feel is best. The other day I went to the dentist and there was a whole section on a form asking if I had any of the listed STDs. I did not disclose this. There is absolutely no privacy when getting my teeth cleaned, and the last thing I wanted was the dentist exclaiming that I have HPV to everyone else around me getting their teeth clean. I'm not sure what the risk is with a lot of this. There seems to still be a lot of unknowns in the medical industry about how the virus is transferred. Like part of me feels like I got it from a bikini wax, and the other part I feel like the wax just made me more vulnerable to picking up the disease from my no-good ex.

thewriter 09/08/2016

Hello Beautiful people. Has it really been 2 months since I started this journey? Ah well it has been one month that I've been wart-free. Of course this doesn't mean I'm cured, but it is a great feeling once you've reach clearance. I still do a maintenance routine of just coconut oil. My vagina is starting to feel like a vagina again. No signs of infections or anything. I think I'll be celibate for a while because I want my sexual health to fully recover.

jedward 09/10/2016

Great stuff Writer. Sent you a PM by the way.

thewriter 09/25/2016

Today I think I found a genital wart. I refuse to go back to the doctor because I can't afford to take off more days from work for something silly like this. The reason I think it's a genital bump is because I think genital warts react differently to acid. I decided to test this. So I applied some ACV to the bump and it immediately started to burn. But after 15 minutes, it never turned white. I applied ACV to another bump that I knew for sure was an ingrown hair, and that bump did not burn. Then I took the TCA that I bought, put on some gloves, and applied the TCA to the suspected genital wart. It again burned immediately but also turned white immediately. The bump that was an ingrown hair took a while to start burning, and only the area around the ingrown hair turned white. So I am pretty sure that the other bump was a genital wart. It sucks but I know I have cleared these things in the past, and I am glad I caught this one early. When I had my first breakout it was horrible. They had spread and grew and it was hard to treat. But now I have my arsenal, and unfortunately my bathroom looks like a lab again lol. Back to taking the hand mirror and examining it everyday.

One thing is that this thing occurred where my panty cuts into the bikini line. I'm a runner, and that area easily gets irritated. So I wonder if it wasn't a wart but an infected bump. Whatever is the case, it should be dead within 2 days. That TCA is no joke. I'll give another update in 2 weeks.

jedward 09/26/2016

Hi Writer
Im not saying it was or it wasn't,not knowledgeable enough. But i HAVE read on the ASHA site where the doctors say they don't rely on lesions turning white. Also where they've said that location is an unlikely one for warts. Im not trying to give you false hope,just saying. Quite a good site that one BTW. Also I think we are very lucky in the UK to have free service.

thewriter 12/03/2016

Sorry I have not updated this thread in a while. I stayed away because I would have symptoms going on down there, and I had no clue what I was experiencing. So I did not want to add confusion to an already confusing topic. I finally got tested for herpes, and the tests were negative. As for warts, I still don't know if I still have any. If I do, they must be really small. The area still itches, mainly when I am taking a shower. I don't know if it is psychological or what. I haven't really found anything to reduce the slight itching I get sometime. The area has also been really dry. So maybe it is hormonal changes.

Despite dealing with this, I recently had sex again. I wasn't ready to; I just felt extremely pressured to do so. Anyways, I asked the guy to use a condom, but he ended up taking the condom off. At first I was worried about passing the virus on, but I realized he also put my health at risk! Like he could have passed on another strand of HPV to me or worse, HIV. The arse no longer talks to me. He ghosted me, but I am mad that even when I try to practice safe sex, a jerk is more concerned about getting wet than my health.

Sorry for that side rant. It had nothing to do with treatment. But I had to vent that out to someone.

thewriter 03/09/2017

I have been so stressed out from work I haven't even paid attention to my vagina. Well I don't have much itching these days. I have 2 bumps near my vagina but I have no idea if they are warts. I will update in 2 weeks and let you know if the bumps have grown or spread. I think it is just bump not a wart. Till next time!

thewriter 03/30/2017

The bumps have spread and they do look like a new case of warts. Flesh colored...check. Irregularly shaped...check. Itches...check. In a line...check.

I'll see how they respond to the over the counter TCA.

SingerOfSongs 04/06/2017

I have genital warts as well and started the apple cider vinegar treatment about 10 days ago. It worked on my test wart. My test wart has been there for over a year and has been treated in different ways by different doctors with no success. The ACV worked on it though. I'm not moving to other smaller warts to see if I can clear it all up. I was wondering what TCA is though? Is that something that you needed a prescription for?

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