Help

I’m 21 and I have a coloscopy coming up. I’ve been scared and dreading everything. My Pap smear came abnormal with low grade dyskaryosis CIN 1, my HPV 16/18 came back negative but 1 HPV came back positive what does this mean for me? I’ve been doing research online and all I see is cancer. What if they do a biopsy and find abnormal cells what happens?

19 posts since

11 May 2019

If anyone’s been in the same or currently in my situation could you help me? I’m not doing so well.

1060 posts since

9 Jun 2011

Hello Tians and thanks for posting,

I’m sorry you are worried about the colposcopy, I can appreciate that waiting to have one is quite stressful, but try not to fret over it. The staff will put you at your ease and explain everything. I am sure when it is all over, you will look back and think it wasn’t as bad as you feared.

Try not to do any more searching online. Most people who do this usually just scare themselves and it keeps it all at the front of your mind when you are better off trying to distract yourself.

Remember that high risk HPV is a very common infection in sexually active young people and thousands of women get it without coming to any harm. HPV can trigger the development of abnormal cells, but it is only when the virus persists over years that cells changes can develop into cancer. Most of us clear up HPV in a couple of years and when we do, any abnormal cells that have developed go back to normal.

The cell changes you have are not cancer, and may never develop into cancer, but they need to be assessed. The thing to remember is that low grade and mild cell changes often go back to normal by themselves especially in young women.

The colposcopy examination is a routine test in women with low grade changes and HPV. If an area of low grade cell changes is seen, they may do a small punch biopsy to confirm this and monitor you for a while to see if they go back to normal. If there is an area of cells with changes that look more high grade, they may think about removing them, but because your smear only found low grade changes, it is it is more likely that any cell changes seen on coloposcopy will be low grade too.

Try and distract yourself and keep your mind on something else. People often say it helps to stay busy and do things like box set bingeing. The NHS moodzone website has some tips about coping with stress.

It’s often easier to talk things like this through with one of us, so please do call if you want to go over this some more. We are here from 9-5, Monday to Friday and the number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040.

Takes care,

Julia

122 posts since

14 Oct 2018

Hi Tians

CIN 1 is the first stage of abnormal cells, and is not cancer. Please try and stop yourself from googling because you will tend to focus on worst case scenarios which will scare you.

You have the HPV virus, which is what has caused the abnormal cells, but most sexually active people carry this virus so it’s nothing to be concerned about. Once you have the virus it will remain in your body-it can’t be eradicated BUT it can go dormant and may not show on future tests. It only shows up when the virus is active.

The colposcopy is a detailed examination of your cervix and will identify the areas of abnormal cells. These can then be easily removed by a simple procedure. Sometimes at CIN 1 the body can get rid of the abnormal cells itself and you might then just be monitored.

Cervical cancer is very slow growing and finding these cells at this early stage should mean you can easily be treated. Remember, you absolutely do NOT have cancer, you just have abnormal cells. Keeping your immune system as healthy as possible will help you-a healthy diet and no smoking.

Please try not to worry -try and distract yourself with other things and don’t check google! Please do ask if you’ve got any other questions, but I hope I have put your mind at rest. xx

26 posts since

31 May 2019

Hi Tians,

i previously had severely abnormal cells just over 10 years ago when I was around 20 (smears at that point were done under 25 in Scotland). I had to go through the procedure you have mentioned and I had something called LEEP treatment to remove the cells. As previous posters have mentioned the cells aren’t cancerous but it’s important to have them investigated as if left untreated they could turn into cancerous cells.

The procedure wasn’t the most pleasant thing but it wasn’t painful. I was young and probably embarrassed about where doctors were having to be looking around. I then had to have 3, then 6 monthly smears following the treatment for around 2/3 years and thankfully the cells settled down and returned to normal.

As a small part of my cervix had been removed I had extra checks when I was pregnant 5 years later and didn’t need any stitches put in throughout my pregnancy so the procedure had absolutely no adverse affect afterwards and I’m happy the cells were able to be removed.

It’s concerning and scary but abnormal cells don’t mean you have cancer and they will remove them if they feel the need.

Good luck.

Rebecca x

19 posts since

11 May 2019

Thank you.

This helped a a lot, I have my colposcopy tomorrow which I am nervous about. I have stopped googling and just going to try be more positive.

However thank you so much for replying back to me with more information.

19 posts since

11 May 2019

This was very helpful.

Thank you so much. In London the age for a Pap smear is 25 but I got one done early, which was my decision. Reading what you wrote has given me a more peace. My colposcopy is tomorrow and I’ve been so scared.

anyways thank you a bunch.

26 posts since

31 May 2019

You’re welcome, glad my experience could help. Good luck tomorrow, you will be absolutely fine! X

122 posts since

14 Oct 2018

Best of luck for your procedure tomorrow-it will be over before you know it. Please let us know how you get on, and I’m so pleased that I’ve managed to help you a bit when you were feeling so worried. xx

19 posts since

11 May 2019

Thank you.

The procedure was very quick. The women told me I have low grade cell changes my cervix looks good but there’s a change on my vagina wall. I didn’t understand and I tried asking but she just said I have for the results from the biopsy. On her notes/comments she put ‘high grade vain’ which has just put me right back down. What does this mean for me?

19 posts since

11 May 2019

Thanks you.

The procedure was very quick and not as bad as I had thought. The women said I have low grade changes and my cervolooks good but there’s a change in on my vagina wall. I tried asking her what that means but she weren’t really that helpful. I saw her comments/notes which said ‘high grade vain’? I have 0 idea what that means and now I’m back to worrying. Does this indicate something is wrong?

26 posts since

31 May 2019

I don’t have any experience with that terminology – (date I suggest) googling? But, looking at it sensibly…? Difficult I know.

What did she say the next steps were? Are you to go back? Is there more investigation? If not then I would assume it’s possibly nothing to worry about.

Rebecca x

122 posts since

14 Oct 2018

Hi Tians

Glad you’ve got the procedure over with today. VAIN means that they have found some changes in the skin of the vagina. This is NOT cancer. Once your results come back a decision would be made on what treatment you need to get rid of this. There are various options to treat it.

Hopefully you won’t have too long to wait for the results. xx

19 posts since

11 May 2019

Hey.

They said I should get them back within 4-8 weeks. I feel a little better than I did before, so I want to say thank you again. The only thing that’s confusing me is if I had low grade dyskaryosis cin 1 like the women said yesterday at my appointment, she didn’t tell me personally but I saw she wrote High grade vain on the notes? Is there a difference between vagina wall and cell changes? CIN 1

thank you for helping me so much, honestly means a lot x

122 posts since

14 Oct 2018

Hi Tians

CIN 1 is changes to the cells of the cervix, and VAIN is changes to the vagina. If you only had one area of VAIN, it might well be in the upper part of the vagina, near the cervix. So, as far as I understand it, and I’m not a medical person, it’s different terms for cell changes in different areas. You can have both of these conditions.

Once you get your results, you’ll get a plan and be told how you will be treated. Neither CIN nor VAIN are cancer, so hopefully once you get your treatment you’ll be fine.Try to relax about it for now, and know that you can be treated for all of the abnormal cells they have found.

Happy to try and help with any of your questions if I can, I know how scary all of this is when you’re not sure what’s happening and have to wait for results. xx

Help

Research & References of Help|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories