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I am four months out of cervical cancer treatment. I am very happy. Last month i went for my periodic pap smear and the results where good, pap came back normal and no HPV. I was wondering if anyone knows if the HPV just went away on it's own or what. I thought HPV stayed with you forever.
Any thoughts?
God Bless
Wonderful news claper!! From what I've read HPV can come back negative, but still be in your system.... just take care of your body, get rest...etc and hopefully it will stay clear forever:)
Hi Claudia, Great to hear your pap came back normal. The HPV stays with you always. It can remain dormant, or it can return. It is something we will never know. Hopefully, the virus and the cancer are gone forever. Amy
Hi claper, first of all - huge congrats to you on the normal smear and negative HPV. Great news!
In regards to HPV, whether the virus will clear and leave you forever or whether the infection is cleared and gone into a state of dormancy is something that hasn't been agreed upon by the experts. But, it is more commonly believed to be with you for life, as with other viruses - which many of us here agree with. The HPV test (I assume it was the Digene) doesn't actually test to see if someone has HPV, it is testing to see if the virus is active. It is possible for someone to have HPV and it be in a dormant state or to have such low viral loads that it isn't detected. As you likely know, the longer the virus is active the more likely it is for dyplasia and/or cancer to develop or progress. A positive HPV test would indicate an active infection. I would assume from your recent results that your cancer treatment must have cleared the HPV virus - into a state of dormancy. Good news! Congrats again.
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