HPV/Cervical erosion and spotting

[ForeverBaffled]

I had a smear in Feb which came back with no abnormal cell changes but positive for high risk HPV. I was told to come back in 12 months for a repeat. I saw the GP as have noticed that just prior to ovulation I get some minimal pink streaks in my cervical mucous. She said this was normal but examined my cervix and found evidence of cervical erosion. I’m not sure whether this was evident at my last smear as the nurse didn’t mention it.

The spotting coupled with HPV and erosion has left me with a two week urgent gynae referral. I’m trying hard not to panic.

Just for info I had my first baby in late 2018 and have recently started reducing breastfeeding (in case hormones play a role in this!)

Can anyone offer any reassurance? Thank you :)

I have/had cervical erosion and sufferer horrendous bleeding after sex for years, no nurse ever picked up on this in a smear test, it was only when I finally got an understanding doctor that noticed it!
Please do not panic, it’s great that you are being seen quickly though. They will probably examine you and decide how to deal with the erosion, I had the erosion frozen off. It wasn’t painful but felt weird sensation, it did help but I’ve been told I still have some areas of erosion which do bleed after a smear test!
Good luck and try not to panic!

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I’m sorry you’ve had a rough time with this too. To be honest the symptoms of it don’t really bother me - I guess the reality is I’m concerned that I have cervical cancer somewhere muddled in between the erosion, spotting and HPV but all those things can be unrelated too. I struggle with anxiety and don’t want to spend the next fortnight consumed by this. Your post is reassuring though. Thank you again.

I think hormonal changes do play a part in cervical erosions OP. I think it first happened to me when I was pregnant.

I've had this - and also eventually had the erosion bit frozen - please try not to worry -(easier said than done I know) . I've also had HPV spotted in a smear and although the doctors took it seriously (well they did a further test), it was ok and they weren't too concerned. It disappeared subsequently on it's own.

I had a 2 week urgent referral recently due to an ectropion causing post coital bleeding - I was fine. No cancer - just a tiny ectropion. The ectropion itself caused your bleeding/spotting as the cells are very soft - it’s not particularly a symptom of cervical cancer, where they’d be checking for more suspicious growths/lesions.

Had it treated with silver nitrate, in all honesty it was over quickly and wasn’t painful. I definitely assumed it would be more intense than it actually was.

Thank you so much for the reassurance. It’s so helpful to know that referring in these circumstances is pretty standard procedure rather than because it’s definitively bad news. I think I was taken aback that I was referred so urgently for something that is supposedly benign (cervical erosion) but assume being positive for HPV is part of that!

Hi what was it please how are u

Just completely normal spotting from cervical erosion. Still happens sometimes, still nothing sinister 🙂