Genital warts

[JBS75]

I've namechanged for this, obvs 

Please talk to me about HPV as I'm rather confused! I went for a smear in Jan, all clear. Have only had 1 sexual partner this year. Now I've got genital warts. I think. Either that or cancer of the vulva (fuck you Dr Google). But he told me he had a check up a few months ago and had a clean bill of health. Obviously this could be a complete fib, I don't know. I'm only in a casual relationship so not that fussed if he's sleeping with someone else and we used condoms. But I know it can be passed on from skin to skin contact so could be from him.

My labia majora are quite distended and they have a kind of cauliflower texture. Sounds like classic genital warts. But I've read that it can lie dormant for years and I've had flu all week so could it have been that I had it anyway? And the illness has brought it out?

I'm going to the sexual health drop in next week but in the meantime please talk me down from worrying about it.

Sorry that was rather garbled...

Some more questions:-

Can it go away by itself
Is there a 'cure'?

You can have GW for years and it can lay dormant and present when your immune system is low or you are stressed. Your partner could have the virus but never present. They can eventually go on there own but sometimes they can multiply. It's recommended not to shave pubic hair when warts are present as that helps them spread. There is no cure but there is treatment which is usually chemotherapy....quite uncomfortable but effective. It's more common than you think.

CRYOTHERAPY!!! So sorry.....

I'll be honest as no one else has yet responded. I had them in very late teens, they literally just looked like your every day wart you would get on any other part of your body, I had 2 or three around the vagina/anus area. They do not go away on their own. I went to a sexual health clinic and had them frozen off. They have never returned.

also they dont test fot gw so your partner would not likely know unless theyd had a noticeable flair up. the virus will never leave your system but you might never have a flair up again.

You need to go to your local sexual health clinic for a diagnosis and to be tested for other things.

Please don't be scared to go. I was MORTIFIED when I discovered I had genital warts. I have only had 3 sexual partners and used condoms carefully with each one. The warts appeared nearly a year after my last relationship. It was a horrible shock but the clinic were so kind and dealt with the warts over a series of treatments.

Basically, once your body is provoked into creating an immune response to the warts virus it sees them off and they're very very unlikely to ever come back.

Thanks all. I didn't realise that the HPV smear test is different to the genital warts type of HPV until today.

Because my outer labia are quite long they have rubbed and got sore before but looking back I think it might have been this flaring up.

Do you think I should tell my FWB about this?

Will go to the clinic next week. Very glad I won't need chemo though 

HPV causes both abnormal cervical changes and genital warts (usually different strains, the genital warts strains generally being considered the less worrisome of the two). You can have it quite awhile before symptoms show and it can be passed skin to skin as you said regardless of condom use. 80% of all adult sexually active women will test positive for HPV at some point. It’s so ubiquitous now they often rarely test for it. If it bothers you, you can get it treated. Some people’s bodies clear the infection on their own in time. The main thing is to continue getting regular cervical smears to catch any cell changes so they can be dealt with promptly.

I would get checked out asap as having flu like symptoms can be a sign of something else, too. I would tell him immediately and I'd assume he'd been sleeping with someone else, given you weren't in an exclusive relationship.

Get it checked and they will help u, dont leave it to get worse, i know its scary but once its over u will feel so much better xx