PSA if you've ever had sex

[cville]

Get a pap this year.

My friend has cervical cancer (early stage, caught BECAUSE she got her pap timely). She wants me to spread the word.

Do it.

[eddy]

HPV-16 positive for 10+ years. Monitored the whole time to see if anything ever changed to cancer. Finally got a LEEP last year and got my first normal PAP this year.



So yeah... pretty passionate about pap exams and more importantly HPV vaccinations.

Get your kids vaccinated!!

And to normalize HPV even more... I got my diagnosis 7 years into exclusively sleeping with my H. It is insanely common, but has such huge health risks associate with it. Cervical cancer, throat cancer in men etc.

[eddy]

Also I am grateful your friend caught it early!

[cville]

May 10, 2019 19:07:48 GMT -5 eddy said:

Also I am grateful your friend caught it early!

Me too. I tried really hard not to cry when she told me because comforting me was the last thing she needed. So instead I said "that fucking sucks!" really loudly. She, fortunately, laughed.

[cville]

And, yes, I'm ALL ABOUT getting my kids vaccinated.

[pooh8402]

Got mine last week at my PP checkup. And walked out with my appointment already set for next year.

And I plan on vaccinating both of my sons.

[Dumbledork]

My little sister was diagnosed with stage one cervical cancer this past fall.

She was 28 and had to have a total hysterectomy.

She’s been recovering well and they believe they got all the cancer, but still. 28.

Get your HPV vaccine. Get your kids the HPV vaccine.

[Dumbledork]

Also- my sister is on the lower income side and has state insurance.

So instead of being able to get treated at the hospital nearest her house, located in a neighboring state, she had to drive an hour to the nearest in-state hospital.

Her surgery and surgery follow ups were at a hospital 2.5 hours away.

When she was having high fever and pain at 2am at home shortly after surgery, she had to find someone to drive her that hour to the hospital that took her insurance, instead of the hospital 15 mins away.

So get your vaccines, but also- please, please VOTE for better health care.

[Eagles]

My doc only does them every 3 years now. I debate whether or not I should push back.

[verycontrary247]

Do people not get a pap yearly? I’ve had to get a pap annually before my doc will renew my bc prescriptions

[nextbigthing]

May 10, 2019 21:30:57 GMT -5 Eagles said:

My doc only does them every 3 years now. I debate whether or not I should push back.

Push back

[imojoebunny]

HPV vaccination champion here. I know too many women who had to have hysterectomies in their 20's, other pre-cancer treatments that caused a lot of problems in relationships, at work, and with reproduction, and one who had throat cancer from it, of my generation.

Health care needs a complete and total overall, including expanding medical schools, PA programs, and other medical training to increase the number of professionals. I am not opposed to socialized medicine or more of a life insurance approach, where you agree to pay X for 20, 30, or 40 years. The haves and have nots, increasingly are coming down to health insurance options for most Americans, not any sort of personal self-determination, and I wonder where all that money goes when healthy people, who do not work for an employer, are paying $30K a year for a family of 4, in a state where the average income is ~$50K?

[huskymom]

May 10, 2019 21:30:57 GMT -5 Eagles said:

My doc only does them every 3 years now. I debate whether or not I should push back.

Push back. This is how a friend with Stage IV had hers missed

[isabel]

For some reason I thought that insurance had changed to only cover paps every two years. Is that not the case?

[formerlyak]

May 10, 2019 22:26:59 GMT -5 isabel said:

For some reason I thought that insurance had changed to only cover paps every two years. Is that not the case?

It may depend on your insurance, but as long as my doctor says she recommended I get it yearly, they pay.

[pugz]

Thanks I am due for it this year

[wambam]

Both gyns I’ve been to in the last few years only recommend every 3 years. Is that a cost saving thing? Should I push back?

[cleo29]

What is the harm of doing it yearly? I mean, when you go in they are checking down there anyway.

[rebneen]

I had the STI convo with my guy on the first date, lol. He got the HPV vaccine recently (over age 35). If you test clear, you can get it anytime! It still doesn't protect against every strain, though.

I figured if we couldn't talk about this kind of thing openly, I wasn't going to take off my clothes around him, lol.

[fernweh]

May 11, 2019 6:20:57 GMT -5 wambam said:

Both gyns I’ve been to in the last few years only recommend every 3 years. Is that a cost saving thing? Should I push back?

Yes. My doctor told me they would still do them every year if I want but the new recommendation is either every 3 or 5 years (I can’t remember if the recommended amount of time was different due to age or past abnormal paps). Either way I think it’s ridiculous and plan to go yearly.

[mortomo]

My Dr told me a couple of years ago that insurance companies are trying to push for every 3 years. My doctor told me that's a bad idea and to get one yearly while I can. He said the risk of letting possible cancer go that long before it's diagnosed is a bad idea.

I believe he also told me that mammograms are headed in the same direction.

[cville]

May 11, 2019 6:20:57 GMT -5 wambam said:

Both gyns I’ve been to in the last few years only recommend every 3 years. Is that a cost saving thing? Should I push back?

I think it's a pragmatic weighing of costs (literal dollars and potential false positives and arguably unnecessary procedures) v. benefits (earlier detection if things are problematic).

For me, I'm HPV negative and in a monogamous relationship with someone who is also HPV negative, so maybe not every year arguably makes sense. But I'm also not as proactive about my health as I should be and scheduling medical things for myself falls by the wayside a lot. I wouldn't get an every 6 month dental check up if they didn't schedule my next appointment with me AT my appointment. I think it's been 4 years since my last pap test. Thanks to my friend, I've called my doctor and scheduled a full physical/check up/pap test/mammogram.

[Eagles]

Thank you guys for validating my gut. I'm a pretty good advocate for myself and my gyn is great (I get annual ultrasounds due to a family history of ovarian cancer and she started mammos early on me due to family history of breast cancer) so I trusted her, but I'll ask her to do them annually going forward.

[isabel]

May 11, 2019 6:27:08 GMT -5 cleo29 said:

What is the harm of doing it yearly? I mean, when you go in they are checking down there anyway.

$$$$

[VillainV]

May 11, 2019 6:27:08 GMT -5 cleo29 said:

What is the harm of doing it yearly? I mean, when you go in they are checking down there anyway.

Also not a doctor -- but my doc explained that the science was sketchy on doing it yearly for certain ages (I believe below 40), and many felt that they were subjecting women to an unnecessary invasive and intimate procedure.  This is a military doc, and it used to be mandatory annually in order to maintain deployability status and to obtain birth control (because annually was the standard of care), so it wasn't like women could just skip it like a civilian woman could.   They have gone to biennial exams for women under 40 who have never had an abnormal pap an don't have any other risk factors, but once women turn 40 it goes back to annual (though it's no longer required to have an up-to-date pap to get BCP refills).

[formerlyak]

To those of you saying your DH is HPV negative, how do you know? Honest question not a snarky one. I didn’t think there was a way to screen men for HPV.

www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/hpvandmen-fact-sheet-february-2012.pdf

I found out I had it while I was in a monogamous relationship and we had both been tested for all other manner of STI. Same with my friends and family who have tested positive. The doctor told me it can lay dormant for quite a period before showing up on a test so that was how it was possible for me to previously test negative (for years) and then test positive.

[Roc A Bee]

My mom died from cervical cancer when I was 14, and she was 45. I get a pap annually. When I was told I could wait 3 years, I just said I still wanted it annually. My doc was fine with that. Also, even if you get a pap every 3 years, it is still recommended to get an annual exam. So if you are already there for that, may just ask for the pap.

[spedrunner]

May 10, 2019 19:06:50 GMT -5 eddy said:

HPV-16 positive for 10+ years. Monitored the whole time to see if anything ever changed to cancer. Finally got a LEEP last year and got my first normal PAP this year.



So yeah... pretty passionate about pap exams and more importantly HPV vaccinations.

Get your kids vaccinated!!

And to normalize HPV even more... I got my diagnosis 7 years into exclusively sleeping with my H. It is insanely common, but has such huge health risks associate with it. Cervical cancer, throat cancer in men etc.

SAME! Had my LEEP and have had successive normal PAPs for about 2 years now! <3

[jellymankelly]

I just had my first clear Pap post-LEEP. I remember my ex-SIL having a LEEP done years ago and my XH saying that she had to have “some sort of surgery due to being promiscuous prior to meeting BIL.” I absolutely despise that there is that type of stigma around HPV. You don’t have to be “promiscuous” to contract something that more than 70% of the population has, and that line of thinking can give people in monogamous relationships a false sense of security.

[sometimesrunner]

I’m so sorry to hear about your friend. Thanks for the reminder, though. The practice I went to with my kids dissolved shortly after, and I have yet to get a checkup since she was born. (3 years ago :/)