Genital warts

LegacyUser

My bf has genital warts so I have made an appt to go to family planning clinic and get checked.

I asked him if his doc (at clinic) tested him for other STIs and he said no. I think this is odd as if he got warts then he could have anything right???

I have refused to have sex with him till I get checked but he's being a bit of a d1ck (pun intended) about it. I'm really worried and afraid I could have HIV or anything.

Has anyone been through this & can you tell me what to expect?

Marksie

Well he should have an STI screen for your peace of mind. If he is being funny about it, then you are correct not to have sex.

The FP clinics are very good at putting you at your ease and will take blood and swabs and sent them to be tested for the full suite of possible STI infections.

If you talk to them about your partners condition then they will give you the advice as well.

Dr_Teeth

You should both go, together, and get checked.. putting it all on him is unfair imo.

Marksie

Dr_Teeth wrote: »

You should both go, together, and get checked.. putting it all on him is unfair imo.

I think if you read the post again you will see she is getting herself checked, and you are right btw, they should go together.

IRISH RAIL

Now im no expert but how did he get the genital warts ?

AARRRGH

Condoms do not protect you from Genital Warts. As a result of this, most people have Genital Warts.

St. James's Hospital don't screen for Genital Warts during their routine STI checkup as (this is what they told me) if you're sexually active you probably have Genital Warts already.

Less than 5% of carriers develop actual warts.

Don't be too harsh on your boyfriend, he could be the strictest condom user in the world, but that won't protect him from Genital Warts...

Marksie

dublindude wrote: »

Condoms do not protect you from Genital Warts. As a result of this, most people have Genital Warts.

St. James's Hospital don't screen for Genital Warts during their routine STI checkup as (this is what they told me) if you're sexually active you probably have Genital Warts already.

Less than 5% of carriers develop actual warts.

Don't be too harsh on your boyfriend, he could be the strictest condom user in the world, but that won't protect him from Genital Warts...

Dublindude are you qualified to make a statements like that? Could you provide us with links to your condom statement?

here is the VHI website:
http://www2.vhi.ie/topic/topic13105

"If you're not in a monogamous relationship, be sure you don't have unprotected sex; condoms can help prevent the spread of genital warts. But since warts can occur on parts of the genital and anal areas that condoms don't cover, the virus can still be spread through sexual contact. ."

Depending on which studies you read the infection and exposure rates varies, but is extremely common.

"There are 100 types of HPV, most of them harmless, and about 30 types are sexually transmitted. Some types of HPV can lead to genital warts and others can lead to cancer. At least 50 percent of all adults will contract this sexually transmitted virus at some point in their lives. According to the CDC, 20 million Americans have HPV today and about 6.2 million new infections occur every year. "

AARRRGH

From a bit of quick Googling:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12438912

Do condoms prevent genital HPV infection, external genital warts, or cervical neoplasia?

BACKGROUND: Although condoms most likely prevent HIV infection, evidence of their effectiveness against other sexually transmitted diseases is mixed.
GOAL: The goal of the study was to determine whether condom use prevents genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and HPV-related conditions.
STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a literature review and meta-analysis of the effect of condom use on the prevention of genital warts, subclinical HPV infection, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), and invasive cervical cancer (ICC).
RESULTS: Among 27 estimates from 20 studies, there was no consistent evidence that condom use reduces the risk of becoming HPV DNA-positive. However, risk for genital warts, CIN of grade II or III (CIN II or III), and ICC was somewhat reduced.
CONCLUSIONS: Available data are too inconsistent to provide precise estimates. However, they suggest that while condoms may not prevent HPV infection, they may protect against genital warts, CIN II or III, and ICC.

So basically, even if you use a condom, you may not prevent infection.

Obviously I am not telling people to stop using condoms.

It is interesting though that St. James's don't bother testing for them anymore.

Marksie

dublindude wrote: »

Condoms do not protect you from Genital Warts. As a result of this, most people have Genital Warts.

Isn't quite the same, it needed clarification and the VHI website explains why.
The study you quote there mentions that condoms doesnt reduce HPV_DNA infection, but reduces the risk of genital warts.
However, we can continue to discuss that by PM if you like

Other STI services will give you the option of testing for HPV antibodies.

However its a little off topic but does put the context of the OP and her partner in trems of the fact that it is extremely common.

It doesn't alter the fact that while she is going for an STI screen, he is reticent to do so. She is worried and tbh if any partner of mine was worried like that i would be straight donw to teh health clinic, needle phobia or no needle phobia

MIN2511

Am with dublindude on this having started a thread in AH for genital warts.

OP, don't worry about it. It can be controlled if you do have it. Also how long have you dated your bf?
First get checked, you might not have it.

IRISH RAIL

Sorry if I started something here but what I mean is
Has the op other half cheated to catch these ?
How long have you been going out and how did you find you had them ?

MIN2511

Exactly why i asked how long the OP has been dating the bf, although it's not the issue at hand but it would be one to think of.

John Mason

GW are like cold sores, you can be infected for years before they actually appear, so it doesnt necessarily mean that the OP's BF cheated on her

sportswear

go to the doctor. Do not have sex with your boyf until you do.

be very aware of any "medical" advice you read here as most of its just taken from the internet and is as such liable to be incorrect.


best of luck.

LegacyUser

irishbird wrote: »

GW are like cold sores, you can be infected for years before they actually appear, so it doesnt necessarily mean that the OP's BF cheated on her

my bf has genital warts, am with him 3 years and when he started showing symptoms i begged him togo to a doctor and he wouldn't, said he got them off me

so i went to my own doctor myself and it drove him mad when the doctor pointed to me that a woman whose partner has gw i can be very dangerous when you go for a smear test, my response was i gave them to him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SheRa

Hope things go ok for you very worried.

LegacyUser

I have been with my bf for just over 6 months & I do know that these warts do not appear immediately after infection and I'm not worried that he cheated on me.

However, I am worried about getting checked & chances of other STIs. I don;t know if I have them - that's why I am getting checked as I know that they can be 'internal' for girls.

AARRRGH

Well if you haven't been using condoms and you do not know if your boyfriend was STI free at the start of your relationship, then yes, you could have an STI.

Get tested and put your mind at ease. It's very likely you haven't caught anything fatal.

LegacyUser

I contracted gw before from an ex. For some reason mine went away untreated after a few weeks (they never caused me any discomfort or irritation) but my bf at the time got them off me and had to treat them with some cream to burn them off, said it was torture!

When I went for a STI checkup, I told them I had contracted gw about 10 months before and the nurse there said that if they hadn't come back within a year from when I last had them, then I probably wouldn't suffer from them again.

But once you catch them, you have the virus for life, even if you don't actually "suffer" from them.

LegacyUser

SheRa wrote: »

:eek::eek: This thread has me a bit freaked out I have to say. So you could still get warts even if you have safe sex.

Yes. HPV and warts are transmitted via skin-to-skin contact, not via fluids.

A condom doesn't cover 'everything' down there.

LegacyUser

Hey OP

I caught them, currently being treated, though got tested for other STIs & everything was negative.

Your boyfriends probably terrified he has something uncurable. What reason has he given for not getting further tests?

Theyre a serious headfuk, I put off further tests & treatment for months. Bad idea as they spread rapidly until you get rid of them all. Anyone reading this & putting off the doc believe me just bite the bullet & get it over with.

LegacyUser

Just to add another voice to the 'don't panic, just get tested' chorus. I got warts from my ex, or he got them from me (never quite knew as they showed up in both of us simultaneously).

I found the whole process pretty upsetting, so just to share a few things I wished I'd known:

- as mentioned above, HPV can lie dormant in your system for up to 2 years before warts show up, so it could have been either my bf or I who had the virus and passed it to the other. No need for a blame game.

- as you can catch HPV just from physical contact (not only unprotected sex), it isn't a given that you (or your boyfriend) will have exposed yourself to other STDs. A regular test for the works (the main STDs, at least) is a good idea anyway if you're sexually active.

- there's a cream treatment for warts, applied topically, which I found 100% effective and pain-free, as opposed to cryotherapy (which the Well Woman centre in Liffey st gave me) which was the most painful experience of my life and DID NOT get rid of them. Ask your doctor for choices of treatment.

- I felt really dirty, having contracted an STD. It really hit my self-esteem and my relationship with my bf (emotionally and physically). Don't beat yourself up about it, these things happen, just be as responsible as you can. Love yourself and respect yourself.

LegacyUser

I'm not sure if you are allowed to tell me the name of the cream on here but I'd love to know what it is. I had cryotherapy in the well woman and found it quite painful I had to cancel appointments a few times because I hadn't healed from the last time, it was also expensive as I had 7 or 8 treatments at €30 a pop and within a month of my last treatment they were back. I didn't bother going back again as I thought it was pointless, but they told me there that I couldn't use a cream cos the warts were too small, but I'd like to try it as cryo was no good.

LegacyUser

Ok, sorry if this is against the medical advice charter, but you'll have to get a prescription for this anyway (well, i did in the UK - the Well Woman in Dublin never offered it to me, but I'd moved to the UK after the first cryo treatment). It's called Aldara and is Imiquimod cream. For me, even though mine were also small, they'd cleared up after 2 weeks and the cream doesn't hurt at all, maybe a very slight tingle, that's it. Cryo was awful for me and I found the Well Woman doctor very insensitive about the whole thing - if your doctor is insisting you can only have cryo, maybe try another doctor, since I know this Aldara is out there and worked a treat for both me and my bf.

LegacyUser

Thanks a million thats great. The nurse in the well woman I went to was lovely but the cryo just didn't work for me and it hurt for a week after, really didn't want to have to go through that again.

LegacyUser

Well I went to the FP clinic & they were really good. As one of the other posters said, they can lie dormant in your system for 2 years before they show. I don't have any but the doctor said that doesn't mean anything as I could have easily infected my bf as the other way around......just cause it showed up on him doesn't mean he got the virus first.

Anyway, I got a whole pile of swabs taken & going back for bloods in 2 weeks with my boyfriend - he has agreed to get everything done too. He was just really scared.

Just wanted to point out too in response to someone - we were using condoms. But I'm not 100% happy about having sex, even with condoms, when one of us could have an STI cause I know they only help to prevent them - so this way we got tested for everything & then no worries.

Hopefully.