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I want to cry. They're back. After my third (or fourth? can't remember) biopsy in less than a year. I have to get LEEP again. It's not painful but it sucks to have this shiitake going on. GET YOUR forking YEARLY PAP, my dearests lovely cervix-owning friends.

I also should add that if your doctor has really nice sharp equipment, the biospy isn't very painful at all. It shouldn't be more than discomforting. I mostly find them annoying. I know that my first colpo was uncomfortable because I was at a shitty small town doctor who probably doesn't get this stuff sharpened enough.

Well this sucks, they didn't find anything more than mild dysplasia when they did the biopsy so the doctor thinks he may have missed the abnormal cells because my pap came back moderate to severely abnormal so now I have to get a cone biopsy, which is the whole put you to sleep, miss work deal. I'm kind of annoyed because it seems like I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't, but I guess this is the best possible outcome.

Do you guys think I should ask them to redo the pap? I'm not really that scared or worried about biopsies but this is kind of a bigger deal and what if it's unnecessary? But maybe asking them to redo the pap would waste time for my already severely abnormal new sometimes hiding cervical cancer I've obviously got going on.

What about a colposcopy? usually that is more accurate.

I'm sorry Fee. That really sucks. I think if you don't feel right about the cone biopsy, you should ask them what some other options are or why they feel that particular treatment is right. I feel like if you don't ask questions, often doctors don't explain things out for you. So maybe if you ask some questions, you'll get more answers and clarity about what needs to be done.

That pap isn't going to say enough or do enough but what it has said is that you should be hasty. You have the right to ask for it to be repeated but a cone biopsy will remove any suspicious cells and tell the doctors more about what is going on. Pap smears only say what is happening on the outside of the cervix. I am going in next week for my second LEEP and I think it is better safe than sorry. I kind of would love for them to cut all that tissue off and actually find nothing. Unlikely, though.

(Sorry, I'm getting pretty forking depressed about this.)

Fee I have no idea but my sympathies - what a pain in the butt. Good luck either way!!

Sra. Nooch, I am so sorry you have to get another LEEP procedure. I hope everything goes smoothly and you get some peace of mind <3

Fee, sending you good cervical thoughts. I had a colposcopy, and it was pretty uneventful. I hope your cone biopsy is similarly problem-free. <3

Although, Fee, you could ask for a second opinion on a cone biopsy. The LEEP procedure (which can also do cone but I just ge the straight scraping -- less tissue) is local anesthetic so you might prefer that. Somebody in your area can do that, I bet.

My LEEP is scheduled for tomorrow morning! Intellectually, I'm not really worried about it, but I can't help feeling nervous. Question for anyone who's had a LEEP: how long did you bleed/spot/cramp afterwards, and how long did you have to wait to have sex again? From reading around, it seems like 3-4 weeks, and that more than anything is bumming the hell out of me!

I bled for about 2 weeks afterwards and I think I had PIV at about 2.5 weeks afterward. When I was done bleeding I carefully touched the cervix to see if it was sensitive and went gently from there. I wasn't really up for sex for a while after the procedure, anyway. It's not exactly fun sounding after what happens during the office visit for the LEEP.

Although, after the leep, my mini-periods were no longer so mini (I had an IUD). I don't know what's correlated with what, though.

Thank you, Sra. Nooch! That's all helpful to know.

I bled for maybe two to three days and hardly anything. I didn't have sex for four weeks. I didn't really have any desire to have sex though after the procedure for a while. I also think I got pregnant the first time I had sex after the leep. I have read since that having a leep can somehow make you more fertile, so just make sure you are taking your birth control!

I didn't bleed much (2 or 3 days) after each LEEP. They spread some goo on your cervix, though, that will eventually come out and if you're not prepared for viscous, yellowy-brown clumps, it could be really alarming. That took a week maybe. I don't remember how long I waited to have sex, maybe two or three weeks. It wasn't long enough because my cervix was still really sensitive.

I ended up getting my cold cone biopsy done last week. I gotta say, as far as pain and feelings go - nothin. Just about the only pain was the shot of "something that will make you feel more relaxed" and then just nothing. No bleeding afterward, just more of that gross lookin discharge. I'm supposed to get my results today or tomorrow.

I wouldn't have gone through with it if my mom hadn't offered to pay for it. So far it's been about $400 and the doctor hasn't even sent his final bill yet. I'll be almost pissed if there's nothing wrong on this one either. I mean mostly glad and everything, but a little peeved and will probably be changing gynos. He told me I'll have to be getting paps every three months for the next two years. My poor cervix will be nothing at the end of this.

Huggles, Fee and Sra Nooch.

Hoping for good results, Fee. I'll have Molly cross her toes for you too.

Oh, no good news is often forgotton around here. My doctor was in a very good mood when she walked into the exam room with my LEEP pathology. The margins were completely clear of CIN I or CIN II! I repeat, the margins were completely clear! So now I just have to get paps instead of colposcopies every three months and if they're all clear I go back to yearly paps. Phew! Even though this LEEP procedure was just as drastic as the last one it worked a lot better and I'm back to normal (except for really weird discharge... let's just say I was cauterized after the procedure and that left burnt skin...).

All in all, yay!

Good news for us both, then! The results came back benign so now all I have to do is go for my post op and then I am switching gynos so fast the stirrups will spin. Paps every three months, still, but I can deal with that. Scraping is better than cutting. Gross.

fork fork fork. I have to have a colposcopy. fork. And because it's the NHS, I can't just schedule it now. I have to wait for the clinic to send me a letter that I should get within the next 8 weeks. fork.

Rachel, I had similar stuff going on last year and although it said within 8 weeks, I am 90% certain it was a lot sooner- like within a month of being told I had to have a colposcopy. I had a pretty large ectropion on my cervix, discovered when I had my smear test. I had it LEEP'ed off. it really sucks when there's stuff going on with your lady garden. I hope everything is fine (hugs)

Thanks for the reassurance, hana. I actually got the letter for my appointment today. I go in 3 October at 3.30pm. At least I get a half-day off work. If I didn't already know that I had to be there for at least part of the day, I'd just take the whole day off.

This morning I got the call from my NP saying I had mildly abnormal ASCUS cells and tested positive for HPV. Reading this thread has seriously reassured me, so thanks to all of you. I haven't set up my appointment for my colposcopy, but I'll do that by the end of today.

I am somewhat worried because this was my first pap in 7 years. I think. I've only had 5 partners, but two were long term. I've been with my current boyfriend for 2.5 years, so either he gave it to me, and it should clear up soon, or I got it from someone else, and it could be more serious. Either way, I've been through pretty bad medical shiitake, so I'm feeling okay about everything so far. I won't know anything until I get the colposcopy results back. No sense in over-worrying about it til then.

I am kind of tired about everything medically going so wrong in the last few years. Sometimes I where all this bad karma came from. Again, no sense in worrying about something I can't change.

Continued happy paps to you all!

I figured I'd ask in this thread since I saw someone mention yearly paps. I was told a few years ago that yearly paps are gone as the tests these days are more accurate and you should be getting them every 3 years now. Am I the only one that was told that? I'm sure if you are higher risk, maybe they want them more frequently. I've never had an abnormal pap though.

Haha I feel like you're only going to get biased opinions on this thread since we've all had our cervixes handed to us from not going yearly. Hell I even went yearly with no new partners since my last good one and it popped up bad anyway. Really bad.

linanil, I was also told an exam every year, but a pap just every 3 years