14th May 2006
Hello, I am a first time poster and would really love some guidance on my issue.
I was diagnosed with moderate HPV over two years ago. Did the whole wait and see, 3 month follow-up thing, multiple colposcopies. The third doctor wanted to do a LEEP but I was wary of that since I was told the area affected was so large that it may inhibit my ability to have children in the future should I want them. Eventually the 4th doctor I saw 1.5 yrs into it suggested a treatment of Efudex (5-FU) which I completed Feb 1.
While on the Efudex I had none of the "usual" side effects (burning, severe discharge, discomfort). I did however suffer frequent UTIs thus was on antibiotics for nearly the entire duration of my treatment. The jury is still out on whether or not the UTIs were connected to my treatment. My vote is yes, since I had never experienced one prior to it.
My side effects according to my nurse were "cumulative" and came at the end. Since I stopped treatment on Feb 1, I was told that I had to wait 4 months to heal before they'd re-pap to see if the treatment was effective and ever since I've been experiencing abnormal bleeding.
It mostly happens after sex which made the nurse pracitcioner I was working with suggest taking a hiatus from intercourse giving my body the best chance possible to heal quickly. So we took time off from intercourse but it didn't seem to have an effect on the bleeding. It's not a lot of blood, similar to what we experience at the end of our periods. But at times its causing cramping which feels almost like I have my period all over again (fun, right?).
Anyways, my 4 month follow-up is in the middle of June and because I've been experiencing this bleeding I've been in constant touch with the nurse. I saw her just on Friday and she examined me and says that my vaginal wall looks very irratated and looks like it has a "bad sunburn". She is chalking it up to veyr slow healing and a sensitive body.
I'm just really worried right now that the Efudex destroyed something inside me that they are not catching or god forbid the HPV has advance to cancer (I read in another post that vaginal bleeding after intercourse is sometimes an indicator). The nurse I'm working with specializes in gyn-oncology so I'm assuming she'dve seen it in there on the exam or be a bit more concerned than she is if that's the case.
I'm just hoping someone here may have some pearls of wisdom as I've found very little useful info on the internet regarding after effects of Efudex. The nurse, though 100% confident that this treament will work as it's worked on every single woman before me, hasn't seen a patient react this way before. I want to know if what I'm experiencing is normal and if it's not, what I should ask my gyn nurse to test for when I call her this week or see her in June.
To better understand a bit more about me, I'm a 25 y/o female who is on Aviane BCPs and has been in a monogamous relationship for the past 2.5 years. I'm just very scared, tired of going to the dr's office all the time, and want this all to be over. Thank you for your time.
-Abby
I was diagnosed with moderate HPV over two years ago. Did the whole wait and see, 3 month follow-up thing, multiple colposcopies. The third doctor wanted to do a LEEP but I was wary of that since I was told the area affected was so large that it may inhibit my ability to have children in the future should I want them. Eventually the 4th doctor I saw 1.5 yrs into it suggested a treatment of Efudex (5-FU) which I completed Feb 1.
While on the Efudex I had none of the "usual" side effects (burning, severe discharge, discomfort). I did however suffer frequent UTIs thus was on antibiotics for nearly the entire duration of my treatment. The jury is still out on whether or not the UTIs were connected to my treatment. My vote is yes, since I had never experienced one prior to it.
My side effects according to my nurse were "cumulative" and came at the end. Since I stopped treatment on Feb 1, I was told that I had to wait 4 months to heal before they'd re-pap to see if the treatment was effective and ever since I've been experiencing abnormal bleeding.
It mostly happens after sex which made the nurse pracitcioner I was working with suggest taking a hiatus from intercourse giving my body the best chance possible to heal quickly. So we took time off from intercourse but it didn't seem to have an effect on the bleeding. It's not a lot of blood, similar to what we experience at the end of our periods. But at times its causing cramping which feels almost like I have my period all over again (fun, right?).
Anyways, my 4 month follow-up is in the middle of June and because I've been experiencing this bleeding I've been in constant touch with the nurse. I saw her just on Friday and she examined me and says that my vaginal wall looks very irratated and looks like it has a "bad sunburn". She is chalking it up to veyr slow healing and a sensitive body.
I'm just really worried right now that the Efudex destroyed something inside me that they are not catching or god forbid the HPV has advance to cancer (I read in another post that vaginal bleeding after intercourse is sometimes an indicator). The nurse I'm working with specializes in gyn-oncology so I'm assuming she'dve seen it in there on the exam or be a bit more concerned than she is if that's the case.
I'm just hoping someone here may have some pearls of wisdom as I've found very little useful info on the internet regarding after effects of Efudex. The nurse, though 100% confident that this treament will work as it's worked on every single woman before me, hasn't seen a patient react this way before. I want to know if what I'm experiencing is normal and if it's not, what I should ask my gyn nurse to test for when I call her this week or see her in June.
To better understand a bit more about me, I'm a 25 y/o female who is on Aviane BCPs and has been in a monogamous relationship for the past 2.5 years. I'm just very scared, tired of going to the dr's office all the time, and want this all to be over. Thank you for your time.
-Abby