I'm getting my cervix frozen! (XY's read at own risk)

As you can see, you are not alone in having this problem to deal with.

I had level 3 cervical dysplasia. At the time I was getting a pap done every year. The year before - fine, that year - level 3. WHAM!

So then came what the other ladies here have described, the colposcopy and the LEEP procedure. The cramping was gone in a few days, and I was healed soon after.

I’m not a religious person, but I do thank God that I live now, and not 100 years ago. This is an outpatient procedure, takes one afternoon, and saves your plumbing if not your life. I also give thanks to God and my doctor for each and every normal pap I have had since then.

Don’t be too nervous about it. Just be glad that you were diagnosed and can be easily treated. Good luck with this, and let us know how you do.

You guys are making me feel better about the follow-up prognosis, too. I have my six month follow-up in a few weeks, and I was wondering what the chances were that the dysplasia was still going to be around. It seems like the majority of you haven’t had any problems since the first bad Pap. Thank you for unwittingly reassuring me!

C3, I just wanted to let you kow that I had a few abnormals after having this procedure, but then everything went back to normal. Don’t panic if you get an abnormal, please. It’s likely to happen at least once, but everything should clear up for you soon.

Elbows, thank you for making that appointment. If even just one woman is helped by this thread, or encouraged to make that OB appt, then we have all done a good thing here.

C3, I just wanted to let you kow that I had a few abnormals after having this procedure, but then everything went back to normal. Don’t panic if you get an abnormal, please. It’s likely to happen at least once, but everything should clear up for you soon.

Elbows, thank you for making that appointment. If even just one woman is helped by this thread, or encouraged to make that OB appt, then we have all done a good thing here.

I had the LEEP procedure done in January. It hurt, but just for a second or two. Then it was kind of messy for several days, and there was some cramping and clotting. But I’ve birthed three kids, so it wasn’t anything I personally couldn’t deal with. It wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t as bad as I expected.

Reading this thread reminded me that I haven’t called for my follow-up Pap. I’m going to go do that right now.

C3, detected early, it has a 100% success rate. This is really great. Most of the time dysplasia happens after extreme stress in a person’s life, which brings the immune system down. e.g. pregnancy

‘If caught early enough HPV can be treated with a cream…’ The genital wart variety. Im talking about strain #16 & #18 which do not cause warts but DO cause dysplasia. They are the main cause of dysplasia, too. Accounting for 85-100% of the cases, Depending on who you ask.

There is, or it appears since 1998, no test to detect these two strains in men (Perhaps the VIRA PAP may). Thus, men can have it and give it to their woman partner. Of 93 people who did not have HPV, after one sexual experience with someone who did, 67 of them came down with it.

Sisterhood, don’t ya love it?

I had the LEEP procedure done almost ten years ago for a Class III Pap. Like most everybody else is saying, it only hurt during the actual procedure, but not even that much. I worked in an OB-GYN clinic, so I had the procedure done during my lunch hour, and then went right back to work immediately after the procedure. What I haven’t seen mentioned here yet is that when I had the procedure done, the doctor smeared this mustard-looking stuff on my cervix after she was done using the laser. I guess it was supposed to help my cervix heal faster. Anyways, the discharge I had for a week afterward was a mixture of old clotted blood and this yellowish-green stuff. I went back to the doctor, convinced I had some sort of horrible infection, but she assured me that it was just the cream they used and not to worry about it.

Now, I bet that was certainly more than you ever wanted to know…

I just wanted to thank you all for being so open. A lot of people wouldn’t be so candid about something so personal, no matter how important.

I learn something new every day here.

PS: And, yes, I do get yearly pap tests as well as many others. No need to worry about Suo, born in the land of free health care!

Thanks, everyone! :slight_smile:

I think the mustard stuff is some sort of iron cream (which is what gives it the lovely color). The doc used some on me after my biopsy, and told me that it was to stop the bleeding more quickly.

I had no idea this was so common! I feel much better now.