for the better part of a year that I had contacted HPV
Ok, I’ve known for the better part of a year that I had contacted HPV. I noticed a bump on my penis about 13 months ago and went to the doctor who prescribed me Aldara. I put it on and nothing really happened so the Doctor at the time thought it might just be a skin tag. I’ve had those too so I thought no biggie.
About 2 months later I started seeing other bumps that looked different than the first. They started occurring more around the skin between my penis and testicles. To date, I would say I’ve got about a dozen small warts around the base of my penis. I’ve been back to the Doctor three times since the new year to get them frozen. The treatment has not been successful and I’m thinking about going back to the Doctor to see if I can get on Aldara again.
I’ve got a lot of questions. Frankly, there seems to be a lot more out there on the web dealing with HPV and WOMEN, not men. This has led to some frustration. I know the basics of the disease, how it’s caused and how it’s transmitted.
On a personal note, when I found out that I had the disease my girlfriend at the time accepted the news pretty well. She’s a med-student and she understands that most people have some sort of the virus. She also knew that I was pretty promiscuous. Now, we’ve broken up and it had nothing to do with the disease.
Here are some of my questions:
How long do outbreaks tend to last? I know this answer is going to vary but I’ve had some of these warts for over a year and they aren’t going away. More are coming. I guess I’m naive because I know that at some point, at least I HOPE at some point, they will go away. I know I’ll always have the disease but the warts will at some point go away. Am I kidding myself?
And I want to get some other opinions from people that are dating. I told a girl after the end of my relationship that I had the virus and we had sex one more time (with protection of course) and then that was it. There were other things that led to the breakup but in the back of my mind I figure that was at least a leading indicator. If I’m going to casually date, as long as I use protection, is it ok not to disclose this? I haven’t had to worry about this yet, but I honestly don’t know what I would do. Am I going to be forced to find other singles with the disease just to ease my concious?
I’m really looking to get other guys opinions on this but I’d like to hear from women as well.
About outbreaks : I had one or two warts for a couple years, not realizing what they were and so, not treating them… about 6 months ago, I noticed more of them, saw the gyno, and was told I had HPV. I was immediately put on Aldara. It’s been about 2 months, maybe 3, since I’ve been on Aldara, and almost all of my warts are totally gone, about 3 of them still remain, although they are teeny-tiny.
So, for me then, I’d say the effects of an outbreak last about 2-3 months before disappearing…
On dating and sex :
First of all, from what I’ve learned about the virus, the effects are potentially a lot more dangerous for women than men, so it is definitely not okay to have casual sex and NOT warn the woman about what she’s getting into. Even with a condom, you can still possibly spread it, and that’s just not right.
Now, if you are up-front with a woman about this, if it’s just a casual thing, I’m guessing she probably won’t wanna get herself into that mess. However, if you’re in a relationship and she cares at all about you, she will respect you for telling her, and my guess is that you’ll still have a pretty good shot at having sex with her.
I have high risk hpv. When I first started getting warts, I too was perscribed Aldera. It seemed like every time one wart would disappear, another would appear. I was on it for 3 months with no results. As soon as I quit using it, my warts went away. I noticed too that stress causes me to break out…..and I hardly break out. Generally, the more warts or breakouts you have, the less likely you are to get cervical cancer, you have a lower risk type of hpv.
After going through everything I have had to go through, with the colposcopies, and the paps, and the cervical freezing, I wouln’t have sex with anyone else……I will never give this disease to anyone else.
it is absolutely 100% NOT OK to not tell the girl about it. you can spread this disease even with safe sex, because a condom does not cover all of your skin that is touching hers. it is not fair to pass this disease on to others just because you want to have some casual, meaningless sex.please please please do not contribute to the spead of HPV