Not Post-Surgery Yet

Thanks for responding. I have found that general information (as you probably expected) online, besides what the doctor said. He doesn't seem to be knife happy; he's been watching this for over a year already. A LEEP was recently done with tissue biopsy which showed the most severe kind of dysplasia. Since I am looking for personal experience and anecdotal evidence of improvements or dangers, I'll leave my request up.

It's very disappointing for the rare one-man-woman to get this diagnosis. I'll take this opportunity to remind all readers that when you have a sexual encounter with someone (no matter how safe they seem), you're coming into contact with all of their previous partners and their partners and so on and so on. I think it's a good rule to know someone and their habits for several months before getting personally intimate. It also gives some time for evidence to disease (in some cases) to show up.

Thanks, Surviving, for that tip.

I had a friend many years ago who kept having abnormal PAPs and last I heard of her, she was fine. I'm glad you didn't suffer anything worse, Hockey Mom. They say the LEEP procedure is an improvement over laser because it preserves tissue for pathology reports. As a transcriptionist for a dermatopathologist, I would always encourage testing to prove the surgical results. One horror story of a patient having a mole removed without pathological testing and showing up in our dermatologist's office too late with advanced melanoma was enough to convince me. I account for lab errors and therefore consider conservative watchfulness and routine testing a good idea. Now, with a diagnosis of CIN 3, it's time to do something. The question is....get pregnant and hope for the best or keep watching with a repeat, not quite so conservative, LEEP procedure. There are risks either way.

It seems I've heard stories of pregnancy being restorative, purgative, somehow healing for unspecific abnormalities....but I can't recall any specific cases.

I tracked some of your posts through a user search and remember now reading about your recent procedure. (Mulchfairy was comforting in the description of her experiences.) The way I understand it you're still in an uncertain situation with the doctor continuing checkups and postponing pregnancy. This is the kind of thing I'm most afraid of....doctors getting someone on a schedule of check-ups with scare tactics and always doing procedures which themselves are risky. The fear of cervical cancer keeps you going to them and how do you ever know if there's real danger or real help. All this time has passed and there's no peace of mind for you. I'm so sorry. It's good that in our uncertainty and fear we have this forum for support.

In an effort to keep the topic up in case a newcomer may have some input, here's an update. My young friend has been diagnosed with the most pervasive and persistent type of cervical dysplasia which, if left untreated, is most likely to develop into cervical cancer. She has been researching all aspects of the disease. It's helpful that she had begun a major in biology and with her interest and a little background is able to understand much of the information she is finding. While she awaits her follow-up appointment, she has decided to begin a course of a traditional Chinese anti-cancer preparation which is prescribed in Asian countries in conjunction with chemotherapy and other cancer treatments. Tests have shown it to be effective alone against cancer cells. It is a mushroom called coriolus versicolor. It is also shown in studies to be helpful against esophageal, colon, stomach, breast and prostate cancer. She considers herself fortunate to have an early diagnosis and the chance to begin a naturopathic approach to boosting her immune system as well as hoping for regression of pre-cancerous cells with the c. versicolor and special attention to nutrition. She hopes to avoid further invasive procedures but has to consider the possibility of surgery in the future and can begin now to establish her WW posture as a habit.

Is it Gillian who has some experience with Chinese herbs? Any comments?

I passed along the note on inflammation. I've been somewhat aware of problems caused or worsened by low level (not obviously painful) and chronic inflammation but didn't think about that in this case. It bears looking into. Her diet is very good, she's active and healthy otherwise, drug-free and only occasionally socially 'un-sober'. She's very aware of environmental concerns and just finished reading "The Body Toxic" which I passed along to her. I have a book on inflammation somewhere around here which I'll have to find and put in the mail.

BTW, I've been taking aloe vera caps for inflammation. I started by front loading about 8 caps a day and within two weeks was down to 1 daily. It has been surprisingly effective for the arthritis pain in my knees and fingers and toes. I had to give up crocheting because of arthritis in my hands and carpal tunnel syndrome (from years of working as a transcriptionist and secretary). I'm almost ready to try it again!

I am glad, Petrified, to hear of any success story that I can pass along and also glad for your sake. Her current gynecologist is the third she has seen since her first abnormal PAP and she is pleased with his attitude and approach to treatment so far. I may suggest to her that she consider getting another opinion on the procedure, depending on what he recommends. Thankfully she has good insurance.

After a follow-up appointment and descriptive evaluation of the tissue taken in the LEEP procedure, I am happy to report that things are looking up. Pathology shows margins are clear and the site of the lesion is healing well. She won't have to follow up for a year. It's a great relief.

I've made comments about the insensitive and damaging practices of doctors, so I think it's only fair to give a good report on this case....so far. The LEEP procedure went well with very little discomfort and recovery was uneventful. The patient was pleased with the way the doctor dealt with her. I hope it continues to go well.

Surviving, I missed your question about aloe. I haven't had any trouble with digestion because of it. I was aware that it's used for digestive problems and have kept a plant around the house for burns, but it's use for inflammation was news to me. Use of the whole herb is recommended rather than just the juice or pulp. I buy mine in capsule form online from Puritan's Pride where I found the best price for the quality. I hope mentioning that business is not a problem; I'm not affiliated with it professionally...just a customer. I actually have had chronic constipation for a long time, but the one capsule I take daily doesn't have much effect on that either way. I didn't notice any difference in digestion either when I frontloaded it with 8 caps a day. If it were unduly strong in that area, it would have shown up on me (being so sensitive to drugs). There has been a significant improvement, though, in the areas affected by arthritis. My arthritis has been chronic for a while but low level, not severe but noticeable. If you're just beginning to notice some discomfort, this might be helpful to you. I'm sorry I missed your note and took so long to respond.

I asked a question in this post-surgery forum nearly two years ago and wanted to share with you all the answer I finally found. If I had known then what I know now, I would have posted this in the forum on Hormones and Health. I'm including below the message I received this week from the beloved subject of my post and a link to the website that I found for her. Finding the website is all I'm taking credit for and and that took way too long. My posting it here is FYI. I realize it's off the subject of prolapse, but it completes the circle of having asked the question. I've included the link and I hope you'll allow it.

"I need to tell you thank you. When I got my bad pap results the first week of March, with CIN III dysplasia, I flipped and thought I was inevitably going to have to have surgery because the dysplasia was persistent and worsening. After I read the article you sent me, I began the treatment of Progesterone cream, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid and supplemental magnesium immediately and daily. At the end of April, I had the follow up colposcopy with 2 biopsies and the results came back in 24 hours on 4/30/15. One biopsy came back benign, and the other showed mild dysplasia grade CIN I. I can't think of any other explanation than that the treatment was effective. That is because this journey began back in 2011, with a series of irregular paps, colposcopies, the LEEP procedure, and multiple biopsies. I STILL had CIN III dysplasia following the LEEP procedure 1 YEAR later, but in a little less than 2 MONTHS of the natural treatment, the condition began to reverse itself. I have no doubt that another factor was discontinuing the birth control in 2012, knowing now that it worsens dysplasia (in addition to putting me at risk for stroke and causing me to have horrible mood swings).
"I am ashamed to say that I would not have found this without you. The idea of reading more about my condition was depressing. I had developed a feeling of hopelessness and believed the physician when he told me there wasn't much that I could do. I weakly complied with the professional, who clearly takes the Western medical perspective of the surgeon. Going by the book, all he knew to do was order tests, read them, and cut away pieces of my body. I found some comfort in follow-ups, falsely believing that I was in good care because I was receiving regular follow ups, "treatments", and have good insurance. The truth is, he probably doesn't understand the physiology much better than you or me, nor is he open to learning or thinking about it. He quickly dismissed and shut down a conversation about this alternative treatment, despite opening with "do you have any questions for me?" And looking back, I was right to answer "is there anything else that you need?" with "yeah, you can get me out of here!".
"I'll continue with follow up paps since it's not invasive and I'd like to see the progress and keep an eye on things. I'd go for a second opinion if any dysplasia persists, before proceeding with any surgeries.
"I'd be open to talking to other women about this. I wonder if you still visit that blog occasionally. If any woman was open enough to tell me that she had this problem, I'd give her the article in a heartbeat."

http://www.pap101.com/

As always, thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a good day.

Bebe

Thank you for that, Surviving. I'll pass it along for maintenance against HPV. For all the time I've checked in on the WW forum and read about honey, I've resisted trying it myself. During this past winter I had to take a course of antibiotics and developed oral thrush and had an awful time with a vaginal yeast infection. After clearing up with Nystatin for the thrush and Miconazole for the yeast, I decided to try the honey for maintenance. It is working just great! I can't believe I resisted it for so long.