pap smear

Mantra

6 Comments

I am healthy. I am whole. I am grateful.

I grew up in a super crunchy, new agey household.  In other words, no stranger to positive affirmations and mantras.  I have rarely used them in my personal life but this morning, while running on a beach in Puerto Rico and contemplating my latest doctors visit, this one came to me.

I am healthy.  I am whole. I am grateful.

Hell yeah I am grateful.  I was running on a beach in Puerto Rico!

The thing is, just moments before my mantra came to me I was feeling sick and sorry for myself.

On Thursday I went in for a follow up appointment after receiving “abnormal” results on my pap smear in early December.   My plan was to get another pap, hoping that something besides the return of cervical dysplasia had influenced last months results.  My Certified Nurse Midwife had a different plan.

As it turns out I was quite misinformed about pap smears and the level of detection they are able to perform these days.

Since I have a feeling I’m not the only misguided lady out there one I am sharing what I learned.

When a pap smear comes back abnormal the lab is able to further investigate what the cause of the result is from the sample they already have.  A variety of factors can cause abnormal results. The three possible issues that my CNM mentioned were herpes, trichomoniasis, and hpv.  In my case the first two were not present but just like before, the cervical dysplasia was due to an hpv infection (I plan on writing more about this very soon).  I also learned that it is highly unlikely for abnormal results to be incorrect altogether and that paps are no longer sensitive to the presence of blood or semen in the sample because it is taken as a liquid (it used to be dry by the time the lab got it) and those excess substances can be “washed out”.

So. In the eyes of the medical profession the next step is for me to have another colposcopy and likely another biopsy.

I am not against that idea but first I am going to give myself 3-5 months of time focusing on healing my cervical cells through alternative routes.  This includes nutritional supplementation, acupuncture, Chinese medicine, stress reduction, and yes, positive affirmations. Along these lines I welcome any insight, knowledge, or personal experience you have to offer.

I am healthy. I am whole. I am grateful.

 

Cervical Dysplasia Follow Up

6 Comments

This time last year I was in the thick of finding out that I had abnormal cell growth on my cervix that was slowly moving towards cancer.  In October, two days before I had the cells removed through a LEEP procedure, I wrote a post about it.  I was very hesitant to write about this because it was really stressful and personal.  Writing turned out to be very cathartic and I am still shocked at the response from readers; I get emails and comments almost daily from women who have been in similar situations.

Here are the four previous posts in which I’ve written about my experience with cervical dysplasia (abnormal cell growth), my fear of cervical scar tissue causing issues with pregnancy and delivery, and recovering from the LEEP procedure.

My first post on cervical dysplasia and the LEEP procedure

The issues with cervical scar tissue

LEEP recovery; one week and two months

After the LEEP last October my doctor recommended a three month follow up pap.  I was very anxious at the appointment in February and while waiting for the results.  It came back ‘normal’ and my relief was palpable.

The doctor again recommended a three month follow up pap but I decided that my cervix had been poked, swiped, and messed with quite enough for a little while.  This was a personal choice, I am not backing my decision with medical research but to me it made sense to give the tissue time to heal.

Last week, 7 months since my ‘normal’ pap, I decided it was time to follow up again.  Last night I got the results back; ‘normal’ again.  No dysplasia.  I felt a relief of tension and stress that I didn’t even know I was holding on to.

Unfortunately, dysplasia can always return so while the stress of the situation and the physical ramifications are fading I am determined to stay focused on preventing a re-occurrence

Here’s what I’ve been doing over the last year, and plan to continue, to decrease my chances of health issues due to cervical dysplasia.*

  • Up my folate (natural sources of folic acid) by eating lots of greens and beans everyday.
  • Increase my selenium by eating a brazil nut each day.  Women with dysplasia often have low levels of selenium and adequate selenium levels have been successful in preventing cancer.  One brazil nut supplies nearly 100% of the RDA for selenium.
  • Decrease my coffee, alcohol, and refined sugar.  None of these tasty things are stellar for the immune system.
  • Drink green tea.
  • Continue eating fermented foods to boost the ol’ immune system.
  • Take turmeric.
  • Eat shiitakes.  Shiitake mushrooms are super powerful immune boosters and delicious.
  • Get acupuncture and take Traditional Chinese Medicine herbs.  I’ve had great success with acupuncture helping me with insomnia and preventing colds/flus in the past and feel that acupuncture is one of the best things I can do to boost my immune system.  I firmly believe that the needles and the herbs have helped me calm down about the whole situation.  Since starting treatment I feel much happier, more energetic, much more motivated, clearer headed, and less emotional.  If it’s also boosting my immune in the process then bonus!
  • Make sure to eat lots of foods containing vitamin A.   These include greens and yellow/orange foods (easy now that it’s winter squash season!).
  • Up vitamins C and E.  Spinach, eggs, and sunflower seeds are great sources of E.  Citrus and steamed kale are good sources of C.

*This information is not intended as medical advice.

Check out the comments to the above linked posts to read other about other woman’s experience with cervical dysplasia.  As with most health issues, this one is not a cut-and-dry, one-size-fits-all, experience.  I really appreciate everyone who has written in and shared their particular story and my heart goes out to any woman dealing with this.  Our health can sometimes feel out of our control and I believe this is amplified when it pertains to the reproductive organs.  Let’s keep sharing our stories, our experience, our knowledge.