Posts by Amanda Roberts2

Does anyone have recommendations for a good dentist, oral surgeon, or orthodontist in Los Angeles?

Thanks!

I'm having a bit of an issue with my multivitamins—specifically the immunity booster from Twinlab. Lately, I've been dealing with some stomach cramping, bloating, and loose stools. I even noticed these tiny black specks in my stool that look like little seeds. Honestly, it freaked me out for a second; I thought maybe I had parasites, so I checked everything over and couldn't see anything unusual. Once I stopped taking them for a few days, the "seeds" disappeared and my digestion went back to normal. My doctor mentioned that certain things, especially if the supplement has iron, can show up in your stool like that.

Now I'm stuck. I don't know if I should push through the cramps and discomfort just to get my nutrients, or if I should stop. I just bought this expensive bottle and I really need the vitamins.🤷

It also says here:

1. How long does it take for cervical cancer to develop?
10-15 years

2. At what age is cervical cancer most commonly diagnosed?
Between ages 40 and 50

I feel like 3-5 years is closer to the truth for the first one. It probably shouldn't count from when the virus first enters the body, but rather from when it starts causing actual damage. If they used 10-15 years as their benchmark, it’s no wonder they recommend checkups every three years based on that math.

As for the second answer, I think that number should be lower too. It really depends on when those studies were conducted. These days, people are becoming sexually active much earlier, and we even have an example here on the forum of a girl dealing with HPV-related lesions in her early twenties. A lot can happen between 30 and 40, let alone by 50.

Maybe I'm wrong, since these are official research conclusions, but what I see happening in real life is totally different. People used to say cancer mostly affected older folks, but now we're seeing more and more young people getting sick. I think the theory needs to shift so younger women realize how important regular screenings are. Honestly, I think every young woman should get an annual breast ultrasound. When I tell my friends in their 30s that I'm going for a preventive ultrasound, they act surprised. Not one of them goes. They seem to think the risk doesn't even exist until menopause.

That’s terrifying. If everything goes according to plan, they say this happens over three years, and I think I even saw it mentioned on some major international cervical cancer prevention site—I can't recall the exact name of the organization right now, but it was a huge deal. Honestly, seeing that really caught me off guard. The guidelines seriously need an overhaul because what we see in real life is totally different. We all know here how some women can jump through three stages of dysplasia in just a few months, let alone what could happen over three whole years. They call a three-year gap >, but that’s a joke. In cases like this, waiting three years is basically the same as total neglect. 👎

Sophia Wells72 said:Uh...😂Robin Hood and his crew immediately come to mind. 🤣

😁 We could just package that as a fetish and sell it to them as a finished product. 😁 If they’re all about women in high heels, sneakers, or whatever uniform is trendy right now, then we can play along. I'd honestly rather see him dressed as Robin Hood or wearing at least a 3mm wetsuit. 😁

Lisa Nelson70 said:Is there a condom out there that covers everything, like a full sheet? If so, let me know.😂.

There isn't a condom like that, but there is an alternative 😁 those long men's boxer briefs, the kind with just the opening right where you need it. Combining those briefs with a condom would work... it eliminates all that direct skin-to-skin contact 😁😁😁 Since we're doing all the heavy lifting here, they could step up their game just a little bit too. ☕ 😳

Exactly what Sophia Wells72 said.
This thread is great for busting myths. So many women think a Pap test is the only thing that matters and that it catches everything, which just isn't true. A lot of women have never even had a pelvic exam, let alone a swab, and honestly, doctors share some of the blame for that lack of information.

Lisa Nelson70 said:Even if he goes to get tested without any issues, what's to stop him from cheating on me anyway?

Exactly. There are zero guarantees in life. No matter how careful you are—and you definitely should be—you can never be 100% certain. I think most people just choose to trust others, themselves, and a little bit of luck.

p.s. And even with testing, some of those male tests aren't even fully reliable; they can give false negatives. As for the more serious stuff like unknown or Hepatitis, does anyone know how long it takes after exposure before a test actually shows the virus is present?

I totally get where you're coming from. With my first boyfriend, we always used condoms, but honestly, it wasn't because I was worried about diseases—it was just because I didn't want to get pregnant. STIs weren't even on my radar back then. Then, after being single for a while, I fell head over heels for my current partner. He’s the first guy I actually saw a future with and wanted to have kids with... so eventually, we stopped using condoms, and that's when I caught something. It never even crossed my mind to ask him to get tested first. None of my girlfriends ever asked their guys, and they never asked them either. Half of them are married now with kids and everything.
Maybe I'm just incredibly naive, or maybe everyone I know is too. It always felt like you just assumed everyone was fine and healthy unless they told you otherwise or gave off a "sketchy" vibe. You jump into a relationship in good faith, especially after going through the whole dating process, getting close, becoming friends, and talking openly about your pasts. When you feel like you're dealing with a perfectly normal, decent person just like you, asking for a test doesn't even occur to you. I'm curious, do any of you women actually ask your partners for tests?

It's only after you catch some nasty bug and really suffer that the idea of demanding a test starts to creep into your mind. It's the same thing with oral sex. My friends tell me they use condoms for intercourse but go without them for oral... but you can pick up all sorts of dangerous stuff that way. I haven't heard anyone mention using a condom for oral, either. I think these are serious matters and you shouldn't mess around with them, but if you worry too much, you just end up paranoid, which isn't great either. It seems like everyone is pretty relaxed and doesn't pay much attention until they get burned. Once you know more and have gone through it, you just become more anxious and distrustful.

Seriously, how can someone maintain a balanced, healthy perspective on all of this? 🤷

bluefox49 said:It seems like a lot of us are having a rough run, but I’m praying to God that everything works out fine. Looking at the big picture, I’m actually glad I’m married. If I weren't, I honestly don't know how I'd approach dating; I couldn't lie to someone, and if I told them my diagnosis, I'm not sure any guy would be understanding enough to stick around. What are your experiences, especially those who haven't been married? Have you dated anyone after your diagnosis, and how did they handle it?

You're lucky to be married. I actually caught my diagnoses from my current boyfriend. We're really close, but lately, things have gotten heavy. He’s going through a mid-life crisis of sorts, and I have no idea how it’ll end. If we break up, I’m lost. How do you even tell someone new? Keeping it a secret isn't an option, but telling the truth feels terrifying. Even though I believe I'll clear this up, if I end up single, I don't think I could jump into something else easily. Between the emotional tie to my boyfriend and still being in treatment, it's a lot. And if I do get healthy and meet someone new down the road, I'd be terrified—what if he has something, like unknown, and after all this fighting to get clean, I just end up right back where I started? 😢 No matter how I look at it, it feels overwhelming. Honestly, I might just stay single with a bunch of cats. 😁
Still, I'm hoping things work out with him. But that's just how we women are—we overthink everything and stress ourselves out, while men don't seem to care nearly as much. He doesn't take any of this seriously; he thinks viruses and bacteria are totally normal and that everyone has them, so I'm just overreacting. He talked to some friends of his, both guys and girls, and they all admitted to having unknown or other stuff, so he views it as just a normal part of life that you can't avoid. It's just something you deal with. 😠 👎

Sophia Wells72 said:Ugh, people need to realize that national borders aren't some kind of barrier against aerobic or anaerobic bacteria or STIs.

Haha, this is gold! 🤣😁😍

copperraven53 said:I’m generally pretty allergic to people telling me not to see a gynecologist just because they claim they're super hygienic and everything is perfectly fine. ☕

Women just aren't informed enough. It’s not surprising for the older generations, but for younger women who have every bit of info at their fingertips, this lack of knowledge is still sticking around. A lot of them assume that if their period feels fine and there's no pain, they don't need to see a doctor. I waited quite a while before having sex for the first time, and I remember questioning back in high school if I should go in for an exam anyway. Since I was a virgin, my primary care physician told me there was no point in seeing a specialist until I became sexually active. To make matters worse, my mom agreed with her, mentioning she didn't even step foot in a clinic until she actually got pregnant. 😁

Lisa Nelson70 said:And none of his exes ever had any issues, not even once. They just told him he was definitely cheating on him. Good grief, where did I even find this guy...

Right. If you're honest and tell a guy you have some kind of gynecological issue, suddenly you're the suspicious one. Meanwhile, other women hide it or don't get checked at all, and they come out looking "clean." It's like lying actually pays off. Honestly though, you should be truthful for your own sake and conscience. If you're with a decent person, you won't deal with this nonsense. Maybe you catch a bacteria, but you end up getting rid of a much worse disease—a guy like that. 😉

I've started bringing this up more subtly during chats with my girlfriends, trying to nudge them toward getting checked. So many women have never even had swabs done because they think it's something you only do when planning a pregnancy. The worst part is that plenty of doctors never even bring up swabs themselves. I actually first learned about them through this online community, and luckily my current doctor suggested them. My old doctor, who I saw for years, never even mentioned them.

Only one guy and one friend of mine know. I try to casually drop hints to my girlfriends about how dangerous this can be and why they really need regular checkups. I actually found out by accident myself—my OB-GYN suggested some swabs since I hadn't had them done before... My Pap smear came back clear, but the swab picked up HPV. It wasn't until later that it started causing actual damage visible on the paperwork.
Many women think being married means they're totally safe and can skip the routine screenings, but that’s a huge misconception. There are husbands out there who cheat—sometimes even without using protection, which happened to a friend of mine—and then they bring that infection home. Even in cases where both partners are faithful, you can't just assume everything is fine. A lot of people aren't aware that with HPV, the virus can stay hidden for years, showing perfectly normal results, only to suddenly flare up and cause issues much later. People need to understand this so they realize how vital regular exams are for every woman (I know friends who haven't gone in three years). It also means we shouldn't immediately jump to accusing a partner of cheating if problems pop up, simply because the virus can linger undetected for a long time...

Great call, copperraven53, moving these posts and starting a dedicated thread. This really needs to be discussed. It’s wild how much prejudice exists out there—even among our closest friends, family, and unfortunately, the medical community. Those are the exact people we need to turn to when things get tough. Because of all that judgment, we end up being afraid to speak up for fear of being labeled, which is why the internet often becomes the only safe space to share struggles anonymously. That fear keeps us from being honest with friends and family, even though it turns out many of them are dealing with the exact same issues in silence, thinking they're alone. All these threads on Women's Health prove we aren't outliers; plenty of us deal with this, and anyone could find themselves in this situation tomorrow.
I think prejudice happens easily when people assume these health issues only happen to "other people." Even though I work hard to be open-minded, I'll admit I had my own biases once. I never voiced them or acted out, but I definitely formed judgments deep down and made unfair connections in my head. Now that I've experienced those "other people" problems firsthand, I've let go of so many wrong assumptions. I realized that nothing happens just to someone else; anyone can go through anything. But honestly, some things are hard to understand until you live through them.

I never dreamed I'd go through everything I did in just one year. What shocks me most is that doctors—and I mean the exceptions here—can't seem to rise above their own biases despite all their training. They are supposed to help us, not judge us. I had zero gynecological issues until, out of nowhere, I was hit with two conditions I'd only ever heard about in passing on the news, thinking they were things that happened to someone else. In the middle of all the complications, I ended up in the hospital, terrified for my health, and this doctor—a younger guy, highly regarded for his expertise—was so aggressive that he actually made me burst into tears in his office. 👎 He didn't even ask me anything. Just based on my lab results, he started lecturing me like I was some dirty, irresponsible person. He raised his voice, telling me I needed to wash my hands properly before and after using the restroom "the way he does," and then had the nerve to say it was good this happened to me so I'd think twice about who I sleep with next time! 😲 And during this whole lecture and uncomfortable outburst, he kept addressing me with "you" in such a condescending way, like we were childhood buddies. I've never felt so humiliated. Thank God I was just sitting there with my papers; I can't imagine the stress if I had been on the exam table. It was inhumane and totally unprofessional. Can you believe a specialist would act like that?

Because of attitudes like that, sometimes I feel like I have the plague instead of HPV, making me feel like I can't trust anyone without being judged. I hate feeling like I have to defend my lifestyle to a doctor just to be treated. Even if I were promiscuous, it shouldn't dictate how a doctor treats me. They are professionals meant to provide care, not play moral police.

bluefox49 said:It always makes my day to see one of us doing better. Keep going, ladies...🙂))
No matter how hard I try to ignore this damn virus, I just can't. It's hard to wrap my head around the diagnosis because I've never been promiscuous, yet here I am with HPV. I know it’s tough to talk about how many partners you've had, but I'm curious—are you all as picky as I am, or have you had a lot more?

Honestly, it's just a roll of the dice. If I had lived a wilder life, maybe this wouldn't sting as much. I was with my first boyfriend for three years, and we used condoms every single time, even though we were exclusive. Back then, we weren't worried about STIs; we were just scared of getting pregnant. Now it's the opposite—I'd love to get pregnant, but all I can think about is disease. 😁 👎 Since that relationship, I've only been with one other guy, who is now my serious partner. We actually had unprotected sex way more often than we used protection... and now I've got HPV plus another infection. There’s zero logic to it. On the flip side, I know girls who switch guys almost every weekend and stay perfectly clean. It really just comes down to luck and your immune system, like 😢
someone mentioned.
It really gets to me when even doctors look at me like I'm some kind of sex worker because of these two nasty viruses. A lot of people are just uneducated and full of prejudice.