Gardasil: HPV vaccine info and discussion
in Women's Health ·
Even though this hasn't been talked about here very recently,
I want to share my experience. Maybe it helps someone...
I'm 24. I didn't get the vaccine when I was a little girl.
I grew up in a super conservative household, so I didn't have sex until I was 24.
Because of how I was raised, I wasn't really informed about STIs—just the basics from school or stuff I found online...
Since things were so strict at home, I didn't start seeing guys until much later. I met someone when I was 19.
We never actually had intercourse, just heavy petting and oral...
We lived in different states and saw each other every once in a while over those few years.
I knew he was seeing other people, but I honestly believed he was using protection. Unfortunately, he wasn't. When I was 22, I noticed a wart in my intimate area. I went to my OB-GYN, who referred me to a proctologist since it was close to the anal area (even though we never had anal sex or anything like that). That’s when my nightmare started. I was so angry at everyone. My parents for raising me so conservatively that I was clueless, my school for not giving us enough info, the guy for not using protection, and myself for not researching things better and letting this happen to me.
After two agonizing surgeries in the anal area and months of fighting the HPV virus, I felt so defeated. Every time I looked at the raw skin just days after surgery and saw a new wart appearing, I thought I’d lose my mind. Every time I had to go to the bathroom, I cried from the pain. It sent me straight into a depression.
After those brutal months, my proctologist suggested I get the Gardasil vaccine, even though I'm 24 and already infected with the virus.
I was desperate. I agreed to anything that might help.
I went through the three doses, and after the first one, the warts actually started clearing up. I couldn't believe my luck...
Ladies, please, get your daughters vaccinated. Save them from this kind of pain and suffering. I regret so much that my mother didn't make sure I got vaccinated and that I had to go through all of this.
Gardasil protects against various types of HPV that cause warts, which can eventually turn into cancer if they aren't treated.
And treating them—the surgeries, the burning, the removal—it's beyond painful.
It makes you feel humiliated. It kills any desire or will to ever be intimate again.
Just to be clear, I didn't have full intercourse with him. It was just skin-to-skin contact in the genital area, but that's more than enough for HPV to spread and turn your life into hell.
I wasn't even in a "high-risk" group, really. I had only been seeing that one person all those years.
That’s why I’m asking all parents to talk to their kids about sex, protection, and STIs. It’s clearly such a taboo subject in many American families.
No one deserves to go through this, regardless of whether they've had one partner or many.
From my experience, the Gardasil vaccine is completely safe. It saved me, physically and mentally.
If I have daughters one day, I am definitely getting them vaccinated.
I hope all my struggle makes sense and helps someone else going through the same thing, or someone deciding whether to vaccinate.
Best!
I want to share my experience. Maybe it helps someone...
I'm 24. I didn't get the vaccine when I was a little girl.
I grew up in a super conservative household, so I didn't have sex until I was 24.
Because of how I was raised, I wasn't really informed about STIs—just the basics from school or stuff I found online...
Since things were so strict at home, I didn't start seeing guys until much later. I met someone when I was 19.
We never actually had intercourse, just heavy petting and oral...
We lived in different states and saw each other every once in a while over those few years.
I knew he was seeing other people, but I honestly believed he was using protection. Unfortunately, he wasn't. When I was 22, I noticed a wart in my intimate area. I went to my OB-GYN, who referred me to a proctologist since it was close to the anal area (even though we never had anal sex or anything like that). That’s when my nightmare started. I was so angry at everyone. My parents for raising me so conservatively that I was clueless, my school for not giving us enough info, the guy for not using protection, and myself for not researching things better and letting this happen to me.
After two agonizing surgeries in the anal area and months of fighting the HPV virus, I felt so defeated. Every time I looked at the raw skin just days after surgery and saw a new wart appearing, I thought I’d lose my mind. Every time I had to go to the bathroom, I cried from the pain. It sent me straight into a depression.
After those brutal months, my proctologist suggested I get the Gardasil vaccine, even though I'm 24 and already infected with the virus.
I was desperate. I agreed to anything that might help.
I went through the three doses, and after the first one, the warts actually started clearing up. I couldn't believe my luck...
Ladies, please, get your daughters vaccinated. Save them from this kind of pain and suffering. I regret so much that my mother didn't make sure I got vaccinated and that I had to go through all of this.
Gardasil protects against various types of HPV that cause warts, which can eventually turn into cancer if they aren't treated.
And treating them—the surgeries, the burning, the removal—it's beyond painful.
It makes you feel humiliated. It kills any desire or will to ever be intimate again.
Just to be clear, I didn't have full intercourse with him. It was just skin-to-skin contact in the genital area, but that's more than enough for HPV to spread and turn your life into hell.
I wasn't even in a "high-risk" group, really. I had only been seeing that one person all those years.
That’s why I’m asking all parents to talk to their kids about sex, protection, and STIs. It’s clearly such a taboo subject in many American families.
No one deserves to go through this, regardless of whether they've had one partner or many.
From my experience, the Gardasil vaccine is completely safe. It saved me, physically and mentally.
If I have daughters one day, I am definitely getting them vaccinated.
I hope all my struggle makes sense and helps someone else going through the same thing, or someone deciding whether to vaccinate.
Best!