“I thought the bleeding was from the IUD.”

HPV? I’m only 21 years old

“Two years ago I suddenly started having excessive and irregular bleeding. The first thing I thought of was my coil. I’ve had it for 3 years now and thought this might be the cause. The coil might be worn out or no longer working properly. With that thought in mind Considering, I called the doctor: “Hi, I’m Demi, I’m having heavy bleeding and I think my IUD may no longer be working properly.” They don’t know that because I asked this question, they no longer see a reason to investigate other possible causes of the bleeding, the GP said Over the phone It’s unlikely it was because of my IUD, and that’s where the conversation ended.

I was still having trouble and decided to call again. After a while I was allowed to come in for a smear test. It’s possible I have an STD, but I never thought about HPV. To rule it all out, I had a swab done. A week later I received a phone call informing me of my negative result for an STD, which was a relief. The HPV swab results wouldn’t come back for a few weeks, so I had to wait for that. I was on holiday in Spain with friends, and while we were at the airport waiting for our flight back, I saw a missed call from my GP appear on my phone. Strange, because I should have called them as soon as they got the results.

Thinking I still had a long flight ahead of me, I decided not to call home until the next morning. “Hi Demi, I have some not-so-good news. ‘You have HPV,’ said the doctor. HPV? I have HPV?”