HPV… 1 in every 3 people get this virus. Scary when you actually stop and think about it; most people have it and don’t even know it.

I was one of those people. When I graduated high school, I became a WILD girl! I was getting high everyday all day and then drinking at night and being sexual with (ashamed to admit) A LOT of people.

Weed had taken over my life….my life revolved around weed. I quit my job and dropped out of college and spent my time rolling and smoking joint or smoking pipes and bongs and hookahs with weed. I didn’t care about anything and didnt care who I slept with. I didn’t even care if I never heard from them again.

I hated what I had become. I wanted to stop this horrible vicious cycle but I couldn’t. I was too addicted to the weed. I couldn’t even go a hour without being high. I had started taking my mothers loratab as well…anything I could do to get that feeling. I was in fear that I would soon be turning to stronger more powerful drugs because my body had become immune to the weed and I had to smoke LOTS of it to even get a little high. I wanted help to quit and wanted to go back to being me even though I hated to feel and deal with reality. Weed made me not care…that’s why I liked it. I didn’t even care if I got caught (I would roll joints @ stoplights and smoke them while driving) I didn’t care if cops saw me doing it, or if they saw me buying it. A part me of wanted to get caught so I HAD to stop. I never got caught though. I remember one week I was extremely depressed and unhappy with what I had become and I prayed to god that I would get the strength to quit and that I would find someone who would love me for me and not just want to get laid. The next day I decided that Sean (my sons dad) really liked me for me and ever since I broke up with him (which was 3 years earlier) he still hung around. So I decided to sleep with him and maybe that would make me like him again.

Well it didn’t. It only made me hate him. I stopped hanging around him so much and I started to feel really weird. Very moody. Well 5 days before I was supposed to start my period I had a hunch to take a pregnancy test. I did and it turned out positive. God had answered my prayers. Having that miracle inside me gave me the strength to quit all the self damaging things I was doing and I would have someone who would always love me for me!!

Well @ my 3rd visit to the doctor for the pregnancy I told the doctor I itched A LOT towards my bottom. So she looked and found genital warts!! (my mom was int he room with me btw). And she said, “Oh no sweetie this isn’t good” And I said what? she responded with “you have genital warts”. I started baling, and my mom did too. I was so ashamed and embarrassed and quit frankly in SHOCK! I had NOOO idea I had them. And I had no idea who I got them from and who I gave them to. I itched down there for about a year. Well…..she burned them off with acid and said that should take care of it and after the baby comes we will do a pap and just watch it.

My first pap after having ym son came back abnormal she had come in every 3 months for paps and every one or about a year came back bad. Then they did a few biopsys and even took two chunks out to try to get all the bad cells. Well when I went in to hear the pathology she said things are worse than they expected and that she needs to scrap everything inside to get the “pre cancerous” cells out.

When I went in she actually had 2 options for me. #1: the scrapping. There is no guarantee she will get everything and if she doesn’t the cells will turn into cancer. #2: coneoscpy. 98% chance she will get everything BUT chances are slim I will be able to get pregnant again and if I do chances of me carrying it full term is even more slim. So my options were possibly get cancer or probably not have kids again. I knew I wanted more kids but if I had got cancer I would be there for them anyway. So I chose the cone!

My pap after the cone came back normal!!! THANK GOD!!! I am so happy!!

I guess my message this virus if FAR more dangerous than you think and moms PLEASE get your daughters the Gardisil shot!

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Fatigue, nausea, fatigue, abdominal pain, fatigue, vomiting, fatigue, decreased concentration level, fatigue, diarrhea, FATIGUE! What was happening to me? Why was I so darned tired? Was it because I had been working at least two to three double shifts a week as an LPN on a medical surgical floor? Was my gallbladder acting up? It’s almost Christmas, I don’t have time for this!

It started in the winter of 1981; the horrible fatigue, nausea, and right upper quadrant abdominal pain. I was only 26 years old, so I shouldn’t be so tired.

Yes, I had a small child, was working full time and then some, and also taking a few classes toward my degree for an RN, but I was young and apparently healthy. I had taken care of a severely jaundiced lady off and on for the past couple of months. She had terminal cancer and it was just assumed it had spread to the liver. This poor lady had tubes and devices everywhere that required cleaning and care. In those days, medical precautions called “Universal Precautions” didn’t exist. Yes, I washed my hands, but that isn’t always a stop gap , especially to Hepatitis. Just let me get through Christmas dear Lord.

By January of 1982, I could only eat burnt toast, oatmeal, and drink water, then to the point of water only, and even that caused abdominl pain. I finally gave in and went to a surgeon to have the stupid gallbladder removed (you see I had long ago diagnosed myself with gallbladder problems). He admitted me to the hospital for surgery. I woke up the first morning in isolation, meaning no one could come or go without gowning and gloving up. What’s going on? Surgery patients aren’t isolated! “Wait for the doctor” was the reply. He finally arrives and tells me that I have “some kind of hepatitis” and not a gallbladder problem. My blood work that is just done routinely for all surgical patients was “off the page”. Oh my God, what now? How? What about my son, my husband? What about my patients that I had recently cared for? Nobody knew for sure at that time. My husband and son were immediately given immunoglobulin, which as it turns out, was totally useless, as I have type B hepatitis, and it is only effective for type A.

I remained in the hospital for about 10 days. I was discharged home to rest for a couple of weeks, then sent back to work “light duty”. I was assigned to work in a nursing office responsible for various administrative and policy making type projects. It required very long hours, as the hospital was preparing for an inspection, in the near future, by the JCAHO, which is an accreditation body. This accreditation is crucial for hospitals to receive government funding. As I said, the hours were long and grueling, not your routine 40 hour a week sit at a desk type job. Needless to say, I had a relapse and ended up back in the hospital for another week, home for a few weeks to rest and then back to the office job.

This lasted approiximately a month or two, and then a nursing supervisor decided I could go back to floor duty, and wear gloves to pass medications to my patients or do procedures for patients.Set back number two, down again with another relapse.

This time, my medical doctor stepped in and said NO WORK! OK, fine with me cause I sure didn’t feel like working ANYWHERE! While I was off and home sick this time, things in our community had gone from bad to worse for the steel mill industry. My husbands plant had shut down the year before I was diagnosed, and he had been doing whatever work that he could find. With me now on long term leave and an income of only 60% of my normal salary, we were rapidly sinking. So, he went to Florida to find work, and two months later my son and I moved to Florida with him. Meanwhile I am trying at home to recover, sell a house, pack to move, and raise a four year old.

After being in Florida for about three months, I decided that I felt well enough to find a job. I found a job in a hospital medical records department and a wonderful lady who was willing to teach me a new career in coding medical records. I learned fast and loved it. Things were going great. The more I learned the hungrier for advancement that I became. I moved on up to the point of heading my own department of Utiliztion Review and Coding. I LOVED IT! Then I got pregnant.

“I think you should probably have an abortion”, the gynecologist said. Due to the risk to the fetuses, that’s right, fetuses, twins!!! An abortion??? I think not! Off we go to an infectious disease specialist, thank God. He reassured both my doctor and me that the twins could receive injections for the Hepatitis, and should be just fine. I found an excellent pediatrician, before the twins were born, who prepared everything in advance. When my C-Section was scheduled, the vaccine was made available. My boys were born with only mild neonatal jaundice and a day or two of low blood sugar levels. They received their injections right after birth and then again two more times.

We had to “wait and see” if it was going to work. Please Dear God, not these sweet babies too, pleaseeeeeeeee………….The day finally came to draw blood and see if the treatment had worked. We all waited, not so patiently, for the results. The doctor called and said everything was fine, the treatment had worked and the boys would be fine!!! HALLELUJAH! Thank you Lord that these little guys don’t have to go through this too!

Time went by swiftly, I was feeling great, the boys, all three, were doing great and growing like weeds. My husband had learned a new trade in air conditioning and loved his work too. When the twins were four years old, I started having those horrible symptoms again. Oh no, I thought, not now, everything has been going great! But yes, a flare-up again. This time I stayed at home, in bed, and pampered myself as much as a mother of three could.

I felt much better after about two weeks and returned to work full time. But, something else had happened. Although I still loved my job and the work that I was doing, it was taking me away from home far too much. The boys were now four and 11, where had the time gone? How much quality time did I have left for them? I went to work at 7 am and usually didn’t get home until 6 or 7 pm, and was on call in the evening, on weekends, and holidays. I had really gotten to know and cherish those little guys while I was home for those two weeks; was this job worth risking my health and children for? NOPE!

We couldn’t afford to live in Florida if I wasn’t working, so, after six years we decided to move back to Ohio near our families. The differences now were that we had both been retrained in different fields and could find jobs in the area. I stayed home with the kids for about four months, then found a job auditing medical records, and eventually a job at my old hospital as a coder. It was perfect, at first, I was doing something that I loved without the responsibilities of supervision,and working a normal schedule.

People went on vacation, had babies, got sick, quit, and the work load started to get heavier and heavier. New equipment to learn, new software to learn, new people to help train, new time constraints on work loads, the advent of “productivity levels”, management changes, new supervisors, new directors, new vice presidents, every day, something new and STRESSFUL! Still I plugged on trying to do the best that I could do, while getting more and more involved in community activities that the boys were in such as Little League Baseball and the Athletic Boosters, our church Youth Leader, Choir, Christmas programs, etc..Why was I always so darned tired? I just could never seem to get enough rest. Things at work were getting more and more frustrating every day. I couldn’t quit work, so I had to give up my involvement in community projects just so I could have a few hours to try to regroup and rest.

I gave up all involvement in everything outside of work and home. But, the damage was already done. Work became more unbearable, probably because I was feeling so bad physically. The abdominal pain, nausea, and now back pain in the right upper quadrant of my back, and the ever present fatigue were growing much much worse. I couldn’t concentrate for very long, and God knows the work that I was doing required strict concentration, as the hospitals reimbursement depended on the accuracy of what I was doing!

I was very dissatisfied with my physician, he was nothing like the doctor that I had before moving to Florida, who incidentally, died at a young age of Lung Cancer while we were in Florida. This guy was going no where fast! He could care less if I was getting worse. Loose weight, exercise, take a pill and come back in a month or so. He rarely checked my liver enzymes and finally agreed to send me to a liver specialist after I drove him crazy about it! The specialist drew his pints of blood for testing and told me that I failed for Interferon therapy. What the hell did that mean? Guess I just go off somewhere now and suffer until I die. Maybe I’m just a nutcase?? I am so sick of fighting this!

I changed doctors! Finally, someone who is at least compassionate and caring enough to at least check my enzymes. Guess what? They were way way up! Surprise surprise! I could barely stay awake for more than a couple of hours in the morning without having a nap. I was having constant right upper quadrant abdominal and back pain, frequent nausea, can’t concentrate for very long periods, depressed, fatigued beyond description, fat and miserable. “let’s take you off work for a while and see what happens”……….(that was 4 years ago).

Still in pain, nauseated, fatigued, fat, depressed, and miserable, I was sent back to the liver specialist in May 1998.

This time a liver biopsy, again! Oh boy, my favorite past time, having a needle jabbed through my rib cage to pull out a little tiny piece of my liver! He finally calls 6 days later with the results: I now have “Steatosis” or “Fatty Liver”, the “fix” lose weight! I’m trying I’m trying! He says the pain is from the capsule of the liver stretching and losing weight will help. Makes sense I suppose. But someone please tell me where to find the energy to exercise?Someone please tell me how to lower my cholesterol and triglycerides when I am already and have been for some time, following a low fat diet? Someone please tell me when the fatigue and pain go away? Someone please tell me that I’m not crazy!

Through researching different areas that I’ve found on the internet, I know that I’m not alone. I think our doctors have a lot yet to learn, when it comes to how and what their patients with Hepatitis are feeling and going through. Pain, fatigue, and nausea are very real. I had these same symptoms prior to being overweight. These same symptoms have most definitely worsened over time. After all, I’m not 26 any more. Am I a nut case? Nah! Are my signs and symptoms real? YOU BETCHA! My liver enzymes remain elevated, my ultrasound shows an enlarged liver, my biopsy is “so so”, guess I’m not quite so nuts after all! I am trying to keep a positive outlook. Only I know exactly how I feel!! I am taking charge here!

I have a kind and compassionate and intelligent primary care physician. I have a competent liver specialist. I fought, through an attorney, for social security and workman’s compensation. WHAT A BATTLE THIS IS FOLKS!! AND I finally won my social security disability in March 1999. But, it was based on depression, and NOT Hepatitis! Do I get depressed? Sure do, but it’s mostly from not being able to do things and enjoy life like I used to be able to do.

My approval in March for Social Security was dampened a great deal by a tremendous personal tragedy. My only sibling, my baby brother, age 40, passed away from Liver Cancer due to Hepatitis B. The irony here is that I’ve known for 18 years that I have this killer; my brother was only diagnosed in February 1999! A week after being told that he had Hepatitis B, he was diagnosed with Liver Cancer and Cirrhosis! We were told that nothing could be done, but could not accept that. I called all over the United States to find help for him, and finally found someone to take him at the excellent Starzle Liver Center at the University of Pittsburgh. He wasn’t given much hope, but they at least attempted to help him. He had chemoembolization of one of the larger liver tumors on a Tuesday, came home on Wednesday, and passed away on Friday. He was diagnosed and passed away within 4 weeks; leaving so many things unsaid and undone. He left behind 2 young children in addition to his wife and my parents. Why did this happen to him? That’s a question I will always be asking! He had no warning, and hadn’t been sick for very long, only a couple of weeks, and thought he had the flu! I’m told that the pain of our loss will get easier to deal with over time, God I pray that it does!

I know that there are others out there who know what I’m going through, even if most of our physicians don’t completely comprehend it. I don’t expect a miracle cure, but I do expect research to continue and a cure to be found some day. I also expect my physicians to respect me as a competent intelligent human being and not just a way to make a buck. Please search for the “right” Physician! After all only you yourself really know your body; don’t be brushed off by an annoyed and overworked doctor. FIGHT BACK!!

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by Amy

I was told I had genital herpes some time ago. I thought my world was over. I was 26 at the time, in a new relationship (the very person who gave it to me) and he never even knew he carried the virus. I was absolutely broken. I was inconsolable for days and simply thought I’d be a spinster forever.

I had a 2 1/2 year old son at the time and thought it would just be me and him forever, alone. The worst thing I could think of was meeting a brilliant guy, and then having to tell him I had genital herpes. Two weeks later, my boyfriend, who’d given it to me
dumped me. I felt so alone.

Let me tell you my story…

I met a fantastic guy some time ago and really liked him. But at the back of my mind was, why bother, he will run a mile when I tell him.

He lived about 1 1/2 hours drive from me. He was obviously into me too, as he traveled over every weekend to see me. We hadn’t even kissed, we were just friends. As he was making all this effort, I thought it was high time I was straight with him.

We’d been out for a bbq in the evening and when we got home, I told him. I had done some reading and got some ideas on how to tell him. I didn’t apologize for having it, I was honest and up front, I didn’t belittle it, nor did I make it out to be something bigger than it was. I was shaking like a bag of leaves… he looked at me, leaned over and kissed me for the first time. I cried!

He said it didn’t change how he felt about me and it didn’t change anything between us. We have been together ever since and enjoy a happy and healthy sex life. He is fully aware of the risks and consequences of sleeping with me, and has chosen not to protect himself with a condom. We are in a serious relationship and I’m guessing he may be ‘the one’.

We were tested for all other STD’s. I know with us having unprotected sex, I will not put me at any risks. I would be willing to use condoms for his protection, but it is his choice not to as he feels closer to me without them, and intends to be with me for the rest of his life. So if he gets it, he gets it. He will not be shocked or upset, its just life for him. Getting genital herpes for him outweighs living life without me. He makes me feel so special and so wanted, and herpes is no longer a subject, I think about all day, every day.

All I can say to other sufferers, especially those just diagnosed, is that there is hope. Somehow, somewhere you just have to pull something up from inside you and go on. Believe that you are worthy of being happy again, and that you will. Never ever risk not telling a sexual partner. You will only live with guilt and fear. Stand up, be proud of who you are, and don’t be ashamed of an affliction that was never your fault. This is life, there’s things far worse than herpes. Count your lucky stars its only herpes.

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by Steve

Good sexual health is a must for enjoying a satisfying sex life. However, there are issues such as erectile dysfunction (ED) which a man has to deal with over the course of his life. ED hampers the erection process and makes sex an impossible act for its sufferers.

First and foremost thing to remember while performing a sexual act is your ability to have an erection and sustain it. Then you must be able to control it and determine the point of ejaculation for making it a memorable affair.

Hardness and fullness of the erection is a must for getting a proper erection. For most men the causes of male sexual dysfunction or ED can be many. Psychological dysfunction accounts for about 15 to 20% of impotence cases. It occurs due to anxiety, depression or even lack of a suitable partner. In such a situation, there is no physical cause behind the sexual dysfunction.

The physical reason behind ED is the lack of arterial blood flow to and within the penis. Without an unimpeded flow of blood to the penis and all its capillaries an erection is just not possible. The most common cause of lack of blood flow is due to atherosclerosis of the arteries carrying blood to the penis. Atherosclerosis of the arteries is a condition that cannot be rectified over night, but it can in time.

However, for those men for whom this condition is affecting their sexual health and sex life in general, they need a solution within a short span of time. Solutions are available in many forms but the best available one is through the use of a prescription drugs such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. Apart from this, the ED generic drugs are also of great use. The ED generic drugs such as Kamagra and Caverta can provide you immense relief for a cheaper price.

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What’s the chance of a sexually active 17 year old getting a STD? Well, it could happen, but I never thought that it would happen to me. I’ve only slept with two people and I’m already infected with Gonorrhea and Herpes.

Luckily, gonorrhea can be treated. I have already taken my health class and learned about STD’s. But for about a year, I have been having cold sores and genital sores. I didn’t take it seriously, but my genital sores were bothering me, and I took it serious.

So, I went and looked it up on the internet. I typed in the symptoms and herpes popped up. My heart just dropped. I tried to look up more information, but all I could find was that it was related to HPV and herpes. I got very scared and told my sister. She told me to get a pap smear, which I didn’t know what the heck that was or meant.

I didn’t tell my boyfriend at the time, because I was so scared and devastated. But he wanted to have sex and I kept telling him no. Finally, I told him I might have an STD. At first he thought I was just joking because I was laughing when I told him. But then he knew I was serious and didn’t say a word. All he said was “are you sure?”

A couple weeks later, I had my check up. I had a pap smear and my blood tested. My doctor said she would call me the following Monday if anything came up. Eventually, she did. She said that everything was fine just that I had herpes and gonorrhea. I almost had a heart attack. After I hung up the phone I was crying. When my boyfriend asked me what was the result. I couldn’t tell it to his face so I emailed him.

I had to take eight pills at one time for the gonorrhea, but that nearly killed me, because it was hurting my stomach. My boyfriend and I didn’t know who to blame. Before we slept together, we both had only slept with one person. Of course, the person we both slept with also slept with someone before us so the pattern goes on.

I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to die. I didn’t want to live on knowing I was going to have herpes for the rest or my life. I still want to have kids, but at the same time, I don’t want to pass herpes on to them, although that is a small chance.

It has been hard for me and my boyfriend. But as time goes on, I have learned to live with it. It’s as if I never even had it. Although this had just happen recently over the summer. I think I can live with it, but I don’t think I can tell just anyone that I have herpes.

Now, I’m so paranoid that I might get some kind of STD that I get check ups more frequently. I’m upset about it all, but what can I do? It’s there and it will always be there right? So, I just put a smile on and hope others will be careful.

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One morning in 1997, when I was in Senior Secondary School, my class teacher entered the class, cleared his throat and announced that 4 students have been selected to benefit in an HIV/AIDS training and workshop.

He reeled out the names and fortunately, my name was one of them. Before then, I knew next to nothing on HIV/AIDS. I couldn’t even explain what the acronym HIV/AIDS stood for. I possibly have heard about it in the news or read it in the papers.

Two weeks later, all that changed, I was trained as a peer educator and then suddenly I understood the danger that HIV/AIDS portends to the society especially young people like me. I was 14 years old.

Months later, I visited one of my instructors at the workshop, who is a Medical Doctor at his clinic, I was very curious. I have asked him times without number about how people living with HIV/AIDS look like and if there is anyone living with the virus in Ilesa (my home town). I sat beside a young pretty woman in his office, waiting for my turn to see the Doctor, I was last on the queue because I was not in the hospital for a medical appointment.

On asking the doctor once more, about whether there are people living with HIV/AIDS in my community, he responded by telling me that the woman I was sitting with a few minutes ago was living with HIV and in fact that she has gone public with her status.

I screamed! Despite my training, I was so scared and afraid, I felt like taking a plunge into a pool and cleansing myself immediately, I was visibly disturbed. The doctor kindly restated that HIV/AIDS cannot be contacted by mere sitting with people living with HIV/AIDS or talking to them or even hugging them. What I learnt that day was more valuable to me than the 5-day training I did on HIV/AIDS. Although the training provided me with theoretical knowledge on HIV/AIDS, my encounter with someone living with HIV/AIDS changed my perspective.

In 2004, while I was in the University and was involved as President of The Intellectual Group in planning an HIV/AIDS awareness project with other youth groups on campus, I insisted that as part of our project, we should look for and invite people living with HIV/AIDS to come and speak to the students so that the message can make as much impact that it made with me several years back.

On December 1 2004, The Intellectual Group and 6 other youth groups organized an HIV/AIDS awareness program to coincide with the World AIDS Day. As part of the program, we trained 70 volunteers, organized a red-ribbon campaign, embarked on a massive campus wide awareness campaign, held a seminar and concluded with a rave.

During the awareness rally, we invited students to the seminar, explaining to them that people living with HIV/AIDS will be speaking at the event. Out of curiosity, so many students numbering around 600 attended the event.

In the middle of the seminar, after a lecture by Medical personnel on what HIV/AIDS is, how it can be contacted and how it can be prevented, the compere mounted the stage and invited the 2 Positively Living People that we invited for the seminar on stage. One of them was the lady I met six years ago. They were not introduced as people living with HIV/AIDS.

As soon as they got on stage, one of them announced that he is HIV positive and that he is proud of himself. The entire hall fell silent. Over the next forty minutes, they told their stories. How they got infected. How they have stayed healthy despite the infection. At the end of their session, the over 600 students gave them a standing ovation.

What happened next was dramatic, I knew that most of the people in the hall were seeing for the first time, people living with HIV/AIDS, as one of the organizers, I mounted the stage and gave the facilitators a huge hug. People screamed. (Some friends avoided shaking my hand for days). However, the message was clear. After they left the stage, they were treated like a visiting Head of State, students lined up to either give them a handshake or a hug. We had to stop them after a while because they were disrupting the flow of the program.

Days after, we were inundated with calls from students who wanted to know their HIV status. Unfortunately, the school health centre does not offer such niceties. The few clinics that offered HIV testing and counseling charged 500 Naira (around 3 dollars). As much as we tried, we did not get the university to offer free HIV testing and counseling to the students.

Since then, we continued the HIV/AIDS project yearly and today the efforts have paid off. There are 2 clinics that now offer HIV testing and counseling for 100 naira (less that 1 dollar) and a medical centre that offers free testing at regular intervals.

I cannot claim that our efforts solely led to such progress, but I am sure that because we pioneered and sustained a youth-led HIV/AIDS awareness project in Ogbomoso, it has contributed in no small way to the little success recorded especially as regards testing and counseling.

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