Hello, I’m a 27 year old gay male. A few months ago i noticed a bump inside my rectum and didn’t think anything of it. Last week, it seemed to have worsened so I made a trip to a recital surgeon and i wasn’t diagnosed with anal warts. None on the outside, they’re inside and to be honest, I feel like I’m spiraling into depression. I have a few friends who have been very supportive, but i feel completely alone on this.
I’m having surgery next Wednesday to have them removed. The surgery isn’t what scares me, it’s the fact that these can continue to come back and i feel like i have no where to turn.
I’ve done some reading on forums and it seems most people dealing with HPV or anal warts tend to drop off the radar. Is there anyone else going through this horrible situation willing to share your experience with this?
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Deejay90
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Surgery is the best treatment for wart removal. If your warts are visible, surgical excision is recommended. If they are large or they appear inside, laser surgery is the best. Before surgery, you will receive medicine that numbs the area around the warts. After surgery, you will be able to return to normal activities within 1 to 3 days. Normally, healing takes 2-4 weeks, but scarring may occur. Surgery may cause more pain than other treatments but don't worry, it's an effective treatment and many people successfully get rid of warts after surgery. Believe in your doctor. Best wishes for you!
Thank you. This entire situation has been very painful. Last Wednesday i went through surgical excision. The pain when going to the bathroom has been excruciating. I called my doctor today and asked him to write another ex of pain meds which they did.
I feel like this whole situation has consumed me entirely. I’ve been severely depressed to the point that whenever someone asks if I’m ok, or asks how I’m doing... i completely lose it. This has been very taxing but I’m trying to stay strong.
I’ve done quite a bit of research and some people seemed to have had luck with an OTC supplement called AHCC which has been known to significantly improve immune response. Dr Judith Smith did a trial with great success.
I know this supplement but never give it a try. 2 years ago, my friend had an external genital wart and he got it surgically removed. The surgery made him painful and depressed but the wart was completely gone. He used AHCC in a month and the affected area healed very quickly. As you said, this supplement did improve immune response. But unfortunately, the wart returned after 5 months and had the same size as the previous wart, making him more depressed and disappointed. He asked many other doctors and even patients who were in the same situation for help. They suggested lots of remedies like apple cider vinegar, garlic, honey, baking soda, papaya skin, vidarox, etc. He tried everything and the wart amazingly disappeared. Now it's been almost a year and he saw no wart return.
Unfortunately they’re inside me. So i don’t even know what to do other than the AHCC to be safe I dab and wipe using toilet paper with Apple cider vinegar in hopes that it doesn’t further spread outside.
This is the worst. Can you tell me the dosage, frequency, and how long your friend was taking the AHCC?
This is why it’s so important to wrap it with sexual partners especially if your gay with hiv and other risks around. I’m sure you won’t make the same mistake twice hope everything works out ok for you 👍
He took 2 pills daily, 3 times a day. He saw little results but this supplement gave him nausea, headaches and swollen joints. He stopped using it after a month. My friend didn't have any other medical condition. He thought that the supplement might cause side effects. So, if you consider using it, consult your doctor first.
Thanks Adam. I had surgery two months ago and it came back quickly. I had to have a second surgery a few weeks ago, same procedure. To top it off i have been taking 4g of AHCC on an empty stomach daily and it still game back so this has been very discouraging. My pain level is nowhere close to last time but at the end of the day it’s still a very painful procedure and this has been a huge disruption to my life...
Lately i just feel very discouraged. And at times very sad. The surgery is INCREDIBLY expensive it just sucks!
Hey! Got locked out of my previous account for some reason. But just wanted to share some good news! Something I thought my partner and I wouldn't come across and wanted to share information to anyone out there who is looking like I had been for hours on end.
My partner had been diagnosed with internal anal warts recently and we tried everything we could, but like you mentioned it is hard when they are internal. So let me give you a timeline so you can know what to expect, I will be as open and honest as possible:
July 2017 he had rectal bleeding so had a colonoscopy and they didn't find anything, but said they saw some hemorrhoids (which now I am assuming were actually warts). I discovered some warts around his anus when about to have sex in October 2017. Got diagnosed the same week at which time the ones we could see were rather small. Got checked the week after and they said he had several internally. Trust me when I say I know the feeling you are going through, we were both pretty depressed for a good while, but then we just tried resuming normal life the best way possible as I tried and looked up every remedy I could.
I was very cautious about any remedy unfortunately and he didn't want to do surgery so we opted to wait it out. We started boosting our bodies with vitamins and supplements including multivitamins and garlic: here is the one we used from whole foods
and finally I too read about AHCC. It was expensive but I thought it would be worth it. So i bought a months worth on Amazon and after a month didn't notice much and things actually seemed to look worse by this time with the warts seeming to be growing. We decided to continue the supplements given the minimum time frame the study suggested was 3 months. In this time, we also opted to get the HPV vaccine as recommended by the doctor even though they said it probably wouldn't do much. We initially hesitated, but finally decided to give it a shot (literally). He stopped most of the multivitamins except the AHCC and got his second booster shot in the HPV vaccine series.
Honestly I have been hesitant to check to see how things have been going down there until recently he said he felt a difference and wanted me to check even though I felt kind of hesitant because I didn't want to see it getting any worse. This was literally last week. To my surprise, nearly all of the warts that were once present were GONE! There were only two visible that I could see remaining (which were the bigger ones intially) but they two had shrunk in size and I noticed there were red what looked like bright veins going through them and I though this must be his body attacking the virus (this is done through the blood usually). I will keep updated but I am sure those will be gone soon given they have already drastically shrunk in size. We haven't had the opportunity to check the internal ones, but I'm sure if the ones closer to the outside are disappearing then so must the more internal ones.
I can't necessarily speak to which part of our routine helped but it wouldn't hurt to try all of the above. I would start with taking the AHCC - the dose recommended by the study was 3 g in the morning on an empty stomach (no food 1 hour before or after taking them) for at least 3 months and up to 6 months. We bought the capsules on Amazon - here are the ones I got:
Notice the dose would be 4 capsules a day so this bottle only last 15 days so it can get costly.. like $120/month since they're on sale right now.
And also get the HPV vaccine! Find a good doctor, hopefully you're in the bay area and they have good LGBTQ doctors that can help you.. if you are in the area, check out Oakland Kaiser or some of the clinics in SF. If you're not in the area, insist on getting the vaccine even if your doctor says it will do nothing. This is my theory, and I am by no means a doctor but do have some background in the sciences. I read how the AHCC is supposed to work..it inhibits a certain type of antibody (to be general) in your body from being synthesized and in turn this causes an upregulation of the type of antibody that would attack the HPV virus. This will take time. The HPV vaccine introduces dead HPV virus into your blood so your body can make antibodies against it (this is an advantage because normally the virus evades your immune system so your body won't build any antibodies for it). Since there are now antibodies, your body will have an easier time finding the virus and being able to attack it.
This is just my theory based on what my partner and I have done and have seen results. I wish I had found something like what I just posted to give me hope. Do keep in mind though, not all HPV viruses are covered by the vaccine so its not a guarantee, but be hopeful that about 90% (according to Google) of HPV warts are from two subtypes which are covered by the vaccine. Also keep in mind if you may have a co-infection with one of the cancer causing types to be aware of any changes down there even after the warts go away. Not likely but good to be safe and aware of your body. I hope this reaches as many people as possible. Please share.
Hello, I'm only 23 years old and yesterday my doctor told me I have internal genital warts as well ans as I observed there are a lot. I'm so lonely right now. Hope you can give me some of your experiences.
Hello, I’ve had two surgeries so far and the worst part is healing. I have an appointment this coming Friday to see if any of come back. How are you doing since you were diagnosed?
I know how upsetting internal warts can be. I first had them when I was 21, right before I met my current husband (I'm now 32). I needed to have 3 surgeries in one year because they kept coming back. Then they stopped. The surgery is of course quite simple and the main problem is indeed the idea of having warts growing in your anus. But the real challenge is recovery, which can be quite painful because of course you still have to shit. I've found that external warts actually hurt more to heal.
The most depressing thing of it all is that my asshole was never the same, which means that my husband never knew my normal ass! You can develop scar tissue which is less elastic than normal skin/tissue which means sex can feel different. Another thing that I had was hypertrophied papillae. Papillae are these flap-like things that naturally surround the anal canal inside, but they may get enlarged. Which means that you can feel them sometimes and it feels weird during sex and when shitting (they don't hurt, though). If you touch them by inserting a finger they may feel like a wart, so that's rather alarming. But my doctor told me there were just papillae and that they were just part of the body.
After my third surgery what I decided to do was to keep an eye on my anal canal. So as soon as it was healed and I could insert a finger, I examined myself daily to always be able to keep track of how things felt. That's when I discovered some flaps that turned out to be papillae. That was in 2008. I saw the doctor so many times that I've lost track, but I think sometimes I would find something and go see her and she would say it was a tiny wart and then she fried it with a dab of acid during the consultation itself. So that confirmed to me that examining myself regularly was a good idea.
Many years later, I was feeling fed up with my papillae. I came to the conclusion that they were the thing bothering me during sex. I wanted them removed. (I read that this is a possibility and improves people's lives) I finally overcame my trepidation of going to the doctor again and just went to see what I could do to improve my ass and get it back to normal. That was 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately the doctor said he did find some tiny warts (and no papillae). I'm confused because I am sure I have been keeping track of them since 2008 and everything has felt the same ever since. This doctor also said it wasn't advisable to keep examining yourself because you just end up stressing out. I am not sure I agree.
But I don't really care now what my flaps are, I'm having them removed in a couple of weeks. I am quite relaxed, compared to the desperation I felt in the past every time I learned I needed to do another procedure. I think it's going to be for the best. The doctor said he's going to fry everything he finds, to make it smooth again.
That said, you and I must keep in mind that after healing your ass may need some training. So you might have to massage and stretch your anus with fingers or dildos to get it loose and flexible again. I feel that maybe I didn't do it enough the last time and I'm determined to be more thorough this time. But it does improve. After my last 2007 surgery had healed, I could insert only two fingers and they felt like they were being squeezed together by a thin rubber band. With time it got better.
You can count on me for any help, advice, or support. It really can feel much scarier than it is. There is indeed a frame of mind you can find that makes things much more bearable.
I've seen below that you've had two surgeries. That can happen. You mustn't think that the warts are "coming back". What happens is that the virus lives in the skin cells (not the bloodstream) and any one virus can trigger the growth of a wart. So you've had visible warts removed, but maybe you still had microscopic ones that have gone on to grow or that another virus kickstarted new warts. I know it sounds discouraging but you must remember that almost everyone has some form of HPV. All warts are caused by HPV, even the "funny" ones that people have on their hands, or "witches" have on their nose. Genital warts are crazier than normal skin warts, but they too can start to get smaller and disappear by themselves. The point is that the virus is rather unpredictable and keeps quiet. As far as I know, removing/destroying warts actually trains your body to be able to find and destroy viruses more effectively. I've read some interesting things about taking HPV vaccines, too.
That means that warts/HPV treatment is symptomatic: you give it attention only if it starts bothering you. You then go and destroy/remove any warts that are getting in your way. And then as soon as you're healed, start using your ass again for as many fun things as you can!
I don't have the time to read all of the replies, but you can use imiquimod as an off licence treatment for intra anal hpv that are not too far up. Bottom line ( no pun intended ) come to see a dr at a sexual health clinic , if you are in the UK. We treat this all the time.
Hi all. If there are still people paying attention to this thread I created, I just wanted to let everyone know that I am perfectly fine and everything has pretty much turned back to normal. This was one of the hardest things I’ve been through. Between the painful surgeries and depression it’s turned me into a stronger person.
Anyway if anyone is still watching I’d be happy to update and share my experience
December 17, 2020 update: As of today I'm free of warts but this is certainly not over! Since I discovered I had internal anal warts (also known as condyloma) which is caused by HPV, I've had numerous surgical procedures to have them removed and continue to have annual follow-up procedures which I'll talk about further down. The recovery after each surgery put me in excruciating pain mainly after I had a bowel movement. For the first two procedures, this was completely life-altering and put me into one of the darkest times of my life - but that was just me and how I handled it. I did an extensive amount of research and decided to get the GARDASIL-9 vaccine for HPV. There have been studies on the effects this has on protecting you even after being infected with HPV. My surgeon also agreed this was a good idea.
Here's my overall experience so far:
For each procedure, I was under general anesthesia. Upon release, they would give me one local anesthetic shot called Exparel to help with pain (completely numbed my anus for a day or two), along with an Rx for Ketorolac which is taken 3x per day to curb severe pain and inflammation. I was also prescribed oxycodone following my first two procedures because I was in so much pain. I hated taking it because I feel it made me even more depressed and fogged my mind but it couldn't go without.
Once the warts were removed and yes, they MUST be removed to reduce the risk of anal cancer which can be caused by HPV, my surgeon put me on "surveillance" and scheduled me for a procedure called a High-Resolution Anoscopy (HRA) which he recommended I do annually for the rest of my life. This procedure is also rather painful
December 2017: Surgical excision
July 2018: Surgical excision
August 2019: HRA
December 2020: HRA
This is a procedure where they examine the inner anus using a lens and they splash acetic acid on the tissue which highlights abnormal cells that have any likelihood of turning into cancer. These types of "abnormal" cells are referred to as anal dysplasia (also referred to as AIN or HSIL) which are all pre-cancerous stages of skin cells; whatever they decide to call it. This does not mean they WILL turn into cancer, but they eventually CAN which is why it's so important to stay on top of this. After they gathered multiple samples for biopsies, they destroyed any remaining tissue that is suspected to be pre-cancerous. The biopsies were then sent to a lab where the abnormal cells were given a grade:
Low-grade AIN (AIN 1 and 2)
"You might not need treatment. The abnormal cells can go back to normal on their own, without any treatment. Your doctor will check your AIN by taking a sample of skin (biopsy). And they will arrange regular checks to monitor your AIN."
High-grade AIN (AIN 3)
"You will need treatment because the abnormal cells are less likely to get better on their own. They will usually schedule another surgery to remove some of the skin around the anus." I'll include a link in the comments if you'd like to read more about AIN.
My first HRA biopsy in August 2019 returned with no warts but high-grade AIN-3. Questionable cells were of course destroyed. My second HRA biopsy on December 6, 2020, returned with no warts, and some low-grade AIN 1-2. Questionable cells here too were destroyed.
Since the beginning of all this, I've made some pretty drastic changes and I highly suggest anyone who has suffered from this, does the same in order to keep your immune system strong and healthy. First and foremost, eliminate all things that cause you any stress. Period. Life is too short and stress plays a huge part in how our bodies function. Secondly, stop smoking! Immediately if you can. This is a horrible habit and increases the likelihood of cells progressing into cancer (along with excessive alcohol consumption). Lastly, change your diet because you are what you put in your body. In October 2020 I switched to a mostly plant-based diet due to studies that show it can lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. This was relatively easy for me (surprisingly) because of the many health benefits.
As far as the condition of my anus goes after all of this, as a gay man, I'm happy to say I have no issues with incontinence or tightness thankfully and the scar tissue inside the anus isn't even noticeable.
In closing, if you or someone you know is struggling with this, please reach out to me and I'd be happy to help with any questions or advice. I want to help people who are going through the same thing because this seems like such a stigmatized situation that nobody should go through alone as I did.
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to be safe I dab and wipe using toilet paper with Apple cider vinegar in hopes that it doesn’t further spread outside.
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