i dated a guy for a little over a year (it ended in april or may of 2004) and i recently found out i have HPV (the cancer-causing kind).

he always had these weird problems. it seemed he always had a UTI, but doctors would confirm he didn't have one. this continued for a long time ( it started before he met me, way before). he finally got tested for std's and came back negative on all of them. he had been with 5 girls before me, don't know much more than that. i know he never cheated on me.

he had his prostate tested also, and still nothing was found. he had horrible "bathroom" problems too, and nothing was found there either. yuck. i don't miss him at all.

i know there is no test for HPV in males, and i wondered if, along with these symptoms, it was possible that he had HPV and if he's the one i got it from. i know it can take a long time to "come out", that it can be dormant for years, i could have gotten it from anyone.

but his symptoms really make me wonder now. it isn't helping that i am so ashamed of ever having been with him (he never did anything bad to me, it's just one of those "how did i lower my standards to be with such a loser, i wish i could get amnesia for that sad part of my life" kind of thing).

so...do you think it sounds like he's the one i may have gotten it from?

i have heard that most guys have it without ever having symptoms...but CAN they have symptoms?

god, he makes me sick--maybe even literally.

[Star Gazer]

Do your research. Men do NOT get symptoms of the cancer-causing strain of HPV. The OTHER strain, the one that causes genital warts, DOES - they're called WARTS.

If your doctor said that you have the cancer-causing strain, you'll never know where it came from (unless you've only slept with one person in your entire life), because men carry it but never show symptoms, and you can have it for YEARS without ever having any sort of symptoms...the symptom is usually an abnormal pap. The cancer-causing strain of HPV is just like mono - by the time you're 30, if you've ever had sex, there's a 90% chance that you've had both and never knew it...it is THAT common, and a guy can't even get tested for it!

But now that you know, the only thing you need to worry about is getting regular pap smears to make certain that your ASCUS cells don't turn pre-cancerous and then cancerous.

[Star Gazer]

Another thing, if you're worried about his sexual history, if I were you I'd get the full battery of tests. Actually, even if you're not worried, you should get tested regularly.

my cells are already precancerous, actually. and i am aware of what i have to do, and i have been tested for everything else also.

i wasn't really looking for advice on what to do next--this stuff i already know. i just wanted to know if men EVER get symptoms of hpv and if he could have been the one who gave it to me. i'm not concerned about his past history.

thanks for responding.