Abnormal Pap Smear at 3 - year pap smear last month. Should I be as nervous as I am?

Question

In June I took Trinessa and took it the entire month. I had a bad reaction. Depression, stomach pains, spotting, dryness and was about to walk in front of a bus. Then I went to the nuvaring on July 3rd. Much better! Then I had a bad reaction to new body soap and ended up with a UTI on July5th. I took Cipro for 3 days. Then I had my pap smear on July 30th. It came back abnormal. Could it have been caused by all I had been through? Could cancer be so advanced that it's incurable at this point? Should I be scared that I'm having a colposcopy on September 16th? Is the fact it's scheduled so far out a good sign or doesn't matter? Thanks in advanced.

Answer 1

Relax. If your doctors thought it was really serious, they'd be much more excited (in a bad way) than they seem to be. Colposcopies are pretty common, and almost never find cancer. As for why it's abnormal: all the things you've been through could cause inflammation, so your Pap ends up abnormal this time. However, given that they're doing a colposcopy rather than a repeat Pap, I am gathering that they detected HPV. Which wouldn't be caused by your various problems.