PLEASE HELP! I'm fifteen, and I'm terrified I may have cervical cancer!

[ellioteverett]

Hello. I'm Elliot. I'm a fifteen year old girl, and I'm scared I may have cervical cancer. Last week, I felt around in my cervix, after feeling cramping. I felt a lump. I was spooked, but decided to ignore it as I thought it was something caused by a bath bomb I used the night before (I heard those things a pretty much nukes to lady parts, and cause yeast infections and UTIs). Then I thought it may have been a cyst, and it would go away. I've had cysts before (I was once terrified I had breast cancer after feeling a lump in my breast, just to find out it was a cyst). Or that it was inflammation.
Now I'm having pelvic pains (similar to menstrual cramps), an overwhelming need to urinate (and never feeling like my bladder was completely emptied), and my urine has a strong odor. I'm experiencing no bleeding, or vaginal discharge. And my urine hasn't changed color. My thighs are sore, and I've only felt a little nausea.
My parents are nurses, and I'm scared to tell them, because I don't want to worry them over something that will go away. But, I'm terrified that if this is cancer, it will progress if I don't tell them. I don't know how to approach them with it.
I need help now! I'm in tears. I'm afraid that I won't be able to have children, or that I could die before I get to experience life.

[Bigboyuk]

Hi ellioteverett What I am going to say is if you have any concerns do talk to your parents and the fact they are both nurses is a bonus :) Then you can put your mind at rest. Oh don't google the symptoms Hope you get some good answers to your concerns :) Cheers

[Clydesdale Epona]

My best advice would be to tell your parents or a doctor, cancer at your age especially cervical is highly highly rare but if you're in a fit over it then its best to just get it checked out, you don't have to answer these if you don't want to x but do you get extremely painful periods? and did you only recently first start? there's a lot of reasons that could be causing it other than cancer so its best to just tell someone but I doubt its anything life threating :) x

All the best :hugs:

[GlassPinata]

Hello. I'm Elliot. I'm a fifteen year old girl, and I'm scared I may have cervical cancer. Last week, I felt around in my cervix, after feeling cramping. I felt a lump. I was spooked, but decided to ignore it as I thought it was something caused by a bath bomb I used the night before (I heard those things a pretty much nukes to lady parts, and cause yeast infections and UTIs). Then I thought it may have been a cyst, and it would go away. I've had cysts before (I was once terrified I had breast cancer after feeling a lump in my breast, just to find out it was a cyst). Or that it was inflammation.
Now I'm having pelvic pains (similar to menstrual cramps), an overwhelming need to urinate (and never feeling like my bladder was completely emptied), and my urine has a strong odor. I'm experiencing no bleeding, or vaginal discharge. And my urine hasn't changed color. My thighs are sore, and I've only felt a little nausea.
My parents are nurses, and I'm scared to tell them, because I don't want to worry them over something that will go away. But, I'm terrified that if this is cancer, it will progress if I don't tell them. I don't know how to approach them with it.
I need help now! I'm in tears. I'm afraid that I won't be able to have children, or that I could die before I get to experience life.

Are you sexually active? Because virtually all cervical cancer is caused by a sexually transmitted virus called HPV. What's more, it's a slow-growing cancer which generally takes nine to thirteen years to develop, meaning that one would have to have a persistent, untreated HPV infection.

You could have a mucus-filled cyst on your cervix. These are common, painless, harmless, and would feel like a small "lump" on your cervix. They can take awhile to go away, weeks to possibly a month. I was once alarmed by several bumps on my cervix, and that's what they turned out to be.

Another thing you can get on your cervix is polyps. These are also harmless and non-cancerous, but can cause abnormal bleeding in some women. For this reason, doctors will generally remove them. This can be done in the doctor's office. Most times, they simply pluck them off with tweezers.
Cervical polyps are a common finding in women, but they typically appear in slightly older women- the 30s are the prime time for developing cervical polyps. They can be caused by excess estrogen, or can develop as the result of even minor trauma to the cervix- the trauma could be the result of childbirth, sex, or even tampon insertion.
Like I said, I would expect you'd be a little young to develop a cervical polyp, but it would be far more likely than you having cervical cancer.

To put this in context, about one out of ten women will develop cervical polyps in her life- but fewer than one in ten thousand women will develop cervical cancer. And the average number of cervical cancer cases in women under twenty is, as you can see from this graph, zero.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/cervical-cancer/incidence#heading-One

As far as cervical cysts- also called Nabothian cysts- any female of reproductive age can get them, and they are so common that probably every woman gets them from time to time, sometimes without even realizing it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabothian_cyst

So, in short, that is what I think you have. It is not a problem, and will go away on its own, but it may take awhile.

If you still feel concerned, please talk to your parents and ask to see a doctor.

Best wishes.

PS your other symptoms sound as if they could be the beginning of a urinary tract infection, possibly the result of these bath products you were talking about. I would definitely discuss THAT with your parents, as you might need antibiotics to clear it up. Once at the doctor for that, you could simply mention to the doctor this bump you found on your cervix. In that way, you could get it looked at without having to discuss it with your parents, if you find it too difficult to tell them. I am sure the doctor could quickly examine this lump and completely alleviate all your worries, since it is almost undoubtedly some sort of harmless cyst.

[ellioteverett]

Hello, Bigboyuk! Thanks for the advice, but I think I'm alright now! I woke up the next morning to check on the "lump", and it seems to be slowly going away! I'm going to guess it was just a cyst, or some inflammation. I'm guessing it was caused by the bath bomb, as it didn't show up until I used it. I've always been bad at jumping to the worst possible conclusions. After looking more into it, I found cervical cancer takes YEARS to develop, and is really uncommon in girls my age. And when it does develop in girls my age, it's normally because it runs in family. And it doesn't in mine. I'm now at ease, now that it is going away!

[GlassPinata]

Hello, Bigboyuk! Thanks for the advice, but I think I'm alright now! I woke up the next morning to check on the "lump", and it seems to be slowly going away! I'm going to guess it was just a cyst, or some inflammation. I'm guessing it was caused by the bath bomb, as it didn't show up until I used it. I've always been bad at jumping to the worst possible conclusions. After looking more into it, I found cervical cancer takes YEARS to develop, and is really uncommon in girls my age. And when it does develop in girls my age, it's normally because it runs in family. And it doesn't in mine. I'm now at ease, now that it is going away!

The fact that it's going away certainly points to it being a Nabothian cyst. These will either pop and go away all at once, or will slowly be reabsorbed into your body over a period of time.
So, excellent news! :)

Have you had the HPV vaccine? If you haven't, I'd recommend it. Then you'll never need to worry about cervical cancer, even when you're older.

[ellioteverett]

Hello, GlassPinata! Thank you! That really put me at ease! I'm not sexually active (and intercorse is something that holds little interest to me). But I woke up the next morning to check on it, and it seems to have gotten smaller by A LOT. I'm guessing at was probably a cyst, as I get them a lot. I was probably just spooked because I've never had one in my cervix. My pain seems to be shrinking too. I've always been bad at jumping to the worst possible conclusions. But you really put my mind at ease! Thank you, again!

[Bigboyuk]

Hello, Bigboyuk! Thanks for the advice, but I think I'm alright now! I woke up the next morning to check on the "lump", and it seems to be slowly going away! I'm going to guess it was just a cyst, or some inflammation. I'm guessing it was caused by the bath bomb, as it didn't show up until I used it. I've always been bad at jumping to the worst possible conclusions. After looking more into it, I found cervical cancer takes YEARS to develop, and is really uncommon in girls my age. And when it does develop in girls my age, it's normally because it runs in family. And it doesn't in mine. I'm now at ease, now that it is going away! You are welcome :) Good news and looks like the bath bomb was the cause so now you can forget it now :yesyes: Cheers

[ellioteverett]

Hello, Clydesdale Epona! As I've told other people, the lump seems to be going away. I woke up the next morning to check on the lump, and it's shrunken by A LOT. I've always been bad at jumping to the worst possible conclusions. I'm now in a better state of mind.

[Marie2016]

Hi,

I'm glad that it's shrinking and the pain is less, I'm sure it wasn't anything serious.

For future reference, when you're due on or have any sort of hormone change you can get a cyst or similar. I was told this by a doctor as a big cyst was found on one of my ovaries each time I was pregnant. The doctor said it's common and probably happens to me before each period also but obviously seeing as I'm not scanned before mensturation then I wouldn't notice. When I was pregnant I can vividly remember getting to about 8 weeks and feeling a sharp pain in my side, I got scanned again and the cyst was gone. I was told that when this happens with mensturation I probably wouldn't notice the pain due to normal cramping during that time.

Women experience cysts in the reproductive system for all sorts of reasons and they're very rarely serious, especially not in someone so young. I was told this at 25 so I've got 10 years on you and I'm still considered too young for cervical cancer to occur commonly haha.

Thought this might help you in the future xx

[GlassPinata]

Women experience cysts in the reproductive system for all sorts of reasons and they're very rarely serious, especially not in someone so young.


Very true, I've had ovarian cysts that come and go, the doctor says it's normal.
Women can also get cysts in their breasts due to hormone changes.
Being a woman is a lot of trouble, but luckily most lumps and bumps are not cancer. :D