Atypical pap smear?

Hi, I'm a healthy girl in her early twenties. Recently I went for my first pap smear, which came back atypical. I am quite distraught with words like HPV and cancer floating around. I have not slept around, in fact the only person I have ever had any sexual contact with is my husband (and I did my pap smear after my first year of being sexually active). I feel scared and cheated. The nurse told me not to worry too much, and that this is extremely common, but I am stressing out! My husband himself has had only 4 sexual partners including me and he has always been careful (always condoms! etc..). My husband is being wonderfully supportive, but I don't feel he truly understands how frightening this is for me and I would like some input. Is this really common? Has this happened to anyone (especially on their first go)? Should I be so scared? I am going in for my follow up (I was told to go in, in 6 months...going in sooner!) Any support or input as to what this could be?

Thanks for the posts! To amusing but confusing: I'm right there with ya! To ML: thank you! And the pap smear isn't really that bad ;) To Robin B: I don't know if I'm HPV positive, but I'm assuming it is probably the problem. I felt embarrassed and dirty until my gyn told me sometimes it gets flushed out of the system in a couple of years...also that she has even had it. HPV is my worst fear, and I feel so bad, but I wish that I had remained celibate and alone for the rest of my life. I love my husband but I could have been happy on my own too. This just all seems like too much trouble for me and I feel really guilty saying this! Don't get me wrong, my husband is amazing and I love him more than anything in the world, I'm just so scared this is something that will impact me for the rest of my life. Mind you, I was brought up in a house that scared the living daylights out of me saying that HPV is fatal, and nothing is worth getting HPV over...that I will most likely die of cancer. etc..

I could pretty much relate in a sense to what your going through..
you find out your results were not regular and then your expected to wait calmly for 6 months WTF!
All I can say is that I'm pretty sure if you had something serious they would have taken some sort of action right away and since that wasn't the case then your probably OK.

im doing to the gyne for my first time tommorrow so then when i get my result i will share it with you.. im sorry i cant help.. but im thinking about u..

Please please don't worry yourself sick. This can happen after just ONE exposure . As soon as we start having sex ( any kind) we run those risks of getting HPV. It is NOT your husbands fault, nor yours. It just is. Perhaps somewhere along the way . he had sex with one of those girls, and she had it. Because it is a viral infection, it can live in our systems forever, sometimes, even safe sex isn't going to help. With care and constant paps, you can have a safe and healthy life. Being in touch with your doctor and keeping your pap appointments is vital to your health.
It is really common, sorry to say. It just "is". I have seen girls as young as 14 with it and women as old as 60. No one is really sure why it goes as it does.
Don't worry, keep your appointments, keep your doctor updated on any changes, and do as he or she tells you. You can and will live a long and healthy life with HPV.

Atypical means that the cells have changes by about 2%. To put this in perspective, a 100% change is needed to cause cancer. This simply needs to be monitored. the cells will likely revert. If they progress further, they can be removed. As regards HPV, everyone whose ever had sex has it. It is a nearly 100% transmissible STD. Nearly 95% of the adult population has it so I wouldn't worry about it.