Health anxiety #4

[stanleycupgal]

I need some support today. For the last year I’ve had quite regular bladder pressure and frequent urinating. It’s like a urine infection but never seems to show as one.
I’ve been to the Dr so many times and she’s not worried but sending me to a balder Gynaecologist next month.

In the meantime I’ve got it bad again, abdominal pressure, constantly feeling like I need to go (and do go, not like only a little comes out) and burning below (bit when I go just in general). My left side seems achey too and I’ve got a sore lower back, which does seem to happen for me every few months, Chiro helps and scans so nothing sinister on my back.
Periods are heavy and getting a bit irregular.
I’m 49 so do know a lot of these things could be menopause related

Anyway I’ve convinced myself it’s cervical cancer or something equally as bad. I’m completely spiralling.

 

[Tommyb]

I had a lump under my arm .. it's not in my armpit but on the outside when I lift my arm. I also had two small spots there that came up just above it. It came up really red and angry and sore. I think it's from friction due to tight shirts. It never came to a head but I used a warm compress and it's basically gone now. I can still feel a bit of it and it's still a little sore. Thing is it looks kind of bruised now. Like it's left a bit of a purple mark. So strange I wonder if anyone has had anything similar?.

 

[Lucie1001]

I have the doctors and opticians next week as I’ve been struggling with headaches and dizziness for a few weeks now. He thinks it’s migraine and I’ve been prescribed propranolol but I feel like it’s making me more dizzy. I dunno if my anxiety is worse thinking it’s something more than a migraine or what

Vestibular migraines is something I came across during my googling!

 

[nyMreb-5fattu-hedgob]

Hi everyone - not been on this thread for a while even though my health anxiety is awful.

Last night started to feel unwell, had hot face, shivering, post nasal drip and nausea. Woke up at 4am after couple of hours sleep to throw up now feel awful. Really panicking its covid even though I do have acid reflux and sinus issues quite a bit. Think I've been having a panic attack for about 12 hours now

Does anyone have any tips on how to calm down / stop being sick?

I know most people dont fear covid anymore but im definitely not one of those and im terrified xx

I hope you’re feeling better now. Things always seem worse in the middle of the night. I always just try the classic deep breathing and then a cold facecloth on the back of my neck and face usually helps with the sickness. Try and take is easy today

 

[Former_Antelopee]

After 6 years of not going - I've finally plucked up the courage to go to the opticians. It's booked for tomorrow and I am just absolutely freaking out. I'm totally convinced that they are going to find something horrible. I just want to cry and sleep the day away.

If they did find anything I think you'd be referred right away. When I went a few weeks ago they found something they were unsure about on the scans they did. They said they usually do a emergency 24 hour referral for it but as I had no symptoms they just did an urgent one, I got seen within 2 weeks. Had scans at the hospital and doctor checked my eyes and wasn't concerned. He said if he had any doubts I would've had a scan of my head. Just advised me to go to opticians again in 6 months rather than a year so I can get scans again there to make sure nothing changed

 

[amysiobhan84]

Need someone to talk me round here, have a gp appointment tomorrow I have convinced myself I have bowel cancer and I actually want to cancel the appt as I don’t want to ruin Christmas with my bad news. I have been having a feeling that my bowels aren’t fully emptied and that something goes back up.. also that I need to poop more often. Also back pain however that may be unrelated

Didn't want to read and ignore.
I was talking to my friend yesterday who is normally very logical as is a mental health nurse. She told me she became convinced 2 years ago she had early stage bowel cancer and was terrified waiting for results. Was sent for colonoscopy etc and all was fine, she does have bad IBS which was probably mimicking symptoms.

 

[MidnightAura]

I do, but I suffer from panic attacks so it tends to go hand in hand.

 

[QueenBW]

@cakefood first of all, sending you good thoughts. You're going through a lot of things, so give yourself a big hug (mentally or literally if that feels like something you want to do).

When I'm spiralling with the health anxiety a few things work for me, but sometimes none of them do.

Sometimes I'll actually indulge in the spiral and be like, okay, let's say that it really is Worst Case Scenario. What then? And make a list of everything that would need to be done/would probably happen/would scare me. Seeing it written down, and actually writing it down, can take power away from it. I can sometimes then see the extremely unlikely scenarios for what they are. Or resize my fears.

Sometimes I'll act tough with my anxiety and be like, okay so what? If I'm dying and dying and why wouldn't it be me? And sometimes that helps.

The thing is that without your husband to talk things through you might also need another outlet. Is there a friend or relative who could play in the role your husband usually does with your anxiety? Like if he listens, a friend who'll listen. If he offers solutions, a friend who'll do that.

Alternatively, if it's within your budget/if it's feasible with your health insurance, seek a professional. You mention you've done CBT for generalized anxiety disorder but that it doesn't work for your health anxiety. Perhaps seek a different type of therapy to see if they have more tools for you. I've done hypnotherapy with a licensed psychiatrist and it's helped with my health anxiety, but I know others have benefitted from psychotherapy, etc.

 

[IllBredHen]

Is it red/raised/itchy? What does it look like?

No it's not red or itchy. You can't really see it or anything. I can just feel it under the skin and it hurts

 

[ChampagneBox]

ahhh now I’m spiralling with this MND thing…if you tilt your head back and look at the ceiling, is it normal for it to be difficult to swallow?

 

[polarby]

It’s been long time no see for me on this thread, but I’ve recently noticed what I think is a new mole/freckle on the underside of my breast. It’s only tiny but it looks a bit suspicious to me as it’s both brown & pink, and not a nice even shape, and I’m also not a moley person in general. I’m being brave and going to book an appointment on Monday (usually the HA would make me meltdown for a few weeks first haha) but spiralling a bit anyway. Has anyone had any experience with this, or an appointment about you breasts in general? I’m trying to reassure myself that because it’s so small it will be fine, but I’m also worried about potentially having to get undressed at the appointment, or the doctor finding something worse in my breast if they examine it.

I have HA but quite severely around the C as I’ve grown up with PSTD after losing a sibling it a very traumatic way.

 

[ChampagneBox]

After being told I’ve been disharged from ENT without me knowing and the hospital not replying to my emails, it turns out I have to go back through the GP if I want to get a referral back to ENT for two lumps under my chin that have been there since feb anyone else had cancer before and had raised lymph nodes that turned out to be fine? They haven’t grown, not soft but not rock hard either, moveable but I’m so worried I’ve left it too long

 

[ChampagneBox]

I finally built up the courage to go to my GP today about a breast skin thickening issue I’ve had for 18 months. I confided in my mum a few weeks after noticing and showed her, she said it was nothing (I know stupid me she’s not a doctor). I suffer with agoraphobia and anxiety, I can’t make phone calls which my mum knows. Anyway I mentioned it to a guy I’ve been seeing and he said I had to get it checked he even wanted to make the phone call to my GP for me. I decided to do the online form on Monday got an appointment for today 2 GPs checked and I have a lump I’ve been referred for tests and I know this is standard procedure but I wasn’t expecting a lump at all. Has anyone had something similar I’m 37 btw just completely shocked me.

I had what I thought was a dent under my boob, to me looked like puckering of skin but it was just a stretch mark! You’ve done the right thing
---

I've been trying to get an appointment for my lump everyday they tell me to ring at 10am on the dot and I do, I go straight into a queue off 30+ when I finally get to number 1 the appointments are gone and they tell me to ring back again tomorrow

I know it’s frustrating but please keep trying! Next time you get through say ‘I’ve been ringing as told every day for -days, please, can I have an appt/be put on some priority list?’

 

[ChampagneBox]

Just had my appt and she wasn’t overly worried but I’ve had some blood tests, now just worrying what if they show something??

 

[Moolo]

I haven't really struggled too bad with my HA for a while. But a major trauma recently with my son has triggered my anxiety, and HA quite a lot.

I won't go in to too much detail as I'll be here all day, but he presented with severe abdominal pains out of nowhere in June. He has a history of bowel malrotation as a newborn, so we went straight to A&E. It was malrotation again with volvulus, his bowel was twisted 3.5 times. 5 weeks in hospital, 2 major surgeries, a Stoma, and very early stoma reversal later and he's doing well. He has been home for a month now.

I on the other hand am not doing well. It started with anxiety about him, naturally. And worrying and fear of something going wrong with the bowel they stitched back together, leaks, or them twisting again, or a blockage from scarring. Not sleeping, constantly asking if he is OK etc. You get the gist.

Now it seems my HA is at an all time high. I've had this pinching pain in my lower right pelvic area. I need to add I've had it many times since 2018, and had gynaecology appts for it a few years ago. Possible endometriosis they said, but I refused the laporoscopy to confirm, fear of being put under

Anyway, when I'm due on I get it, when I'm mid cycle I get it (currently day 18), and the first few days of my period I also get it. But this has been on and off for a couple of weeks. I did think UTI the first week as I had most UTI symptoms. So my GP put me on antibiotics.

It went away for a few days, then came back last weekend. Since then I've convinced myself it's appendicitis, a cyst about to rupture, a bowel obstruction, bowel cancer, or on the ovaries. Or bladder cancer.

It's a constant vicious cycle. It sometimes moves in to the abdomen, my thigh and lower back. Always the right side. I've also noticed I get more twinges when I'm on my period, and achy thighs too.

I had a smear test today so will see what that shows.

But has anyone experienced this sort of thing before, and found that being under a huge amount of stress and anxiety has made the issue flare up?

It's hard to think positive right now.

I've had this pain - in fact im having it right now. It changes depending on time of cycle but at the moment it's a pain in my side, twinges around where ovaries are and aching in my side as well.

I've had ultrasound scans and nothing there apart from a couple of tiny fibroids. Mine flares up during mid cycle at ovulation (usually few days before) and around period time.

My feeling for me is that it's a cyst that develops and then goes again - they are quite common. A friend of mine also had a lot of pelvic pain and hers was a cyst that went away before it could be removed.

Always worth another scan if you're worried mainly just to put your mind at ease tbh - I've found the few I've had really helpful aside from the anxiety about booking it and then going to have it done and the results of course!

Definitely agree with @Tommyb that it could also be anxiety making it worse - I know mine is much worse when I'm anxious.

 

[WreckingBall]

when you say movable can it slide slightly side to side? I wish I'd asked the nurse when I saw her. I'm going off smooth/smooth edges being a good sign

Yeah, I can kinda push it side to side and up and down. Like, it doesn’t feel attached firmly to anything else as such. The dr said something like - it’s nice and moveable. It feels smooth too so I do hope that is indeed a good sign.

 

[no-no]

I had to have ABs recently for an insect bite (they gave me them on a delayed script but I think logically it may have healed as it was localised). Now I’m so paranoid about everything. I scratched my outer ear inside the tragus bit whilst itching it and my nails are longer now. I’ve been cleaning it with TCP. Does anyone else have a phobia of grazes/open cuts?

 

[Jdottt13]

Wondering if anyone can help, I have health anxiety (well and anxiety in general) but more recently have started feeling depressed too so I went to the doctors (something I should’ve done ages ago) and I’ve been given medication - Escitalopram, but I’m too scared to take it I’m worrying about the side effects from it . This is coming from someone who’s scared to even take pain relief in case it makes me feel funny 🥲 Like I literally had the tablet out earlier ready to take and then I just couldn’t do it anyone else have this problem 🫤

 

[amysiobhan84]

Yeah, I can kinda push it side to side and up and down. Like, it doesn’t feel attached firmly to anything else as such. The dr said something like - it’s nice and moveable. It feels smooth too so I do hope that is indeed a good sign.

do you know how big it is?

 

[Suzesnooze]

Thank you love, GP told me to stop googling I'm definitely going to do that. She said my health anxiety was high, I've just ordered some paint I'm going to paint my room for the next week and try to relax. I'm glad I went to the appointment I feel better already xx

Believe me I know what it’s like having suffered on and off with HA for years but at the moment I’m going through a good patch and it’s amazing how easily you can rationalise when not suffering with anxiety but I also understand how hard it is when you are in the depths of it.

Yes, do your painting as distraction is key. Always try to keep the mind busy.