Lymphoma - any experience?

[Roxette15]

DP has extreme health anxiety and after self diagnosing himself with a variety of cancers, he's now stuck on lymphoma.

His symptoms are - pain and tenderness under the arm pit.
Itching (all over).
Slight periodic swelling of the lymph-nodes in the armpit, neck and groin (all down one side).

Now the reality of it is that no doctor he's been to can feel or see this swelling - only he is aware of it. He's had the bloodtest which specifically checks for lymphoma symtoms and that all came back clear.
So yesterday he went for an untrasound scan of the armpit. I didn't go with him this time but apparantly the doctor confirmed that there is SLIGHT swelling but not enough to concern him. However he'd sent him for a CT scan just to confirm.

As I say, I've had three years of this constant obsession with cancer. I feel like I'm going mad with it all. For anyone with experience/knowledge of lymphoma, does this sound like a potential diagnoses??

[angelicjen]

My mum has just been diagnosed - she is really poorly, had terrible night sweats, lost loads of weight and has visible lumps round her eyes.
Please tell your DH not to worry and enjoy being well. It totally sucks if you do have it.

[sebsmummy1]

My MIL has this. She has very obvious dwellings, some of which need to be treated with radiotherapy to ensure they don't become cancerous. I know she had one behind the eye which had to be treated and she said it was extremely painful.

The lumps are very noticeable. I have seen them on her arms and face.

[Goanddoapoothen]

The lumps are very noticeable. Not slight swelling but actual lumps.

[sebsmummy1]

Yep that's right, obvious and unsightly lumps.

[Goanddoapoothen]

Can you DH access some help dealing with the health anxiety? What started this obsession?

[Psipssina]

Oh God. I hate to say this OP but why are you still hanging around to be put through this?

It sounds so horrible.

And no, it does not sound remotely like lymphoma.

[Psipssina]

Go - there was a MASSIVE thread about this the other day. The guy has major issues.

[Psipssina]

And asking people for their RL experiences of this in an upsetting topic is not a very sensitive thing to do.

[TongueBiter]

Lump(s) there all the time, and a shocking amount of weight loss.

[Goanddoapoothen]

Ah not seen the other thread psipssina. Agreed lymphoma is beyond awful. OPs DP should seek actual mental health intervention if this has taken over their lives.

[sebsmummy1]

MIL hasn't lost weight, she has sort of 'blown up' instead and seems to have a lot of water retention.

[Psipssina]

OP please stop enabling this. You know it's wrong.

[IonaMumsnet]

Afternoon all. And hi OP. We hope you don't mind but since your DP hasn't been diagnosed and you sound unsure that he will be, we're going to move this thread over to General Health for the time being. We think you'll probably get more responses there and we wouldn't want to upset anyone who is on this board because they or a loved one are facing a very difficult time. We hope your DP gets everything sorted and that everything is indeed ok. Please feel free to post here again if you find you have need to - we sincerely hope that won't be the case. Best wishes. MNHQ

[Sallystyle]

Unfortunately yes.

My children's father died from it 16 months ago. It was the worst 4 years ever. Watching him die, watching the transplant fail, the countless chemo fail and then the grief.

With my ex husband he got a lot of pain in his stomach and was rushed into hospital because his spleen was also enlarged and looked like he had a rugby ball in his stomach.

His lumps were awful looking. He looked awful but he didn't lose weight at first, he also got very bloated looking and he was a skinny 10 stone man at his very heaviest.

I could go on and on but I have health anxiety myself and know that what anyone here says won't make a difference. I don't know your posting history but I can tell you now that you should not be entertaining this. My husband is very good at not doing it with me. If I am panicking he might spend a minute reassuring me then he quickly talks about how I can overcome my mental illness and put the focus on where the problem is. He would not be looking for reassurance for me on the internet because he won't go down that route with me. In fact, he and my mum know that if they laugh in a kind way with me about it I feel MUCH better. The second anyone entertains the idea I might have cancer it worries me more. When they tell me I'm being silly (nicely) or call me and ask me if I am still alive today it makes me realise that I am the only person who is worried about me and therefore, I don't need to panic because if I did have cancer or real symptoms of cancer they would be forcing me to the doctors, not joking about it.

I know how your husband feels, I really do and it is a awful evil illness, to be scared of your own health and feel like you are dying but no one is listening can be hell. I have had to work darn hard to try to get myself better, by banning google and lots of other things and I am now coming through the other side. Watching my kids father die gave me a lot of perspective about what it is really like to be dying and also made me quite ashamed that I spent so much time worrying about dying when I was physically healthy and had a life to live, something my kids father no longer has.

I still have HA but I am now living instead of waisting my time thinking about dying. It is a daily struggle, but I refuse to let it beat me. I had times where I couldn't find the inner strength to do that, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, but only if you treat it for the mental illness it is.

Sorry, I wrote an essay.

[Sallystyle]

Just to be clear with the joking thing.. I know cancer is no laughing matter. My kids lost three people from it in a few months. It's fucking awful. I am still living with the grief. I miss my ex husband like crazy. I wish he was here with us, looking at our children and what they are achieving. I miss his smiley face. We were divorced but still close.

However, for me when people joke with me about my health anxiety it makes me realise I am being silly. I didn't want anyone to think my family is blasé about it, we aren't, but it is just a way they found that helps me through.