Anxiety is killing me tonight. AIBU to think I have lung cancer?

[Anxiousally]

I'm 17 weeks pg I've had a chest infection about 2 weeks now. It got abit better but now I feel rubbish again.
9 days ago I was in A and E with DS and I felt faint anf dizzy and my hands and mouth went tingly. I have googled and this with a chest infection that won't go away said are signs of lung cancer. DH thinks it's because I hadnt eaten but I can't stop thinking about it. I also coughed up streaks of blood earlier. Again DH thinks that's because I'm coughing ALOT and I'm taking daily asprin to help with BP in pregnancy.
I can't see a gp for a few days and the worry is making me sick. I'm not sure why I'm posting.
AIBU to think it's lung cancer. I'm going to spend my family's chrostmas worrying I don't want to spoil it for them

Firstly, anxiety is fucking awful isn’t it?

It is very, very unlikely to be lung cancer. It sounds like you’ve picked up a nasty infection and your partner is right, coughing a lot and aspirin could well have contributed to the blood you saw.

Do you have a walk in centre near where you are? If so please go. They will be happy to see you and treat you, and reassure you x

Is the blood bright red? If so it’s 99% sure to be due to the coughing. Faint and tingly hands and feet are also very normal during a chest infection.

I think you should definitely try and relax. A chest infection can easily last 2 weeks and whenever I get them I normally cough enough to bring up some blood. Equally the episode of dizziness could be due to many many things.
You haven’t mentioned how old you are but I assume as you a pregnant you are unlikely to be in the lung cancer demographic, and you’ve also not mentioned any weight loss which would be a red flag.

My advice- forget and enjoy your Christmas as best you can. If the cough hasn’t improved by Wednesday, see your GP as the might need some antibiotics!

RELAX! enjoy your Christmas xxx

It's vile Bifs I'm getting help but it's been so much worse since I have been about 12 weeks pregnant I feel like I'm cracking up some days.
The blood was pinky red and I'm 25. I know I'm probably being irrational but I'm laid here googling lung cancer symptoms and reading the far end of a fart about them

Oh you poor thing, Sally

I know how dreadful health anxiety is, it’s bloody well terrifying.

But you don’t have lung cancer, it is just a nasty chest infection. If you’re worried do go to a walk in centre, but you really will be okay.

In the past year alone I’ve had lung cancer, stomach cancer, throat cancer, oesophageal cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, several heart attacks, a couple of strokes and gone into anaphylactic shock dozens of times. Of course none of these things were actually true but I was absolutely convinced they were at the he time.

I recommend some breathing exercises. There’s an app called headspace which is really good. Maybe CBT if this continues.

Take care & I hope you feel better soon.

Dr. Google is your worst enemy, please try and leave it alone. It can’t do you any good at all, really.

Thankyou witch it's bad at the minute I've been to some group CBT sessions and I'm on the waiting list for some one to one. I have the headspace app I need to use it more. Thankyou, it really is awful. for you!

Yy, make sticking your headphones in and listening to headspace a habit, it has helped me.

Also, try and distract yourself every time you think about having lung cancer. I know it’s hard but it helps if you can. I try and recall every character from a certain TV show, list the back catalogue of a band, I even counted how many letter Es I could see when I was on a bus a few days ago when I started to feel panicky.

Can you sleep at all? You must be exhausted.

Some logical points for you:

Two weeks is not that long for a chest infection. I'd expect a fair bit longer for one that was described as not going away.

Blood in sputum is not a big deal if you're coughing a lot. It's happened to me and I didn't have lung cancer, just a bloody annoying cough!

Faint and dizzy normal if you're stressed and haven't eaten for a while. Hands going tingly are a classic sign of breathing fast (likely if you're feeling anxious), where CO2 builds up as you're not blowing it off like usual.

Lung cancer very unusual in the young and pregnant. Unlikely to present how you describe.

Anxiety is a bitch. I could describe how you don't have lung cancer til the cows come home but I know you'll be worrying about the 0.0000001% chance.

So take your mind off it. Actively fight the anxiety. Make a cup of tea. Run a hot bath and listen to a podcast. Watch a movie for a bit.

And try and enjoy your Christmas with your lovely baby (maybe kicking) in your tummy and your DS.

Tingly arms, numbness, dizziness all sound more like anxiety than lung cancer. Coughing blood could be coming from your throat, which would be irritated by so much coughing. It is not good to be this anxious, I know you can't see a doctor for a while, burenoir symptoms don't sound alarming in any way. Hope you feel better. Happy Xmas!

Poor you, anxiety is a bitch and difficult to deal with once your thoughts start growing arms and legs. I would also second never googling your symptoms ever it makes it much harder to deal with as what you are doing is looking for evidence to back up your worries and you will always find scary stuff.

Definitely CBT sounds like it will be helpful and in the mean time find out what helps you in the short term, be it distraction and keeping busy or practising relaxation and mindfulness techniques. If you can try and park your health worries as in every time you have a thought decide you're not going to worry about it today and will worry about it on
Wednesday.

Heath anxiety is awful. I convinced myself I had HIV for ages and panicked every time I got a cold or fever. If I looked up every syympton known to man it seemed to lead back to AIDS related illnesses or compromised immune system due to HIV. It was all nonsense of course l. I hadn’t taken any sexual health risks that i knew odnand was just anxiety / paranoid behaviour . Felt very real at the time though. It seemed to resolve itself after a while but I suffered for years.

I am pregnant too and periodically convinced I have lung cancer - I've actually been diagnosed with childhood asthma re-triggered by pregnancy and am much better now I have the right inhalers. But I get totally panicked by it and go through elaborate plans for saying goodbye to ds until I am crying hysterically.
I'm getting CBT too but it's not helping yet. I have health anxiety anyway but it gets 100 times worse when I'm pregnant. Just . You are not alone!