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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask if your tummy is meant to feel lumpy?

48 replies

hoolydooly · 08/07/2020 09:56

To start off, I have health anxiety. It is making it very hard for me to think rationally. In this week alone, I have been worried about appendicitis, cervical cancer, vaginal cancer, bowel cancer and toe nail melanoma. Ridiculous.

Anyway, I was lying on my back and prodding my belly (as you do) and I thought it felt firmer on the right side than the left. I can't tell if there is actually a lump. DH says no, but admitted it did feel firmer on that side. To me it feels like a wide sausage-shape. I can feel the same on the left but it's higher up on the left and I know that is my colon. Worried about the right side thing, which is level with belly button.

Are tummies meant to be assymetrical like this? Is it normal to feel muscle/fat/organs? Help!

OP posts:

user1471500037 · 08/07/2020 11:57

Maybe you just need to do a poo?

Sonders · 08/07/2020 12:39

I can empathise OP. Any time I come under life-stress my health-based anxieties flair up too, and I am always totally convinced that whatever is happening is the worst-case scenario.

When I commented to suggest poop or wind, I wasn't trying to be flippant, but as others have said we not symmetrical inside - especially when passing stuff through metres of winding tubes.

When you have a blockage in your large intestine, apparently it helps to rub your belly clockwise (or your back anti-clockwise) to encourage movement. From your description though, it sounds like you're feeling a totally small intestine at work :)

squiffyseesaw · 08/07/2020 12:46

I have health anxiety too, OP. I also had surgery a few months ago to remove my gallbladder.

Since that op I have been very slow to recover (probably because of corona hitting and having to parent a toddler and a 5yo with SEN). I get pains in my abdomen and back all the time.

I lost my mum to cancer, and I am convinced I will die in the same way very soon.

I second the previous posters recommending counselling. It's a bloody hard thing to live with.

Original poster

hoolydooly · 08/07/2020 12:49

Yes, it's a horrible thing to live with, isn't it?
It seems so easy from the outside to just say to stop worrying, but it's very hard to switch off the worries, especially when you find something in your body that seems a bit odd.

It's weird, I was so much better for about a year (for no discernible reason) but now it's back and as bad as ever before, again for no real reason. Maybe just general coronavirus depression/anxiety taking its toll.

Hope you feel better soon, @squiffyseesaw

OP posts:

WhenISnappedAndFarted · 08/07/2020 12:50

@hoolydooly lockdown has probably caused it.

I used to suffer from really bad health anxiety until I did actually suffer a cancer scare and since then I hadn't been so bad until lockdown. I've felt it creeping back in and starting to worry about health issues again. I think it's because I've been stuck in the house since March (I'm having to shield) and only been out about three times and I'm going stir crazy.

Original poster

hoolydooly · 08/07/2020 13:01

Yes, I think you may be onto something there. I had a real cancer concern (not for me, but for my dad) earlier in the year and I also was very busy with other things which distracted me from obsessing over my bodily quirks. I also haven't been anywhere since March - just on a couple of walks. Maybe I need a new hobby to take my mind off it!

OP posts:

vikingwife · 08/07/2020 13:04

the sausage shaped hard mass is a turd

veryvery · 08/07/2020 13:09

I can get 'the fear' sometimes, especially since having breast cancer. Added to this when you are trying to examine round scars everything feels different and you have to get used to a new normal. I know I need to move past the fear and get on with life but this is very much coupled with the need to monitor any changes. Thankfully, the breast cancer clinic people are lovely and very helpful when you ring with any concerns. So I know how you feel, I think, to some extent at least.

One thing I strangely found helpful was this YouTube clip of a fearful parrot:

I know how that parrot felt! It's time, though, to get off the cardigan!

WhenISnappedAndFarted · 08/07/2020 13:10

Maybe that's what it is. Health anxiety is a horrible thing to live with, I never knew whether there was actually something to worry about or if it was my anxiety again then I'd try and forget about it and then get anxious because it might have been something and the longer I left it then the less my chances of surviving whatever it was I was worrying about.

Original poster

hoolydooly · 08/07/2020 13:24

Yes, I feel the same - that if I take my eye off the ball and relax then I will miss symptoms and it will be too late by the time I am diagnosed.

@veryvery It must be tough to balance a need to be on the lookout for symptoms with the need to relax. Thanks for the parrot video!

OP posts:

iffymiffy · 08/07/2020 13:27

I don’t think reassuring yourself about this is going to help - it’s natural to want the reassurance but it actually just fuels the anxiety.

veryvery · 08/07/2020 13:30

@veryvery It must be tough to balance a need to be on the lookout for symptoms with the need to relax. Thanks for the parrot video!

Yes, it can be but it's what everybody has to learn to do, though (including the parrot in terms of being wary of danger). So I know I'm not alone in this. Pleased you liked the parrot video.

DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou · 08/07/2020 13:33

Op during lockdown my health anxiety has kicked in.

I've had skull cancer, rib cancer, nail cancer, liver cancer and knee cap cancer.

It's bloody annoying isn't it?

DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou · 08/07/2020 13:33

I realise they aren't actual cancers but that's where the lumps are that I've found.

RedOasis · 08/07/2020 13:39

Think that’s your bowels your feeling tbh...

ghostmous3 · 08/07/2020 13:48

I have health anxiety too and its destroying my mental health.

I used to be ok but dp had a bowel cancer scare last year and is ok now but will need an operation to remove a benign polyp stump that couldnt be removed as it was so big.

At the beginning of lockdown I had my own cancer scare to do with my womb, had biopsy and all is clear but now I'm convinced I have bowel cancer and anal cancer because I have shooting pains up my bum and an achy arse at times which are probably to do with piles tbh. I've also convinced myself because I have achy legs at times and my lower back goes stiff when standing for long periods of times.. suffered this for years and doesn't impact my life really.
I've had blood tests that are all clear and internal scans and apart from stuff to do with my womb hasnt come up with anything else.

Its bloody horrible isnt it. You cant stop yourself from thinking the worst.

My dad died from cancer and I think that's where its stemmed from

veryvery · 08/07/2020 13:53

Op during lockdown my health anxiety has kicked in.

For me it stems from sympathising with people having to go through medical treatments at this time and the difficulties due to COVID then metaphorically putting myself in their shoes. However, I did go in for a check up with the breast clinic recently and it was very organised.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 08/07/2020 14:21

The media has been full of health related news for months. We have been told to watch out for symptoms etc. If you are already prone to health anxiety then it’s not surprising that the massive focus on illness right now has knocked you off balance.

Original poster

hoolydooly · 08/07/2020 14:38

Sorry to everyone else who is suffering with this stupid health anxiety.
I think mine started when I had kids 13 years ago. Massive PPH and in intensive care for the first few hours after firstborn, and then just the usual terror that something might happen to my baby, SIDS worries etc.

Wish I knew why I managed to get better for a bit so I could do it again!

OP posts:

Original poster

hoolydooly · 08/07/2020 14:40

@DontBiteTheBoobThatFeedsYou
I've had skull cancer, rib cancer, nail cancer, liver cancer and knee cap cancer.
It's bloody annoying isn't it?

Love this! Sounds just like me. I mean, toe nail melanoma, seriously?? That was all day yesterday wasted until I realised the brown patch blanches and so it must be blood and not melanoma. IDIOT!

OP posts:

Dithery · 30/05/2021 21:04

hoolydooly - did you find out what your sausage lump is?x

rhz1999 · 25/10/2021 18:21

@hoolydooly

Are tummies meant to be assymetrical like this? Is it normal to feel muscle/fat/organs? Help!

Did you ever find out what this lump was 😬 have HA too and feels exactly like what you're describing

NeverDropYourMooncup · 25/10/2021 18:30

You realise that you're asking the OP 'Did you do a big poo last July?', don't you?

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