Health Anxiety - Part two

[MrsWhites]

Hi everyone, it seems we have reached 1000 posts on our original thread which is amazing, just shows how much support we have been able to give each other.

I thought we would benefit from part two!

Thank you so much @chorusline79 and @Skyliner001. I saw the gp he said it’s sounds just like costochondritis which is inflammation but nothing to worry about. I told him my fears about both bone cancer and a blood clot. He said that’s my anxiety and if I really want I can have a chest x Ray, he did emphasise that he’s doing it because I want to not because he think I need it.

I drive straight to the hospital and had the chest x Ray. Now need to behave myself while waiting for the results. Honestly feel so low. My poor son has had phonics lesson during all this so my husband had to work and try to manage that too.

Thank you guys you have no idea how much your support means x

Ladies, just a quick one, quick hand poll!

Does anybody else have an obsession with symmetricalness?

If you find something on one side of your body and you don't have exactly the same thing in exactly the same position that is exactly the same shape and size on the other side then you completely freak out and assume it's malignant.

raises hand 🖐

Hello! @Goolies glad you have been reassured!

I'm kicking myself - watched the GP section on this morning and have set myself off. Someone asked about piles and the GP (who was dx last year with bowel cancer age 39) was really cautious and saying any of these symptoms you should see your GP and now that's set me off!! 😖😖 If is not watched it I would have been having a calm day!!

@chorusline79 your poor friend and I do sometimes wonder what doctors are thinking when they speak to their patients...not young at 46 wtf (excuse language!) I think if he looked at the stats the rate of breast cancer in her age group is 213.9/100,000 so a 0.213% chance of having invasive breast cancer. Of course those of us with HA will automatically think we will be in those 213.9 people!

Me!!! I get so obsessed with it, can even any part of my body! Breasts, ribs, knees, everywhere

Yes @Skyliner001 very much so! In the shower I even freak out my nipples look slightly different and one sticks out more 🤦🏼‍♀️

@Goolies that is good news and sounds very reassuring! Hope you're feeling better about it.

@onlyreadingneverposting8 oh no! So annoying when that happens as can totally change your day and mindset. Piles is really common though isn't it? I remember reading that most of us have piles it's just we only notice when they get inflamed/bleed. I had them over Christmas but anusol was magic! Sorry TMI. Hope your afternoon goes better.

Friend is changing consultants as she wants one with a bit more empathy and was really upset by his comments about being a vegetarian and consuming too much dairy.

Thanks @Skyliner001 gosh I missed that you had lymphoma, is that what started your health anxiety? That must have been very scary for you.

Good job you're not in the office!

Thanks to all of you. Im a bit sporadic on the thread but I love chatting to you all and great to know I'm not the only one who thinks like this as I would feel lonely without you all. Thankyou

The thing I love the most about this thread is how we are all so logical and rational for each other yet we can’t do it for ourselves ha! So lucky to have met you lovely bunch of ladies

@Skyliner001 since I have stopped poking at my lymph nodes they feel absolutely tiny now! I haven’t yet (yet being the key word) fixed into something else to worry about I did think the other day I was having a heart attack but managed to keep myself calm and thought you are only thinking this because it happened to your mum last month! I find talking to myself in third person in my head helps!

@Goolies I completely get the fear it’s horrible to live with I really wouldn’t wish it on anyone! I never use to enjoy reading books but I have started recently and now when I feel a bit panicky I do breathing exercises then get a book!

I forgot I said I would share the breathing exercise I was taught this week so basically you sit for about 5-10 minutes breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, thinking about things you would rather be doing than feeling fear and then after you’ve done that for 5-10 minutes do something like watch a film, go for a walk, read a book etc and you are to do this every time you get an anxious thought it’s really helping me x

@chorusline79 I think that probably is something which has affected me. But this latest batch of anxiety was triggered by a large breast cyst, approximately 3" x 2". Which appeared as if from nowhere, and sent me into a spiral.

My lymphoma was over 25 years ago. But the breast cyst was comparatively recent!

@tmh88 haha yes you're absolutely right!! I can be completely pragmatic and logical when my husband says he's worried about his health symptom!!

Hi everyone,

Sorry to hear you have been struggling @Goolies, I hope your chest x results come back quickly for you.

@Skyliner001 🖐 symmetry is definitely a problem for me, or lack off!

Does anyone else find themselves sort of imagining lumps they have growing. Hard to explain but when I’m worrying about something I sometimes get this feeling that I can feel it growing...I don’t mean feeling it and thinking it’s grown I mean in my head I feel like I can feel it growing. I know it’s in my head but it’s a horrible feeling. Maybe that’s just me.

I’m going to try those breathing exercises this afternoon, they sound promising.

Oh and @onlyreadingneverposting8 that would have freaked me out too so glad I was busy homeschooling. I have suffered with piles too but I think if you’ve had them before you’ll know that bleeding from piles is usually accompanied by swelling, stinging pain and then itchiness sometimes as they heal. Plus blood from piles is usually bright red like if you cut your finger, I believe it’s usually darker if it came from your bowel.

@MrsWhites yep! The anxiety went sky high and then I've had a very firm speak to myself and refuse to think about it! Bowel disease is actually something we are closely acquainted with as my eldest son (he's 18) has very severe ulcerative colitis!

@MrsWhites I never posted because I thought I really was alone in that! I use to think I could feel one lump especially in my neck actually growing!!! I can’t believe someone else does too! Hard to describe but as if I could feeling it coming up under the skin? If you know what i mean!

I've ordered some CBD oil to try and chill me out!! Anyone tried it?

@MrsWhites yes to the imagining/feeling things growing inside, been doing this with my neck all week

@chorusline79 not tried it but will you let me know if you think it works?
Can’t believe you do it too I’m so shocked that other people have felt like the fan feel it growing

@tmh88 I will report back! I think most of my disposal cask is going on Holland and Barrett goodies these days 😂

Cash!

I might be mad for saying this, but I'm going for a poke free weekend.

And also a Google free weekend… I don't know how this is going to go. Wish me luck, see you on the other side 💚

I’m so glad to read that other people have the feeling of things growing, although I feel bad for you all too! I was lying in bed this morning and I had a mental image of the inside of my breast (I mean how on earth would I imagine that...it was pink and cushiony if anyone wanted to know 😂) with a big ugly lump growing before my imaginary eye. It got so vivid that when I moved and the bedcovers brushed against that boob I was convinced I could feel it brushing against the ‘lump’...that isn’t actually even what could be described as a lump!

@Skyliner001 I will join you for a no checks weekend if that’s ok....I’m going to do myself some damage soon if I keep trying to check down there! I’ve already got prolapse issues so I really don’t need to make things worse!

@chorusline79 I spent a fortune in H&b last weekend on magnesium, b complex and vitamin d as a starting point! I have tried CBD oil once, my father in law took it for his dementia. Just wanted to see if it took the edge of my anxiety but I couldn’t stomach it, the taste was absolutely vile! It took hours for it to go so I have never tried it again!

Yes @MrsWhites I feel the same! Ironic really considering we are scared of there being something wrong, and then we poke our selves into feeling numb, or sore! We can do this! Anyone else feel free to join 💚💚

I'm in for the no poke weekend!! Will give my neck a chance to recover! Good luck @Skyliner001 and @MrsWhites and to anyone else who fancies it?!

Yes I’ll definitely join you all only poked once today and feeling small to me but as I’m not feeling in a panic when I check I’m starting to wonder if when I felt them before I felt them larger but it was in my head!