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!

I had two major lapses today. Both relating to a lymph node right side approx size of a lethal or very small pea. Been there twelve years. But I'd left it Alone so now convincing myself it's growing. Spent around half an hour this evening prodding and attempting to measure with a ruler 😳

Good things were had a bath without prodding and got dressed with only a brief visual exam of beasts in mirror, it could have been worse.

About 5 mins google and some brief but chronic anxiety over possible delayed ovulation.

Tomorrow I would like to improve on this. How did everyone else get on so far?

So glad to have you all too 💚

[quote tmh88]@Skyliner001 thank you for that, you are so strong to share about your lymphoma! To be honest when I spoke to the therapist on the phone in December she thought I had become fixated on my lymph nodes as a form of control in my life as everything else as in money/work was uncertain and I felt like I needed to have control over something! I sound so daft when I write it all down but in my head it’s a real not nice worry! [/quote]
Thank you that's kind of you! My lymphoma also came with significant other symptoms, and the nodes were golf ball sized. Phew 😨

@dillydallydollydaydream7 lots more braxton hicks but that’s about it! It’s my first and not found out what we’re having! I’m so excited now and impatient!!

@PeachScone good luck for Monday, we’ll all be thinking of you. I’ve been referred under the two week wait before to the breast clinic, they said they did it as standard

Has anyone ever had a swollen gland in your cheek? Sort of next to the back teeth, just before below/in front of my ear. I noticed earlier my jaw hurt at the side when I bite down and felt my cheek and found a moveable lump, about the size of a big jellybean. It’s tender to touch too!

I have one just behind my ear @MrsWhites pea sized had it at least a year I would say! Sometimes makes my jaw ache x

@tmh88 this one is quite painful, hurts when I open my mouth fully. It’s bigger than a pea - like longer in shape. I don’t think it was there when I put my make up on this morning.

Yes mine can hurt when I open my mouth/pull on my ear/touch top of my jaw etc. It comes randomly the pain though sometimes it’s months, then I put makeup on the bit next to my ear that’s like cartridge with a brush and realise it’s painful again haha x

Thanks @tmh88, it sounds similar then, just that mine is in front of my ear. I’m probably just coming down with something.

So I was in the kitchen and just felt, which I was trying not to do! Anyway I felt a little lump, very smooth and very round but it was like when I pressed it, it sort of popped off elsewhere because I couldn't feel it unless I searched really hard. Laid down and tried again and thought I felt a lump but when I checked the other side felt the same, so when I stood up again and felt for the lump I thought I found, I can feel it, but I'm unsure if it's the same as what I can feel in the other breast (with me having dense breasts like I mentioned) I think I can, not necessarily as prominent (feels like there's more tissue in the way which I assume is the dense-ness). My other thought is that it's the lump I very first went to the clinic with that the ultrasound showed to be a fatty lump - it's in that area, maybe a cm further away if that makes sense (left breast, bottom right area)

Definitely not the same in the other one. Just been feeling about again. I'll ring to see the GP Monday. It's in the same area where I had my ultrasound last time, but I can't remember exactly how that fatty lump felt. It was the first time I'd ever felt anything like it and I think I was that terrified I've blacked out what it felt like

@dillydallydollydaydream7 that sounds like a big of fatty tissue or something to me, especially since it moved when you pressed on it and since it is in the same area as last time it’s probably the same one. I understand what you mean though because the fear means you can’t think straight and remember if it feels the same. Sometimes I have to go and calm down and then check once the panic has subsided a bit.

@Skyliner001amazing that you managed a bath without checking! I haven’t checked my boobs at all today which is really unlike me at the moment but like you I have spent the last few hours obsessing about a swollen lymph node which has appeared in front of my earlobe. Oh and i’ve been there with the ruler trying to measure things 🙈

@dillydallydollydaydream7 I know it’s hard when the panic sets in but that is probably the same lump you went to the clinic about last time as it’s in the same area x

@MrsWhites sounds like your body is fighting something like a cold etc so it’ll just be a gland doing it’s job x

Thank you @MrsWhites @Lib3rtine for your replies - I hate this. I felt like I've done so much better today than I have this week, and now this. I don't understand how it's appeared now and I haven't felt it the last few weeks. I've been trying to think hard and the only other thing it could be is the second time I went to the clinic I think it was this one I felt. I remember finding it and kicking myself because it was a mm away from the one I originally found, and I went to the clinic and he did his bit and said he couldn't feel anything, and I remember coming away being confused as to why I could feel it but he couldn't but just accepting it. Then obviously after that I was there for a third time, so surely, if it has been there all this time, he'll have felt it and hasn't mentioned it because it doesn't feel like anything it shouldn't?

Exactly @dillydallydollydaydream7 it sounds like something that wouldn’t be worth mentioning or for him to even notice because it’s normal. Keep an eye on it obviously but it’s probably just something that’s always been there or maybe it’s a bit bigger at the moment because of hormones or time in your cycle making your breast swell slightly. I know I have some bits in mine that feel bigger or more prominent at certain points in the month.

Thank you everyone ❤️ It is so good to speak to others who get it. My husband finds it really hard work. He hasn’t been to the doctors for years and years. Mine seem to know me as soon as they hear my voice 🙈

@MrsWhites I didn't even think of that! Especially given the fact I haven't a clue when my period is/would be due. I've just examined both again while I'm in bed, so i was laid flat with my head on the pillow like they do in the clinic, and I can't feel it at all when I'm like this, so surely if it was something sinister, I'd feel it regardless of position etc and it certainly wouldn't be popping off places. I won't bother the GP with it, I'll keep an eye like you said and if I feel it's changed I'll mention it a week Monday when I go for my next depo

Sorry to be such a pest I had such a panic!

@Scaredykittycat Ah men don't always understand I find. My DH has learned to try and talk me down when I'm on the ceiling with worry, and he always tries and be rational now because I've been so bad for so long with it. He's the same as yours - rarely goes to the doctor, just gets on with things. We're all ears here for anything

@dillydallydollydaydream7 definitely agree that it will have always been there, it’s just more prominent due to time of month etc. I’ve got really lumpy breasts and parts of mine where I know there are particular lumpy bits always feel bigger certain times of month and even have throughout pregnancy. From what I’ve read, anything sinister wouldn’t move when you change positions so like you say, you’d still be able to feel it regardless of how you were stood/ laid. Hope you feel more relaxed now x

@Lib3rtine i honestly never even thought about different points in my cycle, I'm going to have to remember that one. I do feel a little better after hearing from you both, thank you. I'm really thinking of starting to take my sertraline next week if I keep feeling this way x

[quote dillydallydollydaydream7]@Lib3rtine i honestly never even thought about different points in my cycle, I'm going to have to remember that one. I do feel a little better after hearing from you both, thank you. I'm really thinking of starting to take my sertraline next week if I keep feeling this way x[/quote]
The sertraline has helped me massively. It takes the edge off. The first two weeks were rough but it was so worth it 😊

@dillydallydollydaydream7 hope you managed a good nights sleep. I would give it a go if I were you, it’s something I’m going to consider once baby is here x

@dillydallydollydaydream7

So I was in the kitchen and just felt, which I was trying not to do! Anyway I felt a little lump, very smooth and very round but it was like when I pressed it, it sort of popped off elsewhere because I couldn't feel it unless I searched really hard. Laid down and tried again and thought I felt a lump but when I checked the other side felt the same, so when I stood up again and felt for the lump I thought I found, I can feel it, but I'm unsure if it's the same as what I can feel in the other breast (with me having dense breasts like I mentioned) I think I can, not necessarily as prominent (feels like there's more tissue in the way which I assume is the dense-ness). My other thought is that it's the lump I very first went to the clinic with that the ultrasound showed to be a fatty lump - it's in that area, maybe a cm further away if that makes sense (left breast, bottom right area)

Hello, this type of Lump sounds very similar to the type of things I have in my dense breasts, my breasts have been described as fibercystic. I can describe that I have bead like lumps throughout the breasts, more on the left side. They do move.

[quote dillydallydollydaydream7]@Scaredykittycat Ah men don't always understand I find. My DH has learned to try and talk me down when I'm on the ceiling with worry, and he always tries and be rational now because I've been so bad for so long with it. He's the same as yours - rarely goes to the doctor, just gets on with things. We're all ears here for anything [/quote]
This is a bit like mine, although he is very understanding, he doesn't have any health anxiety himself. When I was talking to him about one lump or another the other day he said oh I have this lump on my side, and directed me to a lump which would've killed me with anxiety. He's had it for years! Weirdly when it's on him I can be quite sane and sensible. If you've had it for 10 years, then it's probably okay! Probably a lipoma.