Health Anxiety - part three!!

[MrsWhites]

Hi ladies, back again for thread number 3!

@chorusline79 I've definitely noticed a link between exercise and feeling better. Sometimes so hard to get motivated when we are in the loop though!

@MrsWhites @tmh88 @Skyliner001
Thanks everyone! I start my CBT backup tomorrow as well so I’m hoping I can still make progress with it. I’ve been looking at the breathing monitors but not sure if they’ll make my anxiety worse with false alarms etc! Health visitor doesn’t recommend them so I’m not sure what to do xx

I've found my people! I have died of hundreds of ailments over the course of my 50 years; everything from rabies to a rare blood disorder! It started when I was small and used to read the "Mother's Medical Dictionary" my mum kept under her bed. I have often wondered if people with (in my case undiagnosed) HA are more in tune with their bodies? I can't imaging anyone having all the aches and pains I do just saying "eh, it's nothing" and going about their business. Currently on DVT watch!

Thank you @KasparKat for the warning about The Dig; that is just the sort of thing I shouldn't see!

I'm so glad it isn't just me....

Hi @SquirrelFan I think you are right about us being in tune with our bodies. I notice every twinge. I would love not to notice though as it really takes over my life.
Glad you found your people, it's great to be able to talk to others about it and know that they totally understand and don't just think you are crazy.

@Skyliner001 my lumpy bits don’t go after my periods either.

@Lib3rtine I didn’t have a breathing monitor for that very reason, I think I would have just gone from checking that baby was breathing to checking that the monitor was working and any false alarms would have set me off. The breathing anxiety lessens as they get a bit bigger too I think x

@KasparKat I ended up with an endoscopy 3 yrs ago for chest pain. Nothing was wrong and as soon as I'd had it it went totally away. I had heartburn/indigestion symptoms that weren't improving...until I was told I was ok! All out down to stress.

@Lib3rtine how old is baby? My youngest is almost 12 weeks and I'm having a real problem not being completely ott with her.

Hello @SquirrelFan 👋🏼

Hi everyone! I’ll reply individually in a minute!

But will someone please give me a slap thus morning that I’m fine and drill into my head that my lymph nodes would of grown or I would of had other symptoms in 5 months that I’ve had them! got therapy today so I’ll let you all know how I get on! I was doing so well but feel worse than I did before now!!

@Skyliner001 my breasts are lumpy all the way through my cycle. I only check them once a month after my period has finished. The lumps are much smaller then. I get really bad pain and swelling in my left breast for the 2 weeks before my period so avoid touching it at all then as it causes so much more pain if I touch it, which then increases the anxiety. It was the breast consultant who told me to check once a month and write down what you feel or draw a picture, or both. She said there's no point checking at other points of the month, you will only worry yourself for nothing.

@Lib3rtine I used the Angle care mat. There were some false alarms but that didn't worry me as I could see that the baby was fine and it actually gave me confidence that it was so sensitive.

I had a terrible night. Couldn't stop focusing on my tight chest and woke up in the night in a massive panic. Listened to some hypnotherapy for health anxiety on YouTube to get back to sleep. Feeling slightly better this morning and just did an online yoga class and didn't have any tightness at all during that. So that makes me think it must be anxiety. Trying to find other things to focus on. I'm even anxious about feeling anxious!

@tmh88 I have permanently big lymph node on my neck, had them for at least 30 years and I'm still here! My DD has a massive one on her jawline too, had an ultrasound and it is normal but it is still huge 3 years later.

@Skyliner001 my breasts are always lumpy and have been since about age 20!

@SquirrelFan definitely in tune with our bodies more! I have a panic about lymph nodes and I felt dp neck the other week and he had a couple! Completely not bothered by it! When it’s me I convince myself dead by next week!

@Lib3rtine hope it goes well!! Let us know! Yes I know what you mean I did have a panic once when the alarm went off but DS had just rolled off the mat

@onlyreadingneverposting8 she is 15 days old so I anxiety is through the roof! I’m hoping I calm down a bit soon as it’s one thing after another, is she having enough formula, is she doing enough wet nappies, can she hear!

@MrsWhites I think I’m probably best not getting one. Husband doesn’t want me to, he thinks it’ll make me worse!

@KasparKat I’m doing hypnotherapy at the minute so I’ll let you know if it’s worth it!
I don’t know why I’m so scared about them really as my scan and bloods were normal, it’s just irrational fear isn’t it xx

@Lib3rtine it eases as they get older, especially once they start talking and you are no longer guessing! I was the exact same with DS i actually had a note of my phone which said like
7:36am 1oz
8:15am 2oz
I did that for about 3 months!!

@tmh88 that’s what I’ve been doing! gosh, why can’t I be a laid back person!

Thanks, that helps! I don't feel that my lumps really change before or after the menstrual cycle, although I do get more pain in the run-up to my period.

@tmh88 Please take it from me as someone who did have genuine lymphoma lumps, they would definitely have grown in five months! I honestly think that you can stop worrying, but I know that's impossible!

@Lib3rtine yes me too!

@Skyliner001 thank you for your kinds words! I’m sorry you just think I’m ridiculous! I wish I could be rational I really do, I genuinely miss my old anxiety of worrying I said something wrong to someone!

I completely empathise, I really really do, I don't think you're ridiculous at all, I'm exactly the same about breasts, and don't forget I was also on a lymph-node for a good couple of weeks, prodding it and poking it and trying to measure it with my Winnie the Pooh ruler 👀🥺😳

I'm literally circling around the Internet trying to find other people who have lumpy breasts all throughout the month, and only experienced an increase in pain prior to that period. But with lumps of persist…

That persist*

My breast are really lumpy. I've been for ultrasounds on them a few times and they said that they are fibrocystic.
My left one is bigger than my right and the breast tissue goes right up on the left side so I get cyclic pain and swelling a lot on the left side. I can feel the swelling in them.
One thing my doctor told me which was helpful was that breast cancer isn't "soft". She said the cancers she has felt are hard like a jagged stone

@Skyliner001 thank you! Our brains like to scare us don’t they! With my breasts honestly it’s like find the patch without a lump! I think the reason I don’t worry about them so much is because I genuinely wouldn’t know what was new! They’ve been the same since I first got breasts to be honest, I have lumpiness that goes right up to my armpits! Which funny story I thought where lymph nodes... turned out to be more breast tissue!

Hi @ofwarren Thanks for this, are they lumpy all throughout the month?

@tmh88 Thank you, I know our brains are a mess! Does your lumpiness last all month?