I'm really struggling with health anxiety at the minute, I know that it's all in my head and quite frankly saying some of my thoughts out loud sounds ridiculous.
So last year I had some bleeding after sex and was referred to gynecology but covid hit and the appointment ended up being over the phone, by which time the bleeding had stopped so I was discharged and told to go back to my gp if it started again. Not long after I ended up getting pregnant and had my second baby in December 2020, I had some irregular bleeding after the birth and when my cervical screening came around I mentioned it to the nurse who went to get the doctor as soon as she tried to get a swab, anyway to cut a long story short I referred to gynecology again who said my cervix looked normal and they would only need to see me if my smear came back abnormal. When the results came back I was hpv positive but inconclusive for cell changes so I am due to go back for a repeat smear next week.
Basically as you can imagine for someone with health anxiety this worried me so much and has pretty much kicked off a downward spiral for me. It's not just cervical cancer I have been worrying about within a couple of weeks I've thought I've had mouth cancer (turns out to just be an ulcer) brain tumar (headache) viginal cancer (blocked gland) ovarian cancer (stomach ache) breast cancer (its a lump I've already had checked but I sometimes manage to convince myself it's a new one) and at the moment I have a lump in my neck that I've managed to convince myself is cancer of the lymph nodes.
My DH does try to understand and be supportive but he really doesn't and tells me I need to stop worrying so much (not shit!) But obviously it's not that easy! Health anxiety is taking over my life I just want to enjoy my family and not constantly worry about being taken away from them constantly. Anyone else in the same boat or have any advice about coping with health anxiety?