scan worry

[choclab]

Hi ,

I has a abdominal scan in october , to see if anything wrong as have IBS and had different pain , (gone now) as i suffer with health anx , my consultant did this to put my mind at rest ...

All looked normal , checked all organs , put down to another symptom of IBS .

However , while had scan , scanogrifer , told me i had 2 small , blobs , measuring under 3 , said they dont tend to do anything about them unless over 5 , i didnt think much at time ....saw my consutant the next week who said report all normal so not to worry ..

i went offf happy ,

since then i read an articall about arortic embolisums ...and it refered to sizes and being found on scans by accident etc and i now think maybe that was what the scanogrifer was talking about ...when he saw me ..
now im scared i have this time bomb in my tummy waiting to go off ...

I called my specalist and his secretary had a word with him mentioning the blobs and my concern , he said nothing was in report and if was concern would be ..

should i still worry ?

thanks for listening

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No, I don't think you should still worry

FWIW (I'm sure that won't stop you!)

Health anxiety is a pain, I suffered from it for years and years...you can either deal with the anxiety (counselling, for example) or get lots and lots of tests done at regular intervals.

Honestly, really don't think you should worry - a scan would tell them more than you think.

Hi Choc

if the sonographer felt it needed mentioning he/she would have definitely said, he/she would hardly not mention something that was of interest given that you were there having a particular investigation as opposed to it being a general screening type thing. I've had/have health anxiety by proxy over my ds and can see that I am so tuned to dire interpretations. I've been to appts with my husband and when we come out it's like we've been in different rooms when we compare notes. He's like 'That went well, you must feel reassured' and I'm like 'Are you crazy!?' And often things have been mentioned in the clinic that I thought sounded ominous are not even mentioned in the write up we receive a couple of weeks later. Dr Google is vicious. You can put in the most mundane symptom and you WILL see words like cancer within the first set of results. I've done it deliberately to prove to myself how unhelpful googling is by typing in a set of innocuous symptoms and seeing all the awful results. There was a programme on TV a while ago about the number of well people paying for private full body scans and the presenter went for one and they found some blob in her liver or something and she had to wait a few days before seeing a consultant who reassured her it was nowt to worry about and said that everyone has bits and bobs that show up on a scan and most of the time they are totally totally harmless and yet these people are paying hundreds and thousands as these private clinics make money off the back of people who have these anxieties. You just have to keep reminding yourself that you have this lens that is constantly looking for bad news. And possibly cut off your internet access ;)

Sorry about lack of paragraphing!

No, if it was something potentially concerning, they would investigate further.

Did you give the ADs a try yet?

thank you

headinhands , sounds right , thank you for taking time to write back ,
does make sense... but these other tiny part nagging saying what IF ???

it may well have been a blob type thing , i dont know i was in a state checking and asking about my other major organs ...

i can only hope iF was something bad ....they wouldnt let it rest , they would have put in notes ..

i tried to call , hospital to see if can talk to someone about scan results ..they said no one was in till monday ...

i did google that has set me off as ., said pulsing in stomach ..which i have ...

i want to go to gym as have been for past 3 months ...as helps with my anx ..but worried about it now ..silly i know

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More likely to be cysts I'd have thought.

but id hope if was either they would have said more and be monotoring any changes right ??

AFAIK cysts are fairly common, most women have them. I know I had a couple when I had a laparoscopy for something else. They've never been monitored.

i dont know for sure if they r cysts or what , they were checking all my organs , not gynie ..

said found 2 something ? cant remember what he said ..but refured to them saying there small 2. and 3 something and they dont tend to do anything till over 5 something ...

this has not ben put on my report for my specialist ...so im assuming therese no concern !!

however as i worry i am worried i should be monitored to see if any changes ...

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i have now googled and read about cysts on the liver , which are quite common , im guessing if thats what he was refuring to , he checked and could see was non C and thats why hasnt refured me for further tests ????im hoping ...on the reading it says about size below 5 so i think that coulud be it ...

should i be worried still ?

he is a scanogifer so im asuming he would know what he was looking for ..at ? so if was in ant doubt would refere me to someone els ?

sorry for rant again im just so worried ..

You need to treat your HA. Please concentrate on this, not on freaking out about imaginary illnesses.

I guess you didn't give ADs a try since you didn't answer my previous post.

I remember you posting a year ago and you're still in the same place.

sorry winny i must have missed that post ,

no havent tried AD,

I lost my mum 4 months ago and that set me back alot..
but have been ok till late , i have been going to gym alot running 4 times a week , and keeping it all abay , it has helped me feel posotive ..but this week had bad week christmas and thinking about things ..

i here what you are saying , its had at times to see the woods for the trees ...

So sorry about your mum

IIRC HA is just a stress that's being channeled into obsessive thinking about your health/mortality.

That's why it's so important you get counselling and ADs to deal with what is really causing this.

You can't go through life worrying all the time- think how miserable it'll make you and by extension it's not great for your family either, is it?

For every worrying symptom there are hundreds of possible reasons and only a very small part of them will be sinister. You will never be able to feel 100% assured when you're suffering from HA, because you will always be convinced that a doctor missed something or a new symptom will pop up...

It's no way to live. Get thee to the doctor.

thanks , winny ,

it so horrid i have been seeing a counsellor for past 5 months regarding my HA ..i have to pay privately so its expensive and im out of money what with xmas but hope to go back in new year ...that did help along with the gym

its just a real shit time for me right now missing my mum daily and im sure the anxiety is another way of me trying to cope with my loss ..

my family r good and i have controlled my emotions alot and exercise has helped with that .

thanks for listening

me again ,

just called scan department in bupa , where i had abdominal scan done , another scanogrifer , looked up my notes and images saved , and said all looked normal and clear , no record of anything els ...no blobs she could see from images ..

she said im sure if it was anything of concern he would have booked a r-scan .

so i have to forget now i guess ...

thanks all for listening