Please help me

[PinkPearls20]

I have a massive fear of bleeding between my periods.

I check every half hour to an hour daily.
Since having my DD 20 Months ago I tend to spot at certain times in between periods.

Iv had GPs look at me, 12 months ago scans in my ovaries (all clear) 12 mi the ago a smear (all clear) and a gynecologists loom at me and say I look fine, its just a hormone imbalance.

I tend to spot in the middle of my cycle and then I have ovalatiom discharge and then I don't spot until I have my period.

This month tho, its 7 days before my period is due (I have 35day cycles) and I have the smallest ever streaks of pale pink blood in my discharge. Iv inky seen it because iv shine a bloody torch on it. It's happened twice in the last two days.

I'm so worried. Every time I ot to my GP she says 'Your smear is clear, The gyno said it was a hormonal imbalance....what do you want me to do?!...she gave me the pill about 5 months ago but I havbt taken it as I'm scared it will develop into cancer. I saw her again last week and ahe just said 'try taking the pill'.

I can't live with this fear anymore. I'm 27 and its literally taking over my thoughts. I check and I check and I check every day...some times I even have to were sudocream because of the repetitive wiping to check.

Why have I got light pink streaks when I wipe? 7 days before period is due ? I just want to go to sleep to stop the worry

I don't understand tho how pills can control thoughts ? In general I am anxious. I do everything very very fast. I just dont know how a pill can make me look at some blood on a toilet tissue and think

'' oh it's just hormonal, throw it and flush''

You have a mental health issue rather than a physical one. Please go and tell your gp the things you have said on this thread and get the help you need. You don't need to feel like this, it must be horrible for you x

Contraceptive pill. I can't remember the name. I have the mirena coil and almost zero bleeding which is ace. I have had your problem on and off since late 20s. Got worse after a miscarriage at 36. I'm 44 now. It did happen again after 3 years on coil. Had all the exams and all is fine and it has stopped. I get worried too. Just take the pill.

Polly - the doctor has given her THE pill, as the contraceptive pill to regulate her cycle, not random pills. RTFT.

OP - I think you know that there is nothing wrong with you physically - this is all down to anxiety. Take the pill, it will regulate your cycle - and I would suggest arranging to speak to a councilor. There are lots of things that might give us cancer. Bacon, shower gel, being a vegetarian, not being a vegetarian, living near a road, too much sun, not enough sun.... It's impossible to police all of these things so you just have to move forward the best way you know how. The likelihood that the contraceptive pill will give you cancer is a tiny, tiny percentage. No more so than drinking wine or eating bacon sandwiches. You have become fixated on this spotting as an outlet for your anxiety and with respect, gynaecologists, GPs, etc can't really help because you are physically fine - you need to see a therapist and try to treat the real, underlying cause.

She has health anxiety AND a physical issue, which is fuelling the HA. I have had had HA in the past too. I have had CBT and AD's. Both helped enormously. I have found that HA does cause physical symptoms that won't go away due to constant anxiety, eg constant stomach ache, constant migraine which I worried were symptoms of the worst case scenario. The CBT and ad's stopped all that nonsense. However, it is difficult not to worry when you see blood. That said, when I had a scan and smear this year, when it returned, in spite of being on the coil I did fully accept what I was told and stopped worrying. Whether it is coincidence or not, the irregular bleeding stopped too.

I dont eat bacon.... I keep out of the sun.... I don't use shower gel....or excessive creams or perfume or washing power. Just INCASE this increases my risk. I dont drink any alcohol and I only eat brown bread/rice/pasta. I limit my red meat also.

People on this thread seem to have this is sussed.

I also stop movies half way through to have a move around as I read that you shouldnt sit stagnant for more then two hours 😞 as this is bad for your heart

Fenella is there any need to be so rude? RTFT? I have read the fucking thread. Some people were 'diagnosing' health anxiety and suggesting pills- they meant ADs and similar.

Yes, of course the CCP will regulate her cycle. But the point is that any odd bleeding - which may still occur with The Pill- might cause her anxiety.

And yes, OP, if you transfer this anxiety to all kinds of symptoms then you have a MH issue and need CBT or similar.

Polly - ads can be a lifeline to those who need it - I don't think you should be telling people whose backgrounds you don't know that they don't need pills!

Tbh I think Polly had her advice bang on in my personal case, meds won't help me as Polly explained above.

I think she was referring to my periodic problem maybe not in general for other people?

But OP- if you are spending all this time worrying about every single thing maybe giving you cancer, you aren't living your life. You are doing everything to extend a life you are not allowing yourself to enjoy. Please speak to a therapist - it doesn't have to be this way.

Yh I know, I just feel like I can prepare myself for the worst by being aware.

I don't want to be one of them people who say

'' I never thought it would happen to me!"

You might need meds, you might not, but you do need some help with this anxiety, so talk to your gp about it.

Some people are just genetically predisposed to certain medical conditions - worrying about it all the time doesn't change anything except the quality of life you are living now, and it sounds like you are making yourself miserable.

To lighten up the thread ... as a very rare treat for me... whilst I have spotting and this unsettled feeling....

I'm going to eat and I'm going to eat whitetoast as I enjoy whitetoast a hell of a lot more then boring brown!

I've had every talking therapy going. For me CBT worked the best but I have had A/D's too. Not that I was ever depressed, just insanely anxious, but I was so desperate to live my life that I was willing to take whatever associated risks to get well. Mine really did take out the anxiety, I don't feel they dampened my emotions. Besides which I just feel that I have a chemical imbalance. The a/D's made me feel like me and CBT helped on top. My anxiety got worse post children for the same reasons as you, fearing leaving them. I also had OCD too. Not the cleaning ritual kind. I just wanted to be well for them now rather than worrying about something you can't really control anyway. I also worried that I might pass my anxiety on to them. I am fully well now. I don't know if your 'people have got is sussed' comment was aimed at me? I wouldn't claim that, I just wanted to help as I understand the daily agony. I can only really tell you what helped me, as someone with both bleeding issues and HA & also as someone who has come out the other side. I am me and you are you, and what helped me may not work for you. I was desperate enough to try anything.

People might think Fenella sounds harsh but I think she sounds like she knows what she is talking about.

Thankyou yourface. I didn't give tablets ago a few months ago but I gave up after about two weeks as I didn't feel different.

The first week on them were awful. I felt I had a really bad hangover

I was prescribed about 5 different kinds until they found the ones that worked for me. Some made me feel worse. Prozac made me feel depressed when I had never felt depressed.

The side effects from ADs can take a good two weeks to abate, and you need to give it 6 weeks for them to start working. Then, it's not an instant "wake up in the morning and I'm now feeling cured", it's a gradual thing of the good moments and days increasing, whilst the bad feelings decrease. I wanted to die earlier this year. Thanks to ADs, I'm now well and happy and getting on with my life.

If this were you would you really just accepted that you have a hormone imbalance and take the pill ?

Absolutely I would, given the number of tests and checks you have had, and the fact that the symptoms you have are so common and so consistent with hormone imbalance. Take the pill and see your doctor about help for your anxiety ASAP. It sounds like it would be well worth your while giving the Ads a proper try.

Stop this nonsense and get a referral for mental health issues.
I'm not from the UK so don't know the schooling system but do they not teach you about the menstrual cycle at school? With pictures of the uterus etc?
The problem is that you choose to do nothing about your anxiety, you choose to wind yourself up. If you don't stop your kids' childhood will be ruined by the memory of their mom being paranoid about everything.
Go get help.
Yes, I know this might sound harsh but I am a fan I a kick in the butt rather than hand holding.

Believe me I agree that soft talking me will do no good. My DP has had enough soft talking me and WONT talk to me about it. He thinks while I type this I'm on the 'coronation street thread'.

I went on the 'Jos cervical cancer trust' website once and the women on there who had cervical cancer had none of the symptoms! Plus all my test were exactly a year ago so things could have changed by then.

I absolutely do not want my children to grow up with a memory of their mum like this but the thought of them nit having a mum at all is terrifying. I hide it well now, however I do think my 5 year old wonders why I need so many 'wees'.

I know, I just feel like I can prepare myself for the worst by being aware.

This is a contradiction.

Preparing yourself for the worst is not what you are doing.
You are not 'preparing' - you are obsessing.

People without health anxiety don't think about everything that can go wrong, all of the time. If they did they would be morbid all day every day. They'd never go out in case they got run over, never go in a car in case they were killed,never eat anything in case it gave them serious food poisoning.

The normal way to behave is to have screening then forget about it. So, you have a smear and forget about it for another 3 years unless you have symptoms. Then you go to the drs if you have. They do another smear and say all is ok. You accept that. The same for mammograms- you have one, get the all clear, hopefully, then do your own monthly breast aware checks, then forget about it in between. You don't keep thinking 'what if' so that you cannot enjoy life and function day to day.

You need some kind of therapy because what you seem to have is an inability to accept that you cannot control everything in life. Stuff happens. Shit happens. Worrying doesn't make it less likely to happen. Control what you can- your diet, exercise, lifestyle that will reduce risks, have screening when it's needed, then live your life and stop worrying about bad things that may never ever happen.

I hope you get help .

You keep coming up with excuses instead of admitting that your problem is health anxiety and not any of the potential diseases.
You will die one day. So will I. So will everyone I know and everyone you know.
Do you seriously want to worry about it for the rest of your life?
As someone said earlier, eat healthy, exercise, reduce stress. You don't have much control over it anyway.

Yes I will get help. When I have got help I'll come back and be the one helping others with anxiety. This has got to stop.

Thanks everyone