So worried something serious is wrong

[Worriedabouthealth22]

I am really worried I might have cancer and was wondering what tests if any I should ask for as my gp seems to think they have tested everything or whether I am just worrying unnecessarily.

In January I was fit and well but decided I needed to loose some weight so switched to a healthier diet. All was good and my weight gradually dropped to mid bmi and I felt healthier.

In April I took a supplement (calcium plus some other minerals) as I have poor bone density and it got lodged in my oesophagus. I developed pain when swallowing and acid reflux which lasted 2 months. I ended up having an endoscopy done in June which was clear.

Since June the reflux cleared up and I felt great in myself but I continued to loose weight. I don't really get hungry much and have to tell myself to eat. My family thinks it is just becuase I am low sugar/only eating whole foods but I am not sure. My bmi is now just over 18.

1 week ago the reflux started again and now I am struggling to eat much again - on a low acid diet. The reflux is constant, whether my stomach is full or not, I am sleeping very poorly and my anxiety is sky high.

I am unsure what to do now. I really don't want to keep loosing weight. This year I have already had full blood counts/vitamin/thyroid panel which were all clear and the test for blood in stool and h pylori.

I am wondering about pancreatic cancer or overian cancer or whether the endoscopy might have missed something. Should I ask for an upper gi ultrasound? I was wondering about booking one privately. Any idea?

I am half wondering/hoping whether this could this all be anxiety related but with the weight loss I don't want to miss something.

My DH lost an awful lot of weight before his anxiety was diagnosed, I thought he had cancer. He had trouble swallowing, so was on sloppy food. It was all anxiety. Antidepressants were the answer.

@dustylee123 thank you, I do hope it is purely anxiety related. I am worried though about bringing this up with the gp in case anything more serious is missed.

I was reading a very sad thread on here where pancreatic cancer was missed and put down to just gi symptoms and I know if I mention anxiety to my gp they will not check for anything else.

If all your test results are coming back clear and your stool tests are okay I’d try and put some weight on and see what happens - you say yourself you struggle to want to eat so this probably has a lot to do with the weight loss etc and if your stomach is often empty you Chan make reflux / acid worse. I think you need to try and up your calorie intake. If you still can’t put weight on and the various symptoms persist I would push for further scans etc.

*can not Chan

Thanks pigeonqueen. The problem with this reflux I am struggling to eat much. By forcing myself to eat I think I manage maybe 1500 calories a day. I try to eat lots of small meals and have lots of healthy fats, upping avocado, olive oil etc.

The difficulty with acid reflux is that a lot of the healthy type foods - fruit, veg etc make it worse. I have severe long term acid reflux due to steroids (I have Addisons, lupus, sjogrens all sorts of things). Have you tried medication for the reflux? I take esomeprazole 40mg long term. If you haven’t tried that (it’s prescription strength Nexium but you can obviously buy Nexium 20mg over the counter) give it a go. It doesn’t work straight away, you need to take it consistently every day.

I understand what it’s like to feel like you aren’t taken seriously by doctors etc, I was misdiagnosed for 2 years before being diagnosed with lupus and Addisons but 1500 calories a day is very low for someone who is already struggling with keeping weight on and I think you need to try everything with this first.

Personally, I’d take the antidepressants and then see what symptoms you are left with.
My DH had many, many tests/scans/ops all in search of the physical symptoms he had. But they weren’t physical.

@Pigeonqueen I tried PPIs when I had reflux earlier this year and could not tolerate them, got massive bloating and no elevation of symptoms, was wondering if therefore my stomach acid was low or it might be a valve problem? I did wonder if the tablet getting stuck may have damaged something but the endoscopy showed nothing. The reflux seems to be constant and not very related to what I eat and is worse if my tummy is empty.

@DustyLee123 how long did it take your DH to start feeling better on antidepressants? I did try them a few years ago but got lots of side effects and discontinued. Maybe I needed to try them for longer.

Your in a right pickle aren't you honey..
Well to me it sounds like your not eating enough and making yourself ill..
Reflux isn't nice but you can take omaprazole each morning 15 minutes before breakfast.
If they've done tests, your OK
You've probably got health anxiety.
Go back to Dr's and discuss some form of help.
Good luck love

@Worriedabouthealth22 it took 1 month to see a glint of change, I could then see him getting better every month, until 6 months. He’s been told to take them for life, never come off them.

Is your reflux medicated? Not just rennie or gaviscon you can get stronger stuff from gp. That should help you eat.

I had a period of loosing weight and gp just dismissed over and again as anxiety and it wasn't I have endometriosis on my bowel. I got down to BMI of 17 or something and they never listened to me I honestly thought going underweight would be the point I was taken seriously but it just seemed to confirm to gp it was mental health. But my symptoms very different to yours. Like you I switched to full fat everything just trying to get the calories in.

Also recently had other health stuff dismissed for 2 years and I finally got the MRI I needed and it showed it's serious and life impacting long term shit I'm dealing with not anxiety. I'd had all sorts of blood tests and stuff but it was the MRI I needed.

So yeah my experience tells me to take a diagnosis of anxiety with a pinch of salt. It's like the chicken and the egg isn't it- are you anxious over your health or is your health causing the anxiety. Either way if you can afford private tests to set your mind at ease that will help you. What I did was so "will you put in writing for me you are refusing to refer for MRI after I have explained my symptoms and am concerned about X"- once I said that the GP begrudgingly referred as obviously they didn't want me getting written evidence they were not taking me seriously. I wish I'd said it right at the start really as the two years undiagnosed has done a lot of damage to my mobility and quality of life

For acid reflux I had to do the GERD diet for a month for it to clear up. It's pretty much under control without meds but every now and again it'll make itself known and I'll do it again. I also have the head of the bed propped up so I don't lie flat.

It's a miserable diet but it works really well.

It could be anxiety.

The problem you have is that if there isn't anything the doctors can point at by way of test results it's easy to say it might be anxiety.

See also "it's a virus".

Can you try and eat some higher fat food to see if you can actually put in weight?

Did the bloods check CA19-9 and CA-125?

Are you eating a balanced diet?

It sounds like this all started when you made drastic dietary changes excluding food groups without medical oversight. From what you say, you're still doing that.

Addressing that would be a good place to start before self-diagnosing with rare cancers.

When I first started with reflux I also thought I had cancer. It was really awful, had so many weird symptoms, lost weight etc. it was definitely anxiety based as well.
Now I’ve been on a low acid diet for over a year (Acid watcher is the best one) I feel much better. I’ve had loads of tests as well, nothing found apart from h pylori.
Keep on the diet and try to relieve stress. I find that hard too as my life is stressful, but do whatever you like to do to calm down be it seeing friends, TV, knitting etc!

Anxiety will make you not want to eat much as well as making your reflux worse.

You might have a food intolerance causing the reflux

I would go back to GP and explain that you're anxious that it is something more sinister. This won't stop them investigating other causes. It actually sometimes helps them because they can rule out what you're worried about.

I've had reflux for 15 years - gets worse with certain foods and I have to take medication long term.

In January I was fit and well but decided I needed to loose some weight so switched to a healthier diet.

Is this where it all started, when you changed your diet?

@platinumplus I changed my diet in January and lost weight healthily (main change was just cutting out unhealthy things - added sugar, cake, biscuits, crisps and doing more cooking from scratch and eating more fruit and veg.

All the symptoms started in April after I got the pill lodged in my throat. That seemed to cause localised burning pain on swallowing plus the reflux symptoms. These continued for a couple of months but slowly improved before coming back again in the last couple of weeks. Weight has continued to fall across the whole year. Maybe I should go back to eating junk again!

@Ratfinkstinkypink I don't think the bloods covered these specific markers, just full blood count, vitamin panel and thyroid.

@PurpleBugz I tried PPIs but they seemed to make things worse so switched to low acid diet instead. I find both PPIs and gaviscon make me very bloated so wondering if I actually have low acid. I was wondering about trying HCL but seems a little scary to take acid.

What is HCL?

@platinumplus hydrochloric acid
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-to-increase-stomach-acid

Just had a thought though, the first lot of reflux systems started when I got a calcium tablet lodged in my throat. I then didn't take calcium all summer but started again taking a calcium gummy 3 weeks ago just before the reflux started again. I am wondering if I am getting rebound acid production from this - the calcium makes it too alkaline so the stomach over compensates by producing too much acid.
https://americanbonehealth.org/nutrition/problems-with-calcium-supplements/

I’ve been in your exact position and given you’ve had the all clear from an endoscopy, there’s a very high chance it’s health anxiety. Anyone who has had this sort of anxiety will tell you how powerful and utterly convincing it is. The symptoms are real , but the cause is psychological. It’s like a record that is stuck - you simply can’t move on until the record starts playing again. Double strength gaviscon may help, but what will really help is either getting help for the health anxiety or in my case - distracting yourself through exercise, walking and working to the point eventually the stuck record becomes unstuck and you can move forward normally once again.

I've got a hiatus hernia and oesophagitis and was on a cancer pathway while they did the endoscopy to rule it out, as I was having problems swallowing and getting food stuck several times a week. I don't have the acid reflux though unless I eat a lot of rich food or deviate hugely from my usual healthy diet. Or do something daft like lie down after eating.

Haven't had the swallowing issue for a while now, occasionally food is a bit slow to go down- the combination of steak and red wine is a challenge (but one I willingly undertake from time to time!) The thing for me is I have to remind myself to chew my food a lot - especially when I'm hungry. Alcohol definitely exacerbates it, I keep my intake to about 8 units a week.

Being underweight isn't an issue for me though and I manage to eat normally. I'm not an overly anxious person but sometimes my body is doing an anxious reaction without my brain realising it! Just some random thoughts which may or may not be helpful- anxiety is probably a factor but there may be some physical causes also.

Jeez.... I wouldn't be taking anything to do with hydrochloric acid unless medically advised. You don't know if your stomach acid is low, high or normal. Wrongly diluted hydrochloric acid will kill you.

I think you should go back to GP and explain what symptoms are still present and see what their next suggestion is.