Lumpy breast - 23 year old

[Misanthropic]

Hello, I'm 23 years old. I've found some lumps in my right breast. I've been prodding them this weekend and they feel sore after I do so. I've become so aware of my body now that it feels like I've become a major hypochondriac. I'm so scared. I'm going to call my GP first thing in the morning but I am just so frightened, I can't even tell my mum. I don't want to worry her, especially before Christmas. I just want to get on with my work and know that it is all going to be OK.

Label the thoughts when they come up as ‘ah, worry thought’ and then let it go like a cloud in the sky just passing.

remember: Thoughts are not facts
-Thoughts cannot hurt you
-You can choose which thoughts you engage with

This is another technique which is really good. Imagine you are in a shop where you can choose to buy whatever you like, or not. The stock of the shop is your thoughts, think of them in boxes maybe. So you might choose to buy, ‘Today I will go for a walk after lunch’ but you won’t buy ‘I’m worried I have breast cancer. You can leave that thought in the shop. Thoughts only grow with health anxieties, if we buy them and give them air time.

It’s highly unlikely you have cancer but do get checked over for your piece of mind.

And get off google.

all the best xx

Thank you so much for these techniques. I'll give them a go from now on. And you're right, google has not been helpful and has only accelerated my health anxieties xx