The mistake of Googling symptoms.

[Diligent]

Hey everybody. I've been in a bad place for quite a while now, and I have had throat cancer on the mind.
I did the silly thing of googling the symptoms I've been having, and it came up pretty much exact. (raise your hand if this has happened to you )
I thought I'd learned not to bother doing that as it just causes more problems, so I don't know why I did, but now I'm seriously worried.
I'm currently waiting on a blood test from my doctor, but my symptoms have been:
Mild nausea on some days,
Digestive problems,
Feeling like there is a lump in my throat/trouble swallowing,
numbness in face,
mildly slurred speech/hoarseness in voice (anybody get this when under a lot of stress?)
earaches,
sore throat some days (comes and goes lately)
stuffy nose that won't go away,
blood when I blow my nose,
specks of blood in my spit occasionally.

Most of this except the blood in spit can be attributed to anxiety, which I understand, but you can imagine that with health anxiety you'd be freaking out about it.
I can't stand waiting for a blood test and I don't know what to do. Ive had (what I've assumed was) anxiety in the past, but I've felt weak and fatigued for weeks now, and the difficulty swallowing wont go away. This is the longest I've felt this terrible.
I'm hoping it's just anxiety coupled with at worst a sinus infection. Has anybody else had a similar experience to this?

Maybe it's just this bad because I just started my first real decent paying job, and it's a new stressful experience that I need to stick with. Who knows! A couple years ago, I was having chest pains and was convinced it was a heart attack, which I can look back on now and realize was ridiculous. But these symptoms are so much more extreme, I'm so afraid that something really is wrong this time.
Thanks for any input.

[bluebell68]

Hi we have all made the mistake of googling our symptoms, its a nightmare..and always a mistake... i try now never ever to do it cos it just scares the hell out of me. When i google symptoms I then start to develop symptoms that i hadn't felt up to that point. Not straight away, but i gradually start to acculmulate symptoms until i have a full set. Its crazy but i honestly feel that i have them.. i can feel them...the mind can be an awesome tool of anxiety... i have suffered from the same worries as you and started with a lump in my throat when swallowing, so my throat would tense up.. then that gave me a sore throat, so that was another symptom.. then my anxiety grew so i felt tired and sick all the time and so on and so on... you have taken the first step towards challenging this fear by seeing your doctor and the doc should be able to put your fears to rest. Hang in there .... just because the symptoms feel more extreme this time doesn't mean that there is something wrong, it probably just means that your brain is getting better at feeding your anxiety... our brain can learn so many new and amazing things but it can also play cruel tricks on us if we let it.
All the best....
Rachel

[menomum]

Hi there, I am so with you on this one. I've gone through various periods over the last 5 years or so of thinking about the throat cancer issue and have had more or less the same symptoms you describe, I've practically driven myself to a nervous breakdown absolutely convinced there is something seriously wrong with me. My Husband paid for me to be seen by a private consultant on 2 seperate occasions, had the camera down throat twice and both times was told its a physchological problem brought about by my acute anxiety and to go away, relax and enjoy my life. To a certain extent I have done so but still in periods of extreme anxiety the throat thing comes back, my Doctor says its just like with some people when they get anxious they come out in eczema, or maybe they get an asthma attack, with me its the throat thing. I'm sure its the same with you, try if you can to occupy your mind with something else (hard I know) and also sip really cold water and suck a fruit sweet from time to time.

[chalky]

Hi Diligent,

Don't Google medical symptoms.Resolve to undertake this one day at a time. Treat it as an unhealthy addiction.
You might have a viral infection.
You might have.....etc etc
You might have anxiety by itself.
if you have symptoms which are causing you real distress,make use of your Doctor's services.Be prepared to acept his diagnosis-even if he diagnoses anxiety alone.
You are experiencing symptoms which many people here will recognise.
Treat your anxiety as a condition which must be addressed head-on.Work on it and see if things start to change.
In five months here,I have yet to see a positive post resulting from someone Googling symptoms.Think about that.
Best wishes,
Chalky

[Liverbird67]

oh dear here we go again, googling symptoms its the 21st century equal of looking in the medical books ie diagnose yourself etc etc, I can say this because I am one of those people who torture thyself with this, all I can say is hang on in there, the symptoms are probably anxiety, the blood in spit could be a ragged tooth scratching the interior of the mouth or you may have unwittingly swallowed something sharp, say a chip with a spiky edge or a crisp or something like that and scratched your throat or mouth, the mouth is a very sensitive place and if you have ever bitten your tongue you will know what I am talking about you seem to bleed forever, same with the nose, my son gets regular nosebleeds and the blood is horrendous.

As I have mentioned before, remember the old quote from Mark Twain
Be careful what you look up, you could be dying of a misprint.


Actually now I know that there are other people out there like me it does make it easier, we all have our own health fears individual to ourselves and I bear this is mind when my particular monsters are trying to jump out of the closet.

Thinking of you all

Liverbird
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[Piglet]

Oh google makes even breaking a nail sound dangerous - avoid googling at all costs unless it's to look up things like pink shoes and that sort of thing!

Love Piglet

[spiral]

now i have a sore throat from reading this thread!!

[scooby28]

I think

[scooby28]

I think i have every disease, infection, illness under the sun when i start googling. I try and stop my self but i just end up on some random medical page getting all panicked with the list of symptoms these things cause.

[Diligent]

Thanks for the words everyone.
All my tests that they did were normal, and the doctor issued another
for thyroid problems and to test to see if I have Mono.
I'm pretty sure at this point they'll come up negative, but it's so silly how there is still that seed of doubt in your mind. (Maybe they missed something?
Maybe I didn't tell them the right info?) haha, so dumb, I have to get over it.
I still feel ill though physically, but emotionally at least I have some peace of mind.

Anyway, thanks again guys!