Death by Esophageal cancer?! Scared out of my mind!

[AlolanExeggutor]

Hello. I'm a 19 year old male, and I am scared out of my mind that I have stage three or higher esophageal cancer. It started a couple of weeks ago, when I began to have a bit of difficulty swallowing solid food. Originally, I thought nothing of it, as I had the same issue in May and the issue resolved itself within a couple of weeks. However, as time progressed, I started to feel worse. I felt like there was a lump in my throat, which I still feel 100% to this day is a tumour. The doctor stated that nothing was wrong with me and that I am worrying too much. I initially believed him, as a few days later, I was able to swallow food normally again. However, a couple of days ago, the swallowing problem reappeared and increased in intensity. In addition, I began to feel back pain. The final nail in the coffin for me was the fact that over the last 4 days, I have lost 3 pounds without any change in my eating habits. I am certain that I will continue losing weight in the coming days. As of now, I am convinced that I have esophageal cancer that is at stage three AT BEST. I have already started counting the days to my inevitable death from this. I am certain that my life will end before it even really began. Please help.

[Fishmanpa]

Cancer is an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. It doesn't come and go nor does it stop once it starts.

I'm a Stage IV Head and Neck cancer survivor and what you describe is a rather common anxiety symptom.

Positive thoughts

[Pepperpot]

Hi,
I agree with Fishmanpa. Your symptoms wont just stop and start, and how on earth you have managed to stage your "cancer" let alone diagnose it is quite a miracle. You are focused on thinking that you cant swallow food, so then you have trouble doing so. You have to believe that you can - you even said yourself that this has happened before and resolved itself. Also, losing 3lb in 4 days is nothing - I do that and put it back on all the time, depending on what I eat/how stressed I am etc. If you had stage 3/4 of a cancer then Im sure that you would pretty much be a lot more poorly than you are. Chin up x

[AlolanExeggutor]

Thank you both for your answers. I seem to be gaining weight again, which is a good sign.

[Pepperpot]

That's a good sign. You need to distract yourself while eating so you don't focus on the swallowing

[AlolanExeggutor]

Yeah, I usually watch YouTube videos while eating now. This seems to be an on and off thing, since my throat has been okay for a few days, and the soreness seems to have returned today. Is there anything that fits that criteria?