Am I worrying over nothing?

[oscrazymum]

Does anyone else worry that lack of appetite must mean they have cancer? It's all i come up with. I have been super stressed and anxious for the last three weeks about a some abdominal pain I had which has now gone. I convinced myself it must be stomach cancer. The GP tried to reassure me but it hasn't helped and I'm convinced that even though the pain has long since gone, the lack of appetite must mean something serious. I feel hungry as normal but cannot find any food which seems appealing and it's become the centre of everything - all I can think about is why don't I want to eat, it must be serious. People have told me that anxiety can cause appetite loss but I have a hard time accepting this because how do I know the cause is not some horrible cancer? My GP even ordered blood tests to reassure me, but now all I can do is panic about what they will reveal. I feel like I'm going crazy. Has anyone else lost their appetite for such a long time and assumed it was a symptom of something horrible? I've had mild health anxiety since I was a child, worse since I had my own child, but never this bad. I've usually been able to keep it under control but feel like I've lost all sense of reality this time. Please someone reply and tell me they've felt like this too!

[Annelou]

Ah Hun

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a rough time at the minute, but you are not going crazy! You are worried so you don't feel like eating the more you worry abou not eating and thinking about it the worse it's getting. I lost over half a stone the other week because I was so anxious I just couldn't find anything I wanted to eat, I m starting to get my appitite back a bit now but I think that's cause my meds are starting to take the edge off the anxiety I feel like eating a bit more. I know how hard it is to except that anxiety can really make you feel like this as I can't believe it myself but I honesty think your appitite will come back soon as you stop worrying about it so much- easier said than done I know

Hope you start to feel better soon xxx

[oscrazymum]

Thank you for replying. I'm trying not to focus on not wanting food, but it's just so depressing as I usually love food. It's also just really hard to believe that I could be doing this to myself! I know anxiety is real, and I know that it causes physical symptoms, but somehow when it's yourself it's really hard to believe, and much easier to believe there must be a physical reason (and not just a simple physical reason, but cancer!). I hope it comes back soon, thanks for the words of reassurance, it's really comforting to know that other people have similar issues.

[Hypo]

I lost 5 pounds last week because I lost my appetite.

I am eating better this week so my weight has been steady. It's just anxiety :)

[iluvstaffies1]

Yes I am exactly the same. I normally love food but when I get an anxiety attack I cant eat. That is mainly the reason my husband will know that I am anxious. I try to hide it from him but the minute I stop eating and have no appetite he knows why.

[Amysunshine]

I was watching embarrasing bodies last night and the doctor said cancer doesnt hurt. and ive heard that lots of times too. the abdominal pain could have been a huggggggggeee number of different things! and once you start to lose your appetite because of pain, it can continue for a long time...if you think about it by not eating because of pain your stomach gets used to less amount of food and therefore wont want much even when the pains gone because its shrunk! im no doctor or anything hun but id reccomend trying to eat the things you used to like before and eat a fair amount of it (even though you dont want to) once you start filling yourself back up you may find your appetite comes back. i dont think you have anything to worry about xxx

[katielou80]

i had this a few years ago, it because your thinking about it, i went to the dr he said its stress and anxiety i lost lots of weight. it took about 6 months to get back on track. made it worse that people were saying...youve lost weight, which obviously with health anxiety made it 100 times worse! as i was convienced i had cancer. if you google it i remember it saying that the first sign of cancer was problems eating! thats what google does to you!