Lung Cancer

[flatterycat]

I feel like I can hardly function I am so scared I have lung cancer. It started on Monday when I had a horrible taste in back of throat. I cleared my throat by sort of sucking and there was blood. There wasn't a lot and I didn't cough it up. I then spent rest of day making myself cough and clearing my throat to see what was there. Nearly every time there was slight blood from my throat. On one occasion I really coughed hard to check and then I had bright red blood. I have been to the docs twice this week. Bothe times they have said they aren't worried and that it may be where my throat is tender following a throat virus I had a month ago!!!! Since then I have become obsessed with checking. I keep ckearing my throat and evrytime I cough there is a tiny amount of blood. However it is definitely worse in the mornings. I don't know if its coming from my throat or lung area. Its definitely not my throat as that hasn't a single speck. Everything I read points to lung cancer or infection. I do not have any infection or virus and apart from the blood tainted mucus from throat I have no other symtoms. I read several accounts where people diagnosed with lung cancer said they felt fine and only found it when they coughed a bit of blood. I am in a state. I can't eat and am very frightened. I had a similar issue over a year ago and had a chest xray which was clear, but that was ages ago. My doc said to go back in two weeks if it was still happening and now I am terrified it will still be there then and have to have tests. I have had this now for 6 days and am checking constantly all day. If I didn't check I wouldn't know about it, but what if I don't check and ignore it and it turns out to be lung cancer. Please can anyone help me think more rationally about it all? Has anyone else experienced similar? I am 43 and don't smoke but I know you can still get it if u don't smoke.
Thanks for reading
Sarah

[nomorepanic]

I don't know if this helps or not but my doctor said she can spot the tell-tale signs of lung cancer from when a patient first sees her and tells her the symptoms they have. She says she has not been wrong yet about it.

So I would trust the GP as they woiuld know if it was something that needed further tests. If they are leaving it 2 weeks they are clearly not bothered.

You could of course get a 2nd opinion if that would help reasure you

[flatterycat]

Thank you Nicola.
I don't really want to go back to docs, having seen two already. My docs are very good, they know me very well and treat my health anxiety seriously.
I just can't believe that I can be getting this blood in my throat and it not being cancer. I want to stop checking too. My doc said I did not need to examine and check and that I would know about it if I coughed up blood properly.
X

[kirstynic]

My dad has lung cancer and his symptoms were not like yours. He had a persistent cough that got worse he had this for nearly 4 months. When he coughed up blood it wasn't a little it was a lot, a chest xray showed a large mass on his lung :(

[flatterycat]

Kirstynic
I am so sorry about your dad. I have read your story through your posts and can only say how sorry I am. The fact that you have taken the tine to reply, despite your heartache, has made me feel very humble. Thankyou.
I am still struggling to believe that I am ok. Had an xray this morning and the radiographer told me everthing looked normal. I know he shouldn't have said anything and I am still scared in case he is wrong cause he is not the actual person who reads the xray.

Sarah x

[bottleblond]

Hi Cat

If you have had some type of viral infection then it would be quite normal to have blood in your spit. If you have had a cough, throat infection, even a cold can cause this as the blood could also be from the nasal passage.

Don't keep 'checking' as this will only aggravate the area where the blood is coming from. Give it a few days without all the coughing etc and i bet you notice a difference.

Take care hun

Lisa
x

[adamfrai]

For what it's worth, I had a similar scare a few weeks ago. Was told by the doctor that any blood coughed up due to lung cancer has the appearance of coffee grounds.

[gemjones85]

it could also be from ur gums. my gums bleed alot and i had this problem once. try an not do it for a few days, u may now be aggravating ur throat.

Hope your ok and the radiographer cant tell u it looks normal- its more than his jobs worth if hes lying.

[kirstynic]

Hi Sarah I hope your X-ray results will reassure you. My dad had a call the same day as his X-ray to say they had found something so they will be in contact ASAP if there was anything wrong. If you have any questions I am happy to help. XxX

[flatterycat]

Thanks for all your replies and support.
I got my results today which were normal. However I am still finding tiny amounts of blood if I clear my throat. My doc said if it continues they will refer me to a chest specialist. So, I am still scared as I know that lung cancer doesnt always show up on xrays. I am obsessively checking my sputum and making myself cough to see if anything is there. Then I analyse colour etc. I don't have a cough but as there is never any blood from my nose I cant believe it is coming from that area!My doc told me to stop checking, but I am scared that if I do I will miss something.

Sorry to go on.

Sarah x

[Pinkcasi]

Ok, everyone is totally right if you did have anything virus wise then everytime you cough you are just opening old wounds so to speak, it's like picking a scab, dont do it, i know it's hard and i dont believe that I have pleurisy im convinced it's lung cancer but the Dr said it's not and the xray agreed and i have to have faith in the professionals. In my experience which granted isn't vast but i have a friend that has lung cancer and she had a persistant cough this is the first sign apparently, you dont have a cough so perhaps trust the Dr.

It's so much easier to bthink rationally about this stuff when it's someone else, it was a different story when i was demanding a chest xray :D