Stomach cancer fears

[lofwyr]

Why do we do this to ourselves? Well, I guess if we knew that, none of us would be on this forum.

Anyhoo, since last November I have had this on again pain to the left of my navel 4 or 5 inches. It does not feel like typical upset stomach sensations, but rather almost a burning sensation, but hard to explain. It is in a very specific spot. It shows up sometimes, and is gone much of the time. I cannot seem to relate it to much of anything I eat. I can drink coffee one morning, nothing, the next morning, same coffee and it hurts. When it acts up, it is exacerbated by hot drinks (I can feel it burn when I swallow the drink as it hits the spot). Spicy foods do not seem to have an effect either, and antacids do not seem to help particularly.

I went to the doctor a week ago, and he wanted me to cut dairy (lactose specifically) out of my diet for a week and see how it went. Well, not much has changed, to be honest. I thought it had at first, but today it really kicked in. He wanted me to call and make another appointment for a follow up if that didn't help, which it seems not to have.

What I was (at least for a while), able to dismiss as an upset stomach has now started to gain purchase in my mind as something far more sinister. I have a half sister who had stomach cancer, so that sort of looms in the back of my mind (we are not close enough for me to confide in about this) so my mind has picked up on that and cannot let it go. I keep telling myself if it were cancer, it would hurt all the time, wouldn't it? But then what do I know? I am no doctor. I do not google (learned that lesson ten long years ago) and I do not want to bother my wife again with my HA. She is understanding, but you know how it can be. It is exhausting enough for us, I hate to drag her down too.

I am not sure what I am looking for, to be honest. Reassurance, I suppose (nothing provides more relief than this forum for me), but also just to vent a bit. Feeling down on myself a tad for being so scared of a mild stomach pain, and sick of jumping to the worst possible conclusion straight away. There are literally hundreds of non lethal things this could be, and I have gone right to stomach cancer.

Thanks for hearing me vent...I really do appreciate you guys. ;-)

[Poopsi]

I have almost the same feeling except mine is in my upper right abdomen. If is a very random pain, can't pin it to anything either. I have had it for 3 years though. I've head blood work and everything is fine, I'm starting to think it might be anxiety, bc I can go days without it and then when it comes it only lasts like a minute and lately when it comes, I relax myself and try and take deep breathes and it seems to go away! U should try that, maybe it's anxiety! Hope this helps a little!

[lofwyr]

I suspect it is just the result of a guy who is 42, has chronic anxiety and drinks too much coffee.

I am going to try and give up that last vice and see if it helps. I am reluctant to go back to the doctor, just because, well I have been wrong every time. It gets harder and harder to go back to the doctor crying wolf again.

Even when the symptom is real, it always seems to be anxiety, and it seems like it gets harder to get docs to take you seriously.

Thanks for the reply. My pain comes infrequently, some days it doesnt come at all, or at least I am too busy to notice it. Other days it seems like it is there most of the time. It is those days (today was one of those) that I get worked up about it.

[miss diagnosis]

Hello

My dad had stomach cancer and it wasnt anything like you are describing. He didnt have pain in his stomach but he was bleeding internally,lost loads of weight as he wasnt able to eat anything at all...also it does progress pretty quickly so if you have had pain for a while now i think your ok!

My son is suffering with stomach pain all the time too.Doctor said its a food intolerance but we dont know what. Boots do food intolerance testing so we are going to take him there and see can we figure out what it is.