Teenage cancer fears

[Andy699]

Hi everyone!

My name's Andy, I'm pretty new to the site but i've suffered from HA for about 2 years now. It tends to come in waves but lately i've been so worried that I'm going to get cancer :(

I turned 19 a fortnight ago and I wasn't really that anxious. Then I read a newspaper article saying that half of people in the UK will get cancer then... BOOM! The anxiety was back!

I keep researching cancer, especially rare types of cancer in teenagers. I get so scared, I keep looking at stats and trying to calculate my risk which is somthing stupid like 0.0006% but I just can't help thinking I have cancer.

This is the weird thing thoug.. I have NO symptoms whatsoever. No fever, weight loss, headaches, pains etc. NOTHING! So how can I stop worrying?

We all know how long the NHS can take with mental health appointments but I'm waiting to see a psychologist and I'm going to ask my GP for some kind of medication.

What medicine would you reccomend? I'm considering Citalopram.

Thanks guys! :)

[Jimmy28]

I'm 18 and I'm going through a similar thing, except i have my brain tumor phobia which causes me lots of issues. After long talks with doctors and psychiatrists, I guess there is nothing we can do except living in the present. I sometimes get depressed because I think, how is it possible to spend my whole life, 70 years let's say, without any serious illness? But then I think, A LOT of people has spent their life great without any troubles, for example my grandparents, they're 80 and both healthy, I mean, of course they have some problems but those are the usual problems every old person has. So, that means, the odds of living a good life might be in our favor.
Newspapers, google and stuff like that our the worst enemies. Be grateful you don't have any symptom because most of us do have the exact symptoms of the specific illnesses we're mostly afraid of and reading stuff everywhere really has a bad influence on us and causes bigger anxiety. So, try not to pay attention on stuff like those. Newspapers/google/internet always write the worst things that could happen to someone. They suck.
It will be good for you to visit a psychologist and talk to him/her about your fear of getting ill, I think they will know how to tell you the right words to calm you. Just check your health once or twice a year, you know, like blood analyzes and I promise you, you will be fine. There is no reason to get cancer!
Good luck:)

[Uncertain27]

The article about half of people getting cancer specifically said it was from the ageing population and better treatments for other things, so it presumably doesn't mean the risk for teenagers is any higher than before. :)

[Andy699]

Thank you so much for your replies! I feel much more relieved :) If I could make a law that bans news on health then I would! LOL. I went through a brain tumour fear months ago and I went to A and E convinced I had brain cancer. When I told the doctor he laughed... yep, he actually laughed! Turns out it was just sinus, the next day, the symptoms went. It's all in our heads! It's amazing how the brain can actually MAKE symptoms