Health Anxiety - What are you afraid of?

[reddevil]

Hi all,

I was out eating this lunch time with a close friend at a pub and I put lot's of salt on my dinner.
My friend looked at me and said "to much salt is bad for your heart".
We then got talking (my friend knows I suffer from health anxiety) and asked me the folloiwing question:-

"Why are you afraid of cancer and do not worry about your heart etc as I find that strange".

This was a good question and got me thinking this afternoon about my health anxiety.
After a long thought, my anxiety actually boils down to me as a person being afraid of cancer!

Can anybody relate to this and I was wondering if anybody on this forum is like me and is in a constant worry
situation about every lump or pain being related to cancer?

Red

[manmoor]

Oh Red,

I can relate 300% to what you are saying. When I had cbt a year ago my therapist was amazed when I said I had a perfect heart. My health anxiety is cancer. The amount of times I've been asked that question your friend asked you is unreal. Our poor minds never get a break and our poor bodies are bound to be fed up with the poking and prodding. You are not alone and I bet before long this post will have loads of replies.

Take Care

Mandyxx

[stephen_neilston]

thats wot started me off a pain in my testicle then i was convinced it was cancer then my throat thought i had cancer in that to every ache and pain must be sumfin serious or why would it be sore thats the way i looked at it lol

stephe miller

[yorkylover]

Me to,when I have severe headaches i think the worse,and my stomache problem always think the worse.[8)]

Ellen XX

[anxious]

Hi Red,

me too. I'm always on red alert for lumps and bumps, but strangely enough i never worry about heart problems.

take care
anx x

Laughter is a tranquilizer with no side effects

[djm]

Hiya

I just seem to worry about any kind of ache or pain. Then the mind does overtime, releases adrenalin and the whole cycle kicks off.

Dave

[pinkpenny1uk]

hiya,
i'm the same. i don't worry about my heart now (i did when i first started with health anxiety)
my biggest fear is cancer. i am constently checking myself for lumps . a headache is a brain tumor, achey joints is bone cancer.
i had a full bone profile and c reactive protien test done not so long ago. these are pointers for cancers and inflammations. they can back clear. for about half a day i was fine. then all the old worries and fears came rushing back.

i'm still waiting for councilling so i just muddle through one day at a time.

all the best
pp x

[strawberrie]

hi red

i am exactly the same. i dont have an exaggerated fear of any disease except cancer. Mine is so ridiculous that i think even if i started having heart pains, i wouldn't think 'heart attack', i would automatically think 'cancer of the heart' (don't know if you can even get such a thing).

What is such a bummer worrying about cancer is that you can get it pretty much anywhere, which means i manage to interpret every symptom i get as 'cancer of the something'.

Try to think of it as a good sign, if you are able to hold rational beliefs about other diseases, then you must be able to do it for cancer too, its just finding the way to do it that's difficult.

im sure that didnt help at all, but i totally relate.

take care
mag

[lass]

Yes, my fear is cancer too. It scares me because it can be in your body without you having any symptoms, or very minor ones. Also because the sooner it is caught the better chance you have, I then over react to any minor symptom "just in case".

[leanne1980]

hi

im also scared of cancer, and strokes/heart attacks etc

leanne xx

i just wanna feel normal

[giddy]

Hi Red
I'm not scared of major illness, but blow little things out of proportion and then obsess about them. So this week, I cut my finger on a tin and had an anxiety attack because I was convinced it would never stop bleeding and I would die! I've also been covered in midge bites and then got a cold and it took all my husbands rationalising to persuade me that I hadn't caught some disease from the bites and that they weren't going to give me blood poisoning, however I'm still checking them all the time to make sure they aren't infected!
Love Helen

[tam]

GOD REDDEVIL THIS TOPIC YOU HAVE WROTE HERE COULD BE MINE EVERYTHING IS ME. I AM LOOKING AND FEELING FOR LUMPS ETC THEN EVERYTHING I FIND IS CANCER. I COULDNT READ PROPER AND MY EYES WERE ACHING THAT MENT I HAD A BRAIN TUMOR IT HAS TOOK ME NEARLY 3 YRS TO HAVE A EYE TEST BECAUSE I THOUGHT THEY WOULD TELL ME I HADNT LONG LEFT .I WENT LAST WEEK AND JUST NEED GLASSES FOR READING SHE SAID YOUR EYES ARE VERY GOOD IMAGINE MY DELIGHT.TC TRACY

[sgp64]

My heart's the big one for me. Mind you I stopped googling symptoms after convincing myself that I had liver cancer a couple of months ago!

[ruthb1]

Hi red,

my probs are heart related, the slightest thing and i relate it to a heart attack, or i am going to drop dead on the floor infront of my kids.

this happened teo years ago after my partner suffered teo heart attacks at the age of 40 within 3 months, so because i know a llot about the heart now and the things that happen i relate all my syptoms to heart attacks.

its really strange the way you think, but cancer doesnt bother me, i think i could fight that and i know that i wouldnt collapse straigt to the floor with that one, or i tell myself these things anyway.



take care


ruth

[manmoor]

God isn't it great to know we are not alone folks. Just had to add that lol.

Take Care

Mandyxx

[cam]

red i know exactly how u feel man....coupl eof years ago and i was at my lowest....evry little thing was cancer......was so affraid of it....slightest lump...cough....twinge...was out of control....started to get embarrassed....cause i was at the docs so often for reasurrance.....im not to bad now though still have the fear of it...but instead of the thoughts lasting days...weeks...its down to afew mins then.....im good...this site helped mme soooo much...does help knowing were not alone......jeez the tests from the docs ive put my self through....its so bloody irrational...but also so hard to get a gripp of it..........but i can be done.....tc man

Cam.......

[mumof3]

well thank god its not only me feeling this way,my biggest worry is cancer,on bad days it can be anything i darnt google any ache or pain as i start to belive i have everything,also im allways worrying about death,my dad died suddenly from a brain tumor no warning whatsoever,so when i get a headache the panic sets in big time,the more i worry the more my headaches,i worry about dying and leaving my kids i have this worry all day everyday it drives me around the bend in having my second appointment of cbt next week lets hope it works ive nowhere else to go if not
take care all
jackie

[reddevil]

<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">well thank god its not only me feeling this way,my biggest worry is cancer,on bad days it can be anything i darnt google any ache or pain as i start to belive i have everything,also im allways worrying about death,my dad died suddenly from a brain tumor no warning whatsoever,so when i get a headache the panic sets in big time,the more i worry the more my headaches,i worry about dying and leaving my kids i have this worry all day everyday it drives me around the bend in having my second appointment of cbt next week lets hope it works ive nowhere else to go if not
take care all
jackie

<div align="right">Originally posted by mumof3 - 11 October 2006 : 11:52:16</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">


hi,

I think that's why I suffer badley because I have two kids and it worries me, glad I'm not the only one to think like this.

I have been told my cbt can take upto 12 months, so that has depressed me.

Red

[Rennie1989]

I am very scared of cancer but it's only because I've been through a cancer scare. But yes I can relate to what you said.

AKA Scooter Girl

[ceecee]

hi red i too am absolutley petrified of cancer.i just don,t want to leave my children!whats made my fear worse is my neighbours daughter died 6 years ago of breast cancer at the age of 30 and left behind a beautiful 4 year lod,and she is now living with her nanny.i take this little girl to school now everyday and i just feel sooo sorry for her
take care rachel x

[mumof3]

hi red,12 months to wait for cbt thats terrible,no wonder your feeling down,i waited 3 weeks i was really really bad at the time,i really hope you get to go a lot sooner than 12 months i have to have mine at home,last week the lady said by jan i should be able to go to the meeting rather than her come to me i darnt even think about that,i can just make it to the shop,i really help you get help soon for me its a big weight off my shoulders im getting help i darnt tell any one about my thoughts and sheer panic for years incase i was locked away,
best wishes red
jackie

[reddevil]

Jackie,

Your like me, I'm worried of telling people as I'm embarrased and feel like people will see me differently afterwards.
The lady I spoke to regarding CBT, she said it will take about 4 months until they can access me and then another 6 months until they will get round to seeing me.

Red

[mumof3]

hi red,i think i feel better just knowing im not the only one thinking like this,im even afraid of sleeping im on red alert all day waiting for something bad to happen to one of the kids or myself,i think if im asleep ive no control what if something bad happens in the night and i sleep through it sounds crazy but thats how i feel my kids are 17,15,and 12 if i had my way they would never go anywhere but that would be unfair,so i panic while their out panic when their in its a battle to try and relax and if i go out the panic attacks are awfull,but hey ill get their in the end thats what i try telling myself,hope you get cbt sooner rather than later,ill let you know how i go with it over the next few weeks
jackie

[tnt808]

I don't have a specific worry. I also am so new to this anxiety and I am trying to sort it all out. I remember asking Mandy about it a while ago in chat and she said the most amazing thing..She said "It can be so bad because there are so many body parts to concentrate on". I thought long and hard about that one. I realized what hell people w/ health anxiety go through.

Well, I have recently been experiencing it. It all started w/my ridiculous fear of giving birth. Came through that okay..although, not unscathed (that birth thing hurts)!! Then it went onto I am bleeding way too much...the whole freak out..I even managed an emergency room visit in there..and 3 calls to my doctor and I am only 1 month post-partum today. I feel so alone in this. It's all so new to me. I don't know where to turn or how to rationalize it in my head. I really don't want this to take over as I have allowed all the other things to.

My health anxiety is like giddy's so situational. I worry about silly things as they come up and then blow it into something huge. I don't tend to worry about the same thing over and over. Gosh, is that next for me? Wow, I have rambled...I guess I needed to get this out finally! I am also dealing w/funny heartbeats which I have had before due to my anxiety, but yesterday I had so many in a row that I was not able to breathe properly
(or at least that's what I had felt).

I really hope we can all get through this. I don't even know which way to turn with all of this. I just wish everyone else who has dealt w/this all the luck in the world getting over this!



"Be The Change You Want To See In The World"...

Take Care of You,


Tina

[matilda]

Add me to the list too cancer lurks everywhere in my mind and i too never worry about my poor little heart.

[Hears The Water]

Hi, it has been a loooong time since I have been here, and I came back because of heath scares. I am morbidly obese so I worry about heart attacks. I have PCOS which causes some montly issues so I was worried abut cancer and polyps, but I went to a Dr (first time in over 10 years) and checked out ok. I have optic migraines and worry about stroke (which my husband died of 18 months ago) and my latest fear is deep vein throbosis (blood clot in the leg). I think I have nerve damage in my left leg and left arm, and those FREAK me out. It looks like I am going to have to get my nerve up to visit the doc again! Thanks for this post it feels good to "say" my issues out loud.
God bless you and yours
Debbie

[spuds]

Well, mine's my heart because I have an irregular heartbeat and missed beats. I'm been told it's nothing to worry about, but of course I do. The weird thing is that if something else comes along I forget about my heart and worry about that. I had an unexplained bruise on my calf and spent a week thinking it was a thrombosis, I spend a lot of time checking for breast cancer, and I must know the symptoms of dozens of illnessses. Totally illogical.

[lass]

So, is there any long term solution to our worries? I mean, I will always be afraid of being diagnosed with serious illness, and I think this is a natural worry. When I speak to other (normal!) people, they confess to fearing this too, but the difference is that they can put it to the back of their mind and not worry about it till it happens, whereas I am worrying about it "just in case".

So no one can cure us of fearing illness and death, but can we get things back into proportion like everyone else and start to enjoy our lives?

Has anyone managed this? Can anyone offer any hope, long term?

[Humly]

My biggest fear is also cancer. I am terrified of it and every symptom I get will ulitmately lead (in my mind) to cancer. I wish I could stop over-reacting.

[GAD]

Yes this is one of my two worst fears. for me though i go through stages, for months i will be worried about cancer, then madness and then whatever it may be - i just think its a vicious cycle that we all have to break, and thats the hard part!!

Michelle

[MissChampers]

Hi, i'm just afraid of dying full stop. Not one day has gone by in the past 16 years where i've wondered is today going to be my last. It's got worse this past year because I witnessed my son have his first eplieptic fit in public and I thought he'd died because he stopped breathing for 30 seconds. He also had to go into hospital in August to have his aortic valve stretched as he also has aortic stenosis and my youngest son has insulin dependant diabetes. To top it all off my father in law died of lung cancer last Friday so at the moment i'm feeling a right nervous wreck! [Sigh...] I keep telling myself people are in much worse situations than me and I must try and pull myself together but at the moment I can't face anything or anyone and haven't been able to go to work today. I know i've had anxiety and panic attacks since I was 19 (i'm now 35) but i've never plucked up the courage to get help because I was so embarrassed about it and i've just put up with it. I'm just fed up now with these horrible symptoms after all these years and I'm going to see the doctor tomorrow to see if he can sort my head out once and for all.

"It doesn't matter who you are, it's what you do that takes you far"

[Georgina]

I'm scared that I might have a neurological problem. I keep getting little pin prick feelings all over my body, and every time I feel one, I just panic. It doesn't help that I have mildly arthritic fingers and toes, which leads me to feel the stiffness and wonder if that's actually a neurological development. This is so rubbish. Every time I get over one scare, pull myself together, something else crops up. I hate it so much.

[Pkstracy]

Blood clots scared to death of them, they don't run in my family, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I try not to sit too much, I get up every 30 mins to an hour and stand move around I move my feet when I am sitting, the only factor that I have for risk of blood clots is I am overweight, but have lost around 54 pounds, and I have started eating healthier.

[KM92]

I’m. It as afraid of cancer, my fear manifests around socially stigmatised diseases such as HIV, and diseases that could take away some sense of dignity - such as bladder control loss from MS. This seems to link in with my obsession of ‘being in control’ etc. Its mad how much it varies from person to person.