its cancer now!

[roxy90]

So over the past few months I've had extreme worries over chest/back/everywhere pain. I've self diagnosed myself with a million and one things, mainly heart, lung issues and cancer, most recently its been.blood clots but.now its all back/cancer related.

I've been having upper back pain for a few weeks.now.
Its on both sides of my back, but not in the middle, from my shoulder blades to near the end of my.rib.cage. Its extremely sore to touch and is worse when putting pressure on it, laying down,.arching my back, twisting etc.

Now this never really bothered me until I.came across something saying upper back pain that is worse laying down is a huge red.flag for something.serious. Now im in a total panic

I have a few symptoms fot spinal cord compression .possibly.caused by cancer. I was relived.to know spinal tumors/bone cancer is usually a secondary cancer. I was relieved for a whole.5.mins.until I realised.i must have a primary cancer.that is undiagnosed and has spread and.i.only have.weeks to.live!

Now my arms and legs are.hurting and.im.dizzy. Im panicking. I.hate this life. :(

[ankietyjoe]

You need to go and see a GP, find out that nothing is wrong and then ban yourself from googling symptoms ever again.

[roxy90]

Ive seen a tonne of GPs they wont even look at me anymore, I dont have the willpower to stop googling, probably because the doctors wont try find out why Im.in pain so I look for answers myself

[almamatters]

I could quite easily have wrote your thread as this is how my mind seems to work when I have any kind of symptom, the previous post is right do not google, go to your GP and ask their advice.

---------- Post added at 16:20 ---------- Previous post was at 16:19 ----------

If your GP was concerned about you they would have referred you on for tests, scans etc. Have you had tests?

[nomorepanic]

What did the doctor's say it was?

Have you tried an osteopath?

[Marni]

A simple X-ray of your back can rule out anything serious. If nothing is found then go and see a chiro or physio therapist.
I suffer with back pain on and off.
I have no core strength so that's a major problem for me. I have a massive hard knot on the right side of the base of my skull. That causes me alot of upper bck pain. 3 drs told me its a muscle that has turned to like wood! So it causes other pains. Bad posture, poor sleeping positions can also effect your back. Over use of sitting at a computer. It's not always something bad.
I suffer from sciatic nerve pain since my first pregnancy. I've had 3 children and still suffer. So my whole lower back will ache and my leg. Your best bet is to have an X-ray or cat scan and get anything serious rules out.

[tracieann]

i have fibromyalgia and get terrible pain in my rib cage outside of shoulders hip joints and other places too its no good saying dont worry because all of us HA people do but these things are rarer than we realise

[roxy90]

Ive had.a chest xray, ecgs and blood tests for chest pain when everything first started. Said chest pain was muscular. Since one of teh.doctors said it was anxiety they wont listen anymore,
Just up a dose of citalopram wont check any of my pains out. Im just so.scared and nobody is taking me seriously

[tracieann]

its hard strawberrys and this is not down to anxiety fibromyalgia has flare ups sometimes im ok other times it starts my ribs on the outer side are very sore my pelvis and hips top of back and chest and these do not show up on blood tests im not saying it is this but all possibilties have to be looked at im sorry there not taking you seriously as obviously its worrying you

[roxy90]

Im.just so scared.its cancer and.im going to die im only 22 its.horrible.

[nomorepanic]

Cancer would show in blood tests

[ankietyjoe]

I dont have the willpower to stop googling,


Then you will be locked into a cycle of constant fear. There is absolutely no way you can accurately diagnose yourself with the ever changing symptoms that go along with stress and anxiety, you will ALWAYS fear the worst.

It's up to you to find the willpower to stop googling, and I say that from the perspective of somebody who used to do exactly the same thing. It is the road to misery.

[graham58]

Then you will be locked into a cycle of constant fear. There is absolutely no way you can accurately diagnose yourself with the ever changing symptoms that go along with stress and anxiety, you will ALWAYS fear the worst.

It's up to you to find the willpower to stop googling, and I say that from the perspective of somebody who used to do exactly the same thing. It is the road to misery.

I agree. I've convinced myself in the past that I had 2 different cancers by googling for symptoms (neither were true, thankfully).

The Internet is great on the whole but sometimes it has a lot to answer for. Strawberries, IMHO it's very unlikely you have cancer so (and I know it's easy to say) try not to worry, and maybe also see a different doctor if you're not happy with your current one (it doesn't sound good to me that they're not willing to look at you any more).

[ankietyjoe]

Ok google my symptoms for me, and I'm just going to list the ones that I'm experiencing this week :-

Back pain, almost everywhere.
Chest pain, across various parts of the chest at various intensities.
Persistant cough
Breathing difficulty
Stabbing pains in my head.
A lump on one testicle
Constant and persistent fatigue
Mild depression (right now)
Electric shock feeling in my head if I wake up from a bad dream (a regular occurence)
Constant dizziness.


Those are the ones off the top of my head.

I bet you could google at least a dozen forms of cancer with that lot without even trying.

I've recently had an MOT with the GP giving me the all clear.

It's anxiety causing the symptoms in me, and almost certainly in you as well.

[roxy90]

Oh I've had those symptoms too (minus the lumpy testicle because I dont have any :).

The funny thing is I wasn't concerned about my back pain at all. Its very painful to the touch so I just assumed it was muscular pain. It was only when I.was (stupidly) gooogling something else that I read upper back pain that's worse laying down is a big red flag,.and that's what my pain is like. Most of the time when i'm walking its not there.

So another google later and ive got 99% symptoms of a spinal tumor. Except usually theyre a secondary cancer, which means I have an undetected primary cancer. Then I.remembered I had a pain.under my arms 2 months ago, hey presto ive got undetected breast cancer.

Its the.dizziness/lightheadedness, arm/leg tingling.which scares me.

Funny thing is I Google for reassurance, which NEVER happens!

[countrygirl]

There is every chance that the cause of this is all to do with your musculo/skeletal system, just being anxious tenses up your msucles and this causes pain almost anywhere.

The chance of it being cancer related must be many millions to one.

Remember that every single symptom any of us experience can be caused by cancer ( very scary thought) but guess what 99.9% of the time it is caused by something that is annoyng but won't kill us. Drs are trained to look for red flag symptoms and your don't have any.

I have always found that if I am honest with a Dr about what I am worrying about then we can discuss my fears and how they can help me stop worrying - so if I was you I would go back to see the Dr and tell them that this pain in your back is still there and not improving and that you are worrying that it is xxxx whatever you are worrying about. Ask how they can help you overcome your worry, There may be a simple test they can do or they may be able to give you a detailed explanation of why you are wrong to worry and why they thnk it is xxxx.

The dizziness etc sounds like pure anxiety.

[roxy90]

Had mixed results at the GP today. She was nice enough uuntil she read my notes and how many times I'd been to the GP and then she got arsey and said I cant keep going etc. Thankfully she said it wasnt a spinal tumor (phew) but I dont think she understood the agony I am in.

The pain is severe laying on my back and laying on my front where the back curves. Breathing in when im on my front is just ridiculous.

And.then.she said.the worst thing,.that if I was really ill nobody would believe me, which is my exact fear now!

[aggiecuttler]

hello, i think you need to address your health anxiety and get treated for this, as you will never get the reassurance you need for peace of mind, so this would be my advise. The chances of you having cancer is remote, you should ask yourself honestly do i really have pain and scale it on 1-10 ratio and make any notes you can so you can refer back and give the drs more info. unfortunatley we are all going to die unless someone has come up with immortality without my knowledge, but you must try and enjoy your life as much as you can one day you may get something and then would be the time to face it, but not now while you are healthy. its probably as likely you could have an accident but we do not think in this way as it seems so unlikely enjoy life its the only one you have blessings

[tracieann]

like i said strawberrys its much rarer than we think especially in a 22 year old im fairly sure that it may be musculoskeletal and that your extreme anxiety is making your symptoms much worse try get back in touch with your doc and tell them the fear is making you physically ill with stress good luck

[roxy90]

Thankyou both very much. I had been taking citalopram for the anxiety but im ashamed to say I stopped taking it because I was totally convinced it.wasnt.anxiety and that there is something wrong with me.

I.just struggle with being in pain daily, its always something. Now my lower stomach and back is.hurting its awful. I also have.nobody to talk to because my family are fed up of me, its really lonely. I just have a huge fear I wont see my.daughter.grow.up, which makes the.anxiety worse.

Thanks for your replies. X

[BessieMae*candothis!]

You won't die from cancer. Anxiety is a dirty mind tricker and the smallest of symptoms can be blown up and made 10,000 worse by your worry, believe me I am in the midst of dealing with the thoughts that there is something more going on with me than just anxiety. Of course doctors can become useless to you when they don't give you the answer you are so sure you are going to hear..it comes to a point where they can't help you any further if you aren't willing to accept your symptoms for what they are, anxiety. Don't ever feel like you are alone dealing with this, this website has helped me SO MUCH and continues to help :hugs:

[tracieann]

strawberrys what we have is real anxiety is real your not faking a disease hun its an awful place to be and until someone has experienced what we have they should reserve judgement like i said fibromyalgia is musculoskeletal pain but its real i can promise you that
it makes you ache and pain all over please dont get too down and try not to google as that is a no no for us HA people take care

[missleelee6982]

I had this for weeks x I went to the doctors to be told it was my anxiety x but because I googled I was not convinced x so I went back the next day x they done bloods on me and all came back fine x the more you worry and panic the more your body will hurt x I have new symptoms for the last two weeks I keep getting tingling in my lower right leg and back pain x I been to the doctors 3 times for this to be told its my anxiety and sciatica but oh no I don't believe them because I googled and was told it was ALS or mnd x stop googling I have made myself stop x it causes your mind to go go in to over drive x

[roxy90]

Thankyou tracieann and missleelee. I have to stop googling I know.it's so difficult i.just struggle to accept.anxiety.makes.all these pains etc im dizzy have.head pains body tingles so I assume brain tumor its ridiculous x