Anxiety through the roof this morning - Sure I've got cancer in my Oseophagus

[ShellyTai]

Morning everyone,
Really really struggling this morning....
Can't think what else could be in my Oseophagus - has to be cancer .... I just know I'm going to get diagnosed with it.
I've had this for 6 weeks now .... some days it's not so bad -some days it's awful.....(ironically - these symptoms didn't start until I started on Sertraline !!!)
I'm struggling to eat - food feels like it's getting stuck behind my breast bone....my chest is tight all the time. The pain between my shoulder blades & under my left shoulder blade when I eat & after I eat is awful. (sometimes it's there when I'm not eating).
My throat feels like it's got a massive lump in it and food feels like it gets stuck there also. The my throat is sore after eating aswell.
My neck is sore and stiff all the time .....
I take Gaviscon Advance & Lansoperazole - none of which seem to be doing any good.
Dr thinks it's maybe some scar tissue or maybe a stricture (made 100 times worse with my HA) ..... why can I just not accept that ??
Anxiety overload this morning - I'm just in bits .... if it was the big C would it have gotten worse over 6 weeks ?
I've had somewhere around 15 blood tests and all are normal ..... surely something would have shown up !!!!
So sorry for ranting - just trying to get my head to think logical....thanks for listening. xxxxx
:scared15::scared15::scared15:

[clare_201086]

hi, you wont have cancer relax, i am in a state aswell i keep havin terrible attacks of anxiety.

[keaw]

I've had throat issues since may last year, (sound pretty similar to you). its only recently the lump in throat feeling has improved, its still there a lot of the time but not half as bad, I know how scared you must feel(I still am sometimes) but please try not to worry, im sure you are fine. our anxiety makes everything seem a million times worse.x

[Worriedwellornot]

Hi I have very similar symptoms to you Shelly. The logical part of my brain is saying acid reflux but the HA is saying cancer. I'm trying to summon the courage to go back to Drs and get an endoscopy : ( I'm on the same meds as you and nothing is helping.

[Jojomarymoo]

Hi again, I totally know how you feel, I'm just sick of worrying, am in tears tonight. Been having problems for last few weeks....sore stomach and colon area, plus a very swollen belly. Thought was due to medication, been to docs who thinks could have infection of the gut, having a test for this and also ultrasound referral, might need to go to specialist?
So my health anxiety kicks in and I've got colon cancer. I know from google that there are other non life threatening reasons but I can't stop worrying or help myself with an addiction to googling. I cannot bear the wait, thinking that time is of the essence, my mind is on it all the time.
Every reference to death is upsetting me as it's like a sign, I'm so worried about who will look after my son when I'm gone, I'm even thinking about talking to my parents and sister about how it's going to work. I just can't go on living like this my anxiety is making me really ill.

By the way you are not ranting, this health anxiety is debilitating.

Xxx

[ShellyTai]

Awh JoJo - I know where you're coming from - I'm exactly the same.....I've written letters to my kids in the past - for when I'm gone....it's awful ..... this completely just takes over your life....and oh yes - the waiting is the worst.
I was at the Dr yesterday - I dunno about you - but I find that sometimes the dr doesn't quite get the side effects of the meds. It's more than likely to be your meds that's causing your stomach issues. I'd said to the Dr that I'd thought it was the Sertraline that could have been causing a lot of my probs with my oesophagus - as I'd never been on 100mgs before and I didn't think I was doing too well on them now .... he said "no...defo not the meds - it's all anxiety" .... (but over the past couple of days, I've dropped from 100mgs to 75mgs - I've done this myself, I know it's not good to mess with my meds and I should only do it on my drs advice....and I know I've no one else to blame if it all goes wrong...but I'm taking the chance and prepared for the consequences), what I will say, is that yesterday afternoon & so far this morning, my oesophagus symptoms have lessened....I don't know if it's coincidence or not, or if it's all in my head.....and my anxiety last night & this morning is better (not shaking like a leaf this morning) .... I may have made a huge mistake in doing this - but for this morning at least, I feel slightly better .... and I'm ready to take on Asda for shopping ... as my poor kids & hubby are eating the dregs at the bottom of the freezer...lol....as I say - it may very well be your meds that's causing your tummy probs. Take care xxxxx

[hanshan]

Anxiety-related lump in the throat is so common, it even has its own name - "globus hystericus".

Relax, if the doctor has checked it and says it's okay, then it's an anxiety condition. Real, but anxiety.

[countrygirl]

I tried mitrazapine for anxiety a coupe of years ago and I got the worst acid reflux ever. I have a hiatus hernia and have taken famotidine for over 20 years. I was amazed at how the mitrazapine affected my stomach. I stuck it for 2 weeks and then gave up as I also put on 7lbs as well and within a day or so of stopping the mitrazapine my evil acid reflux went away. So it could all be a side effect of your medication.

Have you discussed this with your GP?

[Jojomarymoo]

Shellytai, I'm the same I just can't face shopping and managed to 'create' a meal last night :) I've been a right mess this week so food shopping is last thing I want to do.
Doc said the diarrhea wouldn't be caused by sertraline?...but I've been this and constipated, these are side effects and people have mentioned these. However been back yet again today :wacko: now I've got a blocked bowel, so plenty of laxatives, just waiting for them to work! Better stay in haha. I've bought a stack of vitamins as I am determined not to get anything else to set me off again. I asked doc if it could be 'anything else' (but didn't say the word) and he said no, he did diagrams to show what's happened, so he must know what he's talking about, but there's always doubt at back of your mind!
My Boyf took me to hospital on Xmas day cos of pain and hardness around my kidney (after a kidney infection) and the doc asked if I had trouble swallowing?...and because of my anxiety I did have a kind of lump in my throat, so I started imaging it being huge and having something wrong with my throat!
I blame the media, there are stories about docs missing stuff, grrrrr google has got a lot to answer for. :mad:
Hope shopping went ok! :yesyes: xxxx

[jbarker1983]

Maybe it's your thyroid? Did you feel around your throat?

[ShellyTai]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's so good to have folks who understand. :hugs:

jbarker - dr's have checked thyroid with blood tests and had a good old feely around my throat & neck - they don't think it's thyroid...xx

Countrygirl - It's amazing how the meds effect folks differently - I did ask Dr if it would be the meds causing it - he didn't think so....xxx

Hanshan - yes Dr has mentioned Globus a few times....they definitely think that's part of it - I think what's making me panic about it is that I've had HA on and off for 19 years now and had loads of symptoms - don't ever remember this one being so bad though....xx

Worriedwellornot - I know the thought of the scope isn't exactly appealing :scared15:....xx

kaew & clare - Dr gave me a bit of a funny story the other day about anxiety. (Trying to put it in perspective for me) - he said that "if you had a sore toe and you were worried it was something serious, your anxiety wouldn't make it worse" he said "if you have reflux or globus or stomach problems, anxiety makes it 100 times worse, infact it's anxiety that causes a lot of stomach problems in the first place - anxiety can cause the stomach to produce excess acid etc....." ....
It does kinda help what he said - and for that day when I came out of the drs I didn't have any stomach symptoms (maybe also helped by the reduced doze of sertraline :shrug:) .... who knows ????

Oh the joys of living with anxiety :wacko:

---------- Post added at 10:36 ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 ----------

Hiya JoJo - how are you doing today ? Shopping went ok yesterday thank god .... managed to get in and out without too much hassle .... at least kids are happy there's some food in the house.....:yahoo:.
Sounds like your dr is being really good and explaining what's happening (it puts your mind at rest but yes, I'm same as you it still niggles in the back of my mind)- have you had any news on your referral yet ? It's hard to know what's anxiety, what's side effects of the meds and what's a problem.....
I've got my referral in for the Gastroenterologist, it's on the 6th Feb and to be honest, no matter how many folks tell me it's nothing sinister - I won't settle until I see him on the 6th.....(then I'll probably feel like a right **** :whistles:)..
I agree media & google :mad:...
xxxxxxx

[Andrash]

Shelly, some 15 days ago i experienced exactly the same, albeit milder, symptoms (difficulty swallowing, heartburn, chest pain, lump in throat sensation), and I was also worried sick about esophagus cancer. I am, naturally, also a health anxiety sufferer-and these symptoms resolved as soon as I moved to another cancer fixation :)

However, a couple of days ago I visited psychologist and had a session-it definitely helped. It didn't remove the anxiety-it's a long process and I have only completed my first session and some on-line CBT exercises-my current worries are lymphoma and ALS (lymphoma due to mild bronchitis (real thing, not invented) I am experiencing now and ALS due to God knows what)-but at least the worry is not that overwhelming as it was before and at least I stopped googling like crazy as soon as I experience even a mild ache or discomfort. I still do it from time to time, I don't want to fool myself or others here-just not that often :)

One good thing HA has brought me-I adopted a very healthy lifestyle. Eating three times a day,good measures but always healthy food, 1 hour exercise (running or playing football) every day, and, bar this boring bronchitis (which is currently causing me a lymphoma worry)-I feel pretty good. When you play football and try to avoid an onrushing tackle you don't have time to think about cancers and scleroses too :)

Therefore, eat healthy and good food, exercise a bit, steer clear from Dr G. as much as you can, don't read Daily Mail and cancer forums, and of course visit your doctor-I know everybody's telling you it's nothing sinister, so I won't repeat that-but I will tell you this: in 99.99% cases it's either nothing at all (read, anxiety) or nothing serious (read GERD, mild gastritis). Or, which is the most probable scenario-nothing serious caused by nothing at all :)