Health anxiety means my symptoms get ignored!

[Katie_cupcakes]

I am positive that I have pancreatic cancer. I have never been more sure of anything in my life. I know I'm only 23 and how rare it is, but it all makes sense.
I started losing weight last year around august time. I hadn't put in much effort at all into losing the weight, but wasn't too worried as I had no other symptoms and had a bit of weight to lose anyway!

Around the same time I started losing weight I also developed panic disorder and would have several panic attacks per day. This all happened so suddenly and out of nowhere. I had had panic attacks since I was 16, but I'm talking 3 or 4 per year... Now I was getting 3 or 4 per day.

The past couple months I havnt been feeling right. I havnt had a day since mid march where I actually felt normal. 2 weeks ago I got excruciating pain in my back, along with nausea, no appetite, weight loss, thick saliva and feeling very thirsty all the time.
This has been constant the past 2 weeks and as well as that I am now getting lower back pain, pain between my shoulder blades and stabbing pains radiating from the middle of my upper abdomen across to the left of my upper abdomen. My tongue has a yellow coating and my fingernail beds have been gradually turning white.

Iv just had antibiotics for a uti, which I thought might clear up the yellow tongue...but it hasn't. If anything its worse. Iv read that yellow tongue is a sign that there is a problem with the liver...as is white fingernail beds. This could also be a sign of diabetes...which is a symptom of pancreatic cancer..and as my weight has dropped by 3 stone since last august with no real effort, I'm not overweight so I wouldn't be at risk of getting diabetes normally.

I'm absolutely sure that its pancreatic cancer. The pains get worse everyday. The stabbing pains in my stomach, the indication that I could have diabetes/liver problem, the weight loss, upper and lower back pain. Also...there is said to be a link between people who have pancreatic cancer being diagnosed or developing problems with panic/anxiety/depression prior to their cancer diagnosis...which would also explain the sudden panic attacks I began having last year.

Iv seen around 10 doctors who all keep fobbing me off with pain killers, anti biotics and acid reflux medication. Saw a Dr today who has booked me in for blood test on Thursday, so might actually get somewhere with the results of that...which I'm absolutely certain are not going to come back normal.

My point though is that with all the symptoms...nobody is taking Me seriously because my medical records have 'anxiety' plastered all over them...iv been told countless times that my symptoms are imagined. I'm not sure how I can imagine a yellow tongue and fingernails that are turning whiter by the day! And pain as intense as this is definitely not imagined. Its at a point now where I am so utterly frustrated that having anxiety is delaying a diagnosis I know I'm going to get and delaying the help I need (not that it would make much difference)

A friend keeps saying to me 'its all anxiety' and I asked what would need to be wrong with me before my symptoms were taken seriously and he said 'if you start throwing up blood'

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to throw up blood before somebody believes that I'm not well. I can never ever get I'll...because every symptom that doesn't involve throwing up blood gets blamed on my anxiety.

Anyway, blood tests on Thursday and I know its going to be bad, but perhaps I might start getting somewhere with this and can start the treatment I need.

[nomorepanic]

There are loads of other things it could be as well though so good luck with the blood tests

[Fishmanpa]

Have you thought that after a year you would be very ill? Not to mention 10 doctors apparently not concerned.
Regardless, I hope you get a clean report.

This is from something I posted on another thread about the internet and HA... It's worth a read


"A lot of the stuff on the Internet, especially on health-related bulletin boards, is pure impression and anecdote," says Barsky, "and they just don't have a lot of scientific validity."

Even the most reputable health web sites with the most accurate information can cause trouble for the hypochondriac. "Hypochondriacs tend to latch onto diseases with common or ambiguous symptoms or that are hard to diagnose," says Fallon. For example, illnesses such as HIV or lupus, and neurological disorders including multiple sclerosis can cause vague symptoms like fatigue, swollen glands, and strange physical sensations.

With symptoms as common as these, it's easy for hypochondriacs to become convinced they're sick.

Second-Guessing the Doctor

Barsky and Fallon say hypochondria often breeds suspicion and distrust between a sufferer and his or her physician. Some doctors may be too quick to dismiss the worries of hypochondriacs, and hypochondriacs are likely to ruin relationships with good physicians by second-guessing them from the start.

Hypochondriacs may "get suspicious when their doctor doesn't give them a referral or a test they ask for," says Fallon. "They can feel like they're not being listened to, and so they'll go shopping for another doctor and wind up repeating the process."


No good doctor will order an MRI every time your ears are ringing or a colonoscopy every time your stomach's upset.

"The solution is not to get tested for everything all the time," says Barsky, "since that feeling of relief doesn't last anyway." Instead, hypochondriacs need to learn to get help and change their way of thinking.

Resist the Surfing Urge

Treating hypochondria, once believed to be almost impossible to cure, has improved a lot in the last decade.

Fallon was a pioneer in using antidepressants like Prozac and Luvox to treat hypochondriacs.

Barsky has had great success in using the techniques of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy -- persuading hypochondriacs to change their responses to anxieties and wean themselves off the behaviors that get them in trouble.

For instance, Barsky says, a hypochondriac needs to resist the compulsion to self-diagnose and to seek assurance from doctors and friends. The best one can do is to get regular medical treatment from a trustworthy doctor trust and to live a healthy life.

Fallon agrees: "In a loose sense, a hypochondriac becomes almost addicted to looking up information, examining himself, and getting reassurance from other people," he says. "Checking just makes things worse."

And what about using the Internet to look up that worrisome symptom? "If it's just going to make you upset," says Barsky. "Don't do it."