perdurabo
28-12-06, 13:22
Hi everyone!
This is my second post although I have been fairly active in the chat room. I've been experiencing severe anxiety-related symptoms for the past year although in retrospect my panic attacks began about 5 years ago. Over the last 12 months my main problem was heart palpitations, however these have recently and thankfully subsided after an ECG and various blood tests came back healthy (also indicating that my liver is still healthy which surprised me). My heart palpitations stopped then or around then, which in retrospect I must atttribute to the results of the tests.
However, since October/November time I've also developed really unpleasant throat-related problems. I had the lump in the throat thing at first, combined with difficulty breathing and sleep apnoea (leading to several sleepless nights in a row which didn't result in a very productive me at work).
What I do have now is a seemingly constant pain in my throat, combined with a series of hot flushes that consume my whole neck - my neck just feels incredibly hot, sometimes all day. Also, I find myself doing weird "throat-belches" with alarming regularity eg 10 times an hour if not more. I don't know quite how to describe these - kind of like "croaks" rather than burps, and seemingly originating from my throat or the top of my chest rather than my stomach. They also involve a fair amount of air being expelled.
One of my GPs suggested this was mainly due to globus hystericus ie swallowing air to try to overcome the weird sensation of having something stuck in my throat - but I'm just not convinced.
The trouble, of course, is that I've smoked for the last ten years, and I've also been a fairly heavy drinker for the last 5 years (these symptoms are certainly at their very worst after a heavy night's drinking). SO - I've given up smoking very recently out of sheer terror and cut down on my alcohol consumption.
The bottom line is that I'm convinced I've got throat cancer/some horrible smoking-related throat disease and that I'm about to die young (I'm 28).
I don't know if the government's anti-smoking propaganda is having a particularly physical effect on me, or whether the pressure of an imminent exam (Jan 19), my debt (£18,000 and rising) or the stressful, targetted aspect of my job (eg should I really take a holiday when I'm not close to hitting target etc) AS WELL as the fact that I'm moving house in a few days time and don't even yet have anyone to stay with.... are all conspiring to focus my paranoia/health anxiety on the dreaded throat cancer - my voice being the source of my livelihood (I'm telephone based) and much joy eg conversation, singing etc.
I'm off to see an ENT specialist on 30 Jan and I'm not sure whether they're going to perform an endoscopy or what (I'd want to be sedated for that I think - should I request this in advance?).
I've had three GPs look down my throat, listen to my chest, feel my throat etc and none of them can see anything wrong - and yet these weird sensations persist.
If anyone out there has experienced anything similar, please give me your insights as I'm finding it difficult to lead a vaguely normal life - I really am fairly convinced the ENT specialist is going to diagnose cancer and that'll be the end of me.
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot
This is my second post although I have been fairly active in the chat room. I've been experiencing severe anxiety-related symptoms for the past year although in retrospect my panic attacks began about 5 years ago. Over the last 12 months my main problem was heart palpitations, however these have recently and thankfully subsided after an ECG and various blood tests came back healthy (also indicating that my liver is still healthy which surprised me). My heart palpitations stopped then or around then, which in retrospect I must atttribute to the results of the tests.
However, since October/November time I've also developed really unpleasant throat-related problems. I had the lump in the throat thing at first, combined with difficulty breathing and sleep apnoea (leading to several sleepless nights in a row which didn't result in a very productive me at work).
What I do have now is a seemingly constant pain in my throat, combined with a series of hot flushes that consume my whole neck - my neck just feels incredibly hot, sometimes all day. Also, I find myself doing weird "throat-belches" with alarming regularity eg 10 times an hour if not more. I don't know quite how to describe these - kind of like "croaks" rather than burps, and seemingly originating from my throat or the top of my chest rather than my stomach. They also involve a fair amount of air being expelled.
One of my GPs suggested this was mainly due to globus hystericus ie swallowing air to try to overcome the weird sensation of having something stuck in my throat - but I'm just not convinced.
The trouble, of course, is that I've smoked for the last ten years, and I've also been a fairly heavy drinker for the last 5 years (these symptoms are certainly at their very worst after a heavy night's drinking). SO - I've given up smoking very recently out of sheer terror and cut down on my alcohol consumption.
The bottom line is that I'm convinced I've got throat cancer/some horrible smoking-related throat disease and that I'm about to die young (I'm 28).
I don't know if the government's anti-smoking propaganda is having a particularly physical effect on me, or whether the pressure of an imminent exam (Jan 19), my debt (£18,000 and rising) or the stressful, targetted aspect of my job (eg should I really take a holiday when I'm not close to hitting target etc) AS WELL as the fact that I'm moving house in a few days time and don't even yet have anyone to stay with.... are all conspiring to focus my paranoia/health anxiety on the dreaded throat cancer - my voice being the source of my livelihood (I'm telephone based) and much joy eg conversation, singing etc.
I'm off to see an ENT specialist on 30 Jan and I'm not sure whether they're going to perform an endoscopy or what (I'd want to be sedated for that I think - should I request this in advance?).
I've had three GPs look down my throat, listen to my chest, feel my throat etc and none of them can see anything wrong - and yet these weird sensations persist.
If anyone out there has experienced anything similar, please give me your insights as I'm finding it difficult to lead a vaguely normal life - I really am fairly convinced the ENT specialist is going to diagnose cancer and that'll be the end of me.
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
T.S. Eliot