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Hello I have health anxiety and fears about cancer all the time. I had blood tests and all normal range except lymphocyte slightly low which neither doc was at all worried about. Because I also have a fear of ov cancer because no symptoms I asked for a scan which he didn't really want me to do but agreed and now the appt has come through I am scared as it also included upper abdominal because I was getting some burping issues. Should I be reassured by blood tests?
Hello I have health anxiety and fears about cancer all the time. I had blood tests and all normal range except lymphocyte slightly low which neither doc was at all worried about. Because I also have a fear of ov cancer because no symptoms I asked for a scan which he didn't really want me to do but agreed and now the appt has come through I am scared as it also included upper abdominal because I was getting some burping issues. Should I be reassured by blood tests?
Hey, Nat. Same issue here with my bloods. I went for tests due to abdominal pain and lymph node swelling in the groin. My tests initially came back with slightly low WBC and slightly low lymphocytes. 2 weeks later I went for a second test for the differential. My WBC had increased but my lymphocytes were slightly low still. Doctor still wasn't concerned in the slightest.
I asked for a scan for the abdominal pain. Looks like we're in the same position!
I was told that if something was wrong certain inflammatory markers would show up on the blood test. These were fine for me. I'm not reassured but that's because I have HA. The doctors were not worried at all and I have had 3 different opinions on this. So honestly, it's probably sensible to not worry.
Hey Eesh when is your scan? Do they think they will be ok and say anything bad anywhere would show? X
I don't know. I am still waiting for the letter in the post!
No, they're not doing it because they want to, they're doing it to try and quell my anxiety knowing that saying 'it's just muscular' won't cut it.
So they're not too concerned at all with any of my symptoms.
I presume they think if something were bad it would show - otherwise I don't think they'd do the tests.
I was trying to reassure myself that my blood tests being ok was a good thing. But then I see someone on here say blood tests aren't the be all and end all and won't pick up things like tumours. Yet when I asked my doctor if anything bad would be indicated he said yes, there would certainly be indications something was wrong...........so now I don't know!! :(
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And now worrying as there is also an upper abdominal one on the appt sheet that they will find something when I had calmed myself down a slight bit :(
I know I would prefer to believe...my doctor who has been medically trained, not someone on here who has received their training from Dr Google.
You really need to work on your anxiety, and learning to live with uncertainty, otherwise nothing will improve. You'll just be caught up in the endless cycle of reassurance seeking. Believe me, I've been there, and I know constant searching for reassurance does not work. It's like a drug, you get reassured, you feel great for about half an hour, then another thought pops in to your head, the off you go looking for your next fix.
Why not have a read of the making a plan thread, what do you have to lose? :)
I know primula and I am trying, at least I think I am. I am on day 8 of sertraline and also CBT booked but counsellor off for 2 weeks now which is typical but can't be helped. I wasn't feeling too bad and now all up in the air again.
I know primula and I am trying, at least I think I am. I am on day 8 of sertraline and also CBT booked but counsellor off for 2 weeks now which is typical but can't be helped. I wasn't feeling too bad and now all up in the air again.
I get like that too. Seems to come in waves.
I'm 22, and get so morbid sometimes that I start mentally preparing my funeral. Others I can brush things off and put it down to me being paranoid, or just an odd physical anomaly.
I know how hard it is. Have a look on page 1 of the getting there slowly thread. There is a post from Rosie bee which links to a HA website. It is very good and explains HA very well. You could have a go at it until you get your counselling. Better to be looking at that, than googling and coming across things you wish you hadn't seen. Go on you can do it. You can be strong, health anxiety doesn't control you. You decide what you will and wont do. You'll get lots of support on here. We all know what its like to be where you are now, you will get better but it will be hard work. :)
I hope so as I am meant to be gettinf married in feb and at this rate I won't be well enough which I would be heartbroken about x I will have a look tho thank u
Hi Nat - I just ran the bloods/scan gauntlet myself last week!! I also had an ECG and 24 hour BP monitoring. Aside from a slight back injury (which I was aware of) all came back clear. I have been down this path several times before and, I am ashamed to say, have tested my GP pretty robustly on the subject. Bottom line is that anythig serious will show up certain markers in the results. This will not inform a specific diagnosis, but will indicate the need for further tests if required. An MRI scan will generally pick up anything in its range. My GP pretty well staked her professional reputiation on the fact that I was fit and healthy, but said that the amount of adrenaline and tension that my anxiety was causing, was giving rise to all manner of pains, burning sensations, tight chestedness, fatigue and general malaise. To be honest, i'm still not feeling great, but you simply have to trust your GP. They have spent years being professionally trained, yet we take our own naiive view over their informed medical expertise. It's almost funny when you think about it!!! Take their advice and focus on having a wonderful wedding. I have to say that I got married 2 years last June and I was slap bang in the middle of a crisis. However, once the wedding arrangements ramped up, My health anxiety subsided and we had the best day ever. I truly wish the same for you!
Ant
Hello ant , so you had the blood tests and that was it? That's reassuring for me if so x
Hi Nat. That was it for me, for now. My anxiety was such that I was upfront and said that I wanted to alleviate my health worries before moving forward and tackling the psychological issue once and for all. I have been going through this cycle for many years now and I am so tired of it. I am now going to try sertraline to get me off the tread mill. The bottom line is that there is never going to be a 101% dead cert check for everything. However, if Drs are comfortable that you are okay, and you have undergone specific tests beyond a physical examination, then everything points to you being ok. As I said in another post, there is an irony in that we are reluctant to accept the most obvious of outcomes if they are harmless, yet cling on to the remotest, most miniscule risk of something more serious! It is that mindset that is the issue and once you have been established as clear, which I'm sure you will be, you need to trust the medical professionals and work on that. In the meantime, be calm and take care.
Ant
I have my appt for upper abdominal ultrasound tomorrow at 6pm. My boyfriend keeps trying to say that I should be reassured by normal blood results but I did the worst thing and looked it up and it says on many sites that blood tests would not necessarily pick up cancer in your body. The gp only agreed to send me for it to put my mind at rest and now I am in a crazy state. It's not until 6pm so I'll be thinking about it all day , I know they won't tell me anything at the time of the scan and I don't know how long results will take. All this spiralling because I used to smoke socially quite a lot and from having small burps all the time. People keep saying about the smoking, you can't undo the past but my head is just punishing myself for being so stupid and worrying I have or will get cancer. I haven't touched one for just over 4 years now but worry it was just too late.
Sorry for going of subject nat! But I'm about to start sertraline when I say start I mean I have it just haven't the courage to take it yet! How are you finding it? X
Had my upper abdominal, pelvic and transvaginal ultrasound this evening. It took ages and the lady made it very clear from the outset that she wasn't going to tell me anything. :( I am in a terrible state now and I doubt I'll get any sleep. The last picture on the screen was my womb lining with this big white blob in the middle and I started to freak but she still wouldn't say anything and that's only a tiny bit of what I had scanned :(
I once had to have a private CT and MRI scan after I had my gallbladder removed. The NHS hospital gave me the scan films to take home in order that I could give them to my consultant.
I looked and looked at them for 2 days straight, got myself all worked up because of shadows and blobs etc. I was so scared I took them to my GP to show him, he basically laughed at me and said that because I had NO idea about anatomy and didn't know what I was looking at I had no right to look at them.
Basically what I was worried about was normal anatomy. My point to you is that you don't know what you saw, you don't know what is normal and what isn't. Please don't second guess you will drive yourself nuts.
The lady probably couldn't tell you because she was not the person interpreting them, just the person taking the 'pictures'.
But she said she was going to do the report tonihht and send it to the GP electronically but yes you're right I am driving myself mad :(
Absolutely spot on Mondie. I had a private scan 5 years ago for a fibroid. I was given the X-ray and a letter for my doctor. I read the letter which said the mass was most likely a fibroid, but I then googled a medical term in the letter, which because I googled it out of context, came back with all sorts of terrifying results. Of course "most likely" in my HA mind became "there is a slight chance this might be cancer" which then escalated to me planning my funeral and saying goodbye to my loved ones. When I told my doctor, she was cross, and said that as I had no medical training, I should not have read the letter, let alone googled things I could not interpret. I gave myself a week of hell, because I tried to diagnose myself. I've just had a look at the scan picture which I still have, and there are loads of white blobs on it. You are looking at things you do not understand. The best thing you can do is wait to see you doctor with the results. I sincerely doubt you have anything wrong with you. What you do have is anxiety about your health, I know how hard it is, but it's the anxiety you need to work on.
I've also just looked at the ultrasounds I had when I was pregnant which obviously show my womb etc and there are LOADS of white blobs on that.
Please do not try and diagnose yourself. You are not qualified to do so.
Xx
I am so scared got results and says there is a possible polyp on upper abdominal scan but not to worry. How can I not worry so so scared
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Just spoke to doc and he said is common edimetrial polyp and also liver hermangioma which he said is not dangerous. Was so scared x
So chuffed for you that everything isn't dangerous and your doctor was able to calm you :hugs:
Hi me again I am struggling with this hermangioma on my liver, well that's what they say they "suggest" it is! I hate that wording but I kno they have to use it. Doc not worried and said rescan in 6 months just to make sure not growing. It's been going round and round in my head snd thinking have they got it wrong, googling and seeing that ultrasound should not be used for final diagnosis etc but my doc said is good enough. Should I leave it and Believe in thrm? I am trying but struggling so much
My daughter had a hemangioma in her leg. She had it from being small and we didn't know what it was - we thought it was a bruise.
When she was 7, it suddenly blew up like an egg and it was operated on. In actual fact it was also a lymphangioma. We were told that they weren't able to remove all of it and therefore it would probably grow back as she grew. She's 11 now and it hasn't so far.
A hemangioma is simply a tangle of extra blood vessels.
I think what frightens me so much is it is on my liver and that the ultrasound lady may have got it wrong snd it could be cancer because like they always say nothing is 100%. All the googling says a CT scan should be done but they are saying they really do not think this is necessary. I am trying to be positive and think is it because they are more or less sure and would they send me for more tests if any doubt. My head is all over the place. doctor keeps saying liver ones are common but no one else I know seems to have one. They also keep Saying it could have been always there but I had a car crash about 7 years ago and they scanned organs then for damage and no mention was made of one then, to which they reply, it could have been missed or just not mentioned!! I keep reading that they can mimic other much more serious things :(
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If I could be sure it was a hermangioma I could calm down but it's the thought that actually or might not be! :(
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I think what frightens me so much is it is on my liver and that the ultrasound lady may have got it wrong snd it could be cancer because like they always say nothing is 100%. All the googling says a CT scan should be done but they are saying they really do not think this is necessary. I am trying to be positive and think is it because they are more or less sure and would they send me for more tests if any doubt. My head is all over the place. doctor keeps saying liver ones are common but no one else I know seems to have one. They also keep Saying it could have been always there but I had a car crash about 7 years ago and they scanned organs then for damage and no mention was made of one then, to which they reply, it could have been missed or just not mentioned!! I keep reading that they can mimic other much more serious things :(
Listen.
If you had a cancerous liver tumour, it would be showing symptoms - blood tests would show something not right ( you will have been tested for liver function as standard) and you would be showing signs of jaundice.
The fact that no-one you know has it does not mean it's not common. They are generally symptomless, but anyway, appendicitis is extremely common...but no-one in my family has had it, or a stroke, heart attack, broken bones, cancer - you see my point?
My daughter's hemangioma was diagnosed by ultrasound. If they had ANY reason to question whether it was cancer, they would be doing further investigations. They are not being careless by not looking further - they don't need to!
Please stop worrying - you really don't need to.x
So been trying not to worry about my low lymphocyte count in blood test and I did for a while. But after my op yesterday I had another blood test and low lymphocyte again below range. Now I am really frightened again about it. Has anyone else had consistent low lymphocytes? All other counts seem to be normal?
So been trying not to worry about my low lymphocyte count in blood test and I did for a while. But after my op yesterday I had another blood test and low lymphocyte again below range. Now I am really frightened again about it. Has anyone else had consistent low lymphocytes? All other counts seem to be normal?
Yup, meee =).
I haven't googled it. And I'm not going to. Now don't you dare Google it and post your findings here, for my sake! The doctors have said it's nothing to be concerned about. I am trusting them on this one! :noangel:
How low are yours Eesh? And for how long? X
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All your other counts normal?
How low are yours Eesh? And for how long? X
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All your other counts normal?
Don't know an exact figure. Just told they're 'slightly low' but nothing significant enough to warrant any concern.
Yup. Had a slightly low WBC but that returned back to 'normal'. Lymphocytes remained low.
Anyone please?
Nat,
Ok now. Time to stop this. Four pages of reassurance and your doctor is not worried. What are you looking for? Blood counts vary depending on the day of the week, what you ate, etc.
I'm 19 months post treatment and my counts are still low. You should have seen them during treatment! I'm fine. You're fine. Please get some help with your anxiety.
Positive thoughts
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