Cancer phobia

[Elf8888]

My mother was misdiagnosed and when they finally operated, it was stage 4 bowel cancer. She lived for 2 further years. This is what triggered my HA. Now, everywhere you look and everything you read, it's about cancer and your one in three chances of getting it or the misdiagnosis in the Daily Mail etc. I cannot get past it. I'm forever assuming the worst. Haven't had this bad an episode of HA for a couple of years. So so miserable.

[Dolphin8808]

Cancer was my biggest fear as well for the longest time. Still is however I am currently battling ALS fear at the moment. I am sure it will default to cancer again soon. It is so scary, its thrown in your face so much, the commercials, the radio, the internet. You can't even google without it saying you have cancer.

[mummato2]

It's a hard phobia to face because it is everywhere!!

Cancer is high profile because of the need for constant funding etc it becomes impossible to escape.

it's my phobia as well. It's paralyzing.

I don't claim to have all the answers but I understand how you feel. Some of the things that help me keep panic in check are:

1) perspective. My anxiety is around breast cancer. I am 34 and I don't have family history. Perspective tells me my risk is the same as anyone else in my age group and most get through life without a diagnosis.

2) getting the facts. It took a long time but I do not consult Dr Google anymore.at.all! The issue with google is it is designed to search hit words on most popular sites and when you are dealing with a topic like cancer (which requires funding and exposure to the media) chances are your search will point you to a group or site related to cancer. Which brings me to mynext point

3) concentrated content. You land on a cancer support forum where you are dealing with the (in my case) minority of people in your age group unlucky enough to have the cancer I fear. Perspective is impossible when you've reached a forum with 50 people who are under 40 suffering breast cancer. But in today's world we have the benefit of being able to get information at our fingertips thanks to the world wide web. Think back 20 years ago. If something was wrong you'd ride it out to see if it can be ignored and we trusted the advice of our Dr's much more. Why? Because we didn't have a plethora of info to sift through casting doubt. Which brings me to my next point.

4) I am not a qualified dr......seriously. I consider myself a clever person (I am a lawyer) BUT my years were spent training in legislation not medicine. I wouldn't trust a colleague to chop out a mole so why on earth would I trust the opinion of an online ghost over my Dr who's degree is hanging on a wall behind his desk?

5) symptoms aren't the issue. Health anxiety is. I have fibrocystic breasts and one side is far worse than the other. I diligently check and regularly panic myself into believing what I am feeling is in fact cancer rather than cysts which an ultrasound 2 years ago confirmed, still feels the same today and if it were bad I'd be close to dead 2 years on.......my issue isn't breast cancer, it's health anxiety.

I wish I had the magic answer but I don't. I had a panic attack only 2 days ago and am slowly getting back to square after putting my mind into "perspective mode". I know the cycle. Right now I am on the downhill on my roller coaster after spending 3 days getting to the top and freaking out about the fall. I'm almost at the bottom and know when I get off I'll feel better.........until it starts climbing again.

Right now my game plan is to step back to 20 years ago when I didn't research online, where I had to trust the word of a professional, where I kept perspective and didn't alarm myself by finding groups of a minority demographic which in turn impairs my own idea of "realistic".

I don't have the answers but please know you're not alone xxx talking helps me. It helps me realise how my feeling isn't cancer but health anxiety the shift in focus helps because I know I'm not crazy, these symptoms exist only they belong to my health anxiety and not an undiagnosed terminal illness