color of inside cheek... am i dying?

[cricket0148]

Okay... Im seriously trying not to freak out here. little lump in mouth is almost nonexistent most days thank god but when i went to look with flashlight, i noticed that the inside of my cheek by stensens duct has reddish/purplish area on both sides of mouth. Am I dying?

[Fishmanpa]

I don't know but I do know if I were dying, I wouldn't be on an anxiety forum waiting for answers to a question.

Positive thoughts

[Ande]

I don't know but I do know if I were dying, I wouldn't be on an anxiety forum waiting for answers to a question.

Positive thoughts

No you like to just sit here giving pointless sarcastic answers to people who are most likely very worried.

where about is this purpleness, because i have the same in my mouth i think, also having it on both sides means it's most likley normal.

[Hypo]

I don't know but I do know if I were dying, I wouldn't be on an anxiety forum waiting for answers to a question.

Positive thoughts

Well, that is helpful.

OP, I can tell you now, if you look in your mouth with a flashlight you will see all sorts of colours in your mouth you never knew you had.

Ask me how I know :blush:

You have it on both sides, it means that is normal for you I am sure.

[Fishmanpa]

No you like to just sit here giving pointless sarcastic answers to people who are most likely very worried.

Perhaps before you pass judgement, you should look at the post history. Forgive me Cricket, I've discussed these things with you publicly and privately.
I feel the need to address a misconception. The OP has serious periodontal issues due to neglect. Things like lumps, ridges and other things, including the subject of the OP can be attributed to this as well as natural physiology.

Can you read my response and take it as sarcasm? Most certainly you can. I don't sugar coat my words and sometimes a cyber slap upside the head is warranted. That being said, I always call things as I see them and this post is one of them. I understand and sympathize with HA disorder. It's horrendous at best, but to be "dying" because of some perceived discoloration that's probably natural or due to the neglect is just a few steps beyond irrational and I have no issue calling that out. I'm sorry you see it differently. These are words on a screen and one's mood or mental state when reading them can influence the way in which they are taken.

It's no different than one posting about fears of having a heart attack or seizure. If you really were suffering from them, you'd be at the ER, not here posting and waiting for a response. And even at that, when someone rushes off to A&E or the ER, the result is benign and attributed to anxiety.

So no, I feel my response was appropriate based on the OP's history. She knows darn well she needs to see a dentist and have her periodontal issues addressed. She's not "dying" because of some perceived discoloration that for all intents and purposes is normal and deep down she knows it. It's a momentary lapse of reason and my response is a cyber slap upside the head to wake her up to that fact and I believe she knows that too... Right Cricket? ;)

I believe in paying it forward and you only need look at my post history over the last 19 months to see that I've done that in offering logical, rational, humorous and yes, sarcastic responses to fears and issues brought up on the forum.

Positive thoughts

[courierdude]

i think that there is an issue here that fishmanpa addresses quite well actually, and that is that some people actually even seem to need to be ill with something.

i havnt seen a thread on it on i wouldnt know what a condition like this is called as im not a psychologist, but i do know from close personal contact that some people need to feel 'special' by taking pills for example or for having a mental health issue-when actually they really do.

i had an ex who had been on prozac for 10 years by the time we stopped seeing each other..and maybe 10 years later she is still on them. she would tell me that they saved her life during a stressful break up with a partner, but does she have a lot of headaches, does she spend a lot of time at the same doctors tell him that she feels like she has a bug crawling in the side of her head? prozac may well have helped her to begin but 20 years later she isnt doing herself any favours and i can only think that she 'needs' to be on them for some other reason than actually needing them for there intended purpose.

i know other people with health anxiety issues who do the same. just never doing anything about it except indulging themselves in it and letting it be the major contributing aspect to their whole life story.

i dont know the OP or the history but some people give the impression of needing help and then actually reject it in favour of choosing to suffer it some more and then with a progressed version ..and then some.

my inside cheeks are dark red by the way : /

[Catherine S]

I'm also positively certain that if I stuck a flashlight into my mouth I would see all the colours of the rainbow! My guess is if you are examining ANYTHING that isn't a hole in the ground with a flashlight you need help. Seriously. Sarcasm aside now, but seriously.

ISB x

[Canbud]

Perhaps before you pass judgement, you should look at the post history. Forgive me Cricket, I've discussed these things with you publicly and privately.
I feel the need to address a misconception. The OP has serious periodontal issues due to neglect. Things like lumps, ridges and other things, including the subject of the OP can be attributed to this as well as natural physiology.

Can you read my response and take it as sarcasm? Most certainly you can. I don't sugar coat my words and sometimes a cyber slap upside the head is warranted. That being said, I always call things as I see them and this post is one of them. I understand and sympathize with HA disorder. It's horrendous at best, but to be "dying" because of some perceived discoloration that's probably natural or due to the neglect is just a few steps beyond irrational and I have no issue calling that out. I'm sorry you see it differently. These are words on a screen and one's mood or mental state when reading them can influence the way in which they are taken.

It's no different than one posting about fears of having a heart attack or seizure. If you really were suffering from them, you'd be at the ER, not here posting and waiting for a response. And even at that, when someone rushes off to A&E or the ER, the result is benign and attributed to anxiety.

So no, I feel my response was appropriate based on the OP's history. She knows darn well she needs to see a dentist and have her periodontal issues addressed. She's not "dying" because of some perceived discoloration that for all intents and purposes is normal and deep down she knows it. It's a momentary lapse of reason and my response is a cyber slap upside the head to wake her up to that fact and I believe she knows that too... Right Cricket? ;)

I believe in paying it forward and you only need look at my post history over the last 19 months to see that I've done that in offering logical, rational, humorous and yes, sarcastic responses to fears and issues brought up on the forum.

Positive thoughts

Exactly. I am offended when I see a post that equates dying with bumps in the mouth. Seriously? That's not HA, that's not fear, that's shameful.

[Hypo]

Exactly. I am offended when I see a post that equates dying with bumps in the mouth. Seriously? That's not HA, that's not fear, that's shameful.

And that is a heap of rubbish!

Good for you if you have never thought you might be dying, or worried about dying due to some bumps in your mouth. Well done you.

I am not offended at all and I say that as someone whose children lost their father to cancer, in fact, it's a year tomorrow that he died and this week has been awful. Why the hell would I be offended that someone with HA thinks they might be dying when that is the very nature of the illness?

I read posts here all the time when he was dying of lymphoma from people worried they have lymphoma because they had an itch, or one gland was up etc. Was I offended that he was dying and we were going through hell and someone with HA was talking about dying from the same condition when they obviously weren't? not one bit.

If you are offended by people thinking they are dying over tiny little harmless things this might not be the place for you.

Obviously Fish has history with the poster, so I am sorry Fish if I read the wrong tone in your post. You have helped me a great deal in the past and I know many others.

[Canbud]

And that is a heap of rubbish!

Good for you if you have never thought you might be dying, or worried about dying due to some bumps in your mouth. Well done you.

I am not offended at all and I say that as someone whose children lost their father to cancer, in fact, it's a year tomorrow that he died and this week has been awful. Why the hell would I be offended that someone with HA thinks they might be dying when that is the very nature of the illness?

I read posts here all the time when he was dying of lymphoma from people worried they have lymphoma because they had an itch, or one gland was up etc. Was I offended that he was dying and we were going through hell and someone with HA was talking about dying from the same condition when they obviously weren't? not one bit.


If you are offended by people thinking they are dying over tiny little harmless things this might not be the place for you.

Obviously Fish has history with the poster, so I am sorry Fish if I read the wrong tone in your post. You have helped me a great deal in the past and I know many others.

I had Hodgkin Lymphoma. Twice. I had 15 years of getting ct scans, x-rays, etc, to ensure the cancer didn't return. I lived with that since I was in my 20's. I'm in my 50's now. That gives me a just a little bit of insight into health anxiety.

I don't believe for one minute that the poster truly believed that his/her symptoms meant that he/she was really dying--the title struck me as flip, which I objected to.

And don't ever lecture me again about where I belong.

[Hypo]

I had Hodgkin Lymphoma. Twice. I had 15 years of getting ct scans, x-rays, etc, to ensure the cancer didn't return. I lived with that since I was in my 20's. I'm in my 50's now. That gives me a just a little bit of insight into health anxiety.

I don't believe for one minute that the poster truly believed that his/her symptoms meant that he/she was really dying--the title struck me as flip, which I objected to.

And don't ever lecture me again about where I belong.

Well, I hardly lectured you. But flip remarks on dying happens here all the time, if it offends you then you are going to be offended a lot.

I also think there are two types of HA. Anxiety over a very real health condition is normal, anxiety over things like bumps in your mouth is irrational, I am sure I don't need to tell you that. I have been dealing with grief all year and so have my children, we also lost two other family members to cancer just after. I still often say to family members that I am dying because I have a mole or something. No one gets offended, they know that in that moment I am genuinely scared I am.

It might be flip but some people deal with it that way. So if you don't want me to 'lecture' you then perhaps you will think twice before calling the OP shameful? you know, as you don't like lectures and all ;)

I come here for support. If someone wants to call me shameful if I say I think I am dying during a panic attack over my health so be it, but I will defend others for being called so when I see it.

---------- Post added at 07:22 ---------- Previous post was at 07:22 ----------

And as I don't want to derail OP's thread any further I will leave that here and wish you good health as I am sorry for all you have gone through.