Why can't I believe my doctor ?

[natalie yog]

My doctor has told me repeatedly that I do not have a tumour, after 6 weeks I would've been even more I'll instead of feeling unbalanced and that it is my anxiety/depression that is doing this to me. Anyone else would be elated and jumping for joy to hear their doctor say this so why can't I ?
Is it because the news seems to solely focus on the mistakes doctor's make that makes me think we'll if that could happen to someone else it could easily happen to me. Is because of course in my medically uneducated mind I know better than someone e who trained for years to understand medical issues and to treat different illnesses.
Why does my brain battle against me making me think these terrifying thoughts nonstop everyday when another person would just think great I've got the all clear now it's time to get on with my life. While I'm locking myself away and putting my life and happiness on pause.

[countrygirl]

The answer is because this is health anxiety and you are thinking the way everyone with health anxiety does. Its almost as if we cannot have a single minute of a day when we are not worrying about some symptom of our bodies and if we are reassured on one symptom then sure enough another one comes along to scare us!

I have just read a book by a mostly recovered health anxiety sufferer and he said that if your symptoms/pains migrate around your body changing every few days then its almost certainly anxiety that is causing your body to experience these symptoms/pains. Even when we think we are not anxious our brain is triggering the release of chemicals that affect our physical bodies which then produce symptoms.

Alot of people think that health anxiety sufferers are worrying about non existant symptoms but this is not true we have physical symptoms and pains caused by the anxiety chemicals and its not easy for Drs to distinguish between these symptoms and symptoms produced by a disease which is why they are trained in seeing red flag symptoms.

Sometimes understanding how our brains are wired can help.

I tell myself that I could get run over by a bus tomorrow so why don't I just enjoy today - try it!

[swajj]

You answered your own question. You just think about the times you have heard about doctors making mistakes. You need to remember that those times are very infrequent. Listen to your doctor. A brain tumour would have progressed rapidly in 6 weeks. Also remember that there are other symptoms that doctors look for if a brain tumour is suspected. I actually lost a close family friend late last year. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour and passed away a few weeks after diagnosis.

[X-Cipralex User]

Hi natalie, im sorry ur feeling this way.. but hey.. i have some good news for you.. i was really in ur shoes and i have posted a thread just today. Telling my story and how i got over all this. Believe it or not u WILL get over this. If i can do it you can do it! Peace and love

Jack

[Hypo84]

Why does my brain battle against me making me think these terrifying thoughts nonstop everyday when another person would just think great I've got the all clear now it's time to get on with my life.

First you have to realize what health anxiety is...it is irrational fear that you have some serious disease. The disease itself is not important at all, since usually ppl get some benign symptoms they Google, connect it with some deadly disease and then they are afraid of that illness. Then, because of that fear more symptoms appear which reassure you that you have it. And even when you do tests and know for a fact that you are free of that disease, new benign symptoms will appear and you will connect them to another disease, since remember what I said, health anxiety is irrational fear that you HAVE serious disease. Or, in other words, you know you are dying of smth, and even if it is not brain tumor, it will be smth else...

How do you get better? Therapy, meds probably, CBT, living active life, exercising etc.

[natalie yog]

Thank you all for your replies. I spoke my doctor today and he actually had a list of book's for me to read that are meant to help me out when that nagging little voice tries to put those maddening thoughts in my head. Also he's putting me in touch with a psychiatrist which I've always been too scared to do before (my nans sister went to a psychiatrist and she ended up having electric shock treatment) so hopefully trying these new treatments might help.

[swajj]

What are the titles of the books?

[natalie yog]

They are Overcoming health anxiety by Rob Willson and David Veale, Tackling health anxiety by Helen Tyrer and An introduction to coping with health anxiety by Brenda Hogan and Charles Young.

[swajj]

Thanks I might see if I can pick up copies on ebay. I hope they help you. :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thank you all for your replies. I spoke my doctor today and he actually had a list of book's for me to read that are meant to help me out when that nagging little voice tries to put those maddening thoughts in my head. Also he's putting me in touch with a psychiatrist which I've always been too scared to do before (my nans sister went to a psychiatrist and she ended up having electric shock treatment) so hopefully trying these new treatments might help.

Is your GP giving you the list from the NHS Book Prescription Scheme? It's in the Moodzone section of NHS Choices I think.

The electro shock treatments are considered one of the last forms of treatment and usually more for depression (I think) so don't worry about that as there is a hell of a lot on the care pathway before things like that.

[natalie yog]

To tell you the truth I never asked he just recommended them to me. Is this list on the NHS website ?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, it's on here:

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/self-help-therapies.aspx

[humbug83]

A brain tumour would have progressed rapidly in 6 weeks. Also remember that there are other symptoms that doctors look for if a brain tumour is suspected.
I read a blog recently about a young man who had a brain tumour. It says he suffered from anxiety and was getting counselling. He had palpitations/fast heart rate/unsteady walking which I've had too. He also had seizures and didn't sleep which I havent had problems with. His doctor didn't diagnose him. I think his symptoms were ongoing for about a year!

[natalie yog]

Well there goes all my reassurances out the window. I think I'd rather trust my Dr who reassured me again and again and who I must have really frustrated the he'll out of with my repeated questions and even talked to me over the phone when I'm sure he had other patents who actually do have life threatening illnesses. Also my optician who told me that a couple of months ago that he checked someone's eyes and sent them to the hospital straight away because he saw an irregularity and the man found out he had a brain tumour but thoroughly checked mine and gave me the all clear plus a nice new pair of glasses.

[swajj]

Be reassured by your doctor Natalie. You have to remember that they know a lot more than we do. If the doctor suspected a brain tumour he would be looking for certain signs. You obviously don't demonstrate those signs.

Humbug you are on a health anxiety board. Just thougjt you may have needed reminding.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Natalie,

This is something to work on accepting, it's part of the challenge. We can't always get to the 100%'s as there can be those rare stories out there. You have to look at it that way and accept that such things are very rare and when they happen, they very quickly hit the media so if they were common, we would be hearing about them all the time?

BUT we are not. Thats something to use in the battle against the creeping doubts. Thats one of the statements you could find yourself writing down in CBT to counter such a thought.

Use the optician as evidence too.

[natalie yog]

It feels really frustrating that I felt very positive leaving the doctors but then you read something and it sends you crashing down back to square 1. But I will try and make sure that I trust the health professionals who have trained years to help people with their illnesses and take comfort that he wants to see me in a months time and not the next couple of days so I think that shows how life threatening he believes my symptoms are.
On a separate note my granddad went to my optician today and was sent straight away to the doctor but thankfully it wasn't serious but he has to go to the eye hospital. So I definitely know that I'll be trusting my opticians judgement on my health.

[humbug83]

Sorry everyone.

---------- Post added at 15:00 ---------- Previous post was at 14:55 ----------

I don't know where the right place to post this is but if I went to A&E what would happen? I am terrified this off balance feeling is something more than possible ear problems, I'm getting a few headaches and feel really wobbly and exhausted although I'm sleeping well. I have also been having intermittent lights in my vision. I'm just so scared and I don't know what to do.

[Gary A]

A&E would ensure you weren't going to die in the next 24 hours then promptly refer you back to your GP.

[natalie yog]

Humbug83 have you had your eyes tested recently ?

[humbug83]

Yes I've had two eye tests with different companies in the last month. Opticians said there was no cause for concern.

---------- Post added at 20:24 ---------- Previous post was at 20:20 ----------


A&E would ensure you weren't going to die in the next 24 hours then promptly refer you back to your GP.

Would they do any tests?

[Gary A]

Depends on your symptoms, but if you went up and told them you felt dizzy I'm almost certain they'd just check your BP and pulse, maybe carry out a basic neuroligical examination then tell you to see your GP. It's pretty pointless unless you are actually an emergency case.

[natalie yog]

My optician was really helpful when I voiced my concerns with my constant unbalanced feeling/ head swimming and told me when they check your eyes they can tell you a lot about your health such as diabetes, strokes, eyes cancer, tumours and more. Then when I sat down with my dr he said it was a good thing I had my eyes tested because it rules out a lot of serious illnesses and if I did have a tumour I would have plenty more symptoms than feeling unbalanced. But when I truly think about it my symptoms seem to get worse the more I think about them and for instance I went to visit my Uncle this afternoon and played with his pet pug and for one very relaxing hr I actually felt (I don't want to use this word) normal like I never had anything wrong with me. As soon as I got home where I'm alone I start feeling over anxious again and over think things again then suddenly bam I'm walking like a tricking drunken sailor.
So right now I'm laying in bed feeling like my bed is floating on water feeling sorry for myself.

[Gary A]

Brain tumour symptoms don't care whether you think about them or not. If you actually had one, you'd have these symptoms constantly. There are two areas of your brain that control balance, the cerrebellum and the brain stem. If your symptoms were being caused by a tumour in either of these areas, you'd actually be suffering vertigo or have a permanent gait disorder. Vertigo is the illusion of movement, you'd feel like either you or your surroundings were spinning violently. A gait disorder would cause you to actually struggle to gain your balance, not just have the feeling of bouncing.

These symptoms would be caused by the tumour pressing on either area. Of course, tumours don't disappear, they don't take a break, so your symptoms would be constant, regardless of whether or not you thought about them. The symptoms would also be progressive, as in they'd get worse. Tumours grow, so if these symptoms were being caused by a tumour, they'd be worse with each day that passes.

You'd also have trouble with co-ordination. The only other way a tumour can create dizziness is by your intracranial pressure being raised by the tumour. You do not have raised intracranial pressure as this would compress and enlarge the optic disc at the rear of your eyes, and this would have been easily spotted by your optician. You'd also be constantly nauseas, drowsy and have a horrific headache which would be worse when you lay down.

Your symptoms are classic of anxiety. Your adrenaline and noradrenaline levels are constantly waxing and waning, this can cause your body to feel off in a lot of ways. You will be hyperventilating more than you should, which will be messing up the balance of CO2 in your body. This, again, manifests itself with dizziness, amongst other things. Above all, though, is the worst part of anxiety, which is hyper-vigilance. You are constantly on high alert for any feelings of dizziness, so any slight variation in your body is spotted instantly by your brain, whereas at any other time you wouldn't give these feelings a second though, probably wouldn't even notice them in the first place.

You don't have a brain tumour, you have exactly zero symptoms of one and in fact, your symptoms are absolutely classic of the physical manifestations of anxiety.

[natalie yog]

Cheers for that Gary A. I meet my counciler next week to begin my sessions. I hope that this works because thinking about this everyday is tiring.

[tmckenzie-orr]

Natalie you know in reality you don't have a tumour I know how horrible it is when u believe u do have its scary and horrible but you know it's all in your mind that your focusing on so of corse ur gonna have unsual symptoms and like u said playing with the pug made ur mind focus on something else so you didn't need to focus on a silly Tumour that's not existant , hopefully your councillor will help Chanel ur mind better :)

[natalie yog]

Thanks. I really want to give it a go and I think talking to someone about my anxiety/depression and the things that happened to me in the past should really helpful me out.
So right now I'm trying to keep myself focused on some knitting (lame I know).

[GoWhiteSox]

dont let the fear of shock treatments scare you from seeing a psych doc..they would not give you that form of treatment (ect) before many, many, MANY other avenues of treatment have failed and they feel you truly need it to get better..and even if it did come to that, that form of treatment has helped people

[humbug83]

Brain tumour symptoms don't care whether you think about them or not. If you actually had one, you'd have these symptoms constantly. There are two areas of your brain that control balance, the cerrebellum and the brain stem. If your symptoms were being caused by a tumour in either of these areas, you'd actually be suffering vertigo or have a permanent gait disorder. Vertigo is the illusion of movement, you'd feel like either you or your surroundings were spinning violently. A gait disorder would cause you to actually struggle to gain your balance, not just have the feeling of bouncing.

These symptoms would be caused by the tumour pressing on either area. Of course, tumours don't disappear, they don't take a break, so your symptoms would be constant, regardless of whether or not you thought about them. The symptoms would also be progressive, as in they'd get worse. Tumours grow, so if these symptoms were being caused by a tumour, they'd be worse with each day that passes.

You'd also have trouble with co-ordination. The only other way a tumour can create dizziness is by your intracranial pressure being raised by the tumour. You do not have raised intracranial pressure as this would compress and enlarge the optic disc at the rear of your eyes, and this would have been easily spotted by your optician. You'd also be constantly nauseas, drowsy and have a horrific headache which would be worse when you lay down.

Your symptoms are classic of anxiety. Your adrenaline and noradrenaline levels are constantly waxing and waning, this can cause your body to feel off in a lot of ways. You will be hyperventilating more than you should, which will be messing up the balance of CO2 in your body. This, again, manifests itself with dizziness, amongst other things. Above all, though, is the worst part of anxiety, which is hyper-vigilance. You are constantly on high alert for any feelings of dizziness, so any slight variation in your body is spotted instantly by your brain, whereas at any other time you wouldn't give these feelings a second though, probably wouldn't even notice them in the first place.

You don't have a brain tumour, you have exactly zero symptoms of one and in fact, your symptoms are absolutely classic of the physical manifestations of anxiety.

Thank you for this post!

[ricardo]

You know Natalie that I am as bad as anyone with asking reassurance from my doctor, it goes with the illness we all have to one degree or another,but on my last visit my doctor told me that over half the people seen at the practice, have anxiety or anxiety related health problems .

What is worse is that they reckon within a short time, a third of doctors themselves will get mental health issues , which doesn't surprise me at all.