This is taking over my life

[Vet]

I have suffered from anxiety for many years but have always been able to cope with it but it's now spiralling out of control and is taking over my life.

It all started when I felt a slight numbness in my left leg and hand, straight away I thought I'd had a stroke or was having a heart attack. This I normally counter by a quick visit to the doctors who then reassures me everything is fine. This normally happens once a year. This time he sent me for blood tests , tested blood pressure etc and all was fine, low and behold the symptoms then went away.

At the same time I had what I thought was an abscess so went to the dentist. He gave me anti biotics and said if they didn't work he'd have to more investigations. This sent me into a panic and had me researching oral cancer and despite me having none of the symptons as even the lump is different had me covinced I had cancer. The lump hasn't cleared up and when I went back today he told me that he thought it could be a dead root and was going to refer me to a specialist. I asked him if it was anything to worry about and he said no but could be if I leave it. This has now convinced me that it is indeed cancer and this afternoon the numbness I was encountering came back worse than ever.

I have never felt so low and am trawling the internet all day looking up oral cancer. It's now stopping me from living my normal life and I've stopped exercising and playing golf and just sit there as I'm on holiday from work this week trawling the Internet .

What can I do to stop feeling like this it's taking over my life. I should also say that my doctor wants me to see a neurologist because of the numbness. The strange thing is that's not worrying me at all mainly because I think the numbness is in my head. It will be several weeks before I get my dental referral and really can't feel like this for the next few weeks.

Sorry for the length of this post.

[Iblametheparents]

He would have sent you to ENT if he thought it was oral cancer. He probably meant if you left it it could get infected.

[Vet]

Thanks for the reply, I know you're right , he even said the referral will take about a month whereas I read if they suspect cancer its two weeks. He even told me what he thought it was but I can't help myself thinking the worse. The more I think about the worse I feel, it's absolutely ridiculous..

[Iblametheparents]

I sympathise!
I thought I had it once when my mouth was swollen after i stabbed it with a sharp bit of pizza.
Prevention better than cure!

[ray.olsen]

Hello there my friend

I understand how you feel and I'm so sorry that you're in this predicament. I know how it is to worry about something despite all the reassurances of professional clinicians. The thing I did is work with my mindfulness and take back control of my thought away from anxiety. It's difficult but very promising. CBT worked well for me. I understand your worry and fear, but as of the moment all you can do is trust the experts. Listen to them and not to the fear inside you. You need to be patient and enduring. You can beat this.

Also no need to apologize for the long post. We appreciate every bit of information. I hope you get well soon.

[Vet]

Thanks ray, to know there are people out there that have got through this is encouraging. I also feel so guilty because I'd promised to do so much with my son this week as he's off of school and me off of work. I've done nothing with him because of how I feel. I need to use this guilt and try and beat this as its not just affecting me now it's affecting my whole family.

[Vet]

Well, I feel I have just had a great weight lifted off me. I've been stressing so much that I couldn't take it anymore and did something I never thought I'd do. I used an online dentist for advice, I had to pay but the price was well worth it.
He asked me to send a photo of the lump which wasn't easy but I did it and explained what my dentist had said and that he had referred me. In his reply he explained why the dentist had said what he said and three time said that the lump was not cancer. I'm not suggesting this works for everyone , in fact he didn't really tell me anything my dentist hadn't already said, the difference was the way he explained what it was and reassured me what it wasn't.
I think sometimes our doctors/dentists can make things worse by not taking the time to explain why they take the course of action they do.