Totally overwhelmed & anybody else have this?

[Savvy_Darling]

So last night I was triggered with esophagus cancer. Because I get that difficulty swallowing sometimes (even if I'm not anxious) like there's a lot of mucus in my throat or something. I saw something about that cancer and linked my difficulty swallowing with it and got really worked up about it. I decided to check in my mouth with the flashlight and boy was that a bad idea... I noticed these fleshy like bumps near only one side of my of mouth/tonsil area. I have no clue if they've been there and are normal and only are just noticing because I was in an already state of panic or aren't and googling lead me to the possible idea of oral cancer of some sort.. Whether toungue, tonsil or throat... I don't know.
I tried looking at my boyfriends mouth but it was hard to tell and it was hard to tell on pictures on google the exact spot too to see if other people have them. I'm attaching a link and hopefully someone will say they have something similar..
I was at the docs last month & had her look at my tonsils to see if they looked normal and she said they did (I could only hope if she noticed anything else out of the ordinary she would raise alert). Last night I kept looking at it and o had touched it once and then I felt sore in my throat slightly in that area. Now I woke up this morning with my whole throat sore and slightly painful to swallow. My boyfriend said he gave me his cold because that's how he felt a few days ago. He was coughing and blew his nose a lot but I'm not even coughing yet or having a running nose.. If anything it's a dry nose.
I'm really scared about all this.. And not my throat is sore like this is almost too crazy.. I'm so scared about oral/esophagus cancer.
I'm a girl and 21 and I don't smoke cigarettes (I hate them) but I do partake in the smoking of a different 'herb' if ya know what I mean. I also really don't drink.. Only on occasion. I just don't know what do to with myself and this sore throat has me feeling so scared it's more than a cold or virus and it's cancer. I'm now gonna wanna make an apt with my doctor and I will buy I just wanted to come here for advice and maybe the picture could help me see if other people have this or if it could be bad :(
In the pic, it's the right side tonsils you can see under them the fleshy bumps. Yes I know mouth pics aren't the most appealing. Just hoping for something to help calm me down. I'm freaked... :scared15::weep:

[Noivous]

Hi Savvy_Darling - First let me say I DON'T THINK YOU HAVE ESOPHGEAL CANCER!! Or any other cancer either. A sore throat/mucus/swallowing difficulties...everyone has/gets that. Why is anxiety always the last thing we think of instead of the first. BTW you can be anxious even when you don't think you are. Great picture btw. I have been dealing with similar problems all winter. I just had a very painful to swallow sore throat for about two weeks. It was concentrated in one isolated area just under my jawbone. Then it went away. You could always go to the doc and get it checked but you are fine. Oh yeah...no what do you mean by a different "herb"?:yahoo:

[Krayo]

Your throat looks fine to me. And you don't have any symptoms that would suggest cancer. Oral cancer scare sucks but really you have no reason to even be concerned.

[Savvy_Darling]

Noivous, thanks for the reply, I typically don't get sick often and what an odd coincidence that I could catch the same virus my boyfriend had and show symptoms right after being worked up about oral cancer. Strange to me. I guess anxiety is good at making you think up crazy scenarios... Ones I will really give into and believe too. I guess I'm gonna wait a Few days before making any apts especially since it's gonna be the weekend.

Krayo, thanks , I mean part of me definitely wants to believe I'm just letting my anxiety run wild but ya know.. There's always that what if.
I guess I put up the picture to see if anyone has anything similar to what I described because that would totally make me feel a little better.

[Noivous]

yeah go out and have some "herb" I'm gonna!

[citoyenlambda]

Esophageal cancer is incredibly rare in people under 50, and even then it takes a lifetime of untreated GERD issues (until part of your esophagus mutates into intestine-like tissue to better withstand the acid!), lots of drinking alcohol or smoking and some say lots of drinking hot liquids. Don't worry about it.

If you're so scared about oral cancer you might want to look into other means to partake of the "herb". But truthfully if you are a generally anxious person I would stay away from it for the time being. Certain strains can aggravate anxiety and even those that don't aren't that beneficial for people with mental issues.

About the tonsils, lots of people have them removed when they are young (including me). So if you can't see anything on photos, don't panic.

[Savvy_Darling]

Citoyenlambda, yeah I typically don't smoke when I'm already anxious because sometimes it will make me think too much into it than I already am.and yes you're right some strains make me more paranoid than others.. So if I know the strain I won't smoke it or I'll lightly do it so it's not that intense. I love the strains that help me not think about anything and make me happy but I don't always get that but if I could just get that than that would help me. But also, Ya in the back of my mind I wonder about smoking that making me get some type of mouth cancer , I don't do it heavily and not even once a day my boyfriend is heavier into it than I but I'll do it more on the weekends or during the week buy I wouldn't say it's heavily. Do you think I could already get it or have it from that though? I just hate that my throat is sore. BUT, my boyfriends mom just texted me to get her tea bags because her throat is sore too! So I kinda feel like okay we both woke up with a sore throat I guess that could be a good sign this could be just a virus or something. And as far as my picture goes, I can see the fleshy small bumps under my one tonsil when I flatten my tounge when it's sticking out.. And when I try to find pictures of what I have I can see their tonsils but not the area below and off to the side in my mouth where I can see the little fleshy bumps in my mouth. I guess in a he pictures they aren't flattening their toungue like I am so I can see the spot. Can you see what I'm talking about in my picture though? It's under the right tonsil on the side of my mouth like bumpy flesh. It makes me worried no one has said they have something similar and I can't find it online in google images I hope it's just part of weird mouth anatomy and not something bad. /:

[citoyenlambda]

Do you think I could already get it or have it from that though?

No. As I said, at your age the risk is so minute that if you were to get esophageal cancer, you might as well buy a Powerball ticket, see if your "luck" doesn't run out. This doesn't change because you like a spliff on the weekends.

But smoking anything, be that tobacco or weed (or crack) is bad for you after a while. You should either quit or switch to an alternate mode of consumption while you're ahead.

Also, smoking irritates the throat. This is especially true with weed smoke because it's quite harsh (and generally unfiltered).

Back to your fleshy lump, I see it. It doesn't look like something to be paranoid about, but maybe you can have it checked out all the same.

[Fishmanpa]

For what it's worth Saavy... and I've posted similar things in your previous posts.

You know I'm an oral cancer survivor. Nothing you've posted presents as oral cancer. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. You're also totally out of the demographic and have no other symptoms that would indicate it. I'm a member of two oral cancer forums. I've read and spoken to dozens of survivors and in every case, there were no real symptoms until the cancer was advanced. Most OC patients are diagnosed in Stage III or IV (I was Stage IV). When it gets to that point it's very obvious something is wrong. Your doctor didn't miss anything I assure you. If something were amiss, you would have been referred.

You had the crud. My wife and I had it for the last few weeks. You know I have a daughter your age. She suffers from anxiety and depression. She got help and is doing great. You're too young to have this monkey on your back. Please get some professional help. You deserve to be happy :) So anyway... hope that helps.

Positive thoughts