Hopeyet
29-06-16, 12:14
For months now I've had an on and off cough. I put it down to a dust allergy or something like that. A couple of weeks ago I became convinced I had lung cancer and I ended up Googling it - never a good move. I have a number of worrying symptoms.
These include tiredness and dry eyes, which I put down to having a toddler and working on the computer all day, but also clubbed nails. This can be a totally harmless genetic trait, but it's also a symptom of heart and lung disease, apparently.
I don't know what to do. I've booked an appointment at the local surgery, but it's only with nurse practitioner (who was extremely dismissive last time I went in with a concern) and it's not until next week.
EDIT:
Well, it seems I might be wrong about the clubbed nails! Viewed from the side, my finger nails have a distinct hump and a slightly downward pointing tip. I got rather worried when a diagram appeared to show this as a sign of clubbing. I've since carried out the Shamroth window test (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydbiG06D3E4) and it looks like I don't have clubbing after all.
I still want to get checked out due to the prolonged cough, but it shows just how badly health anxiety can take hold. I must have done the above test five times now and I still keep doing it to reassure myself I don't have clubbing (incidentally, if anyone reading this does, Wikipedia says it's harmless in a majority of cases).
I'm really fed up with this now. I've had varying degrees of health anxiety for nearly a decade now. Sometimes, like this morning, it can be quite a pronounced 'attack' - not quite a panic attack, but close. The rest of the time it never quite goes away, though. I'm just recovering from what appeared to be a rather nasty chest infection (possibly also explains the lingering cough!) and although it went on for weeks I didn't dare go to the doctor for fear that I would be giving in to the anxiety if I did. Thinking about it, that was bonkers. Irrespective of what was causing it, I was coughing my guts up for the best part of a month - I should have gone to the doctors if I wanted to go, rather than avoiding it.
These include tiredness and dry eyes, which I put down to having a toddler and working on the computer all day, but also clubbed nails. This can be a totally harmless genetic trait, but it's also a symptom of heart and lung disease, apparently.
I don't know what to do. I've booked an appointment at the local surgery, but it's only with nurse practitioner (who was extremely dismissive last time I went in with a concern) and it's not until next week.
EDIT:
Well, it seems I might be wrong about the clubbed nails! Viewed from the side, my finger nails have a distinct hump and a slightly downward pointing tip. I got rather worried when a diagram appeared to show this as a sign of clubbing. I've since carried out the Shamroth window test (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydbiG06D3E4) and it looks like I don't have clubbing after all.
I still want to get checked out due to the prolonged cough, but it shows just how badly health anxiety can take hold. I must have done the above test five times now and I still keep doing it to reassure myself I don't have clubbing (incidentally, if anyone reading this does, Wikipedia says it's harmless in a majority of cases).
I'm really fed up with this now. I've had varying degrees of health anxiety for nearly a decade now. Sometimes, like this morning, it can be quite a pronounced 'attack' - not quite a panic attack, but close. The rest of the time it never quite goes away, though. I'm just recovering from what appeared to be a rather nasty chest infection (possibly also explains the lingering cough!) and although it went on for weeks I didn't dare go to the doctor for fear that I would be giving in to the anxiety if I did. Thinking about it, that was bonkers. Irrespective of what was causing it, I was coughing my guts up for the best part of a month - I should have gone to the doctors if I wanted to go, rather than avoiding it.