Scared to death i have pancreatitis

[paranoid-viking]

Hi there. New on the board and just jumping to my main fear.

For the last month I have has and still have a murderous fear that I have developed chronic pancreatitis.

Let me forst mention that I am a rabid hypocondriac aswell as being a cybercondriac, but this helath scare is worse than any previuos one mainly because CP is a disease it is extremely difficult to diagnose and misdiagnose does happen.

Abit about myself: 39 y/old male. From childhood i developed hearburn that got worse over the year and 10 years ago I was diagnosed with acid refux allowing med medicine that improved my condition considerably.

Now, earlier this year I had a fear that I might had developed colon cancer when I had all the major symptoms except bloody stool, weight loss and low blood and iron percentage.

Now lately I have discovered a recuring pain on my left side, not violent but annoying and uncomfortable which comes and go but; I feel, may be worse after eating. I had some pain on te back aswell, by the lower rib but it generally improved. At the moment I feel a burning discomfort at several places on the lower abdomen under the rib. My apetite is normal, I feel no nause or diarreah. Actually I have suffered more from constipation, but that is not a CP symptom is it? Stool colors are normal.
I read so much conflicting and contradictory information about pancreatitis which scares me stiff. Some says it is an uncommon disease, another that it is the second most common cause behind upper left side pain which I feel now and then. One night after some beers I felt a discomfort at that area; not unberable, but still uncomfortable. It lasted for a few minutes. I am really scared. My blood tests were normal, except for lack of vitamin D. Is that a symptom?
I am going to ultrasound next 2 weeks, but I read that damage to the pancrea is often missed. This is terrible and is destroying my social life. All information on the net leads me to the conclusion it is pancreatitis. The only factor that calms me a bit is that I am suffering from constipation which is not a typical panc symptom.

But what about acid reflux? Are those of us with that condition more vulnerable to pancreatitis?
People around me are telling me i am crazy; that they never heard of such things as pancreatitis. I never met anyone either, except one friend who had an acute atack some 10 years ago but recovered and never got it back.

Right now I feel a discomfort in the lower stomach mainly with some feeling of needles poling into various part of my upper abdomen. And I forgot; I have felt pain on my back to but that has improved the last week.
So what says?

[SLA]

The root of your issue is you have already convinced yourself you have pancreatitis.

When you do that, you actively look for evidence to back it up.

It is called Confirmation Bias (https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/confirmation_bias.htm).

I suffered with health anxiety too. It is not fun at all, I know.

But you have to stop piecing together bits of a puzzle that don't actually exist.

The best thing you can do is get the tests done, and move on with your life.

All the time you are worry about your life ending because of some random disease, YOU ARE ACTUALLY MISSING OUT ON LIFE.

Quite simply, by worrying, you are shortening the quality of life that you do actually have.

So you have to stop worrying. Otherwise you will miss out on so much quality time.

[paranoid-viking]

I know that; but....cancer symptoms are easier to get out of your systems because it is easy to detect. But repetitive discomfort in the stomach and fear of a disease that is often misdiagnosed is much more difficult to looka away from. Recently, I alsom came across a discusion on the Patient forum where a former chronic panc patients experienced discmofort in stomach 25 years after the attack after having his first beers in years and yes, they confirmed that yes; that is mild pancreatitis.
Still, the Patient Forum looks more like a echo chamber for negative people who hates doctors and everything concerning helathcare.
But at the end of the day; what could it be that is wrong? IBS or a mix of IBS and heakth anxiety and acid reflux?

[SLA]

So it is "difficult to diagnose", yet you are sure you have it. That is not logical.

Look back at all your other diseases you convinced yourself you had in the past? Were they true?

This is just another one on that list. It seems more important, but only because it is consuming all of your attention and focus.

Start focusing on something else for a while. It will soon fade.

[paranoid-viking]

I am not sure or convinced that I have it; I am scared that I have it. I look at the poosible counter arguments against it the whole time and so far the constipation and the fact that there is a few other "needle stitch" at some places that is far from the stomach and pancreas. But I must say that the information I have recieved online due to my fear has traumatized me.
You may have read my introduction post mentioning I had a irational rabies fear once; and I know that was silly; because that is a disease virtually no human gets; especially not in the West. But pancreatitis is although rare; not completely unheard of. I know one who had an acute case of it and there are some thousand cases in the UK...I think...yearly.
Anyway; I hope for the best of course.