Louise2016
31-01-17, 11:47
Well, it was good while it lasted.
I've had about a full four/five months off the extreme HA wagon I was riding. I developed HA as part of my PND after my first baby was born. My first episode happened when I found a new mole, believed I was about to die of melanoma and didn't leave the house for a week. This was in early 2014 and since then it's been an uphill battle. Good days and bad, but things were made worse by incidental findings on a scan (harmless ones, apparently) I had as part of 'need for reassurance' which I paid privately for and continue to do so every 6 months to monitor them (even though I am assured this is unnecessary).
I have a specific fear about breast cancer as my Grandmother had it. I have scans every six months to a year, again, of my own volition and funding, to check on things, my last was in July.
Fast forward to last week, and I noticed one breast felt firmer than usual. I have spent hours since then checking it, looking at old photographs of my mole mapping to compare shape/size/changes of that breast and I can see it's swollen. I have since spent hours on google diagnosing Inflammatory Breast Cancer and am now at my wits end. I have an appointment with my GP tomorrow morning but life today feels on hold. I have two small, very young children. I feel so frightened. My husband, yet again, is calm and collected and rational, but I am losing control today and need some help.
I have had counselling for the PND but CBT was not part of the offered programme and I think that will help me. Does anyone have any simple exercises they can suggest so I can try and calm down? I am a wreck at the moment and so desperately want to escape the grip this HA has on me. I am prescribed sertraline but when I get like this that doesn't make much difference.
Any help would be so gratefully received.
I've had about a full four/five months off the extreme HA wagon I was riding. I developed HA as part of my PND after my first baby was born. My first episode happened when I found a new mole, believed I was about to die of melanoma and didn't leave the house for a week. This was in early 2014 and since then it's been an uphill battle. Good days and bad, but things were made worse by incidental findings on a scan (harmless ones, apparently) I had as part of 'need for reassurance' which I paid privately for and continue to do so every 6 months to monitor them (even though I am assured this is unnecessary).
I have a specific fear about breast cancer as my Grandmother had it. I have scans every six months to a year, again, of my own volition and funding, to check on things, my last was in July.
Fast forward to last week, and I noticed one breast felt firmer than usual. I have spent hours since then checking it, looking at old photographs of my mole mapping to compare shape/size/changes of that breast and I can see it's swollen. I have since spent hours on google diagnosing Inflammatory Breast Cancer and am now at my wits end. I have an appointment with my GP tomorrow morning but life today feels on hold. I have two small, very young children. I feel so frightened. My husband, yet again, is calm and collected and rational, but I am losing control today and need some help.
I have had counselling for the PND but CBT was not part of the offered programme and I think that will help me. Does anyone have any simple exercises they can suggest so I can try and calm down? I am a wreck at the moment and so desperately want to escape the grip this HA has on me. I am prescribed sertraline but when I get like this that doesn't make much difference.
Any help would be so gratefully received.