I thought I was getting but the anxiety is growing.

[Mav]

I'm starting to worry about myself now, for 3 nights in a row I've been laying in bed jumping at every tiny sound I hear late at night. Not only that, but I took a shower late at night last night and I was so scared to be alone downstairs in case there was a break in or something that I called my friend and put him on speaker phone...

The thing is, our house was burgled 2 years ago but I felt safe straight after the new locks were put on. I didn't even give it a second thought.

This is terrible!

My ultrasound for my lymphnode is on the 25th of april which feels like ages away :/ and I'm scared again!! I'm starting to remember and have flashbacks of old posts on lymphoma cancer forums that I read a long time ago and it's shooting lightening bolts of fear in me. Things about how their lymphnodes were spongy (just like mine is) and that it was there for ages before diagnosed (just like mine).


Someone told me if I don't sort out my health anxiety it will turn into GAD, I didn't think that was possible but I'm starting to think it is.

It is so debilitating this feeling.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

Anxiety is a disease and should be treated as such.

Time to really stop focusing on your lymph nodes and focus on your mental health and treat it.

[Mav]

Anxiety is a disease and should be treated as such.

Time to really stop focusing on your lymph nodes and focus on your mental health and treat it.

I find it difficult to let it go, especially now that I have a ultrasound coming up. If I get told everything is clear then it will be a lot easier to let it go but for now I still feel anxious.

I can't just "stop" it, atleast not permenantly. I have good and bad days, but on my worse moments the lymphnodes are a huge worry for me.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

You've had the all clear from the ENT, she couldn't even feel them, and you refused to believe it. She told you the ultrasound was for peace of mind, with an extremely unurgent referral, and that's hasn't eased your fear. I doubt the ultrasound will help you as well.

Lymph node anxiety is real and is very frustrating, both for you and other around you who insist that it is just your normal anatomy. Good days and bad days come and go but you have clear anxiety which is what I think you should focus on rather than anything else at this point. There is no shame to seeking treatment for anxiety.

[Mav]

You've had the all clear from the ENT, she couldn't even feel them, and you refused to believe it. She told you the ultrasound was for peace of mind, with an extremely unurgent referral, and that's hasn't eased your fear. I doubt the ultrasound will help you as well.

Lymph node anxiety is real and is very frustrating, both for you and other around you who insist that it is just your normal anatomy. Good days and bad days come and go but you have clear anxiety which is what I think you should focus on rather than anything else at this point. There is no shame to seeking treatment for anxiety.

It was actually an urgent referral, and wasn't for peace of mind. I believe it was because the referral had already taken so long to actually get me to the ENT so she felt like if there was a possibility of anything then it's better caught early. That's why she gave me the ultrasound, not to ease my mind but to complete the examination.

I know she said she couldn't feel it, but I can and so could my doctor. It's not tiny, it's just flat. It covers a large surface area and she touched so lightly.

I'm worried about the possibility of them finding something and although she wasn't overly concerned, she is still sending me to get the ultrasound and didn't just send me home which would have been an all clear.

It's the possibility that is frightening!

The ultrasound will help if I get given the all clear because then it will be an all clear so I can and I will put all this behind me.


I dont know why she called something that is in a few weeks an "urgent referral", I though an urgent referral would be something that is immediate. That is puzzling me.

[PASchoolSyndrome]

Ah my apologies I must have confused some of the story with someone else's.

Regardless, as we've all advised you cancerous nodes are huge and extremely noticeable. She did send you home, with an ultrasound within like, what, a month's time? If she was worried it wouldn't have been that long. That alone should be reassurance.

Urgent is within a couple of days, emergent is immediate.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Urgent referrals in the UK have a 2 week deadline. Sadly, the NHS reports that many of these aren't making the deadline, it's a service area highlighted for improvement in the areas affected across the country. It pops up in the news from time to time along with all the other problems the NHS are facing.

Anyway, they state that delays are not proven to have knock on effects to treatment of things such as cancer. That is supported by the major charities.

HA turns into GAD? Was that person aware that GAD is one of the actual disorders than overlaps into HA? And that HA is not a medical term, it's a sufferer's term that overlaps GAD and OCD, and that the Somatoform Disorders sit inside more neatly?

So, it may even be that your HA is inside GAD anyway. Whether someone with a non GAD HA element develops GAD too is less certain. But the more anxious, the more anyone can be jumping at the slightest thing but doctors will look to the main issues.

[Mav]

Urgent referrals in the UK have a 2 week deadline. Sadly, the NHS reports that many of these aren't making the deadline, it's a service area highlighted for improvement in the areas affected across the country. It pops up in the news from time to time along with all the other problems the NHS are facing.

Anyway, they state that delays are not proven to have knock on effects to treatment of things such as cancer. That is supported by the major charities.

HA turns into GAD? Was that person aware that GAD is one of the actual disorders than overlaps into HA? And that HA is not a medical term, it's a sufferer's term that overlaps GAD and OCD, and that the Somatoform Disorders sit inside more neatly?

So, it may even be that your HA is inside GAD anyway. Whether someone with a non GAD HA element develops GAD too is less certain. But the more anxious, the more anyone can be jumping at the slightest thing but doctors will look to the main issues.

I don't know but she worried me by making it sound like I could just keep getting worse and worse. Which seems true these days.

[MyNameIsTerry]

You can get worse & worse. It's learned behaviour so it's going to be harder to tackle later because it's likely you have more core belief issues that need addressing.

That doesn't mean you get comorbidity. It can just be that your original issues can intensify.

Perhaps that's all they meant? Try to help yourself now while it isn't branching out?

Either way, you can still recover in both scenarios. I started out with just GAD and later added OCD (due to a med) but I've made loads of improvement to both. It's just more complicated to tackle with them feeding off each other.

The length of time doesn't indicate this in your case, it could just be a short period. Unless it's going on for a long time, I doubt your GP will see it as anything more than a temporary spike.

[Mav]

You can get worse & worse. It's learned behaviour so it's going to be harder to tackle later because it's likely you have more core belief issues that need addressing.

That doesn't mean you get comorbidity. It can just be that your original issues can intensify.

Perhaps that's all they meant? Try to help yourself now while it isn't branching out?

Either way, you can still recover in both scenarios. I started out with just GAD and later added OCD (due to a med) but I've made loads of improvement to both. It's just more complicated to tackle with them feeding off each other.

The length of time doesn't indicate this in your case, it could just be a short period. Unless it's going on for a long time, I doubt your GP will see it as anything more than a temporary spike.

Coming up to a year now with health anxiety. The other anxities are new. I'm just having a tough time tbh, it's really frustrating.

[Fishmanpa]

It's been 5 months since you posted your fears here. I recall you saying you've been worrying 7 months prior. A year. One entire year worrying about something that frankly isn't a worry based several medical professionals. I know your ultrasound will show the same.

I also recall telling you your time and money would be better spent on therapy. Where do things stand with that?

Anyway... ~sigh~.... I have me "Told ya so!" all ready for the 26th ;)

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

Coming up to a year now with health anxiety. The other anxities are new. I'm just having a tough time tbh, it's really frustrating.

They are new, and they may soon pass. I've had my anxiety over 10 years now and in that time there have been things that come & go, some stick, some disappear. I've learned not to judge anything based on a short timeframe, even though it can be hard going at the time.

Unless you see a clear trend, consider it a blip.

Anxiety isn't quite so boxed as the labels make out. An anxiety sufferer is more sensitised than a non sufferer so it stands to reason that something that a non sufferer may experience anxiety over, may mean a more intense form of anxiety to the sufferer.

As you recover, this changes anyway. But when you are in the thick of your anxiety, triggers don't have to just be within the context of what you see as your theme alone.

Some people seem to be more obsessed inside their theme and less likely to be caught out. I've observed this in some on here but my experience of most is that anxiety can be spiked by things outside of their themes. What matters is whether anything sticks. If it doesn't, it's just anxiety temporarily latching onto something. If it sticks, then you think about whether this means your anxiety is changing into a comorbid condition or something else.

A good example of this is depression. Anxiety & depression have high co morbid rates but how many anxiety sufferers can say they live happy, sparkly lives with no low mood? It's something I find pretty ridiculous, that someone takes a daily intense kicking from anxiety yet doesn't get down about it at some point? But there is a difference between those down periods and the need for a clinical diagnosis.

How many of us on here feel low or depressed with their anxiety? Some do actually worry about a co morbid depression diagnosis but most of us just expect that it part of the game.

[Mav]

It's been 5 months since you posted your fears here. I recall you saying you've been worrying 7 months prior. A year. One entire year worrying about something that frankly isn't a worry based several medical professionals. I know your ultrasound will show the same.

I also recall telling you your time and money would be better spent on therapy. Where do things stand with that?

Anyway... ~sigh~.... I have me "Told ya so!" all ready for the 26th ;)

Positive thoughts

I sent forms off at my doctors in January, I haven't had a call back or anything which makes me quite sad.

I'm going to wait until my exams are over (june) and then go get some help myself, even if I have to pay for it. I cannot go on like this, it's ridiculous.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I sent forms off at my doctors in January, I haven't had a call back or anything which makes me quite sad.

I'm going to wait until my exams are over (june) and then go get some help myself, even if I have to pay for it. I cannot go on like this, it's ridiculous.

I think you need to give them a nudge. A referral to IAPT (are you in England or Wales) can be as little as 30 days. It took me 3 visits to my GP to get mine started, missing paperwork...:whistles:

With IAPT, you can usually self refer now. Do you know how to find your IAPT provider to check on their website? Google "IAPT NHS" and it will bring up the page with the search function on that is on NHS Choices. That tells you your provider and then you can Google them. Your local NHS trust & CCG's will have them listed, as will your local council website. Sometimes Googling "[your town] + IAPT" will retrieve them anyway but check the name against the NHS site because larger areas are split e.g. my city if north & south due to having different local trusts & CCG's.

[Fishmanpa]

I sent forms off at my doctors in January, I haven't had a call back or anything which makes me quite sad.

I'm going to wait until my exams are over (june) and then go get some help myself, even if I have to pay for it. I cannot go on like this, it's ridiculous.

I understand it can take a long time in the UK. In the meantime, even though Google is discouraged, use it for a positive and look up free CBT worksheets and courses. There's a plethora of free information. If your mindset is good, you can learn some self-help techniques. The worksheets are pretty good in laying out rational vs. irrational and actually seeing it in black and white is very helpful. During my recovery from cancer, I used some CBT techniques and I still use them to this day as they're helpful in everyday work and life situations.

Positive thoughts