Cancer fears

[KBeans]

Hi there,

So i'm literally mess at the moment with health anxiety. I've been having some very worrying symptoms and all i can think about is cervical cancer!

I went to the doctors last Thursday after suffering lower back pain for about a month, then I started feeling under the weather. He said it was just muscle related. So I went back the next day and saw a different doctor who diagnosed me with a UTI and put me on antibiotics. That night I had some irregular bleeding which has continued since.

After 4 days on the antibiotics I didn't feel any better and was really freaking out so went to Accident and Emergency where they took blood and urine. Said blood and urine were clear. Felt my stomach and back and said they think it's ovarian cysts and sent off for a transvaginal ultrasound which i'll have within the month. Whilst i was there I started getting blood clots in my urine.

The next day I was such a mess, thinking about waiting a month for this scan, that I went back to a&e but this time the doc was very stern, said they can't do the scan quicker and that it was probably muscular after all!

So went back to the doc yesterday morning, she can't hurry the scan, says that it probably isn't anything to worry about but today i've got bleeding and blood clots in my urine again plus the back pain.

I really don't know how to relax about this, all these symptoms fit cervical cancer (thanks the dreaded Dr Google!). I did have a MRI for tailbone pain last summer but they didn't see anything.

The Doctor in A&E suggested I go to the local sexual health clinic to check for any other infections so i'm trying to go this morning but don't know how i'll get there as the idea of walking anywhere is terrifying me.

I literally have stopped living. I'm off work and I can't function, I can't eat and i'm scared of going to sleep in case I die. I'm scared to go outside in case I drop dead and i'm scared that if I wait even a week for this scan i'll be too far gone :(

Any words of advice/kind words would be much appreciated. I just feel so isolated and like i'm truly losing my mind and it'd be great to talk to anyone who suffers like I do.

Thanks for reading!

[Anne1989]

Hi KBeans,

Our bodies do some really strange stuff sometimes. Firstly, the blood can be coming from your urine or your vagina, so it might seem scary because you aren't sure where it is coming from. If it came from your urine, it would have likely been caught in the urine test. Which means it is probably coming from your vagina.

Women can often spot when we are under stress, or just because our bodies do that. It happens to me ALL THE TIME. If you go to the clinic and get STD's you can at least eliminate those (and most are very easy to treat anyways).

The chances of this being cervical cancer are really low, particularly if your doctors weren't even worried about it. When was your last pap smear? The clinic might be able to do one for you, which would help you know if something was going on. I would try not to worry, as that usually makes things for me even worse if I get stressed out. I really do not think it is anything you need to be losing sleep over, and the doctors will be able to sort it out.

[KBeans]

Thanks Anne, i'm feeling much better now as I went to the sexual health clinic as advised by the Dr and they did urine, a swab and a smear test and all was clear, in fact she said I have a perfect, healthy cervix!

Now of course i'm switching my worries onto other things as I still have the back pain and i'm headachey again like I have been.

Thinking of going to CBT, had it when I was a teenager and it really helped, but not sure I can afford it. Do you have any experience of therapy for health anxiety?

Thanks again for responding :)