New here and really sad

[Labrujis23]

Hello! My name is Valeria and Im from Argentina. I'm 28 years old and have been suffering health anxiety since I was a child.
Two years ago I had a lump in my back which took me to the limit...I developed severe depression and had to start antidepressant treatment. After the lump was confirmed to be benign I felt like I had my life back.
Now I'm here cause two days ago I noticed one of my nails had a faded black vertical line on it and another nail had a similar line in the corner. I googled the symptoms and melanoma was the thing that freaked me out the most. I spent the rest of the day crying and I wasn't able to eat.
My parents and boyfriend don't take me seariously cause they know I usually overreact,but again, I'm really scared this time.
I have an appointment with a dermatologist on tuesday and I'm afraid of what she is going to say... help me! I feel so vulnerable and alone.

Thank you and sorry for my english. I'm a spanish speaker.

[Luna-Diana]

Hi Valeria,
1st off, your English is great :)

I can understand where you are coming from if you have had a potential health scare in the past! My anxiety issues started about 2yrs ago I had chest pains one day and work followed by loads of weird symptoms over a few months (numbness, dizziness, nausea). Looking back at it, it was probably burnout, but i felt so ill for so long and never found a definite cause that it freaked me out :(

I still jump to the worst case scenario sometimes when I'm not feeling well, but Google is not your friend in this case. Definitely best to get it checked out though if you are concerned. Hope everything is ok on Tuesday!

[Labrujis23]

Thank you my friend! Health anxiety and google are a fatal mix. Is like I get obssesed trying to find info that reassures me I have nothing to be worried about and all I can find is lethal cancer.
But well, I have to be patient I guess

[saf138]

Hello
I too have a dark vertical line going down my nail and I too went down the anxiety spiral when I first spotted it a year ago and guess what I did? I too googled it and all I could find was cancer this and cancer that and that particular cancer usually affects just 1 nail either the thumb nail or the big toe nail and yes it is on my left thumb nail. After a couple of visits to my doctor he referred me to a specialist who immediately told me its normal in some people to have it.

[Labrujis23]

Oh thank god you are ok! What worries me the most is that says that they are often normal in afro american but Im white as a piece of paper. Lol...maybe it's something related to my crazy hormones or my nutrition. I hope so.
Thank you again, your response makes me feel better

[saf138]

I'm also white........ Well from my mothers side at least and I dont have any African background. your imagination is running away from all rational thinking the worst mistake I ever made was looking at Google images for that particular cancer and 1 picture cropped up which was almost picture perfect to what I had and that was it I just knew it was only a matter of time but what a relief when I was told what I had was normal. I even went to the extent of comparing thumb nails with my dad and brother in law lol and my dad had the same and my bro in law had 2 lines on his thumb. Try to relax and let it go you'll be fine.

Btw I was told by my doctor if it was cancer of the nail bed it usually looks like a round black spot not a line almost like when you hit your nail with a hammer you get that black mark.

[Labrujis23]

I'm also white........ Well from my mothers side at least and I dont have any African background. your imagination is running away from all rational thinking the worst mistake I ever made was looking at Google images for that particular cancer and 1 picture cropped up which was almost picture perfect to what I had and that was it I just knew it was only a matter of time but what a relief when I was told what I had was normal. I even went to the extent of comparing thumb nails with my dad and brother in law lol and my dad had the same and my bro in law had 2 lines on his thumb. Try to relax and let it go you'll be fine.

Btw I was told by my doctor if it was cancer of the nail bed it usually looks like a round black spot not a line almost like when you hit your nail with a hammer you get that black mark.
Thank you again. I've been so sick thinking about this...I've ruined my weekend. I couldn't stop crying and feeling pathetic. I hope everything ends soon