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View Full Version : Please help, pancreatic worried. Absolutely terrified.



Redsoles
18-11-17, 05:53
So I’ve been triggered by something I saw on Quora (a question and answer site) where someone posted they had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and they literally had all the same symptoms as me.

Just over a year ago I had intense labour like pains under my ribs that came in waves. Lasted for about five hours and pain was relieved only by bending forward.

I’m having similar pains under left and right ribs but not as intense. I have acid issues, pain between shoulder blades, weakness and muscle aches, numbness in my fingers, toes and more recently my leg will go numb completely. I also have joint pain especially in my wrists and ankles. I have constipation and sometimes mucous in stool. Coupled with the usual fatigue, brain fog etc.

I’ve been awake all night thinking about my daughter who is 13 and leaving her motherless. I just feel like I can’t cope. I’ve been trying to tell my GP there is something wrong for two years now but she just says it’s ibs. I’ve changed my go to a different one I’ve seen a couple of times at urgent care who wasn’t dismissive.

All bloods have come back normal. Please help me, I can’t function and I’m struggling to hold it together. 😢

---------- Post added at 05:53 ---------- Previous post was at 05:46 ----------

These are my symptoms:

Excess acid
Pain under ribs, ulcer type pain
Excess gas shown on ultrasound
Feeling of something ‘there’ under left rib
Lumps on stomach, sometimes sore - lipomas?
Episodes of extreme gallbladder type pain, relieved when bending forward and lying on back
Mucous in stools sometimes.

Always hungry
Extreme itching of legs
Thinning hair
Muscle weakness and aches
Numbness in legs, fingers and toes
Weakness and pain in left arm most days

Severe joint pain, particularly wrists and ankles

Rectal pain, dull low grade ache
Tailbone pain

Back pain, lower
Soreness and pain between shoulder blades

Palpitations and feeling strange after eating sugar

Blurry vision and eye pain sometimes.

paranoid-viking
18-11-17, 18:28
Hi. There are obviously others than me caught in this violent spiral and fear of pancreatic cancer.

First one thing; Quora is one of Internets shitpits; trolls abounds and you can never verify the authentic nature of a post there.

However;
did the guy you mention claimed blurry vision as a sign of pancreatic cancer? I have been googling north and south, east and west and nver found blurry vision as a symptom for PC or any other form of cancer for that matter.

I have a lot of the same symptoms as you and I also fear that I am seentenced to pancreatic cancer. However; these symptoms are very common symptoms for many things and pancreatic cancer is the worst case scenario but not the most likely one - far from it. Have you had endescopy? You mentioned you have acid issues; so do I; and that is often a condition leading to gastritis. There may be the H pylori bacteria aswell. Having gastritis is not a death sentence but you should get a screening for it so that you can get treatment for it. That is the thing with hypocondria; we experience something scary; we google and find the worst case scenario. And when it comes to stomach issues, pancreatic cancer is THE worst case scenario. So we may mad goose chasing for reassurance we dont have it and fail to look for other causes. But you should push for endescopic testing. The odds are in your favour. Pancreatic cancer is not common, but gastric issues are.
It is not easy to deal with this horryfying fear; I know; but we must only deal with it. And please - DO NOT post or cancer forum or any other health forums asking people there if they think you have pancreatic cancer. They will NOT give you reassurance - to the contrary, you are more likely to get confirmation bias and be even more scared.

Redsoles
18-11-17, 20:47
Hi

Thanks for your reply. Don’t worry, I’m way too scared to be going onto cancer forums. I have to turn off the radio when the MacMillan adverts come on.

No, blurry vision wasn’t one of the symptoms he mentioned. I just added that as it’s something I’ve been having. It was his mention of joint pain that got me because that’s a recent issue for me.

My GP has always been dismissive and apart from the ultrasound when I had the horrendous pain in August last year, she just tells me to take up yoga. She did say that it could be an ulcer but that we don’t treat them these days anyway and just gave me ppi’s.

I’ve changed to a new GP and I have an appointment on the 27th. Until then I’ll just try and distract myself. I haven’t stopped crying all day.

---------- Post added at 20:47 ---------- Previous post was at 20:46 ----------

Also, how do I push for tests if the doctor puts it all down to anxiety?

melfish
18-11-17, 21:01
One random person on the internet (and Quora, to boot!) rattling off a list of symptoms does not mean all those symptoms are related to PC. He could have had coexisting conditions he is conflating with pancreatic symptoms. He could have been full of crap. Don't scare yourself with outlier anecdotes you find online, imo

tryingtosurvive1
21-11-17, 04:32
Just remember that Quora is the place on the internet where a larger number of people claim to have certain high IQs than is statistically possible!

paranoid-viking
21-11-17, 05:27
Just remember that Quora is the place on the internet where a larger number of people claim to have certain high IQs than is statistically possible!


A higlight on quora was a guy who claimed his brother had died of an overdose on a CANNABIS NEEDLE:lac:

tryingtosurvive1
21-11-17, 05:33
A higlight on quora was a guy who claimed his brother had died of a overdose on a CANNABIS NEEDLE:lac:

ha!

Annaboodle
21-11-17, 08:11
A higlight on quora was a guy who claimed his brother had died of an overdose on a CANNABIS NEEDLE:lac:

haha. Quality posts on there. :)