View Full Version : I feel like I have cancer
About five days ago I noticed a sudden dull pain in my middle back. It feels like it is coming from the vertebrae itself rather than my muscles. The pain is mild and I don't feel the need to take medication but it definitely hurts worse when I push on that one spot. It sort of comes and goes throughout the day. Every once in a while I feel a stab and the rest of the time it is more dull.
Anyway I am terrified that it is cancer. I also have been feeling little twinges all over my skeleton and I have convinced myself that I have some type of cancer that has metastasized to my bones and is slowly eating me alive. It's true I have poor posture and lift things wrong, but I have done this all my life and have never noticed anything like this until now.
I made an appointment but can't get into the doctor until Feb 12! A long time to wait while I'm panicking. I also know that if they want to do tests/scans, I won't have the courage to go through with it. I'm so scared of the results.
I'm only 26 and I know cancer is rare for my age but it can still happen. I have so convinced myself of cancer that there is no reasoning with myself. It seems everywhere I go online I am surrounded by horrible cancer stories and it's only a matter of time before it is my turn to get the devastating diagnosis. Someone please talk me off the cliff
Sampowell542
31-01-18, 18:44
I’m going exactly what you’re going through right now and it’s horrible! I have pelvic pain and sciatica and lower back ache. I’ve convinced myself I have a tumour on my spine causing these issues!
I made a doctors appointment and he just said yes you have sciatica, back ache but it comes and goes. If it was any type of spinal cancer the pain would constantly be there. Not be there for 3 days then go for 10 type of thing.
Read a story a couple of days ago about a young lad (22 years old I think) and he had bone cancer and needed his leg amputated. I was beside myself!
I honestly think worrying about the symptoms that you’re feeling makes them worse. Distraction is the best thing. The pain you’re feeling is probably just a normal ache, which is being blown out of proportion by your worrying. You will be ok.
It seems everywhere I go online I am surrounded by horrible cancer storiesWell, you are going to the wrong places online, I don't see those stories as I'm downloading crochet patterns and reading about butterfly conservation. :D There is a serious point here, if you go looking at the sites that will trigger you, then you WILL see those types of stories.
About five days ago I noticed a sudden dull pain in my middle back.Ok, lets apply some logic here, you say you can't reason with yourself, so I'm going to show you how to; it came on suddenly, cancer doesn't just appear one morning.
I have convinced myself that I have some type of cancer that has metastasized to my bones and is slowly eating me alive.Some more logic: To be metastatic you would need to have a primary cancer which has been present for some time, and to get to the level of metastizing and get to a secondary cancer stage, you would have other symptoms of the primary cancer, which would no doubt be quite severe by now. You don't have symptoms of a primary cancer. So, after hearing this, I bet you might move onto thinking well....it could be primary bone cancer then....THAT is exceedingly extraordinarily rare with a very few cases reported each year.
I'm only 26 and I know cancer is rare for my age but it can still happen.And again: Yes, it can happen, though very rare. However, lets not start here at the most exceedingly unlikely cause of your pain, lets start at the most likely cause of what you are describing. The most likely is that it is some soft tissue damage, a pulled muscle, a strained ligament, a muscular skeletal problem. There are a whole massive set of things it could be after that, NONE of which are bone cancer. A doctor would go through these same steps to dignose, starting at the most likely and working onwards....
Now, you need to try to apply the logic I've shown you above to your situation. :D
Edited to add
Thanks so much for the replies. Even just posting about it and discussing it with people helps. My husband, mom, and siblings are getting sick of my worrying so I've moved on to internet strangers.
The reason I think it's a metastasis is that I just heard about a woman who had NO symptoms of cancer. She went to the dr for back pain and it turned out to be breast cancer metastisized to her bones. Like I said....NO signs of the primary cancer. That's what's so scary...sometimes you just don't know till it's too late!
The reason I think it's a metastasis is that I just heard about a woman who had NO symptoms of cancer.
"A" Woman. One person... I'm sure you can fine more unheard of rare instances (and so many here do) to feed your anxiety but frankly you're just finding ways to validate your irrational fears.
I'm a survivor and that's not the way cancer works.
Positive thoughts
You say she had 'no signs of the breast cancer', but I would beg to differ on that...I suspect 'she had no awareness she had breast cancer' is a more reliable statement.....if she had been doing regular breast checks and attending regular screening she would have known about the breast cancer. Breast cancer isn't one thing, there are many different variants, but each and every one of them has signs and symptoms. I'm sorry to say that in these cases where the primary breast cancer isn't know about by the patient, the signs were there but they didn't know what to look for or didn't do a monthly manual examination themselves. Anyway, at 26 years old even bc would be very unusual. You will find cases to support anything you fear, the more you look, the more you will find them in all their glorious rarity.
You really do need to follow the logical steps I talked about above, and apply them to your situation.
It's true I have poor posture and lift things wrong, but I have done this all my life and have never noticed anything like this until now.
Bound to take it's toll :shrug:
Positive thoughts
Okay something I forgot to mention. The pain seems to get worse in the evening. Bending forward really makes it worse. Otherwise movement doesn't affect it much. Could these be signs of anything, good or bad?
Thanks again for the reassurance, guys :)
Okay something I forgot to mention. The pain seems to get worse in the evening. Bending forward really makes it worse. Otherwise movement doesn't affect it much. Could these be signs of anything, good or bad?
With respect... really? I want you to look to what you're worrying about.
Your back hurts..... You've been up all day, have poor posture, lift wrong your back gets worse toward the evening and bending forward further exaggerating your already poor posture makes it hurt more.
That's what you're saying. Do you really think this is sinister?
Positive thoughts
I have back pain but use logic it is from riding my motor cycle,leaning over I get terrible pain in the middle of my lower and middle back,honestly it is your posture,but I'm no quack.:)
nomorepanic
01-02-18, 00:33
Try a hot water bottle - that is what I am doing for back pain that is caused by bad posture.
The pain seems to get worse in the evening. Bending forward really makes it worse.
Yeah, sounds like :scared15:.......da da da da (said in a shark creepy music way):scared15:....like you have a slightly hurt back( ligament, muscle or whatever) from slightly injuring yourself, or having poor posture and lifting incorrectly. Sit correctly, lift using correct protocol, rub some of that heat ibuprofen gel stuff on it and look after your back!
Thanks again everyone. I slept with a mentholated patch on my back which helped SO much. Hopefully I can keep the pain out of my mind until my doctor appointment and the doctor can end my fear once and for all!
My main symptom at the moment is just a slight lessening of appetite. I'll get halfway through a meal and either feel nauseous or just full. This is NOT normal for me. I am not overweight in the slightest but I love food and can normally eat a lot. Of course I'm sure it has to be cancer- possibly pancreatic.
I know that sounds lame to jump straight to cancer but every time I Google cancer symptoms loss of appetite is always a big one. And honestly even before I had this symptom there's always some type of symptom looming. I'll get random bruises and not know where they came from. I'll feel little twinges and pains in random spots. I feel like I must be hopelessly riddled with cancer. I don't even think I could go to the doctor to find out for sure because- what if they say yes? I'm not ready to die. I'm only 26 and I love my life.
Everywhere I look it seems like yet another person is dying of cancer. And there's so many different types of cancer that it seems impossible to get through life and dodge every single one of them. Please help.
And there's so many different types of cancer that it seems impossible to get through life and dodge every single one of them. Please help. Yep, you are right, its a risky business this living - nobody gets out alive and most people eventually will probably get a cancer of some sort. The word to look for here is EVENTUALLY, when they are old more than likely, certainly not at 26 years old! Everybody has to go eventually from something or other. However, saying all of this, at 26 years old and describing what you are describing, you aren't riddled with anything apart from extreme anxiety. You are at higher risk of developing blood pressure problems from extreme stress, than from having a cancer.
If you were to go to your doctor and say you had a slight loss of appetite - what do you think they would think ? Would they think 'ahha, cancer, definitely' or would they start at the simple likely reasons for it, like indigestion, a food intolerance, anxiety, irritable bowel.....etc etc. If doctors jumped to everything being cancer, it would not only be a ridiculous stretch on the hospital resources to check everyone, but it would be wasteful of time for the patient - as the likelihood is that they have a common reason for their symptoms.
Just a small point here, well actually a very big one - why do you jump immediately to....
I'm not ready to die. I'm only 26 and I love my life.
You do know right that cancer doesn't mean a death sentence for everyone? You do know that there are modern advance treatments and survival statistics are improving all the time for all cancer types ? You do know that...(taken from cancer research UK)
Overall, more than 50% of people diagnosed with cancer live for more than 5 years. Some cancers have survival rates of more than 90%. Cancer at an early stage does not kill you. So a lot of effort is put into early diagnosis when treatment is likely to work best.
It is a death sentence if it's pancreatic though...
ankietyjoe
25-04-18, 16:19
Any symptom can be linked to cancer if you google hard enough.
Get it checked out if you must, then stop googling.
Anxiousamyj
25-04-18, 16:24
You have to stop googling and obsessing on cancer. I was convinced I had cancer at one point. Had ultrasounds, CT scans, x Rays, blood tests, physical exams, etc... My loss of appetite started out mild, but as the anxiety ramped up, I began to lose weight because I really could not eat. I was nauseous, dizzy, had diarrhea almost daily. The only thing found to be amiss was a raging case of anxiety. I was at the ER twice, had over 20 doctor appointments from July 2017 until this past March. I started treatment for my anxiety in January. It made a world of difference. I still struggle occasionally, but am 95 percent better than I was. I gained weight back, appetite is normal and I feel like myself again. Quitting the googling was hard, but so worth it. Don't Google! All the docs I saw gave me the same advice. Get yourself into therapy and work on your issues. You will be fine.
Well, in your age group (and yes, I've just checked admittedly it was UK stats, but doubt they are much different to US)...between 2013-2015.....the highest proportion of diagnosed pancreatic cancer cases were in the 80 plus age group. In your age group, for both male and female it says 'O' cases per 100,000 people in the population.
So, I repeat...
If you were to go to your doctor and say you had a slight loss of appetite - what do you think they would think ? Would they think 'ahha, cancer, definitely' or would they start at the simple likely reasons for it, like indigestion, a food intolerance, anxiety, irritable bowel.....etc etc. If doctors jumped to everything being cancer, it would not only be a ridiculous stretch on the hospital resources to check everyone, but it would be wasteful of time for the patient - as the likelihood is that they have a common reason for their symptoms.
unsure_about_this
25-04-18, 16:51
I been on the fear of cancer for 6 years had a number of gp appointments, started when my dad was sent his kit for bowel screening (poop testing) lovely, I thought I had bowel cancer as I had bad abdominal pains, and had scans, gp thought he felt a lump in male region three years ago and turned out to be a couple of cysts.
Cancer is rare for 26 and if you are worried about your symptoms pop into see your gp/doctor you are not wasting their time
I've spent the last 3 months convinced I had bowel cancer
I wasn't bleeding but I've had a constant ache in the same place in my bowel 24/7 (which I presumed was my tumour!) then I randomly got a load of other symptoms that was like it had spread to my liver (back ache/itching etc)
I was convinced it was stage 4..I had months left to live..
I paid private because I would have been waiting 12 weeks on the NHS to even be seen let alone have a colonoscopy..I wasnt even convinced I had 12 weeks to live!
..I had my colonoscopy this afternoon ..and absolutely nothing there
Even when you've scoured the net to find plenty of evidence you have cancer...theres a very very very good chance you don't!
unsure_about_this
25-04-18, 20:28
Anom I was the same no bleeding just the ache not there 24/7 was worst at the weekend and had to dump eating chicken en croute as that trigger the pains more, was worried about my number of poops I were doing etc. I thought cancer had spread, I cannot remember how long it took to see a specialist for a camera for a sigmoidoscopy, all what was found was a small common non cancerous pouch which I could had there for years
I been to the gp again for the 2nd time in a month as I was worried about my pains in bones, she thinks it a vit d deficiency she asked me what I thought it was or concerned I said bone cancer, had my dad not gone down with me, I would have mention more, but I hate all the anxiety. having blood tests on monday should tell me more.
The only thing I have been right so far is a dental abscess did not need to be told from the xray,
Hi
This is just a courtesy reply to let you know that your thread was merged with another of your threads.
Please when posting on similar topics add it onto your previous post rather than starting a new one.
It is nothing personal it is just to make it easier for people to follow your story and to give you advice as a whole.
Elen
Anom I was the same no bleeding just the ache not there 24/7 was worst at the weekend and had to dump eating chicken en croute as that trigger the pains more, was worried about my number of poops I were doing etc. I thought cancer had spread, I cannot remember how long it took to see a specialist for a camera for a sigmoidoscopy, all what was found was a small common non cancerous pouch which I could had there for years
I been to the gp again for the 2nd time in a month as I was worried about my pains in bones, she thinks it a vit d deficiency she asked me what I thought it was or concerned I said bone cancer, had my dad not gone down with me, I would have mention more, but I hate all the anxiety. having blood tests on monday should tell me more.
The only thing I have been right so far is a dental abscess did not need to be told from the xray,
Does your pouch explain the aches and pains then?
I've been told he saw nothing..so I can't actually associate the pain to anything! weird one
Did you cancer anxieties not improve after you got the all clear on the scope?
Good luck with your GP and tests! I suppose I need to consider that route again to look at something else myself but it will be bloody months, private was refreshing if not expensive!
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