Read something about peeing a lot, now experiencing it

[UserName20]

Hi guys. I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this with anxiety. I have an appointment next Friday because my period is all out of whack and has disappeared. Of course I am worried that it is cancer or something. I read that peeing a lot of just feeling like you have to pee a lot can be a tumor pressing on your bladder. So now this all makes sense. The past few days I have been constantly focused on how much I’m peeing and now I have a feeling like I constantly feel like I need to pee. I honestly think that it could possibly be my anxiety and my mind just focusing on my bladder area and feeling pressure. Its not like there is a lot of urine coming out as I keep running to the bathroom, it’s just a bit but I keep feeling like I need to pee. Awhile back over the summer my stomach hurt and my doctor tested my urine and told me there was an elevated white blood cell count. He gave me antibiotics and I felt better the next day, but now I’m worried he was wrong and it wasn’t actually a UTI. My anxiety is just out of contrll right now. I can’t focus on anything besides peeing and wishing that my period would show up. I just need tips on how to control my anxiety at the moment. I just feel so helpless and like this must be cancer. I explained this all to my boyfriend and he is worried too which is freaking me out anymore. I can’t wait a week to go to the doctor, I’m afraid the tumor is rapidly growing now and pressing on my bladder. I just keep thinking about not being able to grow up and finish college and marry my boyfriend someday. I’m so upset. I just keep crying. I feel like I just want to run away or go somewhere away from everything. And then I remember it’s my body, I have nowhere to run. I even had a dream that I had cancer last night.

[alwaystryin]

Hi there.

Sorry to hear about your anxiety issues. I know how you feel wanting to run/get away!

Can i ask how old you are, what issues you're having with your periods?

In the mean time the best tip is to not google your symptoms as you will 100% connect your symptom to 1/2/3/4.... type of cancer.

Having to go to the bathroom and having the urge to go to the bathroom IS a physical symptom of anxiety for sure.

Are you able to contact your doctor and ask to be seen sooner as you are suffering from anxiety and having to wait a week will make you unwell?

[UserName20]

Thank you for responding!
I am 19. A couple of years ago my period completely disappeared for 3 or 4 months but it came back. My period was a couple of weeks late last month. This month it is a week late again. I’m still a virgin so I’m definitely not pregnant. I am so terrified of cervical or ovarian cancer. Or just cancer in general. I’m terrified that she is going to give me a Pap smear on Friday. I’m terrified to tell her that I feel like I have been peeing a lot he when she will automatically assume ovarian cancer.

[alwaystryin]

I understand your fear. When you're experiencing palpable physical symptoms it's hard to rationalise.

I'm not a medical expert so cannot give you professional advice. I can say that the chance of you having either cervical or ovarian cancer is honestly extremely rare. Both abnormal bleeding caused by ovarian and cervical cancer is an increase in bleeding, bleeding between periods etc rather than lack of. I'm 38 and a year after having my son my periods went from a perfect cycle to appear anywhere between 21 and 34 days. Lasting 5 - 11 days while spotting randomly in between. I was absolutely convinced something very sinister was happening and I went to multiple doctors multiple times over the course of 2 years! I don't know what it was that finally convinced me it wasn't cancer it was hormonal or stress realated and without a word of a lie they went right back to normal. Go to the Drs, get checked for your own peace of mind but please believe me that at your age it's far more probable to be hormonal or stress or even another less serious treatable gynae condition rather than cancer. Tell her everything on your mind and ask her to refer you for some CBT which will help you build some good coping mechanisms. You're young, take the oppoutunity now to do something about your anxiety. The longer you leave it the more bad habits you pick up and they're hard to get out of!

Please try not to worry. The stress from worrying alone is enough to mess up your cycle and increase your urge to go to the bathroom.

[UserName20]

Thank you so much for replying.
You are very right, I have started to feel a bit more calm about the entire situation. I discussed my latest symptom of feeling pressure in my lower stomach and feeling like I have to pee a lot with not much coming out and she suggested that it may be a UTI. I have 6 more days until my appointment. I am just trying to focus my mind on something else. I am way behind on my homework because I just can’t even think. My mind is just constantly on this pressure feeling in my lower stomach like where my bladder would be. As soon as I read on Google that it could be a tumor pressing on my bladder I have been panicked. I’m just hoping that my period shows up. I can’t tell if the feeling is all in my mind or not. I just feel like my entire life is crashing down. I was up all morning wondering how I would break the news to my family. I am so upset thinking that I might not be able to finish out my next 3 years of college or start a life with my boyfriend. I just need to get out of the house and do something fun to distract myself.

[UserName20]

So I actually got my period yesterday, meaning it was almost exactly a week late. I am so confused. I was out all day yesterday and only felt the pressure of needing to pee when I was thinking about it, other than that t stomach just feels the normal cramps. I have my appointment Friday so now I feel a little bit better. However, the more I concentrate on thinking I need to pee I just suddenly feel like there is pressure for me to pee even if I don’t have to. I can’t tell if this is all In my head. I am in break at work from cashiering right now and my foot has felt extremely warm for part of my shift which is scaring me to. Ugh!

[Liddy1993]

I’m almost 26 and my periods were irregular up until a few years ago. You only thought about peeing a lot after you’d read about it this is 100% down to your personality. The more you focus or think about something the more hyper vigilant you are going to be about it, if you focus on your heartbeat you'll be more sensitive to it if you focus on your breathing you might struggle to breathe or swallow etc. you just said yourself the more you concentrate on it the more you feel the need to go.

[Andy699]

Not 100% the same because I'm male but I was helping my sister move house a few years ago and had to be up early. So I drank 2 cups of black coffee and kept going to the bathroom. Then the prostate cancer scare started and the more I thought about it and focused on it the more I was going to the bathroom. And just like you it was only drops of urine but I just became obsessed with prostate cancer. I'm 99% sure that if you don't focus on it that much it will stop. Much love.

[UserName20]

Thank you. I believe that it is my mind partly trying to play tricks on me. I just can’t get my mind off of it to stop feeling this pressure and like I need to pee even though I literally just did. I was starting to think it was just more so a UTI but now I’m just doubting that. My appointment is in 3 days and I am dreading it. I am so terrified that as soon as she looks down there she is going to be able to tell something is wrong. I’m a 19 year old virgin and I have heard that Pap smears are very very painful. I can’t concentrate on anything else besides feeling like I need to pee constantly and fearing the appointment. Usually when I have symptoms they go away, the fact that I have an appointment just makes this all so much more real. My boyfriend is worried and continues to ask me “you don’t think it’s serious do you?” Which is just setting me off even more. I’m on day 3 of my period and it does seem lighter and like it’s slowing down already, which it should still last a couple of more days. I have been sitting in my car for an hour now while I should be in class googling. I am absolutely driving myself mad. I’m so scared that it’s cancer and that it is too far advanced to help. Part of me can see how much over the top I must be coming off to some people who read this, but this is the most panicked I have ever felt.

[Liddy1993]

First off take a deep breath. Stop googling. If you had advanced cancer you would be incredibly sick right now and would have symptoms. This is a psychological thing regarding your bathroom use it’s like a habit you’ve picked up. Relax. Also I had my first smear done in October because in Ireland you need to be 25 to be eligible and I was so nervous I made my Mam come with me and wait outside, no need! The nurse was so friendly we talked about normal things and when I asked if it was sore she brushed over it and didn’t even feed into it. I won’t lie it’s kind of uncomfortable not sore just uncomfortable when the speculum goes in but it’s literally done in 5 seconds you’ll be so so fine. Stay off google that’s all I’ll say!