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steelah1
03-03-19, 18:03
Hello,

New to the forum! Feel like it might be better for me to post here than some of the other health forums I've found. Am 47 years old, and have definitely had bouts w anxiety in the past, and one major episode of hypochondria about 15 years ago. Feel like I've had the anxiety under control with no medication for the most part for the last ten years or so. About three months ago, started getting odd groin sensations and dull pain, followed by frequently upset stomach and bouts w constipation and then having to go a lot! Thought, maybe I'm just being aware of things suddenly that I ignored before. Part of the reason for this is all of the symptoms tend to come and go, and unfortunately come back. I went to my doctor's office, told them what's going on, including my anxiety bouts in the past, and they had me do blood, urine, and stool labs, and x-rays. All normal. So after a few more weeks of this, they had me go in for a CT scan w contrast shake and IV. Again normal. A few more weeks, then a testicular ultrasound. Normal. More blood work showed slight hypothyroidism (which runs in my family), but follow up testing showed all three thyroid hormones normal. So I resolved to just deal w this and see how things go. Online doctor at Just answer said IBS brought on by the anxiety.

I thought "OK, didn't have anxiety before this, but whatever, try to eat better". Thought I was managing it well, then bam! A week ago my navel started bleeding, was sure I had cancer everywhere. Went to the instacare, they said it's most likely a benign cyst, sent me to a surgeon, he was pretty cool, and totally agreed w their diagnosis. Told him about the anxiety, and he didn't think much of it, but told me gallstones could be missed on a ct, and w that in my family history too, sent me in this past Friday for an ultrasound. The technician checked my gallbladder, pancreas, liver, spleen, and kidneys, and of course says "Will send this over the radiologist, he'll review and send it to the doctor, and the doctor will discuss the results w you". So of course I'm feeling everything (including brief pains) in my back and abdomen since then, and am just dreading tomorrow when I should hear back.

Have had moments of thinking all of this, including the come and go pains, are in my head, and moments where I'm sure this is it. I remind myself that 15 years ago, I was sure everything was a brain tumor, als, or some other deadly neurologic disease, and I was just suddenly paying attention to things I never had before, and feeling all of the anxiety. I'd even notice indoor lights had a halo affect, and have noticed that all the time now. But it also makes me think it's metastasized to my head lol, and that it's colorectal cancer, stomach, every other major organ now since the ultrasound. Seriously, the ping ponging is just insane. Really sucks when you have both older and smaller kids you need to be there for, cause you bounce back and forth between ruminating, then just saying screw you whatever you are, I don't care. Thinking about maybe going back to SSSD's, and any thoughts or insight would be appreciated!!

RadioGaGa
03-03-19, 20:07
steelah1

Welcome to the forums - NoMorePanic is a great place to discuss all things health anxiety related, and I'm sure you'll find it helpful.

It sounds as if you've had pretty intense anxiety for a large part of your life - what measures, if any, have you taken to combat this? Medication, CBT and the like?

IMHO, it sounds as if you're suffering from medically unexplained symptoms (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/medically-unexplained-symptoms/). To summarise, these are basically symptoms (such as your constipation, diarrhoea, vague pains) that don't have a physiological cause... in other words, there's nothing wrong with you to cause them. I didn't realise just how common "MUPS" are - according to the NHS website, about 45% of people presenting to their doctor have MUPS.

Naturally, anxiety and depression are a risk factor for MUPS.

I think you should go back to your doctor and discuss the merits of SSRI's and/or CBT. I had CBT and found it has helped my anxiety immensely, although there are still days when it can play up.

Let us know how you get on

Good luck

steelah1
04-03-19, 02:10
Thanks! Basically, I’ve told myself “whatever” w the health anxiety, ie if I die I die. Now w the nausea, “brain fog”, pain in the same spots, oncoming back pain, etc. etc. I keep feeling like they’ve missed something, which I know is classic ocd/anxiety, but something is off this time w the recurring pains. I’m hoping more than anything it’s ocd/anxiety feeding on my back issues and sciatica cause being wrong is a much better alternative! Doesn’t help that the ultrasound tech was chatty at the beginning, then didn’t say a word during the exam than to tell me to move, then tells me my doctor will call.

steelah1
04-03-19, 16:51
Ugh, no calls yet. Told my wife about the stomach issues as soon as I wake up, back pains both sides of my back, lower and middle. Groin aches. All so stupid!!

steelah1
04-03-19, 23:49
Called the doctor, he's out for the day, will call me tomorrow. Interestingly, went to play ultimate frisbee today, played HARD, lots of running! Did not feel a single thing for about four hours....then about 30 minutes ago (shortly after I called the doctor's office), I started getting brief, shock-like pains in my groin again....interesting. Figured it's a good thing to at least log stuff here, thoughts and input are always appreciated! :)

steelah1
05-03-19, 04:16
Should I be worried that the ultrasoud tech didn't say anything (other than to tell me to move) after being chatty at the beginning? Seriously! Four days now of waiting w no idea of what they saw or didn't see...

ScaredBBOY
05-03-19, 21:06
The same thing is going on with me I wouldn’t be worried about the US tech same thing happen to me I was scared for a week but when I got the call they said everything was find small polyp on my gallbladder but that’s it I’ve also had an CT scan they said showed nothing but recently my symptoms have Ben off the Wall it started with back pain in September now I have rib pain on Both sides back pain all over and my stomach feels funny all the time I’m really in a bad space right now sorry if I can’t reassure as I’m going through the same

steelah1
05-03-19, 21:16
No worries man, I really appreciate the response! It sucks waiting for test results....all the while you have days where you're sure it's anxiety, and days where you're sure it's the worst! But I'm doing much better about just coming here, and not googling stuff, so that's improvement, cuts down on the sheer terror for me!

steelah1
05-03-19, 21:48
Hang in there man!

steelah1
06-03-19, 20:43
Sooo....no update. Called the office twice, yesterday they said the doctor started to look at it, then was in clinical stuff all day, so would call tomorrow. Nothing. So awesome lol

steelah1
07-03-19, 20:48
Had to call again this morning, the person who answered apologized for sitting on things for the last three days, apparently they've had some rotation issues w receptionists. She had the doctor call me a few hours later. He said abdominal ultrasound was completely normal (which of course was shocking to me!) and said "so are we making you belly-buttonless or not?" :) The cyst I orginally went in for last week needs to be removed cause it started bleeding then, and has been causing minor problems over the last several years. Removing the navel he said will virtually guarantee I don't need to mess with that again. He also said my abdominal pain issues could most likely be caused by IBS.

All of this didn't make my issues just stop (especially the weird vision issues and groin pains), so I've decided to take a two-tiered approach. I'm going to see a gastrointerologist on Tuesday for a consult (I'm 47 and will have to get a colonscopy in 2.5 years anyway), and I'm contacting my general practitioner to get started on Zoloft or Prozac or something. Of course I'm also getting the belly-button removed, my wife said she's navel neutral. :P

steelah1
08-03-19, 18:47
Had to call again this morning, the person who answered apologized for sitting on things for the last three days, apparently they've had some rotation issues w receptionists. She had the doctor call me a few hours later. He said abdominal ultrasound was completely normal (which of course was shocking to me!) and said "so are we making you belly-buttonless or not?" The cyst I orginally went in for needs to be removed cause it started bleeding a week ago, has been causing minor problems over the last several years, and that's what I originally went in for last week. Removing the navel he said will virtually guarantee I don't need to mess with that again. He also said my abdominal pain issues could most likely be caused by IBS.

All of this didn't make my issues just stop (especially the weird vision issues and groin pains), so I've decided to take a two-tiered approach. I'm going to see a gastrointerologist on Tuesday for a consult (I'm 47 and will have to get a colonscopy in 2.5 years anyway), and I'm contacting my general practitioner to get started on Zoloft or Prozac or something. Of course I'm also getting the belly-button removed, my wife said she's navel neutral. :P

steelah1
28-03-19, 17:08
Alright, update time! My urachal cyst was removed last week, they had to go deeper than planned, so the surgeon said it was more like a hernia operation, I can't lift 15+ lbs for a month! First few days sucked, didn't like the percocet, so once the recovery pain dropped significantly on the 4th day, I quit taking it. Surgeon also said nothing interesting about the urmbilicus, cyst, or upper urachus, but he sent it off to pathology just to be safe. Normally they see calcification if there's anything to worry about, and there wasn't, I'm sure they'll call if there's a problem.

Yesterday had my colonoscopy and endoscopy, were shockingly easy, amazing how simple things are (surgery and colonscopy) when they put you under! Colonscopy they found nothing, endoscopy nothing except for stomach inflammation consistent w gastritis. This causes abdominal discomfort, a feeling of fulness, and nausea, my major complaints during this whole thing! Anyway, they took biopsies of several locations in both the colon/endoscopies, and I should get the results again next week.

I'm sure they'll come up w some sort of treatment for the gastritis, but man, it's nice to know things look boringly normal down there! Can't emphasize enough how important it is, and easy, to go get those things done. The worst part is the prep, and it sucks being on a liquid diet for a day, cleaning yourself out w the super laxatives, then a half day of fasting after that. I don't have to do the colonoscopy again for ten years, woot woot! And the endoscopy finally shows something's going on, it's not all anxiety, but it's treatable, and not life threatening.

Do yourself a favor, when you have bowel and stomach issues, get scoped, then you're finally figuring out what's going on, even if it's just something as simple as anxiety, and you can get on the road to recovery. Will update later, but thought it's important to update w good news. Too many times I see threads here w no resolution, and you never know how things play out.

Scass
28-03-19, 18:36
Glad all is ok and you’re recovering nicely.
I wasn’t given anything for my gastritis which was found by endoscopy too. Just told that I could continue with gaviscon as needed, and to take omeprazole if I felt I had to. But yes, I had the same symptoms. Still do some days.


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