Red, lump thing on top of foot?

[UserName20]

I’m so frustrated. I’ve just been having so many symptoms and weird things with my body lately. I’ve been to a doctor for period problems and peeing a lot and fatigue, I had a CBC blood test and a urinalysis and all came back okay a few weeks ago. The other day I noticed a red mark on my foot. I asked my mom what she thought it was and she told me it just looked like a red mark. Then I felt it a few days ago and it feels like a hard bone underneath it. I freaked out and had my mom feel it and she is just annoyed with my constant dr visits at this point and told me “it’s fine” and “I don’t even feel anything.” However I definitely know there is a lump under it. I had my boyfriend feel it and he told me it feels like a bone. Exactly. But it’s not and the area on top of it is red and isn’t causing me any pain. I’m so panicky and just constantly keep touching it. I’m a freshmen in college and besides a part time jobs I pay for my school I am still completely dependent on my parents and their insurance. What should I do??? Nobody is taking me seriously anymore

[cofo]

try to relax. whatever is on your foot is NOT an emergency. It's probably just where you knocked it, or a shoe rubbed it, or you dropped something on it, or something like that, that you don't even know you did. it is not anything urgent. so, in this case, since it is NOT life threatening, you have to try to get out of the loop of worrying about it.
one thing that works is to put off the worry, short term and long term. for short term, when you start to want to check it or worry about it, stop, don't do it, and tell yourself that you will worry about it at such and such time. when that time comes, you can check it, think about it, etc, for 15 minutes. then you have to put it off again. challenge yourself and see if you can go longer and longer.
long term is better. sometimes you can skip the short term and just do long term. a general rule of thumb that my doctor told me is to give something like that 2 weeks. if it's not better in 2 weeks, you can visit your doctor. if it gets worse, you can revisit it.

you need to stop the loop. i've been there. sorry you are going thru this.

[NervUs]

Why don't you give it a month to see if it goes down or goes away? There is no reason to jump to panic or catastrophe 1-2 days after finding a bump. We get them all the time.

[UserName20]

Thank you guys. I am just so freaked out. It just looks like a red lump on the top of my foot but it feels like a small bone lump. It doesn’t feel fluid filled at all. The more I touch it it gets red but it isn’t painful or anything which has me freaked out. I googled and I’m seeing a lot of things about ganglion cysts coming up and that they are common in wrists and on the top of a foot. But it’s not soft it feels hard?? I know my mom will be upset at me for making another doctors appointment but I am so freaked out! I can’t get a break. And I am so embarrassed. My boyfriend and friends must all think that I am nuts. I just go from one extreme to the next and I always tell them “this time this is it.” I feel like anyone should be worried about a lump though. Or I guess I can do what my family is telling me and just ignore it and hope it isn’t fatal. I’m so tired of living in constant fear and worry and never having this cycle end. If this turns out to be nothing I know there will be something else right behind it to worry about..

[wilky44]

Thank you guys. I am just so freaked out. It just looks like a red lump on the top of my foot but it feels like a small bone lump. It doesn’t feel fluid filled at all. The more I touch it it gets red but it isn’t painful or anything which has me freaked out. I googled and I’m seeing a lot of things about ganglion cysts coming up and that they are common in wrists and on the top of a foot. But it’s not soft it feels hard?? I know my mom will be upset at me for making another doctors appointment but I am so freaked out! I can’t get a break. And I am so embarrassed. My boyfriend and friends must all think that I am nuts. I just go from one extreme to the next and I always tell them “this time this is it.” I feel like anyone should be worried about a lump though. Or I guess I can do what my family is telling me and just ignore it and hope it isn’t fatal. I’m so tired of living in constant fear and worry and never having this cycle end. If this turns out to be nothing I know there will be something else right behind it to worry about..

It's a bone spur. Very common and completely harmless. I have one in exactly the same place

[Fishmanpa]

It's a bone spur. Very common and completely harmless. I have one in exactly the same place

Gets you out of serving in the military too ;)

Positive thoughts

[wilky44]

In too old, not to mention falling apart, for the military now!!

[UserName20]

I looked up bone spur and it does look like it could be one but it just showed up so fast. My foot isn’t in pain or anything at all either which freaks me out. It’s like sometimes I can hardly feel the lump but then other times I can feel it a lot more clearly. It’s rock hard and feels like bone and when looking at my foot you can see a small bump where it is. I’m just going to try and go to the doctor off of my parents insurance. My parents are very annoyed at my constant doctor visits and I guess I have costed them a lot of money lately but this time something. Must be really wrong

[KK77]

Lumps and bumps do sometimes appear suddenly, especially on feet due to shoes etc. They also tend to disappear quickly if left alone ;)

[UserName20]

It has been there that I have noticed for a couple of weeks now. I dont really often see my feet as I often have had socks on, my foot isn't in pain or anything to where I would have checked. It's just this circular red area with a hard bump under it. At first my mom told me that she hadn't felt anything, but now she agrees that she feels something too but that she isn't really worried about it. I continue to ask her if I can make another doctor appointment but she keeps telling me no. Since I am on her insurance and just graduated high school I don't have much money of my own to be able to spend for an appointment or anything else they want to do. SHe told me that "we will keep an eye on it." as if that is a comfort to me. The thing is is that I cannot focus on anything else. I can't go 30 minutes without reaching to my foot and feeling it, each time I magically hope it would have disappeared. Nobody else wants to hear me freaking out about another cancer scare, but a lump is a lump and it's definitely not just in my head. I know I was just at the doctor a month ago getting blood drawn for my thyroid and a CBC blood test and everything came back fine. I was thinking I had cancer then too. I know there are more practical answers besides bone cancer like a ganglion cyst or a bone spur, but in my mind I just keep thinking it must be cancer. I cannot think about anything else. Nothing I can try to do fun will distract me from whatever this is. I just keep wondering if I'm going to be able to finish college or get married someday if it turns out to be cancer.

[cofo]

hi. you are so young. i have a son almost your age. if you have a good family situation with your mother, i think you need to trust her. if i told my son that i would keep an eye on something, then he would not worry about it at all. he would know that i love him more than anything, and if i thought something needed attention, we would take care of it. i think your mother is trying to keep you from having this HA beast drag you down. Do you have this type of relationship with your mom? I'm sure she loves you just as much as I love my son.

i would like for you to let this go. if it gives you any peace of mind, i did have cancer(15 years ago), and when they did my PET scan to see if it had spread to any other part of my body, they didn't even scan below my knees. i actually asked why. and they said it would not show up below the knee. they didn't even look at my feet. this lump is not cancer or anything sinister. it may still be a lump, bone spur, who knows, but it is not cancer.

please talk to your mom about therapy. i hate to see you live this life. i wish i could go back to your age, when i had not one care in the world.

[UserName20]

I’m in my first year of college after just graduating high school so I am still on my parents insurance. I have went to the doctor several times in the past few months and I know the bills have added up for my parents. I am in school full time and working after school to pay for my tuition. I have a red, hard, painless lump on the top of my foot and it’s been there a few weeks now and showing no signs of going away. I know that this isn’t my health anxiety this time causing self made symptoms. I have told my parents and been telling them I should make an appointment but they kee telling me no and yelling at me that I have costed them a ton of money lately and that nothing is ever wrong. I have a couple of checks from my job that I am about to just put towards an appointment so they don’t know. I just feel so hopeless, I cannot stop crying because I am so terrified this is cancer. If the doctor orders an MRI or an x-ray I’m not sure I would be able to hide that from them, I feel like the bills would be too expensive for me to try to pay for without their insurance. I’m 19 so I am adult, but I am still very reliant on my parents as I am in school. I guess I am just venting. I’m just hysterical right now with worry and I thought ignoring it as my parents suggested would help but I can’t keep my mind off of it.

[Fishmanpa]

Perhaps if you asked them for professional help with the illness you do have would meet with a more positive reaction. I don't doubt there's a bump on your foot but your reaction to it is a wee bit out of proportion.

Positive thoughts

[BlueIris]

Agreed, feet are naturally bumpy. Maybe if you have a chat with your parents and ask them for help managing your health anxiety at the same time, they might be a little more sympathetic.

[UserName20]

Thank you guys. Unfortunately my parents do not see it as anxiety, they think I am just over dramatic. My sister sees someone for anxiety and I have tried to bring it up with my pediatrician before to see if he could refer me somewhere. However, I am not good at really discussing my feelings out loud and he must think I am joking because he just laughs or ignores it when I tell him I cannot stop worrying about health things.

[Ben1989]

Start meditating. It's free and very beneficial

[nomorepanic]

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.

[UserName20]

I went to the doctor and paid for my appointment. The doctor and the nurse both looked at me like I was crazy and the doctor said if there is a lump it’s barely there and he thinks bone is just more prominent there. He told me “let’s just call this one a callus.” And then as he was walking out said I may want to make a separate appointment about anxiety. Yet I am still worried he didn’t feel it right. I think I will make an appointment for anxiety though. Maybe this was the opening I needed.