Airisto
31-07-22, 20:27
Hello, I am really hoping to get some feedback and advice on what I recently found out.
To start out, I am a very bad hypochondriac, I’ve had almost every test under the sun, never found anything wrong with me. I have no family history of cancer in my immediate family, and I’d like to think I live a decently healthy lifestyle.
A few years ago my mothers cousin passed away from Lymphoma. This prompted her to get genetic testing done, and it turns out she has a BRIP1 mutation, a year later she decided to get a full hysterectomy. She was 59 at the time and never ended up having cancer.
Well I just turned 24, and getting older brought up the fear that I might have this mutation. And I feel extremely trapped. I can’t do anything about it right now for a few reasons:
- I have no money to afford genetic testing
- I don’t have insurance
- My mother and her genetic counselor highly recommended it wait until I am around 30 to get tested, which makes sense for money reasons and I plan on doing that.
I just can’t shake the fear that something really bad will happen before then. My family rarely ever gets sick, the only family members I can think out who have developed cancer were some of my moms cousins or aunts, and they were all in their 50’s or 60’s (one of my moms aunts had BC at 40, but I was told she took a lot of hormones therapy so it was probably linked to that.)
I am trying to seek therapy for this worry, I’ve had therapy for cancer fears before but never this one, I think this one is defiantly a little more rational.
So I guess I’m asking if it is safe to do what I was advised and wait for testing at 30? Even if I have it, I won’t be recommended for anything until 45.... I’m just scared I’m cutting it close. I don’t know what else to do. I know its very bad to get hysterectomies until youre 40, I feel like I now have to live with the fear of cancer for years to come, and I hate it and I’m terrified.
To start out, I am a very bad hypochondriac, I’ve had almost every test under the sun, never found anything wrong with me. I have no family history of cancer in my immediate family, and I’d like to think I live a decently healthy lifestyle.
A few years ago my mothers cousin passed away from Lymphoma. This prompted her to get genetic testing done, and it turns out she has a BRIP1 mutation, a year later she decided to get a full hysterectomy. She was 59 at the time and never ended up having cancer.
Well I just turned 24, and getting older brought up the fear that I might have this mutation. And I feel extremely trapped. I can’t do anything about it right now for a few reasons:
- I have no money to afford genetic testing
- I don’t have insurance
- My mother and her genetic counselor highly recommended it wait until I am around 30 to get tested, which makes sense for money reasons and I plan on doing that.
I just can’t shake the fear that something really bad will happen before then. My family rarely ever gets sick, the only family members I can think out who have developed cancer were some of my moms cousins or aunts, and they were all in their 50’s or 60’s (one of my moms aunts had BC at 40, but I was told she took a lot of hormones therapy so it was probably linked to that.)
I am trying to seek therapy for this worry, I’ve had therapy for cancer fears before but never this one, I think this one is defiantly a little more rational.
So I guess I’m asking if it is safe to do what I was advised and wait for testing at 30? Even if I have it, I won’t be recommended for anything until 45.... I’m just scared I’m cutting it close. I don’t know what else to do. I know its very bad to get hysterectomies until youre 40, I feel like I now have to live with the fear of cancer for years to come, and I hate it and I’m terrified.