Health Anxiety Spiralling again - now regarding teenage son

[Dobbiedoo]

Have had health anxiety on and off for about 10 years. Had an awful time last year where in the space of 8 months I worried about the following:

Lumps in my neck - checked out & fine
Lumps in son's neck - checked out & fine
Breast cancer - checked out & fine
Bruising - was a side effect of Sertraline but left me worrying for ages about leukaemia despite normal bloods.
Trace blood in urine (an incidental finding) - rechecked & fine
I was also the victim of a couple of mistakes - sent for a CT scan intended for someone else in error & a Blood test that couldn't be processed and had to be repeated.

After CBT I was much better but health worries were never far from my mind and my brain would sometimes wander back to the above illnesses & I'd wonder if it was really OK.

3 months ago my anxiety started to ramp up again I went from worrying about breast cancer to bowel cancer to neck Lumps to urine issues and back to bowel cancer again before deciding I was OK.

However, 2 weeks ago I went back to worrying about my 19 year old son again. As above I had him checked last year for longstanding lymph glands (one has definitely been there 6 years) - had bloods, chest xray & ultrasound. Told all fine he's slim & glands on surface so noticeable. The other week I spotted a bump on his neck I'd not noticed before so now panicking. Then I caught sight of his bare chest (a rare sight) and noticed that one of his ribs seems to be sticking out at a weird angle. I'm not even sure it was a rib so panicking perhaps a lump (although it was rib shaped and he"s skinny). As he"s 19 I daren't say anything or ask to check his chest as he'll think I'm mad, plus don't want to scare him.

We're due to go on holiday soon and I can't focus. I also know I'll get to see his chest when we go swimming & it scares me.

Thanks for listening.

[Kitkat99]

It’s common to have one rib or one rib cage that sticks out more than the other. It can be because of bad posture (which every teenager these days probably has) causing weak muscles or just a normal thing. My left rib cage has always noticeably stuck out more than the right and can get stiff and sore but it’s nothing to worry about just how I’m built.

[Dobbiedoo]

Thank you for replying. He is very tall and stoops so maybe a factor. I only saw it for a few moments (before he told me to get out!) so I'm struggling to remember exactly what I saw, just that I wasn't sure his chest/rib cage looked normal. I also seem to have a very poor visual memory these days (would make a rubbish witness to a crime!).

He also had a chest xray 18 months ago that was normal, as well as ultrasound on his lymph nodes, a couple of which were visible and still are.

[Kitkat99]

They’re just lymph nodes, mine in my neck constantly feel raised as you said they have been checked. A boy back when I was a teenager had cancer and it was very obvious he was unwell not just “swollen lymph nodes” he couldn’t get out of bed and went from being functional to diagnosed with cancer in days.

I think it would be best if you try to stop checking your sons body over. He is 19 now and old enough to make his own decisions about whether he should be worried enough to go to the doctor. No offence and I know you and mean well as it’s normal for parents to worry and I also don’t know your relationship but if my mum kept checking me over and making me gets tests as a teenager when I felt fine I would find it a bit annoying.

[Dobbiedoo]

I know what you're saying but I worry that node (if that's what it is) wasn't there when he was checked over a year ago. I haven't said anything to him about either issue but would hope he'd speak up if he felt something was amiss but he does have high functioning autism so not convinced. However, he did ask for help when his ears were blocked recently (just had a tonne if wax removed!).

Maybe I should go back to worrying about myself or even the cat who doesn't mind being fussed. I thought I felt a lump under he chin recently until I realised it was her normal anatomy!

[Dobbiedoo]

Still worried, not least as my son has been away for a few days, due back later, and I know that I'll have resist the urge to check him once more. Part of me wants to see his neck/chest, decide it's fine & move on but what if I don't like what I see?! It'll make matters even worse! I will have to see his chest on holiday anyway and that scares me due to the above scenario.I should be preparing for said holiday instead of wasting time online but it's so hard.

Incidentally, does anyone find that once they've moved on to a new health worry, the previous ones can seem ridiculous and insignificant? Just a few weeks ago I was WORRIED SICK about foam in urine (posted on here about it). However, after a bit more research and satisfying myself I was worrying about nothing, I moved on. I'd give anything to be worrying about that right now instead of the current worry. I barely look at my wee now but if I do I and see the tiny bits of foam I was so worried about, I just don't care....