Hoarse voice, fatigue, back pain - convinced it's lung cancer

[Krypt0night]

I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago because I was tired, had phlegm in throat/constant clearing voice, and a hoarse voice. Around this time, my back pain got worse (I have a prior back issue but this has felt different) as well but I ignored that never thinking it could be connected. I got put on antibiotics for 10 days which did nothing.

On researching my symptoms today, I found an article about a healthy guy who had a hoarse voice and back pain and it was stage 4 lung cancer. The guy was only in his 30s like me, super healthy otherwise, and apparently the tumor grew within a single month to the point it got to stage 4.

I was already worried about throat cancer or something, but now reading an actual story of someone with my symptoms and especially the back pain as well, I'm on the edge of losing it completely. I'm going to make an appointment for as soon as I can next week or the week after, but that's gonna be days away and I don't know how to pretend I didn't just read what I did.

[Krypt0night]

I went to the doctor 2 weeks ago because I was very fatigued, had phlegm in throat/constant clearing it, and a hoarse voice. Around this time, my back pain got worse (I have a prior back issue but this has felt different) as well but I ignored that never thinking it could be connected. I got put on antibiotics for 10 days which did nothing.

I found an article about a healthy guy who had a hoarse voice and back pain and it was stage 4 lung cancer which has obviously started worrying me.

Going to make an ent and/or doctor appointment as soon as I can next week, but hoping others have dealt with this too.

Voice is just as hoarse or hoarser as it has been for weeks now. Not really a sore throat but slightly here and there sometimes. Clearing throat/phlegm is slightly less than it was. Back pain is worse and different than I've dealt with before. Fatigue is still there - I never nap but have 3 times in the past 2 weeks.

[Carnation]

Try honey and lemon and see if it has any effect.
Also a warm salt gargle (don't swallow).
Lots of people get phlegm including me and especially first thing in the morning.
If you are concerned then speak to your doctor.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

Hi there...

The catarrh and hoarse throat could be as simple as silent reflux, I definitely know that can cause it, the doctor told me so when I was experiencing the same as you....the antibiotics didn’t work because it’s not bacterial....

You said you found an article, so you mean you went looking for something...BIG Mistake....the article probably was made up or exaggerated and now you have got yourself worked up over something you never even thought of before....

Your back pain is probably the same as before, except now your brain is interpreting as something different and your connecting everything together, 2 + 2 doesn’t make 5.....

As for the fatigue, everyone gets that for one reason or another but when you add anxiety to the mix it gets a lot worse, if I went to the dr every time I felt fatigued and had a nap, I’d be there most days...lol.....

Don’t read to much into an article you don’t know anything about or even 100% true.....even if it was true what happened to that guy would be so rare, there are loads more reasons for your symptoms that are not serious and are more common...your dr wasn’t concerned...

[venusbluejeans]

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.

Emmz

[Carnation]

Some good points YNWA. I suffer with reflux, get the hoarse throat, sore throat, catarrh and phlegm.

[Krypt0night]

Thanks yeah really the fatigue is one of the most concerning parts for me just because I literally can't nap unless I'm sick and I've been napping a ton the last few weeks and still feel wiped. So alongside the other symptoms, I know there's SOMETHING going on for sure.

Just frustrated that I got put on antibiotics that likely just made it worse and then the article I found (which I know I shouldn't have looked for, but it was just 100% symptoms I was experiencing but I had even more than they did so it's been hard for me just to ignore it).

Also have had other symptoms a couple months back like coughing up super gross phlegm and some blood was in it. I didn't let my HA get to me then, but now I'm looking back on it wondering if that was just the start of this.

[Krypt0night]

I definitely do have issues with acid reflux and have been seen for it before, but never to the point it's given me a hoarse voice for over 3 weeks or made me fatigued. The phlegm with acid reflux though I have had before, yeah.

[Carnation]

A little blood is not a worry especially if you've been coughing hard. If the Dr gave you antibiotics then they were thinking infection. Probably a chest infection. Do you tell the doctor what you've mentioned on here?

[Krypt0night]

I did and even showed them pics of the phlegm I've coughed up cuz sometimes there's like, hard scab like phlegm pieces which is new. Thing is, had to go to a different doctor and felt super not listened to. For my next appointment I make, I'm absolutely going to my normal one. I just couldn't because he was out for a week. But he listens about all my fears so I'm definitely going to bring up everything here for sure like lung cancer worries and whatnot, but I didn't have those fears at my last appointment so couldn't bring it up.

Thing about the blood is there was 0 coughing beforehand. It's just a sudden feeling I had to like hock something up. I did and it was this super like massive, sticky, stretchy, phlegm with blood in it. Only been once with blood but I've coughed up similar hard pieces about 5 times since then.

Just been 3-4 weeks of being sick so far and it's definitely getting to me. And each day I wake up feeling the same, the more I get worried. I'd think there'd be SOME progress after so long. Don't know if I've ever been sick this long before.

[Carnation]

A chest infection can last for weeks.
Your usual doctor will be better, hopefully can put your mind at rest.

[Krypt0night]

Thanks, I hope that's all it is and I guess is viral since antibiotics didn't work. I'll hopefully get into the doctor this week. May push for a chest/lung x ray for peace of mind.

[Krypt0night]

Welp, my doctor can't actually see me for 3 weeks at the soonest so now I'm worried again. Back pain is still super bad, and voice is still hoarse. Those are the two biggest symptoms that have stayed the same or gotten worse over the last few weeks. Having to wait this long is going to be extremely difficult, especially being so "certain" that what I have is extremely time sensitive like cancer.

[Carnation]

How are you feeling today? Can you see another doctor while you wait for your regular one?

[Krypt0night]

Thanks for checking in. Every symptom is still the same - I just wish one of them would get even 1% better noticeably so I could tell myself "Okay, the fact it got better, means it's likely not cancer" but no such luck. My back is just terrible. If I'm trying to use logic and not let my health anxiety win, I'm wondering whether IF it is a chest infection then maybe my whole like ribs and stuff are just inflamed and that's affecting my spine? No clue, but it's pretty bad.

Voice is still just as gruff as well.

I did make another appointment thankfully, though it's with the doctor I saw last time and I really didn't feel heard/given the time, not to mention she gave me the antibiotics which I took for 10 days and did nothing, so I don't really have the biggest trust in her at the moment. But I'm just hoping maybe she can refer me to get some tests or something to ease my mind. Would love a chest/back scan or something just to rule stuff out and feel slightly better. Or even a scope for throat to figure out if it's caused by actual throat issues or from lungs or something else. Appointment is tomorrow, so fingers crossed something comes of it.

[Carnation]

It could well be a chest infection. Good luck for tomorrow.

[Krypt0night]

It could well be a chest infection. Good luck for tomorrow.

Will update after appointment though I know my anxiety is going to be bad until I can finally get tests or something which may still be weeks away.

Voice is still hoarse - 3 weeks now which is what online always says is the problematic amount of time, still phlegm in throat, and my back pain is terrible and not getting better whatsoever. It's never lasted this long before or been this bad - usually a back brace or heat/ice and stuff help and nothing is this time, which is just fueling my anxiety further that lung cancer spread and is in my bones as back pain/voice hoarseness are a common combo with it once it's progressed. And usually, the beginning of lung cancer doesn't have any symptoms at all, it just hits you once it's progressed.

If it'd woken up once so far feeling like my voice was getting slightly better or back was, I'd feel some sense of relief and be able to calm down some, but the fact it's staying steady for three weeks now is extremely worrying. That's my biggest issue right now. Whenever my HA has flared up in the past, it's never had to last this long because after a week or two or something, I can go "Oh, that symptom is actually not as bad anymore." This is the first time I can't rely on that.

[Carnation]

3 weeks is a while but not for a chest infection.
I hope you can manage your anxiety until you see your doctor. Keep positive.

[Krypt0night]

I was put on another medication for acid reflux, but that did nothing so I got a referral to an ENT. Unfortunately, that's still weeks out.

My back pain has gotten slightly better so I'm less worried about that at the moment, but there hasn't been a single moment where my voice has not been hoarse in a month now. And though I was worried about lung cancer before (due to back pain), I realize I should have been just as worried about throat/laryngeal cancer. Seems like hoarse voice is an incredibly common symptom for that as well.

I've just NEVER had a hoarse voice for this long before. Maybe a week at most if not just a few days. The fact I had quite a bit of fatigue and whatnot just adds to my worries that this isn't just allergies - I've never had bad enough allergies or when I do, one pill and I'm fine. This is so different than ever before and each day that goes on that my voice is still hoarse, the more worried I get and the more right I feel about it being something serious.

[Hypo84]

I've had hoarse voice for 3-4 months this last winter. During that time I also had a phlegm in my lungs and for the first time in my life pretty much I was coughing green phlegm. Usually this thing comes from my nose, but this was definitely from the cough. Several times I actually had specs of blood in the phlegm (fresh blood).

Cough lasted for like 3-4 months, on and off. Voice was hoarsed for 2-3 months at least. Phlegm was on/off. And when I had it, it was green with occasional blood specs. Blood was caused by burst capillary due to cough straining.

What was the cause, I will never know. It started with some virus in November, but did I later have some new viruses + dry air, + something else, I don't know.

And yeah, towards the end I also had a back pain as well, as I obviously injured my back in gym (although back then I didn't believe that was possible as I've never injured my back before and the pain was in mid back, not lower back which are usually injured).

I've found that article as well. Just don't Google. Everything is possible. You can get hit by a car today and die. Online, you will just find some very rare stories because that is what attracts clicks. Catastrophic things. You don't see that 10000x more people had the same symptoms and it turned out to be nothing.

And if you are going to say, yeah, but it is possible...Almost everything is pretty much possible. You could die from brain aneurysm tomorrow. If you didn't do MRI recently you could have it. Should you be afraid of that? Of course not. We have to deal with probabilities in life as almost nothing is 100% certain, other than we will all die, eventually.

So all of that self talk that, yeah, but it's possible that I am very sick right now is useless as it's also possible that you die in a plane crash next time you fly, but you are probably not afraid of that.

[Krypt0night]

Thanks for that hypo. And yeah anything is possible and it's hard to keep those thoughts at bay - especially because the unlikely ones DO happen to people. But you're right, trying not to focus on all that is the right way to go about things, so much as the brain allows me at some point.

All my symptoms are still there, and I've even gained a new one which is an incredibly itchy hand/palm that gets worse at nighttime and has made sleep incredibly difficult. Not sure if it's due to the new med the doctor put me on or has nothing to do with it, but it's been rough.

Voice is still hoarse, still phlegm in throat, some chest and back pain/discomfort - I finally go to the ENT next Wednesday so I'm hoping to get some answers there. I'm just so tired of feeling....like this. And definitely worried as well because I've never felt like this, but I'm just so incredible tired and over all these symptoms. I just want to feel normal again.

[Carnation]

Let us know how you get on.

[ErinKC]

Hi Krypto - Honestly all your symptoms really do sound like reflux plus the tiredness that comes with long-term anxiety. I have a horse voice almost all the time from my reflux and when the reflux gets really bad I can feel it in my back. When it gets like this I take pepcid for a few days and it usually calms it down. I'm currently clearing my voice because of the phlegm. Anxiety also increases all of these things. The antibiotics likely didn't help because it can mess up your stomach. Maybe try a probiotic to get your stomach back in order and then something like pepcid to see if it helps with the throat stuff. Cut out acidy foods. Good luck at the doctor!

[Krypt0night]

Thanks, Erin. I do think some of it is some sort of reflux for sure. My worry is that there seems to be tooo many symptoms. I don't know what's going on, but my body just keeps throwing new ones at me.

For example, I still have the hoarse voice/clearing throat throughout the day, and some form of chest tightness/soreness when breathing in deep. On top of that, my back pain got worse this weekend than it's ever been before, and I've been dealing with a super sore jaw as well for multiple days.

Hoping for SOME answers regarding throat and stuff from the ENT on Wednesday, I just worry because...NOTHING has gotten better. Not even a bit. Everything that was affecting me over a month ago now is still there BUT now there's even more stuff going on now too. I'd be able to feel so much better if some stuff had gotten better, but everything seems to be staying the same OR progressing and that's the scariest part right now. Logically if any single part of it had gotten better over the last 4-6 weeks, I'd be able to tell myself "Hey, part of it got better, so focus on that" but I can't do that. It's just constant stuff sticking around and new stuff popping up.

And I just don't understand how or why this is happening. It's so exhausting not just dealing with the thoughts of stuff like lung cancer, but legitimately dealing with so many physical issues for this long. I just want to feel healthy again.

[Krypt0night]

Small update and unfortunately not one with enough forward movement on all this. I got my throat scoped through my nose at the ENT and they didn't see anything on my vocal cords. So that's good in a way...but bad as well. It would have been nice to be told "Oh there's a little something, we'll fix that easy" but as it is now, I'm basically just being asked to use Flonase for two weeks before doing a CT scan of my sinuses or anything around there.

I just feel deflated that it's been 6 weeks of this and I'm basically no closer to figuring out what is going on, still worried about lung cancer, dealing with new symptoms like the jaw pain I mentioned that started last week, and I'm not even on actual medication, but just over the counter basic stuff. I was just really hoping for SOME peace of mind today. Instead, I'm still searching for answers.