Breast cancer again

[LeeBee]

I've posted about this before and sensible people like Trixie have told me to stop worrying about it, I know they're right, I know I shouldn't but it's just stuck in my head today and I can't get it out.

I'm convinced that I'm going to get breast cancer. The media (and I work in the media, I know how they hype stuff up) has been full lately of how not having kids is pretty much a sure-fire way for a woman to get breast cancer. Kylie Minogue and Christina Applegate are both around my age, haven't had kids and have both had breast cancer. Wendy Richard never had kids and is dying of it. What can I do to reduce my risk, other than have kids, which I would really, really like to do (not just to reduce my breast cancer risk!!) but don't have the opportunity? Go on the pill? I've never been on the pill. I know it's so, so silly but I just can't stop thinking about it. How can I stop these stupid thoughts? I just know that I'm going to find a lump any day now.

[Trixie]

I've posted about this before and sensible people like Trixie have told me to stop worrying about it, I know they're right, I know I shouldn't but it's just stuck in my head today and I can't get it out.

I'm convinced that I'm going to get breast cancer. The media (and I work in the media, I know how they hype stuff up) has been full lately of how not having kids is pretty much a sure-fire way for a woman to get breast cancer. Kylie Minogue and Christina Applegate are both around my age, haven't had kids and have both had breast cancer. Wendy Richard never had kids and is dying of it. What can I do to reduce my risk, other than have kids, which I would really, really like to do (not just to reduce my breast cancer risk!!) but don't have the opportunity? Go on the pill? I've never been on the pill. I know it's so, so silly but I just can't stop thinking about it. How can I stop these stupid thoughts? I just know that I'm going to find a lump any day now.

Hang on a minute so my three friends who had cancer of the breast didn't really have children they were just a figment of their imagination? Anyone can get it, married, single, women with children or without children.

And then there is someone who I use to nurse with she had a double mastectomy when she was SINGLE and training to be a nurse. That was 60 years ago and she is still going strong (as strong as an 80+ can be).

You are not going to find a lump one day because you are single, if you find a lump and it turns out to be cancer it is just sods law.

So until then, you are going to spend all your time poking and prodding your boobs looking for THE LUMP then you'll be able to say see I told you I'd get it.

OK say they find a small lump the size of a pea (because lets be honest the amount of poking and prodding you do it's not going to get the opportunity to grow any larger) they whip you into hospital and remove it you have radiotherapy and they then tell you to go and enjoy life and they will see you in six months time how's that then does that work for you?

Every six months I have to have a MRI on my brain tumour to see if it has grown it had grown by a small amount the trouble is as the brain is in an enclosed space there is not a lot of room for something else. Tina (my tumour) is about 3 cms x 2.4c ms x 2.1cms I am happy if it stays that size but there is nothing I can do about it if it carries on growing.

I don't think about it as I have other things on my mind (potential affairs of the heart) check your boobs by all means but for goodness sake as they say..................


GET A LIFE:hugs::flowers::D

[LeeBee]

Thanks again, Trixie.

I know you're right, of course. Apart from the fact that worrying about a disease I don't even have any SYMPTOMS for is ridiculous, I know women who have had children and still had breast cancer. A woman I know had 4 children, starting when she was about 21, and she died of breast cancer at 42. My auntie had two kids in her 20s and she died of breast cancer at 60. Anxious, irrational LeeBee got the upper hand over rational, logical LeeBee and beat her into submission for a while. Thanks for helping me get back to sanity. I had a couple of upsetting emails this afternoon and I think that because I didn't want to think about those, my anxiety latched onto something else. AND I'm supposed to be studying for an exam tomorrow, stupid anxiety!

You actually have a tumour and you're so pragmatic about it. I really admire that.

Thanks Trix :hugs:Do tell me about your potential affair of the heart sometime. Sounds intriguing... Hope your siameses (siami?) are doing well. xx

[Trixie]

Thanks again, Trixie.

I know you're right, of course. Apart from the fact that worrying about a disease I don't even have any SYMPTOMS for is ridiculous, I know women who have had children and still had breast cancer. A woman I know had 4 children, starting when she was about 21, and she died of breast cancer at 42. My auntie had two kids in her 20s and she died of breast cancer at 60. Anxious, irrational LeeBee got the upper hand over rational, logical LeeBee and beat her into submission for a while. Thanks for helping me get back to sanity. I had a couple of upsetting emails this afternoon and I think that because I didn't want to think about those, my anxiety latched onto something else. AND I'm supposed to be studying for an exam tomorrow, stupid anxiety!

You actually have a tumour and you're so pragmatic about it. I really admire that.

Thanks Trix :hugs:Do tell me about your potential affair of the heart sometime. Sounds intriguing... Hope your siameses (siami?) are doing well. xx


I sound like a hard person and I am not (don't forget my daughter suffers from psychiatric problems big time and I spoil her rotten)

I could call you all sorts of endearing names and things but I am not going to because I think deep down that is not what you want to hear. You might get breast cancer you might not but you can't spend your time worrying about what if.

You might get run over but you still have to leave the house. You could have an electric shock and die but you still have to change the light bulbs.

I will PM you about the affairs of the heart later and touch wood Siameses??? seem to be OK (:scared15:)

Trixie:yesyes:


Good luck with the exam:flowers:

[anxious]

Hi there,

although i do agree with Trixies posts, i have to say that the whole point of health anxiety is that we worry about "what ifs".
Some people worry about their heart and others (like me) obsess about the fear of getting cancer. Its dealing with the anxiety that is the key to getting shut of this problem.
I've had, amongst other things, CBT and it is very good. It's hardwork and by no means a complete cure but it do cope better.
Leebee i have been on this site a few years and the breast cancer awareness month obviously works as there are always lots of posts on this subject in October. I have prodded and poked for longer than i can remember and have put myself through so much upset. Just be aware, please try not to get obsessed,

love anx xx

[LeeBee]

Thanks anxious, you've hit the nail on the head there, I think. I know all the logic and it's all the stuff that I tell other NMPers all the time - don't worry about it, you haven't got the symptoms so you haven't got the disease, you can't worry about whether or not something might happen etc. But the thoughts are there anyway, and the "logic" doesn't really make them go away. It's like I'm just talking loudly over the top of them in my head and drowning them out, rather than actually confronting them and dealing with them. It's the thoughts themselves, rather than what they are about, that I need to deal with. It is progress for me to have finally realised this. Thanks Trixie and Anxious :).