freaked out by website

[pigtailplaits]

I have a fear of getting a brain tumor. I have been like this for 18MTS. I have had a CT scan on my head and it was clear but for some reason that wasnt enough proof for me and I am still very anxious and paranoid. I experience lots of symptoms such as frequent headaches, my thoughts are preoccupied with tumors I reckon 75% of the day. It has absolutely ruined my life, I am not even half the preson I used to be. I have a daughter, husband and baby on the way and lots of nice things in my life and no reason to feel so down but I cant shake this anxiety and fear of a brain tumor. I have had counselling and other self aids and I am much better than I was. When I first developed this fear I had a friend who did have a brain tumor. Sadly, she has gone now but while she was poorly I could not stop thinking about her. I thought about her every hour of the day about what she was going through and how that could be me. I would say I was obsessed with thinking about her and I still do now. I class myself as a stressed person and I have heard before that brain tumors can be caused by stress, this really upset me so I decided to google it-big mistake. It confirmed my fears further, I found a website by Magsjoy blogs and she claims that stress can cause it but further still by thinking about it every day can increase your chances of getting one. I am absolutely freaked out about this coz of the amount of time I have spent thinking about tumors and my friend. Does anyone think you can think so much about something that you end up getting it?

[barbn]

Okay - the anxiety side of me is saying "OMG - YES" ...you kno what the sain side of me is saying "NO WAY" - Medically speaking I would think you would have to have all of the right variables in order for a brain tumor to happen. Do they happen? Sure they do! Is it going to happen to you - As my mother would say, you have a better chance of being eaten by a bear! DO NOT GOOGLE your symptoms - I have and it gets me in trouble all the time...I can't tell you how many cancers I have had according to the web.

[pd]

Ok, stress can cause lots of things, but I'm pretty sure brain tumours aren't one of them. Thinking about getting a brain tumour can't cause a brain tumour. If it did I would have one, believe me this was one of my worst ever HAs, I spent every day waiting to drop dead, I would go to bed every night convinced I would be dead by morning, I stopped making plans for the future because I was convinced I had weeks to live, I spent my life researching it, google, wikipedia, NHS direct, various other medical websites, even got medical textbooks from the library. I googled the symptoms and convinced myself I had all of them, it was just anxiety but it seemed so REAL. Several trips to the doctor and tests confirmed my 'brain tumour' was anxiety, a mild sinus infection, and a need to wear glasses.

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend, that must have been very hard, and I know how seeing people we love with various medical conditions can lead us to fear that we have them too, but thinking about a medical condition frequently does not make it any more likely to happen.

Sometimes I think the world would be better of without google, or at least us HAers would! Does your doctor know that this fear is a major problem for you?

Stop googling!! Sorry I can't offer anything more helpful, take care xxx

[Cell block H fan]

If I think enough about being beautiful & it making me rich, it still aint gonna happen lol Obviously stress isn't good for the health, we all know thats a fact. But I dont believe stress solely leads to cancer. I think there are a lot of factors that come into it. Stress can make you fat/thin, tired, & isn't good. But ive never known any of the stresshead friends & family in the past end up with cancer.

[LisaLisa]

Aw Im sorry your having such a hard time......babies are great by the way .....soon you will be busy doing lovely baby things!!

I think that when something traumatic happens to someone in your life its very difficult to not overpersonalise the other persons situation to yourself. Its really hard to explain but i definately have felt this overwhelming feeling before when a family friend died of a random condition that makes you feel you are not safe becuase if it could happen to them then......

But its like the emotion attached to the situation is so intense that the way the risk is calculated by us is totally inaccurate. So it feels like there is loads of risk and danger for us ..when inactual fact there isnt.....its just that we are paying so much mental attention to the situation that our built in survival system gets programmed to worry an awfull lot about it.

It might help to acknowledge your emotions regarding your friends passing for what they are and try to put a gap between what happened to her and your health.....becuase they are very distinctly unreleated.

Hope your okay

Lisa
xxxx