hello_mrzebra
12-10-09, 18:18
Hi All
Let me say how glad I am to have found this forum. I am a 30 year old male and have been suffering from health anxiety for about 2-3 years now.
I am in therapy and the general working theory I have going with my therapist is that the health anxiety is a manifestation of my other anxieties/un-dealt-with issues, etc (but I won't get into those gory details here.)
My main source of anxiety, as I imagine is the case for many others, is worrying that I have cancer. I think cancer is especially easy to fixate on, because its so prevalent in the media, often times progresses without any noticeable symptoms, and arrives along with the cliche from the doctor "if we had only caught it sooner, we might have been able to treat it."
So of course I worry that any random symptom could be cancer, and then even when I try to convince myself it's just anxiety, I'm always able to counter myself with the old "but what if it's not, and I just sit here letting it get worse until it's too late?"
So far I've had several anxiety-induced medical scares. It started with what I thought was a heat attack but really just my first panic attack.
Later I had stomach problems and was convinced of either bleeding ulcers or stomach cancer (of course) but was ultimately diagnosed with IBS.
Then about a year later I had a case of epididymitis (sore testicle) that I convinced myself was testicular cancer.
Recently I was having bouts of lightheadedness that appear to be related to hypoglycemia as well as chronic hyperventilation (anxiety induced, of course) but I still worry when it happens that its a brain tumor or something.
My most recent obsession has been lymphoma, as I've been waking up after nights of drinking with sore armpits. Of course I googled "alcohol + sore armpits" like an idiot and discovered that it can be a symptom of Hodgkin's disease.
I went to the doctor, got my armpits felt up, and he found no masses or anything. I told him about the alcohol connection and he basically laughed at me. He said it's probably dehydration and/or what he called "saturday night palsy" where the drunkard falls asleep in random positions and wakes up sore, or the drunkard pulls a muscle while being drunk and over-exuberant.
I didn't really trust this diagnosis, as I am not an over exuberant drunk, nor was I even getting that drunk anyway.
However, I did some deeper digging on the "alcohol+pain=lymphoma" connection and discovered that what that symptom actually means is "intense pain in a specific lymph node 10-15 minutes after drinking even a moderate amount of alcohol" and not, as my symptoms were, "general and mild soreness in and around an area where lymph nodes are present lasting 1-3 days after drinking."
Upon further reflection, it seems what my symptoms were really indicating is a little thing we know and love called "a hangover."
Another reason to stay away from Dr. Google, as if we needed any more. When websites and things list symptoms of illnesses, they don't go into much detail. Usually the symptoms of serious diseases are severe and unrelenting, not mild, vague and transitory like the random stuff I feel happening with my body that I interpret as life threatening.
I think when I was younger I felt the same little nicks and aches, but now as I get older they are more noticeable, and thus I fixate on them more and worry about them more.
But anyway, if you've managed to read all the way through my long-winded rant, congrats, and thank you.
I do have a question for the forum though.
I have noticed, besides feeling sore and tender in my armpits and other places too after drinking (legs, arms, etc), I also feel much more anxious and prone to obsess/worry for a few days after I've been drinking.
I'm wondering if anyone else has similar experiences with any combination of alcohol, anxiety and armpit pain?
Thanks!
Let me say how glad I am to have found this forum. I am a 30 year old male and have been suffering from health anxiety for about 2-3 years now.
I am in therapy and the general working theory I have going with my therapist is that the health anxiety is a manifestation of my other anxieties/un-dealt-with issues, etc (but I won't get into those gory details here.)
My main source of anxiety, as I imagine is the case for many others, is worrying that I have cancer. I think cancer is especially easy to fixate on, because its so prevalent in the media, often times progresses without any noticeable symptoms, and arrives along with the cliche from the doctor "if we had only caught it sooner, we might have been able to treat it."
So of course I worry that any random symptom could be cancer, and then even when I try to convince myself it's just anxiety, I'm always able to counter myself with the old "but what if it's not, and I just sit here letting it get worse until it's too late?"
So far I've had several anxiety-induced medical scares. It started with what I thought was a heat attack but really just my first panic attack.
Later I had stomach problems and was convinced of either bleeding ulcers or stomach cancer (of course) but was ultimately diagnosed with IBS.
Then about a year later I had a case of epididymitis (sore testicle) that I convinced myself was testicular cancer.
Recently I was having bouts of lightheadedness that appear to be related to hypoglycemia as well as chronic hyperventilation (anxiety induced, of course) but I still worry when it happens that its a brain tumor or something.
My most recent obsession has been lymphoma, as I've been waking up after nights of drinking with sore armpits. Of course I googled "alcohol + sore armpits" like an idiot and discovered that it can be a symptom of Hodgkin's disease.
I went to the doctor, got my armpits felt up, and he found no masses or anything. I told him about the alcohol connection and he basically laughed at me. He said it's probably dehydration and/or what he called "saturday night palsy" where the drunkard falls asleep in random positions and wakes up sore, or the drunkard pulls a muscle while being drunk and over-exuberant.
I didn't really trust this diagnosis, as I am not an over exuberant drunk, nor was I even getting that drunk anyway.
However, I did some deeper digging on the "alcohol+pain=lymphoma" connection and discovered that what that symptom actually means is "intense pain in a specific lymph node 10-15 minutes after drinking even a moderate amount of alcohol" and not, as my symptoms were, "general and mild soreness in and around an area where lymph nodes are present lasting 1-3 days after drinking."
Upon further reflection, it seems what my symptoms were really indicating is a little thing we know and love called "a hangover."
Another reason to stay away from Dr. Google, as if we needed any more. When websites and things list symptoms of illnesses, they don't go into much detail. Usually the symptoms of serious diseases are severe and unrelenting, not mild, vague and transitory like the random stuff I feel happening with my body that I interpret as life threatening.
I think when I was younger I felt the same little nicks and aches, but now as I get older they are more noticeable, and thus I fixate on them more and worry about them more.
But anyway, if you've managed to read all the way through my long-winded rant, congrats, and thank you.
I do have a question for the forum though.
I have noticed, besides feeling sore and tender in my armpits and other places too after drinking (legs, arms, etc), I also feel much more anxious and prone to obsess/worry for a few days after I've been drinking.
I'm wondering if anyone else has similar experiences with any combination of alcohol, anxiety and armpit pain?
Thanks!