Need to Vent

[LaurenMay]

Hi all,

I dont know why but really going through a symptom overload at the moment. Do you ever get the feeling that something just isnt quite right?

1 - keep getting a dull achey feeling on the left side of my head - think this is most likely a tension thing but it just feels awful. Almost like a twitch but achey.

2 - Periods are freaking me out. I came off the pill last month but only because I ran out. Just ended my first pack after a month break and I have come on and first 2 days there was hardly anything. Yesterday was really heavy and now its light but dark brown. For some reason cervical cancer is shooting through my mind.

I am not in panic mode and it freaks me out that i am not - that maybe I have convinced myself that there is actually something seriously wrong with me and I have accepted it.

I hate this life sometimes.

[LaurenMay]

I realise I just posted this but i have just googled cervical cancer.

Wish I hadnt. Am that scared i feel physically sick and dizzy. Booked a doc appointment for 22nd and demanding a smear.

I am actually petrified. It mentions if it is advance cancer you will get pain that can be mild to severe. I get pain when on my period by only when going to the toilet. it is quite sharpe. Holy shit...

[Typer]

used to get bad pain with periods and never was it cancer - just painful periods. Colour changes depending on fresh or older blood.

From what you say, it all sounds pretty normal, and especially after the pill, it might be heavier and less consistent than when on the pill.

If you had advanced cancer it would have been much more dramatic, honest

[Anonybrit]

Going onto, changing, or coming off the contraceptive pill very often causes discharge. Your discharge is brown, that's the perfect colour, that's what you'd expect.

Cervical cancer isn't associated with brown discharge, you'd expect instead to find regular bleeding, particularly after sex. You'd also probably find pain after sex, rather than constant pain. Even then it's not the most common cause of those symptoms.

The headache you mention is a tension headache. I have chronic tension headaches and whilst they usually feel like tight, achey muscles in my neck and above my eyes, they often involve shooting aches around my head - this kind of head pain is not associated with any kind of serious condition, nor is a headache of any kind associated with cervical cancer. It is, however, closely associated with anxiety and stress (also posture, wearing glasses etc.)

You have none of the symptoms of cervical cancer. Even if you did, there are many other causes of those symptoms, but you don't have any, full stop!

For the record, for all intensive purposes cervical cancer is impossible to acquire without infection by the HPV virus. That HPV virus must be one of a handful of strains, and not only that, but you usually have to be infected multiple times with this virus in order for any cells on your cervix to become cancerous.

This is why cervical cancer is considered a higher risk in women who have a history of unprotected sex with lots of different partners. Again, without that, you are at an extremely low risk of cervical cancer.

I am a medical student, I have no problem telling women that they have something that needs examination, but you honestly have nothing at all to worry about and I say that with full confidence. Only if you developed the symptoms I mentioned above should you seek medical advice. If you discharge continues for very long and becomes troublesome you might want to see your doctor and ask about trying a different pill to control it.

[LaurenMay]

Hi guys. Thank you so much - cant tell you how much relief I get from your repsonses!

Cant honestly thank you enough. I hate this dreaded anxiety!

Thanks again - heart attack savers!!:bighug1: