Does anyone here go to the drs alot and feel embarrassed?

[mamajane]

I have been to the drs 4 times in the last two months. I keep finding new bumps, bulges, or lumps. They have been looked at and my dr told me they are nothing to worry about except fatty tissue. Now I found a bulge on my upper thigh and of course did the worse thing ever...googled it and now i think i have soft tissue cancer. Im sure it is just a fatty deposit but here i go again making another appt. Im not sure what to say to her this time. I feel like a fool and am so emabarassed. Im only 22 and a new mother and my health anxiety has gotten ten times worse since the birth of my child.

[countrygirl]

I have had health anxiety since I was a child due to traumatic experience with illness and death and once I had a child at 19 yrs old my health anxiety went into freefall for both myself and child and husband.
I don't think I have ever gone a month without seeing a Dr and one very bad year about 20 yrs ago i saw a Dr 50 times in a year!!!!

I find the best thing to do is admit to your Dr that you are anxious about your health and discuss with them the possibility that you could be visiting alot for reassurance- this brings your "problem" out into the open and as one Dr said to me they are not mind readers and they do have peope without health anxiety who do waste Drs time with very minor things but it can take quite along time for a GP to click that the person they are seeing alot of is actually suffering from severe anxiety - so be brave and make the appt and as well as discussing your lump also explain how you are panicking. I have found Drs to be mostly sympathetic- only had one Dr who was sympathetic but admitted she didn't understand it at all as she had never worried about her health but did say that she thought it must be awful to have to live with that level of fear daily.

I find it depends on why I am going to the Drs that affects how much guilt I feel - I have had a persistant fungal rash under my arms for nearly a year - I tried a new cream a month ago and was told if it came back then I needed to go back so don't feel guilty about seeing the Dr yet again - I have been told to go back so in my mind that is allowed BUT I am worrying about chest pains that I have had on and off for about 10 years and in the past have even had a blood test to rule out heart attack!! and am seesawing between do I also ask the Dr about these pains again or not - this bit makes me feel guilty and that she will be thinking oh no not again as this is the health anxiety part of me playing up.

Good luck.

[countrygirl]

oops also meant to say that everytime I go the the Dr I have about 10 things I want to ask about but realise that I can't as there is't the time so i then have to prioritise them so only ask about 2 or 3 then afterwards worry that I should have asked about different symptoms. arghhh

[crazyhayz]

ive been like this, especially since having my child. I was diagnosed with post-natal depression that because left untreated it turned into an anxiety disorder.. thats the explanation ive had. and it makes sense. are u on anxiety medication? im on anti-depressants/anxiety meds and theyve helped loads along with having CBT. Maybe u shoiuld ask for a referral from ur doctor. I think it would help. It seems like you have quite bad Health Anxiety,. and maybe PND since having ur child that has escalated your anxiety. Its what happened to me and its quite common apparently. I bonded completely with my baby from day one, loved him to bits, but i had alllllll the other symptoms of PND but i just didnt realise it. Let me know how u get on at ya docs. I dont think u have cancer, anxiety makes people LOOK for things. Im the same age as you and i used toc onstantly feel my skin and was convinced i had breast cancer one time, but CBT has helped me so much with all this anxiety. You need to get help soon or it will just get worse, these sort of things need to be dealt with early hun. Kepp me updated ok xxx ps. yes it is emabrassing to see docs constantly, but they know u have anxiety and will understand. explain to them how u feel and that u feel ur guna be in there every week unless you get some help. they should refer u because this goes alot deeper than just HA. xxx

[DoogieJ]

Yep, I go to the doctor like once every 2 months about something. I try not to, but I like to talk to someone about things. In the last 2 years I've been there about ectopic heartbeats, IBS, Acid reflux, lumps found, throat problems, hayfever etc.

Sometimes i feel a fraud, but from the times I've been in I have been referred for 2 cardiologist appointments (24 holter monitor ECGS) and to see a gasteroenterologist for an endoscopy and ultrasound. Out of all this I've been informed I have an on/off heart murmur grade 1 of 6. And I have acid reflux. Luckily nothing more serious than that. But still worried enough to go back a lot.

On the fortunate side the practice has 4 doctors and I don't seem to see the same one twice in a row, so I may not annoy them too bad.