Should I go For Another Test (sorry a bit long !!)

[LittleMissPanicky]

Well here i am again after having a few goodish days yesterday i had a major panic and feel back to square 1 !!
I have issues or even an obsession with my bowels !!! A couple of weeks ago i thought i saw blood in my pooh (sorry !!) Instantly this spiralled out of controll, after being well for so long, Of course my immediate thoughts were, well you know what, i can't bring myself to write it !! I went to my doctor and he did some blood test FBC etc, and i have also had a sigmoidoscopy all came back clear. So I thought i was sort of calming down untill it went for a pooh yesterday and i thought thats very dark brown and so off goes my mind again into intense panic. I tried to recall what i had eaten , couldn't put it down to that so of course my mind is telling me something is terribly wrong and the doctor is missing something !!!!
I spoke to another doctor today, my ususal one who understands my HA problem , she suggested if it would put my mind at rest then to go for a barium enema. I have booked one , but am now thinking do I really need this test, is it going to help or just give me something else to worry about.
I wish i could stop checking my pooh and looking at the paper when i wipe , but am scared i will miss something.
Any thoughts , or help would be greatly appreciated xxx

[AllInMyHead]

I've just started CBT (had three sessions so far). I know that the view of my counsellor would be that you shouldn't have the test (and you shouldn't look at your poo either), because the more you focus on the thoughts about the potential illness and it's symptoms, the more anxious you become and then you're in vicious circle of HA again. What you should do is give yourself at least a week without worrying about it (easier said than done :)), then if you feel ill in a week, think about seeing the doctor again.

The reasoning behind this is:
1. The thing I said before about the vicious circle
2. You're not going to miss anything, because if you actually had a serious problem it would still be there in a week.
3. If you had a serious problem, you would also feel very ill.
4. It's fine to give it a week, because nothing could have got that much worse in that time (think how long you have to wait for tests in the first place).

Hope that's helpful. I'm not really suffering from HA at the moment, so it remains to be seen if I can actually put these steps into action when I am :wacko:

[shoegal]

If you've had a blood test and a sigmoidoscopy then I think you have nothing to worry about. You would be better off spending your time and money treating your health anxiety because you know if you have more tests you will find something else to worry about! I don't mean to sound harsh, I just think you need to deal with the underlying issue... which is your anxiety. :flowers:

[LittleMissPanicky]

Thanks for your replies xx