Willowagain
24-06-11, 16:10
I am a long time health anxiety sufferer. I can't be sure exactly why or how I got started.In the past number of years I have absolutely convinced myself beyond all doubt that I've had a brain tumour,bone caner,leukaemia,breast cancer,skin cancer,bowel cancer,ovarian cancer,cervical cancer,multiple sclerosis and believe me the list goes on.Each time I have 'had' one of these illnesses I've convinced myself that I'm dying.My life stops.I become obsessed with my symptoms. I think about the feared disease obsessively and it sucks every single bit of joy out of everything I do.My anxiety has ruined numerous holidays,Christmases and happy family occasions .I can see that I have a pattern of worry but always become convinced that my current worry is the real thing due to some random risk factor etc. In the past 6 months alone I have undergone an abdominal ultrasound,a breast ultrasound,a brain MRI,a chest xray,every blood test there is and many many visits to my doctor.I have had every symptom under the sun blurry vision,cold wet patches on skin,aura,ice pick headaches,lumps in stomach,stomach pain to name but a few.My current worry is oesophageal cancer or it could be stomach cancer.I have a lump sensation and tightness in my throat and my stomach burns on and off all day.I stupidly googled and of course I've convinced myself I'm dying.I have some risk factors according to the mayo clinic!!!!I went to my doctor she put me on losec .That was two weeks ago and nothing has changed.I have obsessed about this all day every day for the last two months.I don't want to get an endoscopy but just don't know where else this can go. A lot of my worries develop from reading random articles online.Around three months ago I read an article called 'I went to my doctor with heartburn and was diagnosed with cancer'.I was just wondering if anyone thinks it's possible to develop real symptoms after reading an article about a disease.sorry about long post!