Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
This pain is annoying me now, on the upper side of my legs next to my hip but just below a bit it just started to hurt a bit more
I know Sertraline can cause these aches but my mind is going in the direction of metastatic colon cancer that's spread to my bones or a tumor is causing nerve pain or something
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
I'm fairly sure that if you had cancer within your bones the pain would be more than annoying.
Another thing to remember is that health anxiety can increase your focus on relatively minor sensations, making them feel worse than they are.
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
I'm not sure about it being anxiety because it can appear even when I'm calm. Maybe anxiety makes it worse at times but even without anxiety there's something
I'm just hoping it'll be a side effect of my dose increase but what if it doesn't go away?
I read a story about a woman who had pain radiating from hip to hip and her back and she was later diagnosed with colon cancer. She was 49 and had various other symptoms such as weight loss and appetite loss but still, I guess CRC pain doesn't have to be fixed
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
You need to stop worrying about this, Toby, and start worrying about what you're going to do with the rest of your life. You're probably okay at your age, but large employment gaps can make it really hard to get by later on.
You can't exactly write on your CV that you spent a year picking through your faeces; even if you're planning on a job in pathology employers are unlikely to be impressed.
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Toby2000
Thanks Terry. It's normal to have side effects for 6 weeks?
It's an individual thing but people who've been on them often mention 4-6 weeks. Meds all work differently and some are faster than others to reach their steady-state. With a standard one like Sertraline it takes just under a week but the secondary effect of them, down regulation, takes longer which might account for the longer element of the side effect window.
If you can tolerate the side effects, keep going. But beware judging things during this window.
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Toby2000
I'm not sure about it being anxiety because it can appear even when I'm calm. Maybe anxiety makes it worse at times but even without anxiety there's something
I'm just hoping it'll be a side effect of my dose increase but what if it doesn't go away?
I read a story about a woman who had pain radiating from hip to hip and her back and she was later diagnosed with colon cancer. She was 49 and had various other symptoms such as weight loss and appetite loss but still, I guess CRC pain doesn't have to be fixed
What you wrongly assume is that you have anxiety only if you can feel you are anxious! That is completely wrong - you , like many of us here on the Forum - have chronic anxiety, which means it is CONSTANTLY present and causes all kinds of reactions in our body. You do not have to feel anxious to actually be anxious and constantly on guard. Secondly, if you keep on googling, you can find ABSOLUTELY everything: a person who had the top of his head getting numb, which turned out to be cancer of the foot bone, or a woman whose fingers turn cold on a regular basis, and that turned out to be cancer of her kidneys. For crying out loud, stop believing every stupid thing you find on Internet. And I thought I suffer from bad HA. For the mother of God!
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lana
For crying out loud, stop believing every stupid thing you find on Internet. And I thought I suffer from bad HA. For the mother of God!
It's not exactly a "stupid thing", you're acting like I'm digging up old wives tales from Yahoo Answers or something, it's just proof that pain related to colon cancer can move around and doesn't have to be fixed. There's no need to get angry about it.
But thank you. I did have a 3 week headache 4-5 years ago that was always present even when I wasn't anxious about it but went away when I stopped worrying about it being a brain tumor.
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MyNameIsTerry
It's an individual thing but people who've been on them often mention 4-6 weeks. Meds all work differently and some are faster than others to reach their steady-state. With a standard one like Sertraline it takes just under a week but the secondary effect of them, down regulation, takes longer which might account for the longer element of the side effect window.
If you can tolerate the side effects, keep going. But beware judging things during this window.
I can definitely tolerate them but I'm just scared they won't go away and that it'll turn out to be something worse
Or I end up being my own worst enemy, as always, and the pain lingers because I'm anxious and I'm subconsciously creating that pain
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BlueIris
You need to stop worrying about this, Toby, and start worrying about what you're going to do with the rest of your life. You're probably okay at your age, but large employment gaps can make it really hard to get by later on.
You can't exactly write on your CV that you spent a year picking through your faeces; even if you're planning on a job in pathology employers are unlikely to be impressed.
Mentally it feels like everything is on hold until I get through everything, my colon cancer worry, the worry about my mum
I think I'm assuming deep down that there will come a day when I'll find out 100% that I hopefully don't have colon cancer, or my mum doesn't have it, or whatever I'm worrying about I don't need to worry about anymore- but that won't happen anytime soon. So I'm gonna have to try and get on with things.
I have therapy coming up so hopefully I can prepare for adjusting back to whatever I'm going to do for the rest of the year and I'll just have to put up with the anxiety/bowel symptoms
Re: Have I got rectal cancer?
Been there, done that. Making plans is terrifying when you're convinced everything is going to come crashing down around you. Personally, I'm terrified of unemployment which is why I struggle to take on direct debits, book holidays or generally do anything that involves paying later.
Life goes on, though, and it carries us with it.