bowel cancer worrying me.
Hello there,
I'm hoping for a bit of advice from some people who may be able to relate, as I am having a tough time at the moment.
I am 27 years old with a young daughter and a few weeks after I gave birth I started having terrible right sided low abdominal pain. I went to the Drs worrying it was my appendix but was assured it wasn't and was put on anti-depressants (I have a history of severe anxiety and depression). Anyway to fast forward the pain stayed pretty much constantly and so six months later I went back to the Dr in quite a state who referred me to a Consultant. 2 ultrasounds later and not much help from the Consultant he put it down to IBS and that was that. Its now 20 months or so since this pain started and I am still suffering with it. Its not so much constant anymore but I suffer with it every day, sometimes a lot worse than others. It's a sharp, niggling pain in one spot and then I have a general dull ache in the whole right sided region and a feeling of heaviness is the best way to describe it or as if something is there which shouldn't be.
I've always had anxiety about my health since as far back as I can remember, and I suffer with a lot of stress and depression in general. I've found myself constantly googling symptoms which I know is daft, but also I constantly try to self examine my tummy, prodding and poking and convincing myself that I can feel all kinds of lumps and masses in my right side and that I must have bowel cancer! What makes it worse is that I have a lot of bowel issues with being constipated which I have always had and so I can't help but tie all the symptoms together and come to the same conclusion that it must be bowel cancer and after having the pain for this long, it is surely going to kill me! Of course what makes me get even more stressed is knowing I have a young daughter and thinking that I will end up seriously ill or dying and not being here for her no more. Part of me is sure it must just be health anxiety because it plays on my mind all day, every day although on the rare occasion I am busy doing something and my mind is absorbed in other matters, I don't notice the pain. However 90% of the time the pain is very much there and I spend all my time dwelling on it. I haven't been back to the Drs about it for about 9 months now for various reasons. Mainly I guess because I have issues going out, and my Drs is a bit away from me and I just can't bare to put myself through lots of appointments to just be told its my depression or IBS causing it and them not taking my concerns seriously. Also I do feel silly about it because I try to convince myself so hard that it is 'just in my head' and that if I could just stop thinking about it and worrying, that it might just disappear. I just don't know what else I can put the pain down to because of where it is. I worry that it's my appendix, maybe a grumbling appendix, but that scares me to death too although obviously bowel cancer is my main concern.
I'm sorry that was so long, but I've tried to just get the main points across. I don't know why I am posting really or what I hope to hear back but I just needed to put it out there I guess. Thanks.
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Originally Posted by wishingtofeelhappier
