I'm convinced I have colon cancer and i'm miserable

[magicalgirl]

Okay well this is my first post on NMP so hello everyone.

I'm an 18 year old girl and I've been struggling with heath anxiety for about 3 years now. Over those years I've convinced myself that I have a slew of diseases which all ended up being false. Health anxiety (as you all probably know) is a nightmare. It's made my life so terrible. Where i'm at right now in my life is horrible. My family are drug addicts which have left me with PTSD, and I just recently wasn't able to graduate with my class and have to go to high school for another year. I'm just so incredibly anxious and depressed right now and am in seek of some kind of help.

My local news has just started constantly talking about how colon cancer is on the rise in millennials and about how deadly it is if found late. I can't even turn my TV on without hearing about it. Now, what i'm about to say is REALLY embarrassing for me.

Possible colon cancer symptoms. For about the past 5 or 6 months I've been experiencing a weird change in bowel movements. Nearly every time I pee I have a small bowel movement. It's very small and extremely hard to push out. It's like i'm having way to many bowel movements. The next thing is I remember about two weeks ago the right side of my stomach felt like it was full and aching. I had to keep a water bottle on that specific spot. It was strange because of how far right it was. I've also been very gassy.

I'm so terrified that it's colon cancer. You're probably thinking, "Well, why don't you go to the doctor and find out?". Well, first of all I have Aspergers. My anxiety has made me terrified of driving so my mom would have to take me. The second thing is there's ALWAYS something wrong with me. Any time I tell my mom i'm not feeling well it goes into a full blown argument about how there is always something wrong. Like right now both of my ears are infected and I have blisters in my throat. I'm on antibiotics so don't worry about that.

I'm just so miserable. I've convinced myself this IS colon cancer. It makes so much sense. I'm terrified of asking my mom for another doctor's appointment. I just don't know what to do. I know I sound like such a loser right now. I just... don't know what to do.

[saf138]

Hello and welcome
Your age should be reassuring in itself it is very very rare for someone of your age to have colon cancer secondly what you mentioned does not describe colon cancer at all. Now I do agree that raising awareness for cancer is important unfortunately some people will feel that the ad campaigns are somewhat overused which usually have a negative effect on people with anxiety.
As for your frequent bowel movements its normal to have them multiple times a day and what you need to do is stop forcing a movement when going for a number 1 let nature take its course. If I was you if get the necessary help for your anxiety before it really becomes a problem. All the best

[magicalgirl]

Thank you so much for the reply. It means a lot and truly makes me feel better. I'm going to try and find a therapist to help me out with my anxiety because it seems to only be getting worse. Again, thank you!