Lump in throat, difficulty swallowing, appetite loss - cancer?

[tlv]

I'm a 35yo male, 80kg/197cm, on/off smoker and regular drinker (although both stopped since the weekend).

Quick intro :-) I have always been an anxious/nervous person, but generally able to just ignore/compartmentalise my anxieties and have never suffered worse than a cold medically. 5 years ago my wife suffered a brain hemorrhage (now fully recovered), and I have some lasting (self diagnosed) PTSD from that to do with sudden and traumatic health issues and a lack of control. I have also had an exceptionally stressful 12 months at work, peaking about 6 months ago in a number of minor breakdowns. I finished that job 2 weeks ago and am going back to my previous job for an easier and happier life, so things should be looking up, right?

Last week I started feeling a lump in my throat that came on each day around mid afternoon. By the weekend I was starting to lose my appetite and noticed I could feel food working its way down my throat about 15 seconds after swallowing, initially only during the afternoons but by Monday I was waking up with it.

Went to the doc who has made an urgent 'cancer referral' for an endoscopy. He was very clear this is because I said the difficulty swallowing is getting worse (what I said is I am experiencing it for more of the day) and that is a red flag for cancer, but his view is there is a '70% chance they will find nothing at all wrong'.

I started taking gaviscon a couple of days ago and that has cleared up the lump in my throat feeling but I have been suffering major nausea and near complete appetite loss since the weekend now. When I do eat I can just about manage a bowl of soup before the thought and smell of food make me want to throw up. I have always been a big eater so this is very unusual for me. The doc has prescribed 1x40mg daily propranolol for the anxiety it is causing me, which has helped a little but I still woke up this morning feeling massively anxious and nauseous for a few hours.

Any words of wisdom? My rational brain knows this is probably reflux related, but I can't get out of my head the possibility that I have cancer, probably oesophageal, and the wait for the endoscopy is freaking me out.


Thanks by the way to everyone who contributes here. Reading the posts of others in similar situations has been a massive help for me today, and given me something more useful to research than Doctor Google (who has already identified this as at least 5 types of cancer).

[nomorepanic]

Did the doctor mention Globus Hystericus at all?

[tlv]

No he didn't mention anything at all about what it could be, just had a quick look and feel of my mouth/neck, requested blood and stool samples (results due Friday) and handed me some literature from cancer research.



The hardest thing is second guessing whether he suspects something but didn't want to be the one to tell me..

[nomorepanic]

Look it up - it could be that.

[tlv]

Thankyou - the symptoms do look very similar. In my head I know it is overwhelmingly unlikely to be anything life threatening - I've just never experienced anything like it before!

[elbow_geese]

If you Can Swallow food, its unlikely to be sinister. that is what I have learnt.

If you are worried get a ENT referal and a Nasal Endoscopy (10 minute's maximum and they'll check it out, its painless.)

Check out LPR or Silent Reflux. Sounds like it could be this. Same as me.

[tlv]

If you Can Swallow food, its unlikely to be sinister. that is what I have learnt.

Thankyou. That is a reassuring adage!

It's a highly confusing situation - I really can't tell the difference between the things that are gastro-related, the things that are anxiety related, and the gastro things that are being caused by the anxiety

I am the sort of guy who needs to understand things, and medicine is annoyingly imprecise in that regard!