Have I got rectal cancer?

[Dying_Swan]

So what are you going to do the next time you have an upset stomach? Did the therapist give you any strategies for coping with routine ailments?

[MyNameIsTerry]

So what are you going to do the next time you have an upset stomach? Did the therapist give you any strategies for coping with routine ailments?

It's important to recognise what Swan is asking you. If you don't have ways to cope you will just end up back on here each time and down at the doctors.

Reaction is key in anxiety.

Now you are feeling better, and hopefully less anxious, look back at the Toby posting during this and pick apart his posts. Where did he go wrong? What could he have done? Learn from your experiences or you will just repeat them.

[Toby2000]

Yeah, it is important, thanks Swan

I guess, Terry and Swan, I'll have to remind myself of the last 1000 times I misjudged a symptom and jumped to conclusions

It's hard in the moment though because each symptom can be convincing and demoralizing and you almost can't see any way out of it

[Dying_Swan]

It is hard in the moment and we all understand that. That's why it's helpful to learn some strategies when you're calm, like Terry said. Did you look at thought records with your therapist? They have different names but the general idea is that you write out your worry and then challenge it with evidence. So, one column for the worry, another for your "negative automatic thoughts" (e.g "I've got a stomach ache, it must be cancer!"). Another column for which cognitive distortions are in action, then "evidence for" and "evidence against", and finally "rational alternative thoughts" (e.g "Everyone gets stomach aches, I know I ate some dodgy food, there's nothing to suggest this is serious" etc). It's a bit difficult to describe but I'm sure you could find examples online. I've found them helpful sometimes. Might be worth a try.

[Toby2000]

Yeah

I've always done that 'for' and 'against' thing with my worries, but often when experiencing a symptom, the symptom sort of clouds my judgement and demoralizes me so much that arguing against it seems like pointless false hope

But next time I freak out I'll try it. Thanks for the advice

[Toby2000]

Hi everyone, I've had a really good few weeks... no blood or any other symptoms

Last night something happened that struck me as odd

I randomly had a dream and my (now dead) Granddad was in it, he said that he loved me and that he had bowel cancer and another type, maybe pancreatic, but I can't remember the other type now. And then my Grandma said they found something at the start of his bowel or something and they assume it's cancer (I may not be 100% about the last detail) and then I started worrying thinking it may be hereditary, but was slightly reassured when my Grandma implied kinda that it was "something", maybe not cancer

To my knowledge, he didn't have either of these cancers, but what if it's a secret that my Grandma was keeping and they only found out before he died so it wasn't worth treating or making a fuss about. I don't want to ask my Grandma because it might upset her

But what if my Granddad was communicating with me from the dead through my dreams saying that because he possibly had bowel cancer, I might have it too, a hereditary form of it?

I'm not religious but I'm superstitious, could what I'm saying be true?

The situation of the dream never happened in real life, it was me coming downstairs at my house to see him before he died. He didn't die there in real life. And my Grandma was there too. So like the setting was before he died, it wasn't a visitation, like his ghost talking to me... should I be worried?

[Dommy]

As far as I know, the popular theory among experts is that dreams are our minds' way of trying to sort through, make sense of and compartmentalise things that we're stressing over. I've had plenty of dreams about my perceived symptoms and I just consider them more reflective than foreboding in any way.

[Toby2000]

As far as I know, the popular theory among experts is that dreams are our minds' way of trying to sort through, make sense of and compartmentalise things that we're stressing over. I've had plenty of dreams about my perceived symptoms and I just consider them more reflective than foreboding in any way.

Thanks for the reply Dommy

Yeah I know that they reflect the subconscious thoughts but the thing is, the day before (yesterday) that I had the dream I wasn't really thinking about cancer much at all. I may have had 1-2 passing thoughts about it but I don't even remember thinking about it. So it wasn't a reflection of any experiences I had the day before

Spiritualists think there's such a thing as "Visitation Dreams"

You can be visited by your dead loved one and feel that he or she wants to deliver a message or warning to you. However, those that have crossed over normally appear in dreams when they need to communicate symbolically or telepathically rather than verbally. But this doesn’t mean that the message you need to receive will be unclear or hard to understand. You’ll be able to understand why they visited. Perhaps the dead loved one are here in order to teach you us a life lesson, to send you a warning or a reminder, or to share some sort of wisdom, or maybe life guidance.

https://www.amandalinettemeder.com/b...om-a-loved-one

[Carys]

Superstition is a real bind, and it took me many a year to cast it away from my thought processes. It is as Dommy says above, a reflection of your current state of mind about your fears. Dreams are not from outside your own brain, nobody can 'send messages', nobody talks to you and they don't mean that there are some spookkkyyyy waves bouncing around sending you prophecies and warnings. If you think rationally about this, there are obvious reasons why you would be thinking about bowel cancer and your Grandad, even if not highly consciously they are certainly background issues that have preoccupied you over this last year. Those two muddled (because this is sleep and strange things get bundled together at this time) set of thoughts get chucked together into a type of 'story' by your subconscious whilst you dream. Thats it.

Spiritualists think there's such a thing as "Visitation Dreams"

Toby, really, don't go down this route of giving time to things like this. It will do you no good, before you know it you will be paranoid about all sorts of things. Clearly you are googling spiritualism, and that isn't great for someone with anxiety lol Apologies if there are any spiritualists reading this, they are of course entitled to their beliefs, but I believe in science and facts and what has been tested and proved.

[Toby2000]

In the dream, he wasn't saying "Toby, you have cancer"

Granddad: "By the way I have bowel cancer and [insert the other cancer here]"

Me: "What? Really?"

*I turn to my Grandma*

Me: "Is this true?"

Grandma: "They found something at the start of his bowel"

And I remember thinking in the dream, "What if I have hereditary bowel cancer?"


What if this is his way of saying that he actually had bowel cancer, warning me that I could have it too because of our shared genetics?

He was a heavy, heavy smoker so that could've caused it but you never know