Lung cancer fears - someone snap me out of it PLEASE

[fidgetninja]

*trigger warning - advanced cancer discussion*

Back at it again unfortunately. Over the course of the winter I've had a minor cough. On April 13th I was diagnoses with strep throat (fever, etc.), and shortly after developed a severe cough that kept me up at night. I was already on the antibiotics for strep, and they didn't seem to help the cough. It's been almost a month and the cough has improved but still not gone completely. It's a tickling type of cough. At the same time, I've had shoulder blade, shoulder, and back pain on the left side. I have had this pain before but this time it's causing arm pain as well, and stabbing pain in my shoulder which I have never had. It hurts under my armpit on that side, on the ribs. I have left rib pain but I've had this for a few years. I have had some fleeting, radiating chest pain. My voice has been raspy from time to time.

Because apparently I have no self control, I of course hopped on Google and searched for lingering cough and back and shoulder pain and fell directly into probably the deepest healthy anxiety hole I've ever been in. After reading that lung cancer can manifest as back and shoulder pain as the ONLY symptom (or even worse, you can have it with NO systems), and by the time it hurts in your bones it has spread.

I am trying to apply logic. I really am. I have terrible posture. I am about 40 lbs overweight. I have a large chest. I am left handed and it's my left side that hurts. I have a toddler that I sometimes pick up on my left side. I am on an ace inhibitor which can sometimes cause a cough. I have GERD, which can cause a cough and raspy voice. I am not coughing up blood. Despite all of this, I just cannot shake this fear. I smoked probably fifteen years ago, for four years, and quit, and I also graduated university with someone (a woman of the same age) who was a non smoker and passed away from lung cancer a few years ago. I can't stop spiraling and am on the verge of tears, thinking about dying and leaving my toddler. I don't know what to do. Literally Monday I start a new job and am moving from Canada to the US. It will be at least a month before I get to see a doctor. If you're still reading, I'm looking for anything that can maybe snap me out of it. I am on Effexor, but a very low dose, and have been on a waitlist for months for a therapist. In the States I should find one relatively easier and I plan too. Thank you.

[lofwyr]

I had walking pneumonia for four months once, before I finally went to the doctor and got it taken care of. The thing is, go see the doctor, not because it is cancer, but because they might get you on the path to getting better. My suspicion is, that if you hadn't googled, you wouldn't be feeling any of the sensations. Back pain is very common, especially with some extra pounds and bad posture.

As I know someone who died from lung cancer, by the time he was symptomatic, it was very widespread, and he quickly progressed through the disease. It wasn't a little pain. It was pain he needed morphine for to even be able to sit upright. Cancer, especially lung cancer, doesn't manifest with an achy back. It is crippling agony.

[fidgetninja]

Thank you very much. I’m sorry to hear about your friend.

[fidgetninja]

I've spiraled worse today - the back pain is much more intense and the coughing has picked up. I start a new job today and am hoping I can focus enough and get this awful fear gone.

[nicole97]

I feel your pain. I've been spiraling that same direction, though it seems that most of my lung issues may be caused by my gerd (newly diagnosed with that). I do know that a few of my friends that got whatever flu-type illness going around this winter and last, had coughs that lasted quite a long time, many weeks. As for the back pain, if you have had that similar pain before, it may just be worse now because of the coughing. Coughing wrenches your body pretty badly sometimes, makes your muscles tense up, can cause all kinds of muscle pulls and strains.

[fidgetninja]

Thank you! Sorry it took so long to reply and sorry you have the same fears. I had a chest X-ray that initially the doctor thought was clear, but the radiologist believed was walking pneumonia, so I’m on antibiotics. I still have the cough, but I’m hopeful that if it’d been caused by something more sinister it would’ve shown up.

[ErinKC]

I'm sorry you're feeling so badly. No doubt moving to a new country and starting a new job are stress enough to throw you into an anxiety spiral!

Coughs can linger for SO long and it would make perfect sense that the cough alone caused all the back, rib, and shoulder pain. Coughing really strains so any muscles. And, even if it wasn't from that, all the other explanations you laid out fit just right with your symptoms. I've had so many back issues since my daughter was born. She just turned 5 and from the first year to around 3 I would get horrible pain in my back, shoulders, neck, etc... All from bending and lifting her poorly, holding her on one hip with the other on kicked out to the side, etc... Kids are horrible for our bodies! Not to mention just how pregnancy and childbirth changes our alignment and makes us more prone to things like backspin. I'm pretty sure I tore my rotator cuff while giving birth, but who has time to go to the doctor with a new born! Now I still can't really do a downward dog without shoulder pain.

I feel for you because I went down a lung cancer rabbit hole when my daughter was a baby and it was a scary one. But, of course, I was fine. Back pain is a bitch and stress makes it worse, so try to keep yourself relaxed and do what the doctor suggests. They'd have found lung cancer if you had it.