Anyone have an intense fear of cancer metastasis

[Carys]

.....but get checked in case of what ? What does the GP want to look for ?

A few weeks ago, I had a dreadful stomach bug that lasted the weekend and had constant diarrhoea, then I had it again a couple of weeks later and now feels like I have got it after my son has had the bug but he has the vomiting bug. Now, I have been suffering from on and off diarrhoea and stomach aches for the past week and I'm tired of it. I am knackered and it is draining me so I think it is something more sinister going on.

Cos, from this information above, it sounds like this all started with a stomach bug, thats not how cancer manifests. Yet again, I'm not saying you don't have something lingering on here that is causing some symptoms, but I doubt the GP is doing cancer checks !

[swajj]

It may have started with some kind of bug but your anxiety keeps the symptoms going. I got food poisoning last year and symptoms that should have resolved in a few days went on for 3 weeks. I ended up getting a CT scan and amazingly my symptoms disappeared overnight. You need to keep reminding yourself that anxiety can cause all the symptoms you describe, because you don’t really believe that.

[pulisa]

As Carys says, stomach bugs can really affect the gut flora and can also trigger IBS with a vengeance.

I presume you have been tested for H. Pylori? See what the stool tests reveal if anything?

It's been such a short period of time..I know what you mean about the ridiculous wait for therapy in the UK. Even private sources are booked up for ages thanks to covid anxiety. You DO need help especially as you have a young son who will suffer if his Mum is so terrified about her health. I think you need to tell your GP about just how badly HA has taken over your life and ask him/her to help you to access therapy quickly. Not a routine referral via IAPT, maybe a referral to your local Community Mental Health team for an assessment.

[Anxietysufferer92]

I know it has taken over my life completely. Its affecting me so bad and my son will pick up on it if he hasn't already. I try and remain calm around him but when he is out of sight, I literally take a deep breath and start panicking again. It's not the first time I've had IBS type symptoms though, had it quite a few times which was short lived but this time, it seems to be ongoing. Can not remember the last time I had a proper, formed poo! It isn't diarrhoea but still very soft and quite yellow. Is that normal when you've had a bug or something? I have to wait and see what bloods and stool sample say but I am getting quite nervous about it. Hope it just says I have a parasite or something that's making its way out of my system. More worried about the inflammation test as I read somewhere ages ago it is related to colon cancer...holy crap just saying/writing that word has made me all jittery..! I am trying my damn hardest NOT to Google anything. Its so bloody hard because I just want to get a full body examination and tests to tell me I am OK and I don't have cancer. If I could afford it I would pay for a full MRI or CT scan for that reassurance. I've not had any of them done before in my life. The gp did say that the good thing is I don't have any blood in my poo... But you don't have to have blood to not have cancer! Maybe it is pancreatic cancer then.. Oh god I'm not having a good morning at all.

[ankietyjoe]

Googling is a choice. There is literally nothing forcing you to Google. It is a choice, every single time.

If you Google, it's because you have chosen to. That is the first thing you need to stop, today.

Go out for a walk and look at the sky instead. Drop old habits by forming new, healthier ones.


"I'm not going to have a good morning"


So now you're psychic too?

Your own thoughts and words have power. If you say you'll have a bad morning, you'll have one.

[Carys]

It's not the first time I've had IBS type symptoms though, had it quite a few times which was short lived but this time, it seems to be ongoing.

So, if you've had it before, then why can't you just assume this is a slighter longer version of the same thing ? maybe the gastro problem was worse this time that started it ? Maybe your anxiety is higher this time, meaning you are not digesting properly right through your digestive tract ? Maybe some foods are now causing you to feel worse after the illness ? Jumping to various cancers is the issue here, and not that you have 'symptoms'. I had IBS that started decades ago after amoebic dysentry (picked up abroad) and lasted 2 months, even though there was no evidence of 'infection', on and off its lasted my whole life if I am stressed or eat the wrong things. I find it interesting that you seem to have had the original illness, then a gap, then some more 'illness' then a gap, then more 'illness'. Can't you rationalise that somewhat, just try, how could that be cancer ?

Maybe it is pancreatic cancer then.. Oh god I'm not having a good morning at all.

Thats because of your choice, to now move onto pancreatic cancer. It is a choice you are making to reiterate there is something seriously wrong with you, that is terminal, when all evidence doesn't point to that. Your habit is fear, constant fear, constant analysing, constant castastrophizing - you've been doing this for months and now its going to take effort to relearn ways of thinking. One thing is for sure, waking up and questioning if its pancreatic cancer was about the worst thing you can do. People on here are showing you how its done, how you rationalise and reassure yourself, how you self-talk, start practicing.

[Anxietysufferer92]

So, if you've had it before, then why can't you just assume this is a slighter longer version of the same thing ? maybe the gastro problem was worse this time that started it ? Maybe your anxiety is higher this time, meaning you are not digesting properly right through your digestive tract ? Maybe some foods are now causing you to feel worse after the illness ? Jumping to various cancers is the issue here, and not that you have 'symptoms'. I had IBS that started decades ago after amoebic dysentry (picked up abroad) and lasted 2 months, even though there was no evidence of 'infection', on and off its lasted my whole life if I am stressed or eat the wrong things. I find it interesting that you seem to have had the original illness, then a gap, then some more 'illness' then a gap, then more 'illness'. Can't you rationalise that somewhat, just try, how could that be cancer ?



Thats because of your choice, to now move onto pancreatic cancer. It is a choice you are making to reiterate there is something seriously wrong with you, that is terminal, when all evidence doesn't point to that. Your habit is fear, constant fear, constant analysing, constant castastrophizing - you've been doing this for months and now its going to take effort to relearn ways of thinking. One thing is for sure, waking up and questioning if its pancreatic cancer was about the worst thing you can do. People on here are showing you how its done, how you rationalise and reassure yourself, how you self-talk, start practicing.

One thing I am thinking is that when I first got this bug or whatever it is, I was extremely nauseous for a week,like being pregnant again except I am not! That alone ruined my appetite hence why I stopped eating. Then afterwards I had terrible abdominal cramping, like so bad it woke me up in the night and I would just have explosive bowels and the pain in my tummy lasted all day as well and the nausea slowly subsided. I felt very tired and weak as well. I haven't got nausea anymore thank goodness, but it is just the bowel issues and occasionally belly cramps I'm getting now. I am trying to rationalise this way that I am a lot better than I was. But it still doesn't help. I am NOT googling at all but it is already embedded in my head from googling previously many months / years ago. I've never forgotten what symptoms match with what,bizzarely.i wish I could forget.

[Carys]

Glad to hear that you aren't checking out your symptoms, but I can tell you as a bystander, what you describes sounds like a bad stomach bug that is having a knock on effect on your bowels and digestion - I still maintain some residual infection, IBS or gut flora imbalance. You need to keep repeating it, over and over, every time your head comes up with cancer - you say things like 'but hold on, it can't be as it started with nausea, then progressed to diahorrea, and now the nausea is gone' or 'cancer doesn't come and go, come and go and doesn't start quickly like this'. You need to have an arsenal of counter acttacks to your thought processes which are illogical.