Scared about future illness

[beccaroo]

Hi everyone,
I'm having a lot of trouble at the moment dealing with anxiety. I used to be really laid back and it all started years ago now.
I used to chat on my mobile phone quite a lot when i was younger, then one night i saw a documentary about this woman who had a brain tumour and blamed it on mobile phone use. I completely freaked out and at the time i was getting headaches on the side of my head where i used my phone. I was shakey, couldn't sleep and just felt awful. That was a long time ago now so now i know that it was all anxiety realated symptoms.

I've since been able to put that to the back of my mind but i've been a bit of a hypochondriach evere since, worrying about all sorts of health issues.
Then last week i saw an article online saying that a new study in sweden suggested that people who use mobile phones under the age of 20 are up to 5 times more likely to get brain cancer in later life it has really panicked me.
I keep thinking that i'm really likely to get a tumour and that it's too late for me to do anything about it because the damage is done. Since i got scared i've been quite scared of phones and i was just starting to be 'normal' again when i saw this study.
I keep trying to tell myself that it's ok but every time i see someone on a phone it sets me off. I'm shaking now just typing this. I find eating really difficult now and i'm so scared that i'll never be able to get on with my life because this will always be worrying me. I am scared to watch the news incase they confirm that phones give you cancer.
I know some people who have really unhealthy lifestyles and have been smoking their whole lives and are still not panicked about lung cancer and in a strange way i'm quite jealous of their laid back attitude although i'm glad i'm not a smoker. That probably sounds quite silly.
Anyway, does anyone else have any worries like this and i'd be so grateful for any help at all because this is like a black cloud hanging over me stopping me from enjoying my life.
Thank you
becca xxxx

[Hollytree]

Hey there I too have been worried about the same thing, but I checked out this webpage and it helped alot http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=5265
Please try not to get freaked out, from January 2008, mobile phone subscriptions had reached 3.3 Billion!!!! message me anytime i'm here to chat xxxxx

[Trixie]

Very rarely I use a mobile phone in fact a £5 top-up last me months but I have a brain tumour. It doesn't mean to say that if you use your phone a lot you will get a brain tumour in many cases it is just luck of the draw.

[beccaroo]

Thankyou that helped alot but i'm still anxious. I guess i'm just a worrier!
I see people protesting about phone masts and it scares me. I need to learn to let it all wash over me because i know this worrying is pointless but i just can't seem to chill out!
Thanks again for your help. I was too scared to search for specific help on the internet incase i didn't like what i found and it started me panicking again.
thank you

[Hollytree]

The website I sent you if good, I was very anxious at looking at things on the interent as I know that it can freak people out, plus it's full of useless information and can make anxiety worse, but this is a trusted site and very helpful. xx

[jojo2316]

hahaha... I have the exact same panic. I never use a mobile anymore. but i still wish I could be like the people who walk around, chatting away, not worrying....

[Trixie]

hahaha... I have the exact same panic. I never use a mobile anymore. but i still wish I could be like the people who walk around, chatting away, not worrying....

.............. and wasting money.

[Ddcoo]

Hi Beccaroo
Have you spoken to your doctor about this phone problem? I don't know if they would send you for a brain scan or not because they would be expensive, but it might be worth asking, just to put your mind at rest. It is awful when you get a worry that can't be solved immediately, its just there, niggling away all day, every day and wears you down. I personally would go and speak to the doctor. Best of luck, Ddcoo.

[Trixie]

Hi Beccaroo
Have you spoken to your doctor about this phone problem? I don't know if they would send you for a brain scan or not because they would be expensive, but it might be worth asking, just to put your mind at rest. It is awful when you get a worry that can't be solved immediately, its just there, niggling away all day, every day and wears you down. I personally would go and speak to the doctor. Best of luck, Ddcoo.

There have been quite a few members of this board who have had an MRI which have been all clear, but then they have then worried that the result might be wrong, so is there any point?


As you say an MRI is very expensive and without any symptoms they may not be prepared to do it.

[LeeBee]

Beccaroo, I can completely relate to this. Not specifically about mobile phone use, but about being freaked out by news reports on illness or disease. The neverending breast cancer scares for example.

I had a panic a few weeks ago at a report that stated that long exposure to estrogen - through not giving birth and breastfeeding - is a sure-fire recipe for breast cancer. I'm 35 and have never had kids. Sounded like a death sentence to me, and fitting punishment for someone who had organised her life so badly . Fortunately I posted about it and NMPers helped me see the light.

There is a doctor called Ben Goldacre who writes for the Guardian who says that some British newspapers - the Daily Mail for example - seem to be engaged in a project to divide all of the inanimate objects (and substances) in the world into those that cause cancer and those that cure it. They identify some of them as doing both. Red wine, for example.

We just can't worry about this sort of stuff. Apart from the fact that the news media simplifies medical research down to a point where it is often meaningless, doing almost anything increases your risk of contracting an illness, or being killed in an accident. It usually does so by a tiny, tiny amount. If we tried to eliminate all of the tiny risks, we'd never do anything. All you can do is avoid the most obviously dangerous behaviour, like smoking, drinking excessively, and walking under buses . I'm sure that anything other than having a mobile phone planted on the side of your head for hours and hours every day for years and years is such a miniscule risk that it's not worth worrying about.