Worst case scenario

[LeeBee]

One of the things that HAers seem to have in common is that we always Worst Case Scenario. For example, at the weekend I developed a painful localised rash on my back. There's a little black spot - it looks liked a pimple with a scab on it - in the centre and around it was a red, raised rash about 3 inches in diameter that was stinging to the touch but is now just a dry patch that is tender if I poke it a lot. The most likely explanation is an insect bite, or a mild allergic reaction to something or other. But did I think about that when I found it? No.

I thought: skin cancer, septicemia (seriously, I even did the "glass" test) or shingles.

It's clearly getting better, whatever it was, and is not any of the things that I Worst Case Scenario-ed. I had a right old panic on Sunday night.

Do other HAers find that even the slightest lump, bump, rash or sniffle is instantly identified as a life-threatening illness? Is anyone comforted when it turns out to be something and nothing, and doesn't worry about it next time? How do we stop it?

[Helen1973]

How bad is this? I've started bathing with the lights on very low so that spotting anything is much less likely. I avoid looking at my body as much as humanly possible. It just seems easier that way but is probably an unhealthy avoidance behaviour.

[Cathy V]

I think we also do this with situations as well as with aches and pains. If i have to travel anywhere my imagination runs riot, and before i know it ive imagined myself in the worst situation possible, then spend the weeks leading up to the journey trying to talk sense into myself.

I don't do it so often with my health these days i have to say. Whether its that ive had so many years of HA that the fear just isnt there for me like it used to be, i don't know. But on saturday night i had a bit of a mini-panic because of my leg. I have a problem with one of my knees. It goes back just a couple of years to a time when i was painting alot in my old house and had been kneeling alot to paint skirting boards and my left knee swelled up quite badly, so ever since then it flares up now and again and restricts movement so i end up limping around for a few days.

This i have at the moment, but on saturday my foot seemed to go really cold and the calf muscle seemed really tight and i found myself panicking over it, thinking about DVT. So i took a few deep breaths and told myself not to be so dramatic and the panic eventually subsided. My leg was ok and my foot warmed up and i lived to limp another day

[LeeBee]

Helen I do that too! It was horrible to have to shine a bright light on my rash so that I could see it in the mirror. I could see the moles on my back which always freaks me out (I don't even have that many of them) - I try to avoid looking at them, but touch them and poke them often.

[LACEYA1961]

I can relate Lee...all day today I've had this burning pain up and down my left shoulder and I'm thinking "WHAT NOW?"
The rational part of me is saying it's probably a nerve that's being pressed on from my neck (woke up with a neck ache this morning) but the irrational part of me is thinking, heart, blood clot in arm that's going to my heart, etc..
I also found a weird area on my right calf the other day that freaked me out. Looked like blood settling. Of course I sit indian style most of the time and I always have the heel of my left foot pressed right into that very spot on my right calf but did that make me feel better? NOOOOO lol
I had some very disturbing thoughts that came into my mind when I saw that which I won't go into and the thoughts are still with me but I'm forcing myself not to look at my leg. I'm going to have to shave my legs eventually so I'll deal with looking at my leg then lol

This probably didn't help lol

Take care,

Lacey

[girlrock]

Ahh yes. After 2 months now of diarrhea, constipation, nausea, thrush, Pityriasis Rosea....I can relate. Just like last week when I started feeling the lump sensation in my throat and it was about 4 am so no one to talk to or call to make me feel better. Went Google crazy but mostly found anxiety as the cause. But if you could have heard the conversation I was having with myself in my head, "You stupid *bleeping* *bleep*, just go the *bleep* to bed! You aren't dying, you're throat is not swelling shut, and you are going to wake up alive and fine! Knock it the *bleep* off already!"

I mean really....if I'm going to let my mind go nuts with worry...what are the chances of having throat cancer, IBS, Pityriasis Rosea, and HIV all at the same time? Highly doubt it but my head doesn't want to hear it usually! hehe

[helen26]

my doctor has told me i have a cancer phobia, so i have had every cancer going the past couple of months, at the moment i have breast cancer that has now spread up to my collerbone and my shoulders!! i feel so silly when im writing it down but it seems real in my head! i have seen to doctors who have said i havent got breast cancer, even had the manuel check, but no im still thinking i have! i cant shake the fact that i am going to die from this horrible cancer and going to leave my young children and partner, its bloody awful! the docs have told me its muscular and my anxiety is feeding on it and making it worse, i cant see how my boobs have been hurting from a muscular pain! but then i aint a doctor......... xx

[Blackstar]

I had to post on this thread because I am exactly the same! It's never just a headache, it's a brain tumour...it's never just indigestion, it's stomach cancer...

I also agree with Cathy about the situation-related catastrophising! I get so worked up on planes that all I can imagine is either having a heart attack in mid-flight or the plane falling out of the sky!!

I just feel so lucky that you guys are here and that you understand. It makes life a little bit easier

Anna. x

[helen26]

the weird thing is i have never been like this, i was always the one saying "its nothing" nothing ever phased me. now i am a nervous wreck about anything! i wish this HA had a off button lol x

[jwoulf]

I do the same thing. I have some harmless symptom, I start looking it up online, and suddenly I am convinced that I have some horrible disease and I start having panic attacks.