Hi - New here and some advice needed

[mum-of-4]

Hi everyone. This is my first time posting here and I am a little nervous .

I have suffered from Health Anxiety for the past 5 years. I am 35 and a mum to 4 lovely kids who I adore.

My anxiety has hightened over the past few years as we have lost quite a few family members within a short space of time (uncle, aunts, cousin).

My current "obssesion' is with my moles. I have a few aytpical moles on my body and have convinced myself in the past few weeks that at least 3 of them are melanoma. I've had them checked out by my dr (who is fab) and she reasured me that they all look fine. Anyway, I had a mole on my back which I had for at least 20 years. I started to get really obsessed with it and had it looked at by 2 different drs who both said it looked fine. The second dr removed it by burning it off (can't remember the exact name of the procedure). (this was done 3 months ago) I didn't have it biopsied and over the past few weeks I've started to really stress about 'what if' if was nasty and I didn't have it checked out. Since then I've been having pain in that area but I'm not sure if it's because I am constantly touching/rubbing that area to check if it's ok. Is it possible to make pain/soreness/tenderness in an area through stress/worry? I'm not sure what I should do now to reasure myself. I don't want to spend the next few months working myself into a frenzy

So sorry this post is long and not a specific question. Just wondered if anyone could offer any advice/reasurrance?

I forgot to add that my dr has recommended CBT and given me a prescription for Cis (something or other anti depressants). I am unsure of whether to take them.

Many thanks!!

[nomorepanic]

Hi mum-of-4

We just wanted to welcome you aboard to NMP. We hope you enjoy your stay here and get all the support and advice you need.

Please take some time to read the website articles on the left as well for loads of advice and tips.

[Groundhog]

Hi and welcome
There are some things practitioners see so regular that they are able to form an ‘off hand’ opinion in an instance and moles are one of those. My wife has several pronounced moles on her back and she will often ask our GP to have a look if she is there for something else and as she says it is just a cursory glance he gives them. If you had one removed your GP must have been 101% convinced it was OK anything less and he would have had it tested. Yes poking and prodding that area will make it sore and the power that is our irrational thinking will multiply it.

Can recommend therapy it works wonders, as for anti d’s....Hmmm I’ll leave that to others to comment.

[paula lynne]

Hi Mum of 4, a belated warm welcome to the forum, you will find lots of help and support here, and make some friends along the way, its nice to meet you x

[~glowly worm~]

Hi Mum of 4

Welcome on 'the' board
As always would like to state am not at all medically qualified but i do think as Groundhog said that worrying can bring on all kinds of aches and pains. It sounds like u have eveyr right to be in pain but at the same time if im not well the more i think about it the worse it sems to get (i too have health anxiety) and as the others said prodding can make it hurt yes.

Would it help to revisit your GP? He or she might be able to check it one mor etime so that u might feel less need to worry or prod again and it might help it heal?

Glad CBT has been recommended, it gets very mixed reports and might not be the right hting for you or others but has really helped me in the past (im considering switching back to it from current therapy). Its definitely worth a try as is medication if you feel it is the right thing for you but others are better equipped to advise on both of these all i can say is both have helped me at different stages although i do prefer therapy to meds but im also considering meds again.

In the short term one thing that lots of us find help us here is distraction..wathing a good dvd, reading a self help book on anxiety reduction (this one has been really useful for me lately..have been reading Dr Weekes as recommended by this forum), painting with your children (if they are that age??) anything that might help totally absorb your head for abit.

Hope this helps you and never worry about posting long things.. soemtimes it helps yuo to get it out and us to understand.

Welcome once again and best of luck

~ glowly ~

[Vanilla Sky]

Hi and welcome to NMP
Paige x

[Dizz]

Hiya

I just replied to your other post about your 'mole'. Sorry but I didn't see this one first.

[mum-of-4]

Thank you all so much . I am so glad that i have found this site. I already feel tons better just through reading others experiences that i have also been through along the way. It's so reasurring not to feel alone.

Many many thanks. And I imagine that I will be a regular on here .

Thank you!!!!!