Terrified that I may have cancer

Hi, 

Recently I have lost a lot of weight through changing my diet and exercise. People where asking if im ill when I said it's intentional they said I look great! But I started to google and realised my weight loss is too fast. I realised I was eating far too few calories about 1000 a day I have increased my calorie intake to about 2000 and decreased exercise. My weight loss has slowed down a from 3 to 5 pounds a week to 2 to 3. In total I have lost around 33 Kg since 4th of june this year.

A few weeks ago I noticed some swelling/lumps just under my jawline appox where my Submandibular glads are (both sides) I had a emergancy telephone appointment yesturday with my GP. She has now reffered my for an urgent appointment with Hematology and with Rheumatology as I was diagnosed with Arthritis when I was a kid. Both departments phoned me yesturday afternoon. I am seeing the Rheumatoogy next tuesday and the hemotology next Wednesday. I was reffured to Hematology about 3 years ago due to a consistent high WBC but it was noted that my count has been high for years. I had blood tests and it came back clear with no abnormal cells. The Hematology Dr said it is most likly due to my arthritis  and I was discharged.

Appart from the weight loss and lumps I have no other symptoms, no night sweats or high tempratures ect and if it was not for the extream anxierty and panic attacks I am having ATM I think I would feel fine in myself. I have felt the benifits from my weight loss no waking up and 4 am every morning with heart burn, no more stomach pains and genrally I have more energy than I did before losing weight. I'm just so scared that my weight loss is not due to eating better and exersise and is due to cancer. I woke up at 4am this morning and could not get back to due to overthinking and anxertiy attacks! 

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

 

Chris.

  • Hello and thanks for posting

    It sounds like you meant to lose a substantial amount of weight and it's good that you're feeling better for it.

    I would have thought that this can only benefit your health, but seeing the rheumatologist and haematologist should give you the chance to go over any concerns you may have. If necessary they can order some tests, but at this stage try and not get overly anxious, as there are explanations for your raised nodes other than cancer.

    Try and not overthink things and wait to see what the specialists say.

    Luckily it's not long to wait - I hope you are able to have a good consultation with them both.

    All the best

    Wanda

  • Hi Wanda,

    Thank you very much for your reply, It has made me feel better I suffer from general anxierty anyway and I worry and stress out about tiny things a lot of the time. The trigger for my anxierty in the 1st place was "maybee im losing weight too fast" googled it and most website saying fast weight loss is bad ect, then I found the swellings a few weeks ago and my anxerity went up since then. I litrally changed my diet overnight when I finaly got fed up of being overweight.

    Maybe it's just my body telling me that I need to slow down now. The past 4 months I have been doing an average of 15,000 steps a day plus, with my job im on my feet all day some days my step count can be over 20,000 .

    Thank you again for your reply!

    Chris