Hi can i ask wot ur symtoms was plz iv been goin bk and forth gp for 2 years with stomach problems had ultrasound all cone bk ok bloods ok then got.pregnant had no problens with my stomach now iv given birth got the same lroblems with my stomach again. I have a diagnosis of health anxiety and it is takin over my life xx

Hi 

My name is Kod

I also suffer with severe health anxiety. I look at something I think I have cancer.I now think I have skin and bowel cancer because. It is controlling my life and not sure what to do. Any tips will help please.  

Thank you for your words. Health anxiety consumes my whole

life. 

This is so relatable. Health anxiety is awful... My doctor's know about it but won't discuss it with me and can be quite dismissive (they are great for everything else). When I have something that is not normal for me I automatically think that I have terminal cancer and won't see my little boy grow up . I try to stay away from Google but as previously mentioned it's like your looking for it to tell you 100% that your fine or not.... I am happy that I have found this page as k thought I was alone and going crazy with thoughts. (I will rarely second money incase I need it for my funeral !!). It's exhausting. Also your right anxiety has so many different symptoms that can be misplaced as something else. Anyway thankyou for allowing me to post. Have a lovely day Xx

Hi Nn, 

I feel that health anxiety rules my life too and it's horrible, my other problem is I daren't go for any medical tests either I worry going to the dentist in case he finds mouth cancer, I worry going to the optician because my mum had macular degenrative desease and am convinced the "speckles" the found on my mcular last time is leading me the same way, I wont have cervical smears or mamograms because I am terrified of them finding something, I am at my wits end with it all.

Hi hope you don't mind me contacting you. I have just come across your response above and suffering exactly the same as you with health anxiety thinking I have Leukaemia I have all the symptoms too and I know I shouldn't google. What were you symptoms? Did you see a doctor? It's taking over life and I can't cope anymore.. 

Hi Terrifiedtoo,

I am so sorry to hear how health anxiety and fear of any medical tests is ruining your life. Have you considered getting help for this, as your fears could be storing up more problems for you? It might be worth considering counselling or even hypnotherapy to help, but this should make your life much easier.

Please keep in touch and let us know what you decide to do. 

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi Hayley,

A very warm welcome to our forum. If you think you have leukaemia, have you seen your GP about this. Googling is never a good thing to do, as it can play havoc with your imagination. Please discuss how you feel with your GP, as it sounds like you need help to overcome these fears.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

I can fully appreciate how you feel.  I lost my mum in September 2018, 11 months afer being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.  In the May she'd 'rung the bell' and been told she was in the clear, but in the July was told it had actually spread and was given 2 months.  She died 7 weeks later. 

A year later my friend (in her 30's) died of cancer 2 months after she was diagnosed leaving 3 chiuldren behind.  I have just learned of another friends husband being diagnosed (very young, young children) and my fear is growing every day.  The same as most people on here, every twinge sends my mind into overdrive, especially if it's in parts of the body affected by those I've lost.

Now that adverts tell us one in 2 of us will get it, that just makes it worse too.

I know that I need to just get on with life (I work in bereavement so that can be hard too) so am trying to find ways of changing my thoughts but it's not coming easily

Hi, so happy to find this thread here. I just found out last week that my mum has stage 4 bowel cancer, its obviously been a huge blow to us all as she had no symptoms and is otherwise fit and healthy being in her late 60s. This has come with the shock factor, emotional stress and various thoughts for the family. I was in extreme shock but trying to stay rational. I havent ever really had 'heatlh anxiety' but due to this I have been googling and reading alot about my mums symptoms (I know now thats probably a bad idea!), however the more I have been reading the more and more I am convinced I have it now too !

Every little symptom I have I am saying 'yes thats it, I have that, I must have it'. When I found out the initlal news I had done something to my jaw so couldnt actually eat properly for a few days then with this combined with so much nerves and anxeity for my mum I was getting stomach pains and needing to go to the toilet every half hour and again thinking these are all obvious symptoms for me too that I have it, although I was somewhat aware that probably could be just nerves. The last couple of days both of those have pretty much completely gone as I have been eating more normally and the initial shock as subsided somewhat, but now I've started reading about weight loss as an initial symptom of cancer and now thinking I have weight loss. 

I hardly ever really look at my body in detail or weigh myself but last night spent the night weighing myself, going through old photos and trying to compare to how I look now to see if there was a significant change and this morning have been trying on clothes to check they still fit. (Even to me this sounds mad). I often wear a pair of shorts around the house and was thinking this morning that yes they have been very loose for the past few weeks / months, this made me very concerned and thought ' ok the evidence is right here' , I have physical evidence that these are visibly loose on me -  I am loosing weight(!) However with the vague logic I can muster at the moment I decided to actually measure the shorts. They are cheap ones purchased some years back and are a 34" (I am usually between 34 - 36" waist)... but guess what they had completely stretched out to a 40" waist! ...no wonder they were almost falling off me. I just tried on another pair which were the same size and fit fine and normally so have literally gone and thrown the other pair in the bin.

My mind is spinning with all this and wonder if its my way of physcologically coping with the stress and shock of this distressing news. I know I now need to remain calm and focus on my MUM who actually has been diagnosed with it its just very hard when having this news I have turned into an anxious wreck and jumping to every conclusion with every symptom that I have it too.