Scared of Possible Cancer

Since Jun 2020 I've had atypical chest and abdominal pains. It started as a sporadic sharp come-and-go pin like pains in my ribs/chest and upper abdomen and that remained the constant until the begining of the year. The abominal pain has pretty much vanished while the ribs/chest pain has graduated to a come-and-go sharp pain in the lower part of my left chest that I can trigger when I twist and the last few weeks a burning/soreness in my right chest. The pain, while somewhat painful, is more uncomfortable. 3x since Jun I've had a sharp cramping sensation in the center of my chest. The 1st time freaked me out enough to go to an ER. Tests showed nothing. I've been brushed off as having anxiety, perhaps muscular/skeletal issue that needs to resolve on it's own or maybe gastro although OTC meds don't seem to help. I did have a week or two of dizzy spells but that resolved on it's own. I also keep thinking I have shortness of breath but then wonder if I might just be paying too much attention to my breathing. I do occasional jump rope tests to see if I can regain my breath quickly and I do. 

I've had a bevy of tests. 3 chest x-rays (Urgent Care, ER and regular doctor), bloodwork, 3 EKGs, abdominal ultrasound and abdominal CT. All my tests have been normal. The CT did show some mildly enlargled lymph nodes, but not large enough to worry the radiologist. They'll be doing a follow-up CT at the end of the month to check stability and a 1st time chest CT. I'm told if that is normal, which seems to be expected, I'm at the end of the road. 

I'm a 36 year old white male, I don't smoke, I drink but not exessively, I'm a few lbs overweight but not obese. My doctor says with my medical history being boringly normal it's highy unlikely I have cancer, but my mind continues to go there. My dad had breast cancer when I was in my teens and passed a few years ago from thyroid cancer. His two brothers also had some form of cancer. One is still with us the other passed. As far as I know they all had the BRCA gene. I was tested for that and I don't. 

Perhaps my mind if getting away from me, but I have my concerns. I do the thing you shouldn't do an obsess over Google, but I've also seen the ravages of cancer. I lost a step father to it as well. I know my body and I know something is wrong. But being told anxiety is what is making me anxious. Having no answers also makes me anxious. Being told I might not ever have answers makes me anxious. 

I'm sorry if this is the wrong place for this but I thought it can't hurt to reach out for thoughts, advice, anything. Much appreciated.

  • Try not to worry, you sound like you are being well looked after with all the scans and tests you are getting! Trust me if there was anything to find they will/would of found it. 

    I would do my best to stay off of Google, the amount of times I've convinced myself I have cancer over something minor is crazy and all because of Google. Honestly doctors hate google as if makes their jobs so much more difficult, it's nice to be informed but there is such a thing and being too informed. You look up the symptoms of anything you'll have cancer according to webMD. Doctors know what they are talking about and looking for in terms of cancer.

    Anxiety can cause a whole host of symptoms, none of which are particularly helpful. Try not to worry too much, no one knows what will happen tomorrow but we are here today and we have to live each day the best we can. Wasting it on worry and stress does us no good at all. You get short of breath when you are anxious because your body starts to demand more oxygen incase you have to run from something (anxiety is basically to stop us being eaten by something hence fight or flight response) 36 is still young and you sound very healthy. You don't need to panic so much about things.

  • Thanks Mochamoo. You are very right. Anxiety I know can cause all kinds of ailments. You're also right, it's best to try and not to worry. It's just hard when I feel nearly constant pain. I do my best to keep busy and not think about it.

    I apprecaite all your kind words and thank you very much for responding. Words of encouragment go far with me.

  • Oh anytime, with covid and lockdown it's a stressful time and depression and anxiety are getting more and more common.

    I mean I thought I had osphageal cancer... Turned out it was esphogitis, primarily caused by stress, harmless and very treatable. If you look up the symptoms of both though they are nearly identical and can both cause a lot of chest pain especially when eating.

  • My husband did unfortunately have oesophageal cancer, it was hard to detect and only a scope down the throat into stomach found it, but too late, it was already in his liver and at 43 he was given 4 months to live. The ct scan picked up the tumors in the liver but nothing else. If they had caught it before it had traveled to liver they could have treated it. I'm now a widow with two kids to bring up alone. My advice would be if you can get the funds together see a private specialist and get a scope done for your own peace of mind. This cancer does move pretty fast, he went from no symptoms to agony in his chest in a few weeks, if you've had symptoms for a while you're probably ok i think...but I'm no expert, just going on my husband's experience. He was the fittest, healthiest person i knew when he was diagnosed and it was already too late for him, if cancer is in your family don't muck around, it's ruthless

  • My goodness I am so sorry for your loss, your poor husband... Hope you are doing well and that's heart breaking. Can't honestly afford to go private for anything but the medication is working and I'm back to eating and swallowing again. Already seen an ENT and a GI and I'm okay.