Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
Hi,
For the past 5 years I have been to the doctor's for various ailments and three times for three different things, the doctors immediately told me they suspect cancer.
I tell them I have major anxiety and I need them to not make me feel so nervous, but they don't care!
After dealing with a doctor telling me I probably had thyroid cancer in April, and the stress from that (thank God, the doctor was wrong), I developed Gerd and gastritis which caused me intense stomach pain, acid coming up to my mouth and I was so nervous and anxious from this whole thing plus the pain in my stomach, that I lost 23 pounds in about 2 and a half months.I had been diagnosed in ER about 2 months ago, put on medicine. So, I changed my diet, started taking herbal supplements and started feeling so much better that I no longer needed the medicine and had no more stomach pain. I stopped losing weight and finally got in to see the GI doc. He was not happy that I had lost so much weight (which I can afford to lose, I'm not a small person) and when he pressed on my stomach it hurt. He said unexplained weight loss and pain were suspicious of stomach cancer. I was totally taken off guard. I explained to him that I know why I was losing weight, because I wasn't consuming enough calories and now I can eat normally again and I don't have pain--it's just it felt tender when he pushed hard under my breastbone. He didn't want to hear any of it. He just made me feel like I have stomach cancer. I told him he was scaring me and he didn't care.
Fortunately, I have been taking stress-j drops which have helped me deal with the anxiety, so I am able to function right now, but I am scared. I keep telling myself, if it was cancer I would be getting worse, not better and I would still be losing weight, and at the ER they did every blood panel they could and the docs there weren't suspicious of cancer, but who knows. It could be true. I'll just have to wait and see, but I just am so SICK of doctors having to say that as the first thing they think, since there are other things it could be.
Incidentally, since the doctor said this, I went on line and looked up the symptoms of stomach cancer and acid reflux is one, and so is stomach pain although my pain has subsided and another symptom is loss of appetite. Since reading that, I now have no appetite. The mind is powerful and doctors I think should have more consideration to the damage they are doing to people mentally by scaring people before they have more information. I would much rather have not had to worry about this before I have to go have the endoscopy (tube shoved down my throat so doc can look inside), than now I have to worry about endoscopy procedure (they put you to sleep and I am terrified of being put to sleep).
All these experiences I've had over the past few years (5 years ago, the doctor thought I had uterine cancer--thank God no, it was perimenopause) has made me so fearful of doctors,--and I used to be the kind of person who ran to see a doctor over every little pain!
For the past 5 years I have been to the doctor's for various ailments and three times for three different things, the doctors immediately told me they suspect cancer.
I tell them I have major anxiety and I need them to not make me feel so nervous, but they don't care!
After dealing with a doctor telling me I probably had thyroid cancer in April, and the stress from that (thank God, the doctor was wrong), I developed Gerd and gastritis which caused me intense stomach pain, acid coming up to my mouth and I was so nervous and anxious from this whole thing plus the pain in my stomach, that I lost 23 pounds in about 2 and a half months.I had been diagnosed in ER about 2 months ago, put on medicine. So, I changed my diet, started taking herbal supplements and started feeling so much better that I no longer needed the medicine and had no more stomach pain. I stopped losing weight and finally got in to see the GI doc. He was not happy that I had lost so much weight (which I can afford to lose, I'm not a small person) and when he pressed on my stomach it hurt. He said unexplained weight loss and pain were suspicious of stomach cancer. I was totally taken off guard. I explained to him that I know why I was losing weight, because I wasn't consuming enough calories and now I can eat normally again and I don't have pain--it's just it felt tender when he pushed hard under my breastbone. He didn't want to hear any of it. He just made me feel like I have stomach cancer. I told him he was scaring me and he didn't care.
Fortunately, I have been taking stress-j drops which have helped me deal with the anxiety, so I am able to function right now, but I am scared. I keep telling myself, if it was cancer I would be getting worse, not better and I would still be losing weight, and at the ER they did every blood panel they could and the docs there weren't suspicious of cancer, but who knows. It could be true. I'll just have to wait and see, but I just am so SICK of doctors having to say that as the first thing they think, since there are other things it could be.
Incidentally, since the doctor said this, I went on line and looked up the symptoms of stomach cancer and acid reflux is one, and so is stomach pain although my pain has subsided and another symptom is loss of appetite. Since reading that, I now have no appetite. The mind is powerful and doctors I think should have more consideration to the damage they are doing to people mentally by scaring people before they have more information. I would much rather have not had to worry about this before I have to go have the endoscopy (tube shoved down my throat so doc can look inside), than now I have to worry about endoscopy procedure (they put you to sleep and I am terrified of being put to sleep).
All these experiences I've had over the past few years (5 years ago, the doctor thought I had uterine cancer--thank God no, it was perimenopause) has made me so fearful of doctors,--and I used to be the kind of person who ran to see a doctor over every little pain!
I have had an endoscopy done before, it's not bad at all android I believe it only takes ten mins. I actually love getting put to sleep Haha. It's their only time you can feel all screwed up an funny legally LOL. I remember when I woke up from a surgery I had to remove a cyst from my breast. My mom said my eyes were super red and all I was thinking was I WANT MORE DRUGS LOL. They feel so good Haha. Have you ever been put to sleep? You should just enjoy them experience. Come into it with curiosity not fear. You will be completely fine trust me. And before the endoscopy they do scare you and tell you that they could rupture your inside but they HAVE to tell you that legally probably so you can sue, cuz you sign something after saying you were told that! It's super duper rare though! Your more likely to get into a car accident on your way there. Not trying to scary you but there are so many other things that are more likely and even those things a rent very likely. Every day we are a live we are taking risks. Going out for a run or swimming or even chewing gum. Life is about risks.
Also, my freshmen yr of college I was so stressed I had severe stomach in my stomach, it would go right through me every morning :/. I ended up getting out on nexium, worked wonders. I went off it two yrs later. I have been really stressed since but obviously not enough to cause that.
Also, I have ocd and had an obsession once that I had a tapeworm. I really believed with everything in me that I had a tapeworm growing in me. I had stomach pains, I could feel it moving, I felt it coming up my throat, I swore I would see things in my stool, I was constantly feeling my stomach and swear I could feel it. I would barely eat as I knew I was feeding the worm and making it grow. I went to the doctors tons of times and did stool tests. Negative every time but I always swore they just missed something. Til on day I went to the doctors and they told me there was a 1% chance that I had it. For whatever reason that doctor did the trick and that obsession was gone, along with the IMAGINARY worm. Our brain is VERY powerful!!!!
Sorry for all the errors I hate autocorrect
They could use a refresher in "bedside manners" or soft skills of effective communication. They are creating conditions in you unnecessarily. It's good they do not ignore symptoms but there is also a way to convey things - like "Let me send you to an Gastroenterologist so he can look at that more closely. Here's the name of some specialists in your network. In the meantime, if you need us, give my nurse a call and we'll get you in here for an appointment". Or something other than "I think you might have ....".
Or find some other docs--some who are not into scaring the heck out of folks.
And know that too much online research on conditions has had many of us convinced of worst case scenarios. I've learned to limit my research to a couple of trusted sites.
People here are generally supportive and positive...They would make great doctors!!
I had the endoscopy for the same condition (GERD) - been on prilosec and have not had any other problems with it since; and had no problems with the endo procedure - none.You'll be fin--as always. Take care!!!
Release2find, it was a gastroenterologist who said that to me. The other docs were specialists too. But, I looked up this GI docs name on google and he was on some sites that rate doctors and he had mediocre and poor scores and one woman posted (to paraphrase): "This doctor is a mean, MEAN man! After I left his office I cried for two weeks and was scared to go see another doctor after that"! So, apparently, I didn't get special treatment.
I go to a homeopath for natural remedies and he said that he of course can't tell if I have stomach cancer or not, but he said it doesn't make sense that I would be getting so much better if it were cancer. Which makes a lot of sense. Oh well, I won't know until I have the endoscopy (I do feel better about it now..I'm scared to be put to sleep, because I was put to sleep in a hospital when I was 9 and it was so scary the whole hospital thing), but I do thank you again for the support.
all this just made my anxiety and symptoms worse....
so take everything they say to you with a grain of salt--I think they want to test for the worse possible thing because 1) they don't want to be the subject of a lawsuit and 2) they get to run lots of expensive, expensive tests.
if you have good insurance-let them do their tests for YOUR peace of mind, but don't invest any energy in worrying about it.
(and ps-I've had an endoscopy--the worse part of it is the icky numbing spray that smelled/tasted like bananas....)