Does this board ever GIVE you anxiety? / colon cancer fears

Amw311 · Apr 8, 2021

matisworried said:
I've been dealing with a nagging cough for years which I've always attributed to having LPR (like acid reflux but worse) but over the past year I've had some shortness of breath which was really unnerving and got me second guessing things. of course, my brain went straight to things like lung cancer and copd. i saw my doc yesterday and we went over my medical history. she's confident it's nothing serious, possibly allergies. the relief was (very) short-lived. when i got home, i started getting a crampy pain in my upper left abdomen, which is something I've experienced here and there for awhile. it can happen when I'm doing nothing but it definitely is made worse by movement : twisting, arching my back, etc. i came here and started looking around the boards and came across a post from someone that was afraid they had colon cancer due to narrow stool. another poster reassured them that narrow stools weren't considered a symptom anymore and quotes an article from a gastro doctor stating this. the article then goes on to list ACTUAL symptoms of CC, one of which was, of course, upper left abdominal cramping. the old, familiar "overwhelming feeling of doom" filled my brain once again. now I'm back to being nearly non-functional. while I've never had a colonoscopy (i just turned 43 with no family history so i'm still considered too young) i try to remind myself that 94% of CC take 10-15 years to develop and a CT scan of my abdomen in August '18 saw nothing in my GI except for "rare diverticula." (the scan was done to look at my kidneys, not my colon.)

anyway... yeah... i'm freaking out quite a bit but it also made me think:

has this place ever made anyone besides me MORE anxious?

So interesting that you just posted this. I just had that thought today actually. As much as I love this forum and the solidarity I’ve found within it, I do find it sometimes contributing to my vicious, obsessive spiral of health anxiety. Sometimes I read people’s posts when I’m personally not even incredibly anxious, but I sometimes think, “Wow, I have that too but have never worried about it...they are, so maybe I should be too.”
Also, I have recently come to realize that much of my health anxiety resembles a form of OCD. And constantly checking this forum/refreshing the page to see people’s responses or check up on somebody else’s current worry becomes another deep dark hole for me.
Just some thoughts I’ve had lately.

Amw311 · Apr 8, 2021

matisworried said:
i really do believe (as does my therapist) that HA is a form of OCD or at least has roots in it.

as of late, i've also broken my "golden rule" which is "DON'T GOOGLE!" I've also had to admit that from time to time, I've used this site as a workaround for that. what i mean is that i won't actual google anything (read medical articles or webMD-type things) but I'll come here and search for posts about things that are worrying me. it's how a stumbled across the post that caused all of this. it's so frustrating.

I’ve definitely used this site as a way to work around not googling but essentially searching for the same things, too. I’m sure we all have. I will say though, the fact that your cramping is made worse by moving a certain way, definitely tells me that it sounds muscular. Also gas pain can be felt in a ton of strange places. As you know, it could be a number of normal things that aren’t sinister. Maybe instead of just “no Google” you can tell yourself to stay off of any health related website/forum/whatever for a week.

matisworried said:
i really do believe (as does my therapist) that HA is a form of OCD or at least has roots in it.

as of late, i've also broken my "golden rule" which is "DON'T GOOGLE!" I've also had to admit that from time to time, I've used this site as a workaround for that. what i mean is that i won't actual google anything (read medical articles or webMD-type things) but I'll come here and search for posts about things that are worrying me. it's how a stumbled across the post that caused all of this. it's so frustrating.

Also, speaking of obsessing and spiraling, after I typed my response to you, I began feeling my lower left abdomen area to see if I’m having any cramping in that spot. It’s a frustrating snd very draining cycle to be in.

Amw311 · Apr 8, 2021

Too funny. My sister-in-law is also a nurse and one of my best friends! In the midst of the pandemic I called her in hysterics because my pulse oximeter read “97” instead of my usual “99” and she was able to calm me down and speak logic to me. I always go to her but my poor husband gets the worst of it though. And it drives him crazy. He’s awesome and is an extremely supportive spouse but it really weighs on him and brings him down when I’m spiraling. If I’m not in a deep hole of worrying about my own ailment, I start to question any and everything about him. (Such as a very odd looking bug bite he currently has )

bigjetplane6 · Apr 8, 2021

Most definitely. There are many triggers on this forum however, I feel like it does more good (The relief and “calmness” I get vs the damamge).

mollyfin · Apr 11, 2021

It has its moments, yeah. But pretty much everything makes me anxious in one way or another.

Lanchparty7 · Apr 11, 2021

mollyfin said:
It has its moments, yeah. But pretty much everything makes me anxious in one way or another.

Yep...this is me! Anything and everything...no matter how big or how small seems to be setting me off lately.

JustMe · Apr 12, 2021

matisworried said:
I've been dealing with a nagging cough for years which I've always attributed to having LPR (like acid reflux but worse) but over the past year I've had some shortness of breath which was really unnerving and got me second guessing things. of course, my brain went straight to things like lung cancer and copd. i saw my doc yesterday and we went over my medical history. she's confident it's nothing serious, possibly allergies. the relief was (very) short-lived. when i got home, i started getting a crampy pain in my upper left abdomen, which is something I've experienced here and there for awhile. it can happen when I'm doing nothing but it definitely is made worse by movement : twisting, arching my back, etc. i came here and started looking around the boards and came across a post from someone that was afraid they had colon cancer due to narrow stool. another poster reassured them that narrow stools weren't considered a symptom anymore and quotes an article from a gastro doctor stating this. the article then goes on to list ACTUAL symptoms of CC, one of which was, of course, upper left abdominal cramping. the old, familiar "overwhelming feeling of doom" filled my brain once again. now I'm back to being nearly non-functional. while I've never had a colonoscopy (i just turned 43 with no family history so i'm still considered too young) i try to remind myself that 94% of CC take 10-15 years to develop and a CT scan of my abdomen in August '18 saw nothing in my GI except for "rare diverticula." (the scan was done to look at my kidneys, not my colon.)

anyway... yeah... i'm freaking out quite a bit but it also made me think:

has this place ever made anyone besides me MORE anxious?

Ya I usually have to take a break from it

bin_tenn · Apr 12, 2021

This is very common. If you watch closely enough, you'll find that there is often a common theme in new posts. Many folks worry about the same thing (or same type of thing) at the same time.

Ms.Honey · Apr 16, 2021

This board has definitely triggered me at times.
I use it instead of googling but sometimes find a written line that messes with my head. I do try to be careful in my replies, not to say anything that might trigger someone else.

bigjetplane6 · Apr 17, 2021

I just thought about how strong we all are that deal with HA.
We wake up with a constant battle everyday in our minds and look at us, we’re still here.

bin_tenn · Apr 18, 2021

As far as saying triggering things here, I feel like that can be a problem, too. It really depends on the situation. In my many years on anxiety forums, I've seen users who coddle the anxiety sufferers, going so far as to provide misinformation to falsely (dangerously?) reassure the person who wrote the post out of fear. What I mean is we're probably wrong to say that X or Y is simply not possible, and that an anxiety sufferer shouldn't even think about those things. Instead, it makes sense to be careful with words to not blatantly trigger, while maintaining that a person should always consult a medical professional for sound advice, as opposed to relying on a forum.

It's quite a gray area. I'm careful with my words, but I'll never coddle anyone.

bin_tenn · Apr 18, 2021

matisworried said:
totally agree. i don't coddle people either. it can do so much more harm than good. i know it can cause people to get upset from time to time, but we're not doing each other any favors here if we're just reassuring everything someone says or not pointing out when people are engaging in behavior that fuels their anxiety.

Indubitably. On an old anxiety forum I was on, there were a few folks who I'm quite positive were trolls. They'd constantly trigger people, seemingly on purpose. As far as I can tell that's not a problem here, fortunately.

Does this board ever GIVE you anxiety? / colon cancer fears

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