I truly feel like I'm alone in my situation, haven't found anything similar. Finally posting about it

[Kev1982]

Hey everyone, I'll try to make this brief but I just need to put this out here, because honestly I feel literally like the only one who's dealt with what I'm dealing with.
If you have any time to read and reply I would be forever grateful.

I'm a 38 year old male. Mid November I had a horrific health anxiety attack over lipomas on my back (they have been there for a long time, but I googled them just to see and I came across sarcoma and freaked out). I went to the doctor and got them all checked and the doctor assured me there's nothing to be concerned about. He knows my history with health anxiety so he prescribed me Zoloft, but it didn't do anything for me so switched to Sertraline. This was the first time I left the doctor not feeling relieved about what I heard. Even though he said he's not worries, I still had horrible anxiety.

The following night I was putting my daughter to bed after I did my chest itched and so I scratched it and felt a small lump under my skin in my right pec/breast. I had an anxiety attack because I thought for sure it was breast cancer, and my mom passed of breast cancer. On top of that I was only on day 1 of the meds and they gave me crippling anxiety (side effect, I just had to power through for a few days) so it was a really bad week.

Doctor felt it and said he sees nothing to worry about but he will send me in for an ultra sound and ct scan to ease my mind. The appointment was in 3 weeks. During that entire time I started getting armpit pain that would radiate through my chest and down my sides. Of course googling armpit pain was a horrific idea because it tells me I probably have breast cancer, so I go back to my doctor before my appointment and he pokes around in my armpits and says no swollen lymph nodes and sees nothing of concern. I finally get to the appointment and it comes back all clear, the lump is a small lipoma (of course).

So now at that point I actually do feel much more at ease and I get back to normal feeling, the meds are working and I'm back to being busy and feeling normal. Few aches and pains but nothing that alarmed me. The day after Christmas I had to go to urgent care and I tested positive for strep throat. That didn't freak me out, I went home and started on my antibiotics. They actually worked that night and my throat stopped hurting and I was feeling better, but ended up battling a cold as well. I don't know if it was part of the strep or another cold all it's own. (I have a flu shot, but the cold and flu is going around like crazy).

This is what triggered my health anxiety back up: I've been having chills at night the last couple of nights (but I didn't have them last night) , and 2 nights ago I woke up at 3am feeling completely starving. Like bad. So I got up and ate some cereal. I went back to bed and had chills so I threw 2 blankets on and woke up about 3 hours later super soaked. I freaked out that I have lymphoma because of having night sweats , even though it's the first time in a very very long time I've had them. And now my armpits are bothering me again, not horribly painful, but I can feel it in both armpits. This morning I woke up and felt a little sweaty on my neck, but nowhere else. My feet feel like they are sweating but when I feel them it doesn't appear they are.

So all this to say, I had absolutely no symptoms in November and was feeling completely fine, was not on any meds, and then I had the anxiety attack about the lipomas. So as of right now I'm dealing with achy armpits/back/sides and hot flashes. Never had any of this until I freaked out, but my thought it it's my body giving me a warning. And I hate I don't trust that my doctor already felt my armpits and said he sees and feels nothing to be concerned about. Plus I assume the ultrasound /ct scan on the breast may have had something pop up if it was bad....the problem is I don't know enough about all this. Ugh.

I'm sorry this is so long, I just really wanted to throw it all out there. Any input is appreciated, as I said I feel completely alone in this one. Right now its just the armpits, which do go away when I'm distracted, and random shoulder/side pains. Also a few leg pain right after strep.

 

[Joeyp3021]

I do know how you feel..about 3 weeks ago i tucked in my shirt and felt some pain in my groin so i felt around and found a hard swollen lymph node. I freaked out and of course googled and found lymphoma. I had a dr appointment that week so i waited the couple days but was nervous the whole time and of course had the night sweats all those night which i never had before. Now at the same time i had what i thought was a large pimple on my back and it just kept getting more painful but thought nothing of it. The night before my appointment i showed my wife the pimple and she said looks like a pimple but show it to the dr. Long story short the pimple turned out to be shingles and the swollen node was reactive because of the shingles on my lower back. I left still very nervous about the lymphoma but now that the shingles is getting much better the lymph node is back to normal..i know its hard but try to trust your dr and the test you have had.

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

Yuck - sounds miserable. So sorry! So what @Joeyp3021 said makes sense - if you are fighting off strep, a cold, and other things, lymph nodes might get sore and swollen. But muscle tension can also be a culprit, and if your anxiety is high, it could definitely cause it all, including the night sweats. Does your doctor take treating the anxiety first seriously? You can trust him on the cancer scans. If you can successfully treat the anxiety, you will feel much better. Are you in therapy right now?

 

[Kev1982]

I do know how you feel..about 3 weeks ago i tucked in my shirt and felt some pain in my groin so i felt around and found a hard swollen lymph node. I freaked out and of course googled and found lymphoma. I had a dr appointment that week so i waited the couple days but was nervous the whole time and of course had the night sweats all those night which i never had before. Now at the same time i had what i thought was a large pimple on my back and it just kept getting more painful but thought nothing of it. The night before my appointment i showed my wife the pimple and she said looks like a pimple but show it to the dr. Long story short the pimple turned out to be shingles and the swollen node was reactive because of the shingles on my lower back. I left still very nervous about the lymphoma but now that the shingles is getting much better the lymph node is back to normal..i know its hard but try to trust your dr and the test you have had.

I appreciate the response. This has been a weird "round" of health anxiety for me. I have an anxiety attack in mid November and started on sertraline which was absolutely horrific for the first few days. But everywhere I read said it makes you feel worse before it makes you feel better, which was absolutely true. I finally did start feeling better, almost back to normal after a few weeks and then the night sweats kinda just triggered me again. Super weird. Just makes me freak out about death and all that. Sorry, I don't mean to be morbid, it's just weird for me to have this kind of anxiety. Usually its just health anxiety, doctor tells me I'm ok and I move on. But this time it's all lingering. Ugh.

Yuck - sounds miserable. So sorry! So what @Joeyp3021 said makes sense - if you are fighting off strep, a cold, and other things, lymph nodes might get sore and swollen. But muscle tension can also be a culprit, and if your anxiety is high, it could definitely cause it all, including the night sweats. Does your doctor take treating the anxiety first seriously? You can trust him on the cancer scans. If you can successfully treat the anxiety, you will feel much better. Are you in therapy right now?

Thank you very much for the response. Yes my doctor is treating my anxiety, he is very understanding and cool about all of it. I am not in therapy at the moment, I was actually feeling much better until the night sweats and that just triggered me for some reason. As I mentioned to Joey this health anxiety has been different for me as to where I usually have a round of health anxiety, go to the doctor and he tells me I'm ok and I feel better and move on, but this time it's really caused some weird fears like death and I don't know why. I am strong in my Christian faith but now I just have this horrible anxiety over that as well. Kind of a weird cycle for me this time around.

Also, I'm on day 8 of 10 of my antibiotics for strep throat (penicillin), and I've read that there can be a cause of heightened anxiety from antibiotics, any input on that? No worries either way! Thank you again for the time and responses!

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

I appreciate the response. This has been a weird "round" of health anxiety for me. I have an anxiety attack in mid November and started on sertraline which was absolutely horrific for the first few days. But everywhere I read said it makes you feel worse before it makes you feel better, which was absolutely true. I finally did start feeling better, almost back to normal after a few weeks and then the night sweats kinda just triggered me again. Super weird. Just makes me freak out about death and all that. Sorry, I don't mean to be morbid, it's just weird for me to have this kind of anxiety. Usually its just health anxiety, doctor tells me I'm ok and I move on. But this time it's all lingering. Ugh.


Thank you very much for the response. Yes my doctor is treating my anxiety, he is very understanding and cool about all of it. I am not in therapy at the moment, I was actually feeling much better until the night sweats and that just triggered me for some reason. As I mentioned to Joey this health anxiety has been different for me as to where I usually have a round of health anxiety, go to the doctor and he tells me I'm ok and I feel better and move on, but this time it's really caused some weird fears like death and I don't know why. I am strong in my Christian faith but now I just have this horrible anxiety over that as well. Kind of a weird cycle for me this time around.

Also, I'm on day 8 of 10 of my antibiotics for strep throat (penicillin), and I've read that there can be a cause of heightened anxiety from antibiotics, any input on that? No worries either way! Thank you again for the time and responses!

Oh, antibiotics can ABSOLUTELY raise anxiety, and may be making the night sweats worse. Antibiotics are really tough on your gut!! And most of your body's seratonin (your 'feel good and normal' juice) is produced in your gut. You might try a good probiotic (available at any drug store) and other things like yogurt that would help restore your gut health, but I predict that once you are over the strep and done with the antibiotic, you are going to physically feel a LOT better. Sounds like you have just hit a perfect storm - any kind of physical illness makes us more susceptible to anxiety attacks. I had a lung infection right before the holidays and was on a pretty hefty antibiotic to ward off pneumonia, and I really struggled with it, too. It will get better!

 

[jay_03]

I have a lipoma right between my rib cage and my right breast, also male, and let me tell you that it flares hypochondria hella bad. You aren’t alone and I really struggled but once I got my anxiety under control and felt how easily moved the lipoma tissue is, it becomes a lot easier to maintain sanity in a time of doubt.

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

I had to Google 'lipoma' - this is a new one for me, but I can imagine that it would be pretty stressful for health anxiety. My dog actually has one of these - I never knew the name for it, though. But once a doctor confirms that it's a lipoma and benign, does it help?

 

[jay_03]

I had to Google 'lipoma' - this is a new one for me, but I can imagine that it would be pretty stressful for health anxiety. My dog actually has one of these - I never knew the name for it, though. But once a doctor confirms that it's a lipoma and benign, does it help?

Immensely helpful. Lipomas are pretty much harmless, just annoying! They really only need surgical removal if they get in the way of daily activities like arm movement used for working or chafing while running, they pose no immediate health risks! It was super scary at first, but the more you rationalize the fact it’s just a collection of fatty cells that clomped together the less scary it seems!

 

[bin_tenn]

Man, I can talk about lipomas for days. LoL! I have several. I have a handful in my right arm that are visible to the naked eye. The rest are pretty much only able to be felt. A few in my back, my right thigh, my left calf, my abdomen, my left arm. Entirely harmless, no cause for concern. They're generally only removed for cosmetic reasons, or if they're large enough (or placed in a spot) that they press on nerves and cause legitimate pain.

 

[Kev1982]

Oh, antibiotics can ABSOLUTELY raise anxiety, and may be making the night sweats worse. Antibiotics are really tough on your gut!! And most of your body's seratonin (your 'feel good and normal' juice) is produced in your gut. You might try a good probiotic (available at any drug store) and other things like yogurt that would help restore your gut health, but I predict that once you are over the strep and done with the antibiotic, you are going to physically feel a LOT better. Sounds like you have just hit a perfect storm - any kind of physical illness makes us more susceptible to anxiety attacks. I had a lung infection right before the holidays and was on a pretty hefty antibiotic to ward off pneumonia, and I really struggled with it, too. It will get better!

That is an absolute sense of relief for me about the antibiotics… Trying to think back I’ve never been on anxiety medicine while I’ve had to take anabiotic‘s in the past.

I can say the night sweats have stopped and the health anxiety portion has relaxed but just overall feeling of anxiety right now. What’s really baffling to me is there’s just not a bunch of articles about it… The connection between anxiety and anabiotic’s I mean… Everything I’ve read says it’s extremely rare but then when I see forums of actual people dealing with it it doesn’t seem to be so uncommon.

I will be praying everything subsides when I get off the antibiotics… But thank you so much for sharing your input and I’m sorry you had the lung infection and had to deal with all of this as well. Definitely feeling other side effects as well, sick, loss of appetite etc. Of course all that combined with the anxiety is just making it worse.! But again thank you for the input it’s greatly appreciated. The The more I find out about how all this anxiety stuff works the more crazy it seems. Everything is connected to everything. I had no idea about the gut thing

I have a lipoma right between my rib cage and my right breast, also male, and let me tell you that it flares hypochondria hella bad. You aren’t alone and I really struggled but once I got my anxiety under control and felt how easily moved the lipoma tissue is, it becomes a lot easier to maintain sanity in a time of doubt.

Thank you for the input… Yeah it was my lipomas that I’ve had for a few years that started all of this recurring health anxiety back in November. But now it appears to be the anabiotic’s that I’m on that are flared it back up

 

[Hurt&Hopeful]

I found some articles about antibiotics and anxiety, but it was more about long-term effects, etc. Also lots of other things and links in them that might not be good for someone with health anxiety. Lol Sometimes the internet can be tricky. Hahaha

 

[Kev1982]

I found some articles about antibiotics and anxiety, but it was more about long-term effects, etc. Also lots of other things and links in them that might not be good for someone with health anxiety. Lol Sometimes the internet can be tricky. Hahaha

Yes it can! I’ve seen this a few times where I can’t find anything online that relates to what I’m dealing with, but then when I go onto forums with real people I find that so many have the same issues I do. Antibiotics and anxiety are one of them. I’m glad you felt better though after you finished yours, crossing fingers I have the same result !