thyroid cancer anxiety after seeing smth on instagram

[we scared or whateva]

quick context: in 2019, a lymph node in my neck swelled (i think it's swollen? i can't see it in the mirror but it is palpable) after a tooth infection and a cold, i had to re-read some old posts on here to make sure. it's very movable and painless, it's in the lower right side of my neck; i was also stupid last week and somehow found out about superclavicular lymph nodes, gave myself a severe panic attack googling them, thinking the node was in my superclavicular i'm sure it isn't but i was really inspecting, i couldn't really tell but from what i could actually tell, it's closer to the behind my neck than the front. that same night i made my uncle take me to the ER where my doctor immediately told me after i mentioned how long its been there that its not cancer. i got blood drawn anyway for some peace of mind, blood was all clear. i chickened out of the scan he offered me, he said a biopsy wasn't necessary. i remember him saying something about calcified nodes.

anyway, it's been there for six years now. got there after a tooth infection and a cold. i had an entire series of mental crisis when it appeared six years ago then some **** happened in my life and i became too distracted to care. six years later, i'm still fine, haven't been sick other than seasonal allergies and another cold or two. one bad flu as well.

i just moved out of state with my uncle to get away from my moms drinking and this has come up again. i think i was lying in bed and then remembered the node behind my ear. according to my old posts, six years ago it was movable? but i dont remember if thats actually accurate or not. it's not movable now but it hasn't grown and still doesn't hurt. neither of these nodes are giving me any trouble. like, at all. i think i just thought too much about the fact that they're still here and went spiraling.

i was on instagram the other day and something about thyroid cancer showed up. now im scared that i have thyroid cancer. i looked it up, stupidly, and apparently its pretty rare. there are risk factors, like if thyroid cancer runs in your family or if youre an asian female or something. i dont meet any of the risk factors. my other family knows about this recent spiral, they didnt last time because i was embarrassed. my cousin said she has two palpable nodes in her neck and also one behind her ear. her husband has also had one for the past seven or so years. my family is blessed in that cancer is nowhere in my family, as far as i'm concerned. it's just not something we've ever dealt with. i've only known two people who've had cancer in my entire life and neither of them were related to me.

i just need some reassurance man :/ i don't wanna feel like this again. i'm getting back into therapy soon but in the mean time.. this is so debilitating.

 

[Phillies Phan]

Anything I were to tell you won’t likely help but odds are overwhelmingly tiny. Your symptoms don’t in any way match TC. While it’s not even needed to be mentioned, cure rates exceed 99%.

In therapy, hopefully the therapist will explore your likely triggers for mental health issues such as your mother’s drinking. By the way, social media is poison for young people. Your therapist will likely want to wean you off of all social media like Instagram, X, TT etc. If she doesn’t, she’s not a good match for you. Recent research shows social media is as addictive as cigarettes, alcohol or gambling especially in young people.

 

[we scared or whateva]

I agree, thank you. I know it'll be hard, as I do find a lot of comfort in social media, but it's done me little good regarding my anxiety. For example - the only reason why I heard anything about the superclavicular at all, I didn't even know what that was, was because of social media. Immediately sent me into a severe panic attack, when I got the ER my heart rate was 140. Thank you for your responses, you really help! It's an embarrassing thing to explain to people who don't deal with health anxiety.

"Yeah, I think I'm dying of a hidden cancer because I've had a likely half a cm palpable node on my neck and behind my ear for over six years. By the way, they got there after I had a nasty tooth infection that swelled my lip up and a cold. I also have no symptoms. I'm definitely dying though."

I actually I'll deactivate everything today.

 

[shay1988]

All my lymph nodes behind my left ear are swollen and I have one at base of my scull and another on side of my neck. Not sure why they stay that way, but they have been swollen for like 3 years now. Dr felt them and said prolly over active nodes from having covid and other illnesses that year. But I'm like u I started watching videos and seen all the different cancers from swollen nodes and I panicked for months and months! I had also lost about 40lbs! So I just knew I was dying. Well I lost weight because I was so sick from being so anxious I wasn't eating at all for over 3 weeks. The Dr told me if it was cancer they would of changed by now. And they haven't. They are soft and still same size. So i get you. I had a good friend of mine that did have cancer in his neck, and u could definitely tell!! It was the size of a baseball! But he didn't go to Dr for over a year with it like that! So of course by the time he did it was too late! But of course if that was me I would of been in the hospital that same day that I noticed it! He kept telling them he thought it was just a swollen node! We'll yeah but that big! So trust me, if we had anything bad you would definitely kno. And treatment for these types of cancer is very very cureable. He just didn't listen and waited way way to long.
But best thing to do is trust your Dr and stay off the internet lol I kno it's hard not to Google symptoms or try and find relief on Google, but trust me! Google is not your friend! He will tell you your dying every single time lol it's not funny but it kinda is because we torture ourselves with it. Like Johnathan123 has told me many times, we need to set our phones to self destruct when we Google lol

 

[Jonathan123]

I agree, thank you. I know it'll be hard, as I do find a lot of comfort in social media, but it's done me little good regarding my anxiety. For example - the only reason why I heard anything about the superclavicular at all, I didn't even know what that was, was because of social media. Immediately sent me into a severe panic attack, when I got the ER my heart rate was 140. Thank you for your responses, you really help! It's an embarrassing thing to explain to people who don't deal with health anxiety.

"Yeah, I think I'm dying of a hidden cancer because I've had a likely half a cm palpable node on my neck and behind my ear for over six years. By the way, they got there after I had a nasty tooth infection that swelled my lip up and a cold. I also have no symptoms. I'm definitely dying though."

I actually I'll deactivate everything today.

Yeah! and stay deactivated. If I was asked what is the worst invention by humans I would say social media. The big companies are in it for the money. Who gets hurt or upset is not their concern. This may sound harsh, but why else would they be doing it? They pander to the base instincts in humans, to those who seem to take pleasure in hurting others by their comments or actions. The young are so vulnerable to this kind of media. They take to heart so much criticism or mockery, and are unable to see that those who perpetrate it are sick themselves.
To condemn the whole of social media in this way would be wrong, but the harm done far outways the good. Anxiety sufferers should keep well away from Google or any media outlets, at least until they can reason and see it all for what it is, one big profit making con. It may seem strange to some of us that there are actually those who put money before causing pain, but there are and they do.
I remember the days when there was no social media, no PC's or anything other than the old steam radio! I believe we were in a much happier society than we are now.
Anxiety sufferers are particularly vulnerable to social media content, especially Google and it's often misleading medical advice. Your doctor is the only person who should give you advice, or a competent therapist.

 

[mollyfin]

I was actually diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Except in the time I grew the tumor and the time I had the thing taken out, the specific thing I had was redefined as a pre-cancer. Mainly because apparently people were freaking the hell out when they heard "cancer" and didn't respond well to "no actually you're going to be fine." As I suppose many people don't. So now I never know what to put on forms that ask if I'd had cancer. Like...yes, but then they changed their mind? (I was also diagnosed with autism the same way. Different diagnosis completely. Then they were like screw it, we're just calling this part of the autism spectrum now. So, uh...42 years of my life not autistic, but now I am I guess? lol)

Anyway, getting back to the point, the first thing my doctor told me is, you will not die from this. This isn't like other cancers. They take your thyroid out, you get on with life. In very rare cases where it's metastasized, they do radioactive iodine treatment, which is fast and doesn't have unpleasant side effects aside from making you radioactive for a while. Which is annoying as you have to self-isolate for a little bit.

Of all the things to stress about, you really don't need to worry about this. You very likely don't have thyroid cancer. But even if you do, all you're going to get out of it is a cool scar (still disappointed at how well mine faded, you can't see it anymore, it was fun making up stories for that one!) and a few months of stressing out over how you're going to find the time to deal with it.