Hello, everyone.
I'm aware that everyone has bigger problems than myself but I'm honestly terrified with no one to talk about this so here I am.
I'm a 24 year old male terrified about the possibility of having PC. I know many are suffering from this terrible illness and watching my grandfather pass away from colon cancer was traumatic enough for me to always be worried and afraid about cancer.
And I have to be honest, I have not been taking good care of my body for the past 6 years or so and after a couple of symptoms, I'm absolutely terrified about the possibility of having pancreatic cancer.
I was perfectly fine until symptoms began on the first week of April. I had gnawing, swollen feeling in my lower left abdomen that later continued to my lower left back. I was feeling very unwell and had a very quick loss of appetite. I started having a mixture of constipation and diarrhea. This caused me to go to the doctors whom I explained about my fear of cancer and he prompted me to get a blood test, urinalysis and stool test. Fatigue started but day after day, the pain was slowly going away. I tried my best to keep myself calm. Blood test came back normal except for some abnormally high ketones (which doctor told me I shouldn't worry about as I wasn't eating for a while) and slightly raised platelets and WBC which could suggest an infection. I was diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis and the doctor I went to for a second opinion thought the same.
A week went by and it seemed like I was recovering and by sunday after two weeks, I was in perfect condition. I had lost 9 lbs from the previous ordeal and I was gaining my weight back... until I had some alcohol and spicy food (stupid of me, I know) - the same kind of spicy food (curry) that I had before the sudden onset of symptoms. I felt unwell again, all the symptoms returned, especially fatigue and loss of appetite, except for pain. I went to the doctor whom I asked for a second opinion who listened to my symptoms and believed it was because of the intake of food even when my digestive system wasn't ready for it. I started losing weight again. But again after a week or so, I was starting to get better until all of a sudden this Monday, I had a sudden loss of appetite, zero and extreme fatigue (not the breathless kind, just want to keep sleeping and don't want to get out of bed). I also started feeling as if something was stuck in my chest everytime I forced myself to eat something (I feel nauseaous everytime I eat and everything is just tasteless). I panicked especially more when I realized it kind of goes away when I bend over, which I'm reading is what happens with the problems in the pancreas. It's been almost 6 days and I still haven't gained my appetite. I go through most days on just two banans and a yogurt and struggle to eat them. I'm scared to go on the scale but I'm pretty sure I've lost more lbs, at least 15 or 16lbs since the start of April. No matter how much search I do, nothing is close to my symptoms as pancreatic cancer. My second opinion doctor (who is my father's friend) and my father (who happens to be a dentist but has general knowledge in medicine) still believes this is mostly anxiety and stress and also being so away from home. They believe that things would have showed up in my blood test but want me to still come in to make sure and to find 'peace of mind'.
I'm still extremely terrified. Looking to ask for MRI, blood test and possibly colonoscopy and endoscopy and specifically mention that I'm scared that a lot of my symptoms match with pancreatic cancer. But now I'm worried as I hear that even MRI and CT will sometimes miss pancreatic cancer.
I'm absolutely terrified to the point where I'm scared to look in the mirror every morning afraid I have jaundice. I wake up multiple times at night with muscle pains and struggle with so many thoughts. I honestly am so, so terrified.
Thank you for listening to me
PS. Just to add. I've been having sudden problems of digestion (that I never had) which also seems to be a symptom. The weird stuck feeling in my chest goes away over night but returns when I eat something, followed by lots of noise in my stomach. The bottom of my throat also felt a little scratched and burnt which made me hopeful, thinking it might be GERD (but I doubt it would cause such acute loss of appetite and weight loss) but it's gone now and I rarely feel heartburns.
I just don't see any other diagnosis that would match my symptoms that have continued for such a long time.