Achy leg

Mental health
1

Hi, so around 9 years ago I broke my leg and ankle and had screws and plates put in place. I tend it get an achy leg when I walk to much or when I get home from work (work on my feet for 8 hours a day). The last 2 weeks I've had a major spike in my health anxiety and I've managed to diagnose myself with ovarian cancer, spine cancer and now bone cancer in my leg. 

I have back ache - which i can put down to having two kids that I run around after. Now my previous broken leg is achy which I convinced myself it's bone cancer. I know it's probably that fact that it's just my previous broken leg but I can't shift the thought that it's bone cancer. I'm a major culprit of googling symptoms which got my lovely self diagnostic of bone cancer. 

Can my anxiety be making it worse? I'm literally at my wits end and can't stop crying and worrying it's something serious.

2

Hi, you say it in your post "I've convinced myself" which is a typical thing folk with health anxiety do, as us googling but what Google will never say is you are experiencing typical aches and pains of everyday life including backache, your leg aches as normal. I know it's easy to convince yourself you have a condition but difficult to convince yourself it's not, if you can't persuade yourself that it's not cancer then see your GP but yes your anxiety is making it worse.

I know this is not what you want to hear but you need to get your health anxiety treated with CBT, online course or book specific to health anxiety.

Neil 

3

 First of all, do not Google your symptoms! It most likely does not pertain to your particular individual situation. You will just scary yourself needlessly  which will increase your anxiety. We cannot self diagnose ourselves. This is what happens with anxiety. 

 or negative thoughts are just that. They are only thoughts made up by our mind not based on fact. We have to learn how to let them go. The fact that you had screws and plates in your leg  and that you are standing for eight hours a day, running after children  can definitely account for why you have a backache and achy leg. 

 what is happening is that fear has taken you over along with negative thinking. Remember, FEAR  stands for false evidence appearing real. In other words, your mind has created the worst case scenario which is not based on fact. You are attributing your symptoms to this.  There's a much higher likelihood that your symptoms are caused by the history with your leg. I don't even have a leg issue but when I stand eight hours a day my legs get very achy and my back hurts. 

 here's one thing you can do: 

 when you lie down in bed, listen to audio meditations found on YouTube for anxiety or overthinking or negative thinking. They completely calm down my mind and give me a  New perspective on how to think. Now when I get a negative or scary thought, I don't try to fight it off. Instead, I calmly acknowledge the thought for a few seconds then I watch it float away and dissolve. Do this every time  you get a negative thought. 

 then go right to your breathing and focus on that. A meditation for that is listed below. 

 start by listening to these meditations:  with earbuds if you have them. 

 detachment from overthinking 

 10 minute breathing meditation 

 mindful meditation for relaxation by Glenn 

there are many wonderful meditations on YouTube for just about anything you can think of. I think they could really help you!

 if you can possibly get a book called mindfulness, it gives you a new perspective on how to deal with all of this. It's a white book with a ball of string on the cover. 

 remember, people get all sorts of aches and pains in the vast majority he of them are nothing serious! You have a good reason to have aches because of your leg. 

"What if" thinking is a waste of time. It's not based on anything concrete or factual. I did this for 20 years and I wasted all that time because fear had a hold of me. I can never get back one of those days now  because once they're gone they're gone. 

 hope this helps a little bit 🌸🌸🌸