Hey everyone,i'm a 17 year old male and 've been experiencing really bad health anxiety and symptoms since November last year.It as started one morning when I started to feel short of breath.This lead my parents to take me to my gp and he told me that it was all anxiety related but I didn't feel assured of the diagnosis so I seeked the help of Google,which caused me to have really bad health anxiety and I thought I had lung cancer.The symptoms aggravated even more as I started having back pain.Went again to my gp who again put it down to anxiety and gave me some meds for my back pain,then I decided to have a second opinion with a pulmonologist who told me it was all anxiety but I managed to convince him to let me have a chest x ray which came back clear.I gradually got better after that until two weeks ago I started having heartburn and stomach aches after having eaten some chilly foods.This continued for some days and I decided to go back to my gp and he gave me nexium to stop the heartburn which it did.Fast forward 3 days ago,I started having a lump in throat feeling and I also started having pain between my shoulder blade when swallowing my food which led me to google and now I'm thinking I have esophageal cancer.I went to my gp yesterday who told me it was just a bad case of acid reflux coupled with lots of health anxiety and I am getting worried for nothing.i told him I wanted a referral for endoscopy but he told me that if he thought I had something serious he would have already referred me without any thought.Im constantly worried everyday.I start getting stressed every morning when I wake up.I also forgot to mention that I also had a blood test which came back all fine.i really need help.....any advice would be much appreciated.
There are lots of good videos on YouTube for health anxiety so have a look. Try and stay off Dr Google as you will go from a mild headache to dead in 3 clicks!
Hi hypercat,Thank you so much for replying and I’ll try those youtube vids and see if they work.Appreciate it😊
It does sound like anxiety and acid reflux. I think if you had lung cancer or oesophageal cancer at your age you would be a medical miracle, so I wouldn’t worry too much about those!
I’ve been experiencing this as well and I was convinced of a heart attack, stroke, and diabetes. I went to the ER when I thought I was having a heart attack. I am currently obsessing over my smile due to a strange tightness in my face. And I’m currently waiting on blood test results for my concern on diabetes. I understand where you’re coming from and you’re not alone. What helps me a lot is accepting what health anxiety is, and how its affecting me. For the love of god stay away from google! it’s a bad habit of mine and I’ve found it makes it so much worse.
I’m the same exact way…I’m so sick of living this way! I’m constantly diagnosing myself and seeing specialist after specialist. I need to quit this madness! ugh…
I had an endoscopy done which showed nothing.Now my mind is telling me I have pancreatic or bowel cancer as my abdomen has started aching again.Its just constant worry after worry after worry
Thnx to everyone for the replies.Appreciate it.Quick update:Had endoscopy which was clear.Now my belly has started hurting again and my mind is telling me it’s either bowel or pancreatic cancer.Anxiety has extremely taken over me