Brain Tumor? Melanoma? Anxiety?

Mental health
1

Alright guys, so some pretty crazy sh** has been happening to me lately. I have always had anxiety and panic attacks but lately they've gotten almost unbearable. I have a great boyfriend who supports me and talks me through these episodes but any fellow anxiety sufferers know that no matter how many times someone tells you something youre only going to believe yourself! So here we go...

​I noticed a mole on my breast about 8 months ago. I'm 21 so I think its still pretty common to develop new moles still. I used to tan but not too much. My sane part of my brain thinks there is nothing wrong. Theeennnnn the crazy part of my brain chimes in telling me that I have melanoma and that I'm going to die and go through chemo and be super sick and blah blah you get the point. So I give up on that for a while and don't focus on it. Then I looked at it again about 2 months after I found it and thought that it may have grown. Then another freak out followed. I finally worked up enough courage to go to the doctor and tell her about it. She took one look and said I was totally fine! Of course, I didn't believe her, so I got a second opinion. They too, took one look and said I was fine. BUT I FIT INTO 3 SIGNS OF MELANOMA ABCDE'S!  So long story short, my mind thinks that I still have it and that i'm just going to wait until it makes me sick to get it removed/ biopsied. 

​Anywhooo, I then started getting more migraines/ headaches then usual. I got my first migraine with aura when I was 17. It was the absolute scariest thing of my life. I lost part of my vision and slowly gained it back over the next 45 minutes followed by a pretty bad headache. This happened frequently when I was in my teens around "that time of the month". I went a couple years without having one and it was great! Then I started to get them again about 3 months ago. Along with daily headaches. I have been under some stress lately but all I can focus on is the obvious question... DO I HAVE A BRAIN TUMOR OR NOT? I had an MRI about 4 years ago that was totally clear at the time. I have a neurologist who is aware of my daily headaches and seems to think I'm fine. So why do I still feel so worried and scared? Why do I feel like I need to go live my life before its over? Why do I have visions of my future in a hospital bed decaying from a horrible, horrible disease?! 

​My grandfather died of lung cancer when I was 11. I thought I was too young to have it really affect me. But apparently it did. That along with my mom being in and out of hospitals my whole life for various health issues. I know the reason I have this issue/ fear of dying/ cancer. But my question is, HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP? It seems like every little symptom that pops up I blow it way out of proportion and begin to think I'm dying. Oh, I woke up today with a bloody nose, must be cancer. I was sitting cross legged and now my leg is tingling?... Must be cancer. The weird thing is that I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL THAT IM BEING A LUNATIC, but my sane mind cant overpower my fearfulness. 

​Sorry for the long post, I feel like I really just needed to vent more than anything. 

Help? 

2

hello, 

I myself am 21 years old and my anxiety started this summer when I found a lump on my chest that turned out to be scaring from a pimple that never came to head. After that I thought I had breast cancer, then leukemia, then colon cancer, then brain cancer. I was getting headaches daily, muscle twitching everywhere, I was seeing weird things in my vision, and I felt like I was getting worse at reading things, oh and I couldnt sleep at all. SO....I went to the ER after going to my family doctor because he thought it was anxiety. I had 3 neuro tests, 2 eye tests, and a CT scan of my head. All came back clear! The headaches went away a few days later and my sleeping pattern went back to normal but I did develop a feeling of water on my face that is slowly getting better and I thought I had MS. Im scheduled for an MRI just to put my mind at rest and I think you should do that as well because thats the only way people like us will get better. RIght now im concerned about my heart...it really is a never ending cycle. I have not taken any pills or went for counselling because I am trying to beat this myself first.

3

HEY! yes thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds awful but I’m relieved that other people have had these same issues! I think I will have an MRI again just to put it to rest. Or maybe even a CT scan. My neurologist doesn’t seem concerned at all but it’s crazy how anxiety can do this to us! I have a headache as we speak. It’s constant. I hate to do it but I think I need to get back on my meds. 

4

If your doctor said you are fine, then your fine. If you had a brain tumor you would know. You would have periods of lost consciousness, seizures, memory loss, committing, extreme vision loss etc. I'm 16 & i thought that i was going to have a heart attack but in reality it was just skipped beats. You're fine.