I have convinced myself I have thyroid cancer.

Mental health
1

Hello. I'm an 18 year old female from Australia. I'm an anxious, emotional wreck. I have multiple symptoms that are leading me to believe I have thyroid cancer. I spend my days and nights endlessly reading stories about thyroid cancer, scaring myself sh*tless. (Pardon my French!)

To start out, I've never had my thyroid tested. But, I have PCOS, so I don't get my periods often. When I do, I develop a feeling of 'something being stuck in my throat'. It comes and goes with hormonal fluctuations. This feeling can last WEEKS. When I press down in the middle of my throat, I can feel a lump that feels like cartilage. I feel pain in my collar bone which is really, really scaring me. A lot. I am also a heavy smoker which *probably* doesn't help. -.-

The 'pain' evenutally branches up into my mouth, salivary glands and lymph nodes but completely goes away once my period is gone. 

Symptoms I have:

*After touching the boney cartilage in the middle of my neck (nodule?) I feel light headed.

*Pain in collar bone. I can't feel any lumps, but, then again, I'm obese. 

*Fatigue. 

*Feeling light headed.

*Obesity.

*Depression and anxiety.

*Headaches.

*Throat swelling when hormones fluctuate.

*Severe hormonal imbalance (testosterone dominant).

*Salivary gland hurts on 1 side (a symptom of a thyroid nodule). Jaw pain.

*Thyroid nodules indicate cancer in young women under 20. 

*Thyroid cancer runs in my family. (My grandmother had thyroid cancer).

I don't know what to think, how to cope, or what to do. I have convinced myself that I have thyroid cancer. It's quite a common cancer that affects women of reproductive age (frightening). A woman I used to know was diagnosed with PCOS, and eventually went on to develop thyroid cancer. That sets off alarm bells for me. 1-5 people out of 1,000 develop thyca. Who's to say it couldn't happen to me? 

My mother passed away in April and it makes this journey *that* much harder. I honestly don't think I can 'stay strong'. I miss my mum sooo much, especially during times like these. I feel very emotional and upset. I feel very alone and lonely. I just want a hug from my mum. 

I am arranging an appointment with my doctor for sometime this week. I am petrified about going to the doctor. Absolutely petrified. sad The next time I post in here will be after my appointment with my doctor, and, I bet you, I'll have more evidence to back up my theory of having thyroid cancer. I'm really really scared about having an ultrasound. Very sorry for the rant, but I'm 'shaking in my boots'. The ache in my collar bone isn't going away and it's making me scared. I'd ask you to pray for me but I'm an atheist. I just need a hug. Thanks for reading

2

hi to u morrigan,realy sad to hear about ur mom.so if u r worry u should do check up completely.resuls will be fine it will make u calm.u r just suffering from health anxiety n r experiencing bad days after ur mom I know it must be so hard loosing an angel like mom but hope u get started ur life happily again n if u be happy it doesnt mean u forgot ur mom she is always in ur heart.its good u talk to a counselor too.let us know about ur examination results.wish u good luck;-)

3

Hi Morrigan,

when I was 28  I started to have severe anxiety. I already had anxiety and didn't know why it went up so much because actually my life was ok at the time. Anyhow got to the point I couldn't take it anymore went to the doctor and right away he said I think you have hyperactive thyroid. They did a blood test and it came back that I had it. What a relief, now I could get treated. Don't jump to conclusions. Don't allow your mind to scare you like this. When you start thinking of your thyroid, acknowledge it but say, it's not time to worry about that right now. Give yourself one half  hour a day to worry. Period. You pick the time. Whatever time is best for you. You can google and scare yourself as much as you want for 30 minutes and then time is up. Time to move to the next subject. See, I think our minds can act like run away trains or a child throwing a tantrum, even in the middle of the tantrum they have forgotten why they were so upset, because being upset causes upset. So put your self on a schedule of " time to scare myself".... Then the other times when it comes to mind, insist it's not time to do that.

it sounds like you have an under active thyroid for sure, which really happens in young females and kinda goes along with PSO.

get your blood test. Don't allow your mind to ruin your whole day...but do give it some time.

thinking of you and wishing you well...in every regard...

4

Ps...forgot to mention I'm sorry about your mom's passing...much love your way

5

you are probably extra worried because of your mum's death and your family history. But it may not be the case that you have it too.  I hope the appointment goes ok. Let me know how you got on.

Richard

6

I have alot of your symptoms.  The throat this is called globus. Look it up I bet you find that is what you have.. good luck sweetie meds do help this. Xxx

7

pls visit a doc and get your thyeoid checked. hopefully it is nothing and results would be normal. once you accept that this is nothing else but anxiety, and start ignoring or rather accepting the symptoms you get as effect of anxiety, you woll overcome them in no time. This is actually called Hypercondriases or health anxiety in which we believe we have a serious disease and our mind starts to work that way and we get all types of physical symptoms. Belive it that anciety can actually create physical symptoms. a lot of people including me sufger from health anxiety. as in my case, i made myself believe i have serious heart disease and ogtem i get panic attacks and yhink i m getting heart attack. The feeling is worst. i have got myself cjecked twice and doc said nothing was wrong still it is very hard for me to accept this as my anxiety give all types of symptoms that match exacyly with heart issues. But as soon as i started believing that this is nothin but anxiety and nothings gonna happen all of a sudden 2 days ago, i m feeling fine now and all symptoms are magically going away in no time. Try to read about health anciety / hypercondriasis and its effects and treatments on internet rather than searching for symptoms of thyroid cancer. You can also try a therapy CBT which is best to oovercome health anxiety. hope you get over it soon but first get yourself checked by a doctor and He (not you or internet)  can only gell wether you have any peoblem with thyroid or not is it just anxiety. 

8

Hello everybody, thanks for the replies! I went to the doctor today. I mentioned the swelling, he felt my neck and said "I see what you're talking about!"

He said that it didn't feel like the classical enlarged thyroid. He thinks it's the glands in my neck, lymph nodes. You can only imagine how freaked out I am now. That amplified my anxiety. I'm having an ultrasound on my neck within the next 2(!!!) weeks. I can't wait that frigging long! This is torture! sad I just want to crawl up into a bawl and cry.

9

pls don make any conclusions in your head before the tests. let doc see the test reports and suggest you what is right. however it is difficult but think positive. everything would be fine.