FunWithFive

The medication I am on is mostly used for ADHD however it hoke of “off label” advantages like treating anxiety. It literally changed my life. I started at 20mg and I’m now steady at 25mg and so happy. I have lost 30 pounds, I enjoy life daily. I don’t worry about cancer at all. I am able to wake up each more anxiety free (before this medication I woke up and was horrified I would have a cancer symptom) some days I couldn’t even get out of bed. I’m able to hold conversation without my mind being else where (usually thinking of a cancer symptom or wanting to google a symptom) i think my undiagnosed ADHD fueled my OCD and health anxiety. My over active brain thrived in the obsessions. It thrived on the compulsion (google and self checking and reassurance seeking) My PCP is the one who diagnosed me. I did to some minor Q&A papers but he has been my PCP since 2014. I have always had a big fat HYPOCONDRIA diagnosis in my chart. He knows me well. He said he could tell I had ADHD from the moment he met me but he was waiting for me to come to him. He was waiting for my wake up call. I go every 3 months for a medication follow up since the medication is controlled. I told him yesterday that I am cured. My mind is healed. My life is healed. I swear to you he jump up from his stool and hugged me and high fived me. He told me he could see it. He could tell just by he way I carried myself. He could tell when I was in the office for things that once would have sent me into a spiral I’m now calm and allow him to talk. I don’t talk over him. I don’t ask ridiculous questions or continue to seek reassurance. When he tells me “ this is nothing to worry about” I listen to him. You can do this Leah. You don’t have to be controlled by this illness. You do not have to let this ugly beast win this battle. It’s 2018. It’s time to stop because the resources are there. My medication Costco $20 a month. It requires me to swallow one pill a day with a sip of water. That’s all it takes.

Hi Leah. I haven’t been around in a while but I remember you. I am so sorry to see you are having a bad go round with HA. It’s a beast isn’t it! I wanted to share with you that back in my anxiety zone days I was Probably one of the most mentally ill (HA AND OCD) members of the health anxiety board. It was crippling. I’m proud today I am a 100% changed person. I am finally a normal functioning member of society that doesn’t live under the rule of HA and obsessed and intrusive thoughts of cancer. I found the right medication and it has truly been a game changer for me. It brings me to tears because I for the first time in my my life (HA started in childhood) I feel normal. I’m not consumed by fear. I handle things in the appropriate manner. I know there are a lot of people who don’t ageee with medication but some of us with anxiety truly require it. If we had diabetes we would require insulin to live. If we had high blood pressure we would require medication to remain healthy. It’s the same for mental health. Some can do deep breathing, talk therapy, exercise, vitamins... and some have no choice but to take medication and there shouldn’t be any shame connected to that. I have been on Adderall XR for almost 1 year and my life is changed. I was diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, and HEALTH ANXIETY. My doctor thought Adderall would be the best medication for me to try. Wow was he right. Some days I’m slightly embarrassed I have to have a controlled substance to actually make it through a day without intrusive thoughts, obsession, or googling symptoms, but it’s ok because I’m healthy. I’m mentally healthy which means I’m happy. It’s no fun to have extra pounds to lose but if your medication was improving your daily life I’m sure that extra weight might be worth it. There are your medications to try also to please talk to your doctor!! Many Hugs!!! - Lindsay

Colon polyps are like moles. Almost everyone has them or will have them and some might look a little funky under a microscope but even those funky ones have an extremely low chance of becoming cancer and most of the time it was some predisposed genetic condition if they do. Just think there are over 380 million people living in the United States and only 100,000+ thousand are diagnosed with colon cancer each year. Even if 1,000,000 people were diagnosed a year that would still be a very low percentage. I had a colon polyp removed from my sigmoid colon when I was 27. It was bleeding and leaving blood on my stools. It was removed and deemed hyperplastic despite being 10mm in size. I was told to follow up in 10 years. April of next year will be the 5 year mark since my polyp removal. For years I was so anxious about that polyp. I would obsess over my stools and fear I had a rapidly growing cancerous polyp growing inside me. Or I feared the pathologist misdiagnosed my polyp and it was really precancerous. Then I decided that I was done having HA completely ruined my life. I found help, started medication and today I could care less about that silly 10mm piece of random tissue that was growing in my colon. I now trust when my doctors tell me polyps are common and almost somwhat “normal” even those “pre cancerous” ones are extremely common and once removed are now considered 100% not cancerous because they are removed from yoor body! Get our scope on schedule but don’t stess. You could have some hems inside that gor irritated or a tiny fissure that broke open. I have used FIT stool tests in the passed and even though I know longer stress over my BMs I still am proactive about my health and will always stay on top of things. You can buy at home FIT tests. Sometimes what you think is blood actually isn’t. Maybe a FIT test wouldn’t be a bad idea for you.

I do not want to post this to scare you or trigger you but just from mother to mother we have to advocate for our children. One of my dearest friends 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with a large brain tumor last Tuesday. She had been having symptoms for about 6 months before her ENT finally ordered an MRI excepting to find absolutely nothing... well it found something. I would say there is a 99% change your DD DOES NOT have a BT but if you are not comfortable with the diagnosis trust your mom gut!

My daughter has a few swollen nodes in her hair line (slightly above the hairline) and I took her to the Dr. and I was told that nodes that swell on the head and behind the ear are almost ALWAYS caused by benign things like mild infection. Even dry scalp and cause the nodes behind your head to enlarge. The scalp area is extremely sensitive. She said nodes in the area you are describing don’t swell from malignancy.

I became pregnant 4 years after my husbands successful vasectomy so anything is possible there. About her irregular cycles. I would say by age 44 it’s common to have some funky things start to happen with your cycles. I simple trip to her OBGYN would give you some answers.

I had a colonoscopy 4 years ago and had a benign polyp removed. I was told my colon was healthy and I didn't need another one for 10 years. The polyp is what gives me such anxiety and I'm so worried it came back or here could be new ones. I'm only 30 and I'm terrified.

I posted last week about my fear of colon cancer. I saw my GP to address my concerns and he gave me a FIT test which checks for hidden blood in your stools. I took 2 different stool samples to the office and they both tested negative. This morning I had a BM and I decided to look at it with my cellphone flash light and of course I think I see a reddish mucous I the stool. I wipe the mucous and on the TP it doesn't appear to be red at all but I'm still a nervous wreck. I go to walgreens and but the EZ detect pads that you toss into the toilet water after a BM to check for blood. The pad will turn blue if blood is detected. I had another BM and used the pad and it was totally negative. I even left it in the water way longer than the 2 minutes just to be certain nothing was going to show up. I again thought I saw something that maybe appeared to be red on that stool but the test was negative? Do you think if there was enough blood to show on the stool then it would make a positive result? I'm really trying to think logical but my anxiety is so bad and I'm so worried I have colon cancer?

I HATE medical testing. It's not the testing I had it's the waiting for results and the anxiety it causes. My big trigger is colon cancer and I just did a fecal occult stool test Thursday and I was a literal mess all day waiting for the results. I just knew they were going to find blood and it was going to send me into a severe depression and anxiety spiral. Guess what??? My samples were negative. I can't say I'm 100% ok with that negative and I have had every normal Hypo reaction like I'm sure the test was wrong or I missed the blood area of my stool when doing the sample or my colon cancer isn't bleeding.... but I'm working hard on fighting those intrusive thoughts. Go get your blood work done. Face your anxiety head on. Tell it to go away and be leave you alone. Know that fearing getting blood work is not normal and millions of people have blood work on every day and don't allow it to take a moment of their day away. Please face this fear and get the test done. You will feel so much better once it's done.

If you heard whooshing then that's a definite symptom of having fluid on your ear(s) My son has an ear infection right now now with no other symptoms. No cold, cough or anything. His ear was actually draining fluid too. He is 6 and has never had an ear infection before. My neighbor is 38 years old and got a bad upper respiratory infection last month and had to have tubes placed in her ears. A 38 year old women now has tubes. The fluid was so bad and she had an ear ache for a very long time. Do 100% have nothing terminal. BTs don't cause intermittent ear and jaw pain. To be 100% honest I have had this weird on again off again pain in left ear for about 6 weeks. I also had the fluid noise when bending over and standing up and some random cracking nosiness in that ear.

Have you looked into having a blocked saliva gland?? That can also cause the symptoms you are experiencing.

I got my results... NEGATIVE like a good hypo I'm wondering if it's a false negative?! The test I did was called a FIT test is according to a lot of colon cancer websites they are highly accurate. Im trying to relax and focus on the fact my polyp 4 years ago was benign, i was on antibiotics, and my FOBT was negative.

Still waiting to hear about the iFOBTu dropped off. It's a rapid test and I dropped it off around 11am and it's now 4pm. I have been a wreck all day. My OCD is in high gear. I can't eat at all. I am a mess.

Grade 1 internal Hems usually do not bleed. Can they?? YES!! Do they always??? NO

I just dropped off my FOBT to my doctors office and I'm so nervous about the results. I'm feeling very anxious. I was able to have 2 BMs today which I'm happy about because I at least got to take the samples in today. Ugh I hate this. I hate health anxiety. I hate cancer is even a thing in this world.