I posted this in your other thread too, but I think it's more applicable here.
I'm 24 and have been generally healthy my whole life, never hypochondriac (until recently apparently). Then after a series of symptoms I absolutely convinced myself I had cancer.
It's 5 months later and I've had all sorts of tests (ultrasound, CT, sigmoidoscopy) but still no idea what's causing the symptoms. The doctors seem very confident it's not anything serious like cancer, and I'm reasonably confident but still a little worried.
Anyway, I can't really answer your question but I can tell you your mind and body can play nasty tricks on you. You should still definitely get checked out, but in the meantime try not to worry too much, because it can make symptoms worse, which causes you to worry more, etc etc. I think (or at least hope) that's what happened to me.
Here's the timeline of my symptoms / ordeal:
1.5 years ago: minor bleeding I was a little worried about at first, but the doctor assured me it was probably hemorrhoids.
8 months ago: started feeling slight pressure / pain in mid-left portion of my abdomen, and still getting occasional bleeding (1-2 times per month). I wasn't too worried, but in the back of my mind it was sort of bothering me.
5 months ago: major fatigue, loss of appetite, and what really worried me was several new mole-like spots on my chest over the course of a few days. I was really worried and started thinking I had colon cancer that spread to my skin or something, so I went to the doctor and he tried to assure me the moles looked normal. They did some blood work and an ultrasound that was pretty normal, except it showed i had a slightly fatty liver (possibly caused by heavy drinking in college, but unclear)
I regained my appetite and felt less fatigued a week or two later, but the fatigue would return on and off every few weeks. Also bowel movements were becoming more irregular, with bad diarrhea 1-2 times per week.
I saw a dermatologist who biopsied two of the moles, which were benign. I then saw a GI doctors and had a CT scan of the abdomen to check again, which was mostly clear.
Then I started getting crazy neck/back pain. It started in my right neck/shoulder area and didn't go away for a week. It went away then another week later I had the same thing in my left neck/shoulder area. Then that went away and another week later I got pain in my mid/lower right then left back, as well as a couple places in my arm, and briefly in my legs. I also got several more spots on my skin, some of which looked like moles, and some looked like acne, but it didn't go away (some still hasn't).
This is when I started getting really freaked out. I thought all this pain was caused by cancer spreading throughout my muscles. A month ago I saw a physical medicine doctor who thought the pain might be related to my shoulder which, by the way, dislocated about 3 months ago (due to a previous injury). He ordered a MRI on the shoulder and neck. The neck MRI showed some sort of pinching, so he did a test of the nerves in shoulder / neck / arm using electrical shocks, which confirmed the nerve was being pinched (or something along those lines).
Finally, two weeks ago I had a sigmoidoscopy to look at my colon up to the area where I where I was having the pain/pressure in my left side. It was clear, and here I am.
I still don't know what's causing all this. I suspect the bleeding is in fact just hemorrhoids. The irregularity (and maybe abdominal pain?) might be a combination of IBS and anxiety (3 years ago I got some sort of bug in Mexico and my bowels haven't been the same since). The neck muscle pain might be a pinched nerve in my neck. The moles might just be a coincidence.
But I'm still getting weird random new symptoms. Just today I started feeling some pain/pressure in my middle right side of my chest when I take a deep breath. And I've been having a more heartburn than usual. Perhaps I'm just paying more attention to my body now?
Anyone have any ideas? Did I just go nuts for a few month?
I'm 24 and have been generally healthy my whole life, never hypochondriac (until recently apparently). Then after a series of symptoms I absolutely convinced myself I had cancer.
It's 5 months later and I've had all sorts of tests (ultrasound, CT, sigmoidoscopy) but still no idea what's causing the symptoms. The doctors seem very confident it's not anything serious like cancer, and I'm reasonably confident but still a little worried.
Anyway, I can't really answer your question but I can tell you your mind and body can play nasty tricks on you. You should still definitely get checked out, but in the meantime try not to worry too much, because it can make symptoms worse, which causes you to worry more, etc etc. I think (or at least hope) that's what happened to me.
Here's the timeline of my symptoms / ordeal:
1.5 years ago: minor bleeding I was a little worried about at first, but the doctor assured me it was probably hemorrhoids.
8 months ago: started feeling slight pressure / pain in mid-left portion of my abdomen, and still getting occasional bleeding (1-2 times per month). I wasn't too worried, but in the back of my mind it was sort of bothering me.
5 months ago: major fatigue, loss of appetite, and what really worried me was several new mole-like spots on my chest over the course of a few days. I was really worried and started thinking I had colon cancer that spread to my skin or something, so I went to the doctor and he tried to assure me the moles looked normal. They did some blood work and an ultrasound that was pretty normal, except it showed i had a slightly fatty liver (possibly caused by heavy drinking in college, but unclear)
I regained my appetite and felt less fatigued a week or two later, but the fatigue would return on and off every few weeks. Also bowel movements were becoming more irregular, with bad diarrhea 1-2 times per week.
I saw a dermatologist who biopsied two of the moles, which were benign. I then saw a GI doctors and had a CT scan of the abdomen to check again, which was mostly clear.
Then I started getting crazy neck/back pain. It started in my right neck/shoulder area and didn't go away for a week. It went away then another week later I had the same thing in my left neck/shoulder area. Then that went away and another week later I got pain in my mid/lower right then left back, as well as a couple places in my arm, and briefly in my legs. I also got several more spots on my skin, some of which looked like moles, and some looked like acne, but it didn't go away (some still hasn't).
This is when I started getting really freaked out. I thought all this pain was caused by cancer spreading throughout my muscles. A month ago I saw a physical medicine doctor who thought the pain might be related to my shoulder which, by the way, dislocated about 3 months ago (due to a previous injury). He ordered a MRI on the shoulder and neck. The neck MRI showed some sort of pinching, so he did a test of the nerves in shoulder / neck / arm using electrical shocks, which confirmed the nerve was being pinched (or something along those lines).
Finally, two weeks ago I had a sigmoidoscopy to look at my colon up to the area where I where I was having the pain/pressure in my left side. It was clear, and here I am.
I still don't know what's causing all this. I suspect the bleeding is in fact just hemorrhoids. The irregularity (and maybe abdominal pain?) might be a combination of IBS and anxiety (3 years ago I got some sort of bug in Mexico and my bowels haven't been the same since). The neck muscle pain might be a pinched nerve in my neck. The moles might just be a coincidence.
But I'm still getting weird random new symptoms. Just today I started feeling some pain/pressure in my middle right side of my chest when I take a deep breath. And I've been having a more heartburn than usual. Perhaps I'm just paying more attention to my body now?
Anyone have any ideas? Did I just go nuts for a few month?