How worried do you get when you have symptoms?

DareGod

When you find yourself with new physical symptoms, such as a bizarre pain, a lump, a weird sensation or an odd bodily activity.... how worried to you tend to get about it?

Hypochondriacs obviously get extremely worried, over every symptom, always. When I was a young teenager, I was a hypochondriac. I went to my GP so many times, with no resulting diagnosis ever, that I eventually stopped paying much attention at all to any new symptoms, because I figured there was no point. I kinda became the opposite to a hypochondriac.

Now, almost 30, only now starting to feel like a grown adult human being, I'm becoming more conscious of the fact that that the older you get, the more likely your body is to start failing on you... so I'm drifting slowly back into hypochondriac territory the past couple of years.

How about you? Do you tend to not be bothered at all by strange new symptoms? Or do you freak out but are too afraid to get it checked out? Or do you have a total hypochondriac-style breakdown with every new symptom?

NomadicGray

I tend not too get any bizarre pain, lumps, weird sensations or any odd bodily activity.
You should probably see a doctor. Or mortician.

The Sidewards Man

I go mad

kneemos

Wait till it smells.

Ciderswigger

I'm one of those people who, when someone tells me their symptoms, is all "you should really see a doctor. It's probably nothing, don't stress but it would definitely be best to get it sorted" BUT don't follow that advice myself. Right now I should really go to my own doctor but I'm scared and keep putting it off. I need to listen to my own advice.

Stupid helpful advice mumble mumble...

HugsiePie

I currently have a red eye and am sneezing a lot so Im obviously dying.

Naos

Don't get worried at all, until I decide to check google for the craic.

Google: Where every diagnosis is cancer.

Letree

I was so bad with the likes of that my doctor sent me to a shrink.

Peregrine

Ciderswigger wrote: »

I'm one of those people who, when someone tells me their symptoms, is all "you should really see a doctor. It's probably nothing, don't stress but it would definitely be best to get it sorted" BUT don't follow that advice myself. Right now I should really go to my own doctor but I'm scared and keep putting it off. I need to listen to my own advice.

Stupid helpful advice mumble mumble...

I'm the same. I worry about other people when they show symptoms and tell them to go to the doctor. If it's someone I love then I wouldn't let them not go to the doctor.

However, when I get sick I keep putting it off with excuses like not having time and say that I'll get better soon.

corner of hells

I was trying to self diagnose recently by using online medical resources , the main problem was with vision and seeing things intermittently .

It really became a concern while driving , turned out was an engine management light flashing on and off in the car and not a tumour.

PARlance

Took me 2 days before I went to get my broken collarbone looked at.

Was only 13, didn't want to tell my parents what happened day 1. Told them the next morning that it was sore, took the buggers until that night before they realised a trip to A&E was in order.

Witchie

Every symptom I have usually has Lupus as a diagnosis but since House said it is never Lupus I just laugh it off.

One eyed Jack

HugsiePie wrote: »

I currently have a red eye and am sneezing a lot so Im obviously dying.

It's only if the eye pops out when you sneeze that you should start to worry :pac:

I don't worry about what hasn't killed me yet.

Cee-Jay-Cee

It's a well known fact that if you google the symptoms of some ailment you may have, no matter how mild they are, you will almost certainly end up diagnosing yourself as having cancer.

Ave Sodalis

I'm awful for not going to the doctor when I should. I'm probably going to end up a cripple by 40 with all the untreated injuries, but oh well!

In saying that though, I've a fairly high risk of cancer and there just happens to have been numerous deaths and people told to make themselves comfortable in the local area due to cancer not being caught in time, that it's something I should be getting more concerned about. I really hate that cancer isn't tested for routinely and as the first thing they test for, rather than one of the last. One woman didn't have symptoms until it was too late, another man was being treated for pneumonia and COPD for years but it was cancer and he died within months of his diagnosis. That kinda terrifies me a little bit.

sup_dude

sup_dude wrote: »

I really hate that cancer isn't tested for routinely and as the first thing they test for, rather than one of the last. One woman didn't have symptoms until it was too late, another man was being treated for pneumonia and COPD for years but it was cancer and he died within months of his diagnosis. That kinda terrifies me a little bit.

Well now I'm kinda terrified as well!

DareGod

The idea of my own death doesn't really bother me that much. It's the devastation that my death would cause my parents that scares me.

_Whimsical_

DareGod wrote: »

The idea of my own death doesn't really bother me that much. It's the devastation that my death would cause my parents that scares me.

Whatever it is that has you pondering this tonight is probably not going to kill you. Your parents will have to just put up with you :-)
I'm betting a biscuit on it.

NachoBusiness

When I was very young I used to worry and try to self diagnose, now I'm too burnt out to care and sure if you have something, you have it. Worry about it when you're diagnosed.

I do however remember before the Internet, the late 80s, early 90s, there was a couple of summers where everyone all of sudden bought a set of encyclopedias that looked as if they were leather bound, but weren't. One of them was a medical one and I must have read that a hundred times or more from start to finish. Those books must have cause more nervous breakdowns back then than anything since. At least on the Internet there's a balance but back then the only way you could look up anything regarding health was in the library (which had a very poor dated selection) or Eason's health section. That was pretty much it. No wonder homeopaths and faith healers made so much fcuking money back then.

Pinch Flat

If I have sonething that's being bothering me, like a head ache, my first port of call is google. Usually, finding the results it returns as everything from a brain tumour, cancer or the early onset of dementia reassures me.

Hammer89

I have had most type of cancers since I was about 16. Well, I didn't, but there were times when I was convinced that I did. And I do mean convinced; to the point where an official diagnosis would not have made me feel any worse. That's what anxiety does. It consumes your mind and mutes the part of your brain responsible for rationality. For me, they were usually temporary attacks. Slowly but surely you start thinking rationally again, and the relief feels so good when you're able to then convince yourself that you don't have lung cancer.

It's been quite a few years since I've suffered them thankfully, but unfortunately, my mind is a library brimming with morbid cancer bollox like symptoms and statistics that I can't unlearn. On the flip side, alarm bells are going to ring much earlier for me in later life. If I've got a symptom which I know is associated with a certain cancer, I'm far less likely to dismiss it and little stuff like that literally saves lives. I like the idea of it saving mine one day.

As others have said, self-diagnosing is just asking for trouble. It's ridiculously tempting, but you're playing roulette and spinning the wheel on serious stuff which isn't worth the gamble. You'll either read something which relieves your fears or amplifies it.

wil

Letree wrote: »

I was so bad with the likes of that my doctor sent me to a shrink.

So you really only have to worry if the shrink says there is nothing wrong with you. :eek::pac:

hairyslug

Over the past few years I've ended up in hospital with near enough the same thing, both times I held off going to the gp and when I finally went, both times he mis-diagnosed. So now if I get any of the symptoms that I had before, I worry, anything else and I'll be grand

keithclancy

Went on a Holiday for two weeks with a mate that had a cough.

Turned out he had Tuberculosis.

It's a public health issue so we all had to be tested, you get a Mantoux test two injections, one in each arm (I think it was a week apart)

While waiting to get the second injection was reading about it and found out the treatment was 6 months of Chemotherapy (that freaked us all out a bit)

Went for the second test, the nurse didn't do it very well (I think she had a drinking problem) and my skin became irritated on the injection area.

She said it was a positive result and that I had Tuberculosis.

I was moving to NL a few days later, they said fine they'll contact the authorities there and setup treatment.

Went to a clinic just outside the Hague, explained everything and he just said "it is not possible for you to have TB after spending only 2 weeks with this person"

So they did a blood test (not available in Ireland)

Lo and behold the tests came back negative.

The relief was immense, if I didn't read all that stuff on the Internet it probably wouldn't have been as big a deal.

asherbassad

Whenever I have any kind of symptom of anything I tend to just lay off the beer, drink lots of water and eat lots of vegetables and sleep a lot. It goes away.

brevity

Sudocreme/Panadol/Sleep

Be grand.

Junkyard Tom

I go to the internet, find the list of possible causes, and scroll straight down to

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f. may be symptoms of [insert fatal disease/condition here].

'There You go' I say to myself.

DareGod

There are some self-diagnosis websites that tell you "The symptoms you are having MAY be the symptoms of something serious, but it is most likely nothing serious at all." or something along those lines.

However, an extraordinary amount of them more or less SCREAM at you YOU'VE GOT CANCER, YOU'RE DYING, YOUR LIFE IS OVER.

Not literally, but the way they present the information to you, and the wording and phrasing, it comes across that way. I think it's disgraceful. There are other ways to get people to go to the doctor to get their symptoms checked out, without worrying the sh*te outta them and potentially sending them into a needless nervous breakdown.

Of course, the other fear is mis-diagnosis by your doctor. I hear about this happening more often than I'd like, and it's scary.

And then the other thought, the "Well, why WOULDN'T I have a terrible disease?" question you ask yourself. And it's a completely valid question, as it can and does happen to anyone.

Isn't life fun

I'm of the mindset now that if it happens, it happens. Nobody is exempt from the possibility of dying early. It's just, as I said, the effect it would have on those around me that disturbs me. Happy monday :P

robertobennini

That time I got Chlamydia I decided it was best not to tell my girlfriend, didn't want to worry her after all.

sbsquarepants

Every now and then I can smell smoke, when there is no smoke there. Google says it's one of 3 things

1 - Brain tumour
2 - Olfactory nerve damage
3 - A haunting

Great:mad:

Rubberchikken

i'm still breathng, so all's good;)

sbsquarepants

keithclancy wrote: »

Went to a clinic just outside the Hague, explained everything and he just said "it is not possible for you to have TB after spending only 2 weeks with this person"

.

I'll yield to his doctorly knowledge and all - but how long could it possible take to catch TB. Do you get it in instalments or something?

Duggy747

I'm doing pretty good!

*coughs*

Oh good Christ I have Super-AIDS, don't I!?!

libelula

I had no business reading this thread. I'll be lucky to make it to tomorrow at this rate

sbsquarepants

I'm not what you'd call a worrier. I injured my elbow a while back which subsequently got infected, I bandaged it up a bit and put some detol on it - the usual carry on. The mots sister who is a nurse caught sight of it and insisted I go straight to hospital, I politely declined but then I though I better go to the doc at least, so I went the following day.
In the doctors and she says "give me a look" so I pulled off the bandage and she actually recoiled in horror "oh dear jesus, I wasn't expecting that" she says and sent me straight to casualty. It was like something from the walking dead in fairness. So, eh no, symptoms of "x" tend not to bother me too much:D

That being said, I did get very sick and spend a month back and forth to hospital every 2 days! So next time I would be a bit more vigilant.

MilesMorales1

I only worry if I'm violently throwing up, or bleeding, or can't stand up. Otherwise I'm grand.

Lollipops23

I showed up the doc with weird symptoms twice in the last 4 years, only to be told I was totally fine.

I went this year with something totally innocuous that I wasn't worried about at all and that's when I ended up being diagnosed with MS.

Vandango

When it comes to health, I like to keep my head firmly buried in the sand.

Rubberlegs

I do worry a bit I suppose. I'm very conscious of breast cancer as my mother had it, and thankfully survived. So every twinge in a boob and I'll be oh-oh. But I keep a close eye on things and that's all you can do. My Dad died very quickly after being diagnosed, from exposure to asbestos on the building sites in London. I do wonder did I ever inhale any of it off him when he came home from work. But sure I can't spend the rest of my life worrying about it when it might never happen. Anything else wrong with me and I'd literally have to have a leg hanging off before I'll set foot in the doctors

corner of hells

My friends father put off going to the doctor for weeks despite clearly being ill , eventually he went to his GP who said to present to A & E immediately , the man never even made it across the hospital car park , he was knocked down by an ambulance on the way in.

DareGod

Lollipops23 wrote: »

I showed up the doc with weird symptoms twice in the last 4 years, only to be told I was totally fine.

I went this year with something totally innocuous that I wasn't worried about at all and that's when I ended up being diagnosed with MS.

The irony!

I hope you're managing it okay.

Tarzana2

Take notice of those symptoms! Don't freak out about them, but note them, especially if they persist.

And if you find a lump, for the love of jaysus, get it checked out and be pushy about it. It will most likely be nothing at all but why take the chance? Be your own advocate.

Ciderswigger wrote: »

I'm one of those people who, when someone tells me their symptoms, is all "you should really see a doctor. It's probably nothing, don't stress but it would definitely be best to get it sorted" BUT don't follow that advice myself. Right now I should really go to my own doctor but I'm scared and keep putting it off. I need to listen to my own advice.

Stupid helpful advice mumble mumble...

Go. Please please go.

Tarzana2

DareGod wrote: »

The idea of my own death doesn't really bother me that much. It's the devastation that my death would cause my parents that scares me.

Me too, absolutely the worst thing about dying. When you gone, you're gone, the neurons stop firing but it's the sadness you leave behind.

Degringola

A couple of years agoI started getting terrible headaches out of the blue. Google told me I had a brain tumour so it took several months before I got the courage to go to the doctor. Turned out they were sinus headaches, easily cured (in my case anyway.)

This summer, breathing problems, pain in chest. Convinced it was lung cancer. Took months to go to doctor, had myself dead and buried. Xray clear, told it wasn't COPD, but pain persisted.

Just back now from a 3 day break abroad where I didn't have time to worry about symptoms. All gone now and feel totally re-energised, no pain etc.
But I'm probably in remission. Psychosomatic (sp) or what, really don't know.

Degringola

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Take notice of those symptoms! Don't freak out about them, but note them, especially if they persist.

And if you find a lump, for the love of jaysus, get it checked out and be pushy about it. It will most likely be nothing at all but why take the chance? Be your own advocate.



Go. Please please go.

Absolutely GO. I kept putting off my Xray because I was so terrified. But you've got to make yourself do it. Eventually the doctor said to me, just drive yourself straight to the hospital now and just get it done immediately, don't think about it, just do it. So I made myself do it.

Just ring the doctor tomorrow and make that appointment!

DareGod

"There's nothing to fear but fear itself."

And terrible diseases, too, of course. But fear can't change that, so may as well find out the truth, try and make some peace with it and then tackle it head on. Life was never meant to last forever.

Corruptedmorals

I'd never put off going to the doctor, I'd say I'm proactive..not hypochondriac. Depends on the symptom, I tend to get niggly things, nothing very alarming. I randomly developed a fast heart rate last year which is still being investigated. Once cardiology completely cleared me I was just curious. Working through the list now..

bilbot79

I used to get into a panic, now not so much. Panic is all it is by the way, you just need to take a few deep breaths, relax and rationalise your way out of it.

wakka12

Very. Im 19 and I think every little thing seems to mean certain death for me. Ive realised self diagnosing on the internet is a waste of time and very detrimental to my mental health!
So far Ive been 100% sure that I had HIV, sclerosis of the liver, melanoma and early onset alzheimers at different stages over the last year. None of which Ive contracted so far in my short time on this earth!

One thing I have have discovered that Im suffering from is quite extreme anxiety,though :P