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I just feel I should be worried as my symptoms are frightening/abnormal and if I relax and get told that it is very serious then I won't be prepared. I really do think I have an inflammatory disease except I have no pain which I know is rare but other then that or bowel cancer, I can't really think of anything else
I wish I lived in the States. I hear so many horror stories about them from people here in the UK. It terrifies me
I have a dear friend who lives in London. She called to wish me a happy new year and I asked her if she has ever had a colonoscopy. She said yes. I asked if it was terrifying and painful and she said absolutely not.
She is 76.
Being terrified of a routine procedure that missions of people around the world successfully get each year suggests that you may benefit from a few sessions with a therapist to discuss your overwhelming anxieties and fears about medical treatment.
It's possible that your anxiety may be exacerbating your physical symptoms, so be sure to discuss this with your doctor as well so that they can take that into consideration when planning medical treatment for you.
I have a dear friend who lives in London. She called to wish me a happy new year and I asked her if she has ever had a colonoscopy. She said yes. I asked if it was terrifying and painful and she said absolutely not.
She is 76.
Being terrified of a routine procedure that missions of people around the world successfully get each year suggests that you may benefit from a few sessions with a therapist to discuss your overwhelming anxieties and fears about medical treatment.
It's possible that your anxiety may be exacerbating your physical symptoms, so be sure to discuss this with your doctor as well so that they can take that into consideration when planning medical treatment for you.
I wish you well!
Jenni, as other people have said, stress can make any kind of symptoms worse, even create those that would not exist otherwise. Try to relax, look at all the positive feedback and good advice here. Believe me I know what it is like to have anxiety - I am the poster child for that! It will be fine - take a deep breath and tell yourself that. In the meantime I will send good thoughts your way!
I just feel I should be worried as my symptoms are frightening/abnormal and if I relax and get told that it is very serious then I won't be prepared.
Actually, it's just the opposite.
Worrying has never made anything better. The people who come out best when faced with a crisis situation are not the people who sit around worrying themselves into a stew, but rather the ones who are able to keep a calm head so that they can make decisions and take action.
If you are so balled up with worry and anxiety that you are terrified, it is very unlikely that you will hear everything your doctor has to tell you or be able to fully participate in any decisions about your medical care.
So, the best way to prepare is to try your hardest to keep things in perspective, and not work yourself up into a total lather before you even know what the doctor has to say.
Go do something nice for yourself and try to put thinking about this aside for a while. It really will help you much more than worrying.
As someone with occasionally outsized anxiety, I'm going to say you absolutely need a therapist to deal with this. You are exhibiting all the signs of an anxiety disorder. I think exactly like you - don't want to relax because then I won't be prepared for bad news, obsessing over little things and blowing them out of proportion, constructing implausible scenarios, catastrophizing, etc.
ESPECIALLY with a bowel issue, you need to get this under control. It will exacerbate whatever is going on. Trust me - I've given myself diarrhea just through stressful thoughts more times than I can count. Your current line of thought is going to make you sicker. I once "thought" myself into the symptoms of a common STD because I was so freaked out - the doctor even assumed that was the issue. Turned out to be a minor skin sensitivity that I have dealt with.
There is nothing you can do at this point but pursue all avenues of diagnosis/treatment. Worrying will not make your situation better, but it could make it worse. So take steps to get it under control, just as you are doing with your bowel issue.
Why do I need a therapist? I have bowel cancer or at best a delibitatating inflammatory disease diagnosis. I need to start making arrangements
Because a good therapist can help you with the anxiety. I needed Ativan to help me some nights while I was dealing with cancer because the lack of sleep was weakening my ability to keep strong and focused during the day.
It's terrifying facing serious symptoms and not knowing why, then knowing why and still being frightened BUT you are not helping yourself or your health by giving in to catastrophic thinking and panic
I am due back for test results Wednesday but know a colonscopy will be next step. Everyone says they are really painful and I have a panic attack just thinking about it. I don't think it is microscopic colitis as the diarrhoea isn't watery and sometimes has blood in
I was terrified of having a colonoscopy. In fact, my mother died of colon cancer at age 79 (I was 40) and I was supposed to have one right away as it runs in the family.
Long story short - I was afraid to do it. Despite my friends offering to drive me; my son begging me to do it; I was too afraid. I don't know why - I gave birth but this procedure seemed worse.
This summer, I bit the bullet and did it and it was not bad at all. The prep the day/evening before kinda sucks - but even that isn't terrible. Turn on a good show and expect to use the bathroom a lot.
I was kind of sedated during the procedure? Like I felt no pain but I did watch the camera and heard the doctor talking; then I would nod off and wake back up, etc.
I had about 4 polyps removed and I have to return in one year - which is kind of unusual - but I know it's for the best and, this time, there will be no fear.
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Everyone says they are really painful and I have a panic attack just thinking about it. I don't think it is microscopic colitis as the diarrhoea isn't watery and sometimes has blood in