Words of Wisdom for Health Anxiety

[ListoR]

Can somebody give me words of wisdom to sort out my head? I have just about got to the stage where I am accepting the fact that this condition is benign and now I've found something else to worry about. I sometimes think that my only illness is health anxiety - nothing else. I have developed eczema on one nipple and I've never had it in my life. I've had it looked at by 3 GP's, 2 consultants and I've had a clear mammogram. It responds to no creams or antibiotics so what did I do? I googled. I should have known better. Last time it gave me ALS. This time it's given me a rare form of breast cancer which is really invasive. Apparently it can be mistaken for eczema, missed by a mammogram and not spotted till it's too late. According to my mind Dr Google knows better than the professionals. I can't sleep - here we go again. Can anybody tell me not to be so stupid?

 

[edirish73]

Hi ListoR,Dr. Google is a complete jerk and SOB (Hes even meanest than Dr. House!), get away from him!!!!!!!!!!BTW, Wait the Simon_W reply ( Hes one of the coolest dudes around here plus hes also a family doc, I think he can easily put your mind at ease)Bye,Eduardo

 

[twinTwosome]

Have you tried hydrocortisone cream? My kids have both had eczema and it worked for them. Becky

 

[Outlook1958]

ListoR, keep in mind that our skin is actually our largest organ. There are very many different types of irritations and eczemas, most of which are harmless and just a little disturbing in the worst case. I've got a lot of issues with my skin as well: Neurodermitis, eczema in the armpits, dandruff (actually a hell of a dandruff)... Most of these things come and go and have no significant medical relevance. However such issues should of course be dealt with if you experience pain or if the skin gets so damaged that there's actually an open wound.As for the hydrocortisone: As far as I know this is a immune-suppressing medication which sort of "calmes down" the affected skin area and prevents the skin's over-reaction. It works quite okay with wet/itchy eczema like those of neurodermitis. I guess it's worth a try, but keep in mind that many doctors (at least here) are careful with hydrocortisone because of the possible adverse reactions. I didn't experience any, but well...

 

[rumzcaneconundrum]

ListoR, I know where you are going. You are thinking you have imflammatory breast cancer. Don't go there, stop googling. People like us cannot google symptoms..I don't care if you have a little pimple, we health anxiety googlers will find something on the internet that will make it sound like skin cancer. I have seen many picutures of IBC, believe me there is no mistaking it. I would use some steroid cream(of course on advice of DR), you will see improvement and you can forget about the IBC. I never advise people to google symptoms but if you feel the need to google, google images of IBC, you will see it is very dramatic, and is not like your eczema. It is true it is sometimes not picked up on mammo, but any breast specialist can tell the difference between eczema and IBCRelax, stop googling.

 

[ListoR]

Thanks for answering this thread - I know it's not strictly a bfs related topic but it is health anxiety fed which I believe many of us suffer from! I have bfs too but that just twitches away in the background now. I sit and think 'I haven't noticed a twitch for a while', then I notice one! I don't think it's stopped - I've just stopped worrying about it. cck9 - you are right - I did find inflammatory breast cancer when I googled. It isn't that which frightens me though - it's pagets disease. I found a thread on a breast care web site with a woman warning against misdiagnosis. She was treated for eczema for months until they realised it was pagets. Apparently early stages are irritation, itching and burning, which is exactly what I have. I know that it isn't right but I just feel as if I'm being ignored by the doctors. Surely early stages are a good time to catch it? I've had boobs for 40 years and I know that this isn't normal for me. I am trusting my own instincts rather than the professionals. Nobody has told me yet that I haven't got ALS - I've just had to work through it for myself. Similarly, nobody has told me this isn't pagets and treatment seems to be trial and error! I just want to know what it is. I have taken a full course of antibiotics and am currently using a steriod cream. After 3 days it's a little better but it still doesn't look the same as the other one and it still feels irritated. Having never suffered from eczema in my life I have no idea how long it will take to react to steriods. They told me to use it really sparingly too. Thanks for listening - I can help with BFS! I seem to have conquered that!