Fear of cancer,

[Luketheanxious]

Greetings everyone, my name is Luke.

i have been battling GAD for quite sometime now and have recently started medication, it’s working wonders.

im a chemistry student and an explosives engineer, recently I was doing a daily examination of my testicles when I noticed a lump. It was about the size of a peppercorn and didn’t hurt. I was born with an un decsended testicle and it’s been a problem my whole life, I learned that I would be at a greater risk of cancer etc.

anyeah, I left it for a few days and checked agai, sure enough it was still there, I’ve booked an appointment to see an endocrinologist ASAP but in the mean time I’m severely distressed.

as far as cancer goes, how bad is testicular cancer? Could it be a cyst?

Thank you all for reading, any support is appreciated

[PamelaR]

Hiya Luketheanxious and very warm welcome.

Ohh, it must be so frightening to find a lump. I know what it's like, recently having a mammogram.

I'm not a health professional Luke, though from my experience with male friends, I know that lumps do not necessarily mean cancer. There are many reasons for the lump and it is very good idea to wait to you go for your appoint with your doctor and maybe have some tests done.

While it's not a good outcome, if you are checking yourself regularly and only recently found a lump then you've caught things early.

I know what you are experiencing - waiting for test results, It really increases the anxiety levels. My thoughts are -- it's important to cope with the anxiety. It's not easy, but it's doable.

There is a lot of material on our website. Feel free to do a search for topics of your interest. One I find very good for myself is the thread - Self Help Tips for Anxiety under the Anxiety forum found in the Mental Health Conditions category.

You're not alone Luke.

Kind regards

PamelaR

[Croix]

Dear Luketheanxious~

Welcome to the forum, and I can very much relate to waiting for medical tests to be done and the results known. About a year a spot on a lung was detected and I had to wait 3 months as a biopsy could not be done. It turned out OK.

The waiting was the difficult thing and I'm glad you only have a few days to go. Trying to get the mind away from all the worrying possibilities is extremely hard and for me distraction was one one avenue, and a free smartphone app called Smiling Mind was another. Being with my partner was the third.

Actually Smiling Mind is surprisingly effective as a short term way of breaking the loop of anxious thoughts. It takes a little practice but even repeating the short 2-minute introductory lesson is good.

I'm hopeless at meditation, mindfulness and all the rest . This gives just enough audio prompts to keep my mind on track (you can switch off the horrible background music)

May I ask if you have someone in your life to share things with? Trying to face this in isolation would be very hard.

Croix

[Luketheanxious]

Thank you. I’m really bloody frightened, tests tomorrow and possibly a biopsy. Hisorry

[Luketheanxious]

Thanks for your reply. One of my biggest fears is death and illness so I’m in a bit of a stage at the moment.

[Croix]

Dear Luketheanxious~

Yes, you have tonight to get though, and like you waiting is something I'm bad at. Actually that's why I turned to Smiling Mind.

At this stage distraction, maybe exercise in a walk, talking to those who care, whatever helps pass the time.

PamelaR has pointed out a pretty good resource

Forums / Anxiety / SELF HELP TIPS FOR MANAGING ANXIETY

Actually it is so long you'll take ages to read it all, but worth it, lots of things others have found. I scan thought the latest entries every so often.

Good luck tomorrow

Croix

[Ash81]

Hi Luke, please let us know how you went with your tests if you feel up to it.. I too have a breast ultrasound and mammogram tomorrow and am so scared.. how did u get through it?

[Luketheanxious]

Hi ash, sorry for the late reply. Hope everything went well.

it turned out to be a benign cyst however it’s still growing so they’ll remove it. A big relief how ever I’m sill struggling with several other things