Health anxiety is taking over me.

[kay-lea]

Okay so no matter I find something on my body that I completely freak myself out about and think I'm dying. I was smoking cigarettes from age 13 and am now 21 I had a sinus infection but continued smoking 5-7 a day when I started having grey small strands in my yellow phlegm :(. I stopped smoking straight away and haven't touched one since it's been a month now but I still have grey specks. Has anyone ever had this happen? I've never smoked marijuana ither. I'm so scared and keep working myself up, and saying to myself you are so dumb Whyd you ever smoke for. 

[CrashCoyote]

Hi kay-lea,

I'm 51yo, smoked a pack a day of tobacco for twenty years, gave up ten or so ago. I still worry cancer might get me, but so far, so good.

Please try to remember a few things;
1. It is never too late to give up smoking, and you seem to be doing that.
2. The smoking you did do cannot be undone.
3. Cancer of the throat and lungs can get people that never smoke, and not get people that did/do. Smoking is a risk factor, not an automatic trigger.
4. It seems like you ave done some on-line research but marijuana is not the only suspect in grey speck in phlegm, chronic bronchitis is another. There are others.

I would urge you to see a GP for a proper physical examination and diagnosis, and a suggested course of treatment. From what you describe it may be a physical ailment but there may also be a psychological component that allows you to think you are dying at the first sign of illness.

I would be keen to hear how you go.

Kind regards, John.