Anxiety over mouth cancer worries. Panic and paranoia ruining my life

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Hello, I have just joined this site. Although I have been a frequent visitor to the forums for some years now. This may be slightly long but I would just like to speak about it without frustrating my partner and family (they're sick of my constant panicking) and maybe get some clarity. I don't know anyone else in my life with such awful anxiety so it's very difficult to get people to understand how my mind races.

I'm not sure where to begin so I'm just going to type as honestly as possible.

I am a 21 year old female, I have been a fairly heavy smoker since I was 14, although I quit cigarettes over a year ago, I have continued to smoke weed with tobacco mixed in. My lifestyle is pretty awful especially recently. I fear the outdoors sometimes and therefore find myself sitting on the couch most days, for the majority of day, during summer especially. I have a bad habit of frantically googling every little pain I have until I'm in an awful anxious state.

Around two weeks ago, my problem started. I tend to slouch extremely low when sitting on the couch and my general posture is terrible. I began to get a headache only on the top right side of my head, which worried me as I never suffer headaches. I then made a habit of leaning my hand on the side of my face while playing video games, to try and stop myself from slouching and try heal my headache. After around 3 days of repeating this leaning action for hours at a time, my cheek/jaw joint started to burn slightly. I also noticed that I was clenching my jaw pretty hard (due to physically pressing my bottom jaw up from leaning on it). Assuming I'd irritated my face, I stopped touching it. However, the pain did not go away. I waited a week and visited my GP (who I've just met as I've just moved city). She said the burning sensation and tense pain, along with my slight fever of 37.5 would suggest a gland infection (although there was no visible swelling). She prescribed me amoxicillin (500mg 1 3 times a day for 7 days).

I am now on day 4 of my course and I feel terrible. The pain is still in my right cheek/jaw but has spread to the underside of my jaw, the left side and throat. The pain is a mixture of burning, aching, pinching and shooting and extends from the back of my jaw to the bottom, to the back of Mt throat. My tongue has also been burning. All of this pain begins from the moment I wake to the moment I sleep, all day long with no relief. I have had tonsilitis before and it's nothing like it and my tonsils aren't swollen or inflamed. Sometimes the pain creeps up my ears and eyes too but not often.

If the pain wasn't worrying my enough, the doctor pointed out a small white spot on my tonsil. Since then I've been checking my mouth every day and swear I can see more spots and lumps, although they could maybe just be normal mouth texture, I can't help but think it's cancer.

My mother had sarcoma when she was young and had half her arm removed. My gran has skin cancer, and my papa died of throat and lung cancer.

I haven't smoked anything in 2 weeks. I also want to add that I have been under immense stress recently. My partner was diagnosed with crohns disease a few months ago after an appendix operation. He's only 25 and now on so many pills that he sleeps most of the day. I want to be there for him but my anxiety won't even allow me to think straight.

The best way I can describe the pain at this very moment is - the feeling you get in your jaw just before you vomit. Tense, painful and burny. I have rubbed movelat gel all over my shoulders, neck and face and have slight relief, although the pain inside my mouth is still there. I worry that I will have tongue cancer and have to have my tongue and bottom jaw removed. I am convinced I'm going to hear the worst news. My panic attacks over this pain are ruining my life, I tremble, I tense, I clench my teeth, I cannot eat. I have no interest in even watching TV or playing games, or making art (which usually helps my panic). I have done nothing for 2 weeks but shake and fear for my life. Please help, and i'm so sorry this was so long and might not make much sense.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • Posted

    Also feel I should add - when I stress out and panic is when the pain in my jaw spreads. If i'm fairly relaxed it tends to just be the burning tension in my jaw. The tongue and throat pain seems to begin when I stress or go on one of my frantic Google searches. I am not expecting people to comfort me or tell me I'm okay, but I suppose I'd just like other people with anxiety to speak to. It can get lonely when no one around you understands how anxiety works. My dad has one answer for my concerns - "just get over it". This is my first ever post so I don't know what I'm expecting, really.

    • Posted

      Please help yourself!!! There are amazing meds now for this. Stop the madness. If they haven't experience this, they can't understand it.

  • Posted

    You said it all. All familiar.When you have major anxiety, everything we feel, we zero in on it and we obsess, and it goes on and on. There are a lot of people with the burning month and jaw pain. Don't think weed has anything to do with it, Panic will indeed make you feel nothing but gloom and doom. Didn't your family doc start you on anxiety meds? If you want to be there for your boyfriend, please do yourself a flavor and get started on a antipressant. You will feel good again.

    • Posted

      Thank you for your reply kimberly59704, I realise now that burning feelings can be caused by anxiety. Although, I cannot put the severe pains all over my face down to anxiety, there is definitely something very wrong. The pain is unbearable now and constant. I have had anxiety for years and never experienced anything like this. I've also lost over a stone in the past 2 weeks.

      I'm not sure about going on antidepressants, I'm not particularly depressed. Just panicky.

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