Feel like someone's got their hand around my throat

thank you for replying, i think its just an anxiety thing, but it is really scary isnt it, i keep thinking that i have a tumour in my throat and that is why my gland is swollen xx

Where abouts is your gland swollen funny enough iv had this flu bug thing twice now this has happened since iv had it I think the same I keep thinking I have throat cancer or I have thyroid cancer or something it really is horrible xx

youve got a swollen gland too??? mines the right side of my neck xx

Mine are at the back of my neck though but one of the left side keeps making a appearance so I keep thinking maybe it's my lymph nodes xx

Is it painful? How long has it been there? X x x

The two on back ages years !! Guess what I still panic about them lol and the side one since December since the bug that I got but doctors have said they sometimes don't go down properly after been infected I wouldn't worry too much as we bohemian have anxiety and both have same symtoms it kinda says something xx

Thank You so much, this makes me feel so happy :-) not that I'm happy you have anxiety! But you know what I mean :-) xxxx

Just to check, is yours painless?

Mine is painless x

Painless I can have a ache in them sometimes though xx

Thank you for your message!

Ordinarily I would agree with you that the sensible thing to do would be to ease my worries and go to the doctors, get the tests and put my mind at rest however I'm not sure if you suffer with anxiety yourself? But I have been to the doctors again and again about countless things that end up being nothing, when I was a bit younger I used to get stomach aches (gluten doesn't agree with me) so I worried I had bowel or ovarian cancer, i also used to get shooting pains down my arms and legs and thought I had luekemia for while, last year I was obsessed with my moles for a long time and had many nervous breakdowns about them and I went to see the dermatologist several times even though my doctor knew it wasn't nesscessary, and I was also obsessed with the fact I had double visions-several trips to a&e and several trips to the optimologist later and turns out I just have dry eyes from wearing my contact lenses, last year I was also convinced I either had MS or a brain tumour because I had tinnitus, I also have been convinced that I have heart problems for most of my adult life and have spent many many hours in a&e and several ecg's later I've accepted that I'm not going to drop dead any moment, Last month I was worried I had breast cancer, I also got three nose bleeds three days in a row and went to the doctors absolutely convinced I was dying of Ebola - whilst I was there I also did an asthma check cause Ive also been convinced I have asthma for the last five years, and now I have a swollen gland Iwas convinced that something awful was causing it,

I'm sorry to ramble I just think it's best you realise how dramatic the smallest symptom can feel, I don't want to cause a the boy that cried wolf kind of scenario where I dismiss something that actually is bad, however I think it's time I believed in myself and didn't seek the reassurance of the doctors tests!

But I do have my moments of weakness like when I wrote the post and it does make me feel better to here other people's experiences with the same sensation I am feeling cause it helps me validate that it is just a symptom of anxiety!

Hi Courtney, thanks for getting back to me.

If it is any consolation to you, yes it is quite normal to feel anxiety from time to time. It is basically because we humans have huge powerful and imaginative brains that we tend to conjour-up all sorts of things and often blow things out of proportion.

Once we know for sure what our problems are and have some means by which we can sort them out, then we tend to relax in our bodies a little bit more.

In your case whilst you do not appear to have a great deal of confidence in your doctor, they really do know best and maybe you should try to trust them a little bit more. If this doesn't work you are always free to join another surgery.

So to sum-up then, try to picture how your brain works. A simple example of this is when we come to re-decorate a room. It is our brains that determine which colour scheme to adopt because it thinks ahead and attempts to place us in that environment when it is finished. It is evidence that the brain often makes mistakes because 6 months up the line we may not like the colour scheme that it has made us chose.

Similarly when we read a book about some fictional situation or another, don't you find the brain leaping ahead trying to work out the plot and decide prematurely whether the butler actually did it?

This is the nature of our brains, and as such we have to be selective as to what parts we actually listen to, and what we ignore.

If we listened to our brains all the time we would all be digging-out atomic bomb shelters and convincing ourselves that aliens had landed on earth. The simple fact is that we must be selective in what we believe based upon facts, and only facts.

In your case all those previous fears that you had have come to nothing, which should tend to make one believe that you are a normal healthy your lady.

If this is true, then I suggest that you should put away all these fears once and for all and start enjoying your life, and live it the way that it was intended to be lived with fun and happiness.

All the best