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I am afraid I have cancer- please help.

Posted , 6 users are following.

carlym
carlym

I am a 20 year old female. A little over two months ago I started getting daily headaches that did not go away with any medicine. I never woke up with them (they would start shortly after waking up) and they were always in the front of my head on both sides. I went to the ER on day 3 of the headache because I was worried I had a brain tumor. They said it was a tension headache and gave me some painkillers and sent me home.

About a week later I stood up off the couch and my ears and sides of my face and head starting intensely tingling and having numb sensations. Afraid I was having a stroke, I went back to the ER. They weren't concerned, said there was nothing they could do about it right then, told me to go get an MRI somewhere and sent me home. 

The tingling in my ears and face continued the next couple nights, so my mom called my doctor and told them what happened at the ER. My doctor got into contact with the ER, but a referral for an MRI was not to be found on my record, so they were unable to refer me. 

2 days after the second ER experience, I woke up and my arms, hands, legs, and feet felt extremely weak. My dad came and picked me up from my college right away. During the one hour drive my mom called my doctor who said to come see them before going to the hospital as long as I wasn't lethargic and didn't have slurred speech. So I went to my doctor when I got home. They did a neurological exam and quick nerve testing (pricked different places on my hands and face with a needle to make sure I could feel it) and said she had absolutely zero concern of a brain tumor. She said my headaches sound like classic tension headaches, and said my musle weakness and tingling was being caused by anxiety (since I had been constantly anxious about tumors and strokes). She said I could go get an MRI to relieve my anxiety, but that from a medical standpoint there was absolutely no reason to. So, I didn't because they are expensive. 

For a few days after this I started to feel a lot better. I also started to see a chiropractor who told me I have a misalignment in my C1, C2, T2, and T3 vertebrae that could easily be causing the tension headaches and the facial tingling. After a few adjustments, the headaches started to happen much less frequently and now the facial tingling hasn't happened in weeks. 

Now, for the past week or so I have been feeling on and off feelings of tingling and burning in my feet and hands. This has been causing me constant worry that I have a tumor on my spine or something. Just this morning I woke up, went to work, and all of a sudden part of my mid/lower right back have numb sensations (it isn't actually numb, just sensations of it). I went to the chiropractor (I have been going weekly), and he said the tingling in my hands and feet is 100% caused by my misalignment, and same with the back numbness. He could even feel a part of my back today near the numb area that wasn't correctly in place. He adjusted me, and I went home. 

I am now sitting in my room crying because the back numbness seems to be taking up a larger area now. I should point out that there is no pain- just a numb sensation. I am so afriad I have a tumor on my spine or anywhere for that matter. 

I should also point out that every day since the headaches began 2 months ago I have cried and broke down multiple times because I am so afraid I have cancer. I spend every waking moment that I can googling symptoms. I am going to a neurologist in a month. 

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • ptolemy
    ptolemy carlym

    Posted

    The chances of you having cancer, tumors in the spine or anything else at your age is highly unlikely. Please be more positive.  
    • carlym
      carlym ptolemy

      Posted

      It's hard to be positive when these symptoms seem so odd, it's hard for me to accept that they aren't something serious.

      sad

  • brandon07446
    brandon07446 carlym

    Posted

    I am your age and worried about the same thing as well. I had daily one sided headaches and finally went to the ER. They did a CT scan and then said they saw an abnormality and that they wanted to do an MRI. I was already freaked out so the doctors bedside manner didn't help any. Any who, they were going to hold me over night and do an MRI the next morning. However, 15 minutes later they came in and said "As a matter of fact we are just going to take you to another hospital to get the MRI done tonight" and they rushed me by ambulance to that hospital. That hospital told me it would be 3-4 hours before they did the MRI and it was 20 minutes before they did it. Imagine how scared I was at this point. Come to find out, I had a migraine from sinus tissue and all blood tests came back fine other than the fact that I was dehydrated. I still have other issues I suffer from and I understand it is hard to keep a positive mindset, but do your best!

    • carlym
      carlym brandon07446

      Posted

      Thank you so much for sharing. Did you have any other symptoms besides the headaches?
  • Jon8181
    Jon8181 carlym

    Posted

    Carlym, believe it or not a lot of your symptoms can be caused by migraine headaches. It's good that you are seeing a Neurologist. Just a bit of advice, if you don't agree or feel comfortable with the Neurologist then request to see another one. I posted here a while back that I was dealing with all sorts of neurological symptoms like dizziness, balance issues, dropping things, my memory had become impaired, I had issues with my vision, so my doctor ordered an MRI brain scan and they found out that I had a lacunar strokes on my right side of my head. After that not only did my symptoms increase in severity but I began experiencing additional neurological symptoms like falling down, severe headaches, stuttering when I spoke, vertigo, nausea etc. My doctor referred me to a Neurologist. He read the documents that I had with the CD of my MRI, he asked me a couple questions and said I'm having migraine headaches. My wife and I left, he was an idiot. He never even looked at the MRI CD. I couldn't see another Neurologist until May 1st, which is quite a long time having to deal with my issues. I was admitted to the hospital yesterday due to the concerns of my cardiologist. They did another MRIbrain scan + a ton of other neurological tests. Come to find out I had a serious stroke, I've been having Complex Partial Seizure Disorder, Simple Partial Seizure Disorder and they believe I have MS. They need to run a few more tests but based on my MRI results + I experience about 90% of MS symptoms they are pretty positive. This is why it's important to push for your own care because if you don't you could end up worse off then before.

    • carlym
      carlym Jon8181

      Posted

      I'm so sorry this happened to you, but I am glad you are now getting the correct care! Thank you for sharing

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