Why do I always think I've got cancer?

Many people struggle with medically related anxieties and frequent feelings concerning a variety of illnesses. These feelings of concern over cancer, specifically, may be triggered by having a history of cancer, having known someone who developed cancer, living in an area with a high incidence of cancer, or having risk factors for cancer. But, feelings are not always logical, right? That is why they are feelings. So, even if you can't pinpoint a logical cause (or the logical causes) of a feeling, that doesn't make the feeling any less real to you. It is good that you are looking into the origin of these feelings so you can better understand where they are coming from.

It’s understandable that in today’s day and age we all are worried about medical health. I find that sometimes I run to google my questions medically way too fast before discussing with my doctor, and it usually stresses me out quicker when I see articles suggesting cancer. It could be your own worries too, depending on your medical family history. But I assure you, others have thought similarly when they get a few wry symptoms that cause that worrying part of your brain to fire off signals. It’s good to try and rationalize with what you know of family history and your own medical, but do know that it isn’t unnatural to be a bit worried, especially with what’s going on in the world currently.

The question is a bit broad, so the reasons might be numerous. If you think you have a medical issue, best approach would be to seek a medical professional as soon as possible. However, if you do not have an underlying health issue but are simply afraid that you might have it, you might need to seek a mental health specialist who can help you. Invasive thoughts, delusions, anxiety, obsession with a certain idea without a particular reason could often show a mental health issue which needs to be addressed. Stay strong and please take care of your health- everyone at 7 Cups really hope that you will be well.

I am so sorry to hear you are feeling this way! many things can contribute to you worrying about having cancer. Anxiety and paranoia could be two factors that contribute to it. anxiety can cause unnecessary worry over topic that may make no sense. You could have a fear of cancer or just being sick in general. anxiety can make you assume the worst even if the situation is small. You could also be paranoid about having cancer if you have been around people with it. much like anxiety being paranoid about something can cause you to constantly be thinking about the topic without being able to get rid of it. i hope this helped! i’m always free to chat!

Some people suffer from what's known as Illness Anxiety Disorder (formerly known as hypochondraism) where they believe that they have an illness when they in fact do not. The mind is a powerful thing and it can convince us of many different non-factual things such as having a disease/illness. The first thing to do is to ask your doctor about your symptoms (do NOT look up symptoms on the internet) and see what they say. If they tell you that you do not have a disease or they order tests and everything comes back normal, you should seek the diagnosis from a psychologist if you think that you may still have a disease such as cancer. Those who have Illness Anxiety Disorder will often still believe they have a disease even after tests and doctor's advice is normal.

It sounds like you are worried about your physical health. This is not abnormal. In fact, I would say it is healthy to have concern about your health. However, it can become disrupting when you begin to obsess over this. Obsession over anything is not healthy for the human mind or body. From my knowledge, it sounds like you may be experiencing some anxiety, or perhaps even some paranoia. Anxiety is no fun to deal with, but everyone has the capability to overcome it. Even when it becomes crippling and all that your mind functions off of. You can beat the paranoia, maybe something you could do to ease your worries is going to a simple check-up at the doctors.

Excessive worrying and checking for various symptoms is often a sign of varying degrees of health anxiety. For the most part it is one of the ways your mind responds to stress that may be present in other parts of your life, or even unresolved because of previous experiences including trauma. If you want to help yourself, try to not check Dr Google as much as possible, and find a way to distract your mind from the thought, or remind yourself that whatever symptom you are detecting could be a myriad other things that are much less scary. What has helped me personally is giving myself a week to track the symptom. If it has persisted for more than 7 days, I will see a doctor, if not, I will probably have forgotten about it by the time that deadline is reached.

I am sorry you are experiencing those thoughts, that sounds very much like health anxiety. Unfortunately with internet we are able to look up any and every symptom we experience, and usually we get many results. But for people that have anxiety that is difficult, because it makes you jump to conclusions and believe in the worst case scenario. Relax, find something that helps distract yourself... it could be reading a book, meditating, listening to upbeat music, talking to someone. If you still can't control it, I'd say go to a doctor. I hope you find a way to manage it, because I can imagine how stressful this is for you.