Irrational stomach cancer fear

[lofwyr]

Why do we do this to ourselves? Well, I guess if we knew that, none of us would be on this forum.

Anyhoo, since last November I have had this on again pain to the left of my navel 4 or 5 inches. It does not feel like typical upset stomach sensations, but rather almost a burning sensation, but hard to explain. It is in a very specific spot. It shows up sometimes, and is gone much of the time. I cannot seem to relate it to much of anything I eat. I can drink coffee one morning, nothing, the next morning, same coffee and it hurts.  When it acts up, it is exacerbated by hot drinks (I can feel it burn when I swallow the drink as it hits the spot). Spicy foods do not seem to have an effect either, and antacids do not seem to help particularly.

I went to the doctor a week ago, and he wanted me to cut dairy (lactose specifically) out of my diet for a week and see how it went. Well, not much has changed, to be honest. I thought it had at first, but today it really kicked in. He wanted me to call and make another appointment for a follow up if that didn't help, which it seems not to have.

What I was (at least for a while), able to dismiss as an upset stomach has now started to gain purchase in my mind as something far more sinister. I have a half sister who had stomach cancer, so that sort of looms in the back of my mind (we are not close enough for me to confide in about this) so my mind has picked up on that and cannot let it go.  I keep telling myself if it were cancer, it would hurt all the time, wouldn't it? But then what do I know? I am no doctor. I do not google (learned that lesson ten long years ago) and I do not want to bother my wife again with my HA. She is understanding, but you know how it can be. It is exhausting enough for us, I hate to drag her down too.

I am not sure what I am looking for, to be honest. Reassurance, I suppose (nothing provides more relief than this forum for me), but also just to vent a bit. Feeling down on myself a tad for being so scared of a mild stomach pain, and sick of jumping to the worst possible conclusion straight away. There are literally hundreds of non lethal things this could be, and I have gone right to stomach cancer.

Thanks for hearing me vent...I really do appreciate you guys. ;-)

[Gizmo122]

I don't think stomach cancer presents itself quite the way you're describing. I would sooner think it could be an ulcer, gastritis, or h. pylori infection. It's not a common malignancy.

Have you ever noticed dark/black stools? That would be digested blood coming from the stomach, and a sign something is amiss. In the absence of that, I would chalk it up to one of the thousands of oddities the body can perpetuate on us with no rhyme or reason.

If you're beyond reason and if you're not procedure-phobic, a GI doctor could tell you in about five minutes what the issue might be using upper endoscopy.

[lofwyr]

No, I am pretty sure it is not stomach cancer. The rational side of my brain knows that. And no, no black stool (sp?) no real significant pain, no weight loss (I wish lol) not really any other symptoms at all, save for some stomach irritation combined with some burping.

Anyway, thanks for the response. I wish the rational side of my brain could win out more often than the obsessive, worst case scenario side of my brain. =)