Terrified I have lung cancer

[Jaydee]

I am new here, so hopefully I am doing this right.  I am terrified I have lung cancer and I can't stop worrying.  I have a variety of symptoms (for example, cough, some hoarseness).  I have had a clear chest X-ray and clear CT scan.  This should alleviate my fears, but I have this persistent pain in my shoulder and arm (currently seeing an ortho doc, but pain meds not helping) and I am so scared that the tests missed something.  I don't know how to get out of this loop.  I see "signs" everywhere about lung cancer, such as tv shows or radio talk shows mentioning people with lung cancer.  This happens over and over.  Sorry for rambling, I just was wondering if anyone else has this and can offer suggestions to help.  I am in therapy, but it doesn't seem to be working. Thank you. 

[hypomom]

I can tell you this (my mom had lung cancer) when you start showing symptoms of lung cancer it is after you've had it a while. A chest xray would have shown it, much less the CT scan

[sassparella]

If you had lung cancer it would have shown up on the chest x-ray and especially the CT scan. If both were clear then you don't have lung cancer.

[Jaydee]

Thank you both, I know logically I should believe it, and sometimes when I am in a better place, I do.  I appreciate the responses.

[WyattsMomma]

Hi and welcome. I, also, fear LC. It is my one and "only" health related fear. I obsess over it. It "follows" me everywhere, too. TV. Radio, people posting about it. My grandpa and uncle both died from it, as did my second aunt. I was a heavy smoker for 15+ years (and I am only 29). I feel doomed. If I don't have it now, I am convinced I will die of it someday, sooner than later I also had a clear chest x ray, and have been offered a ct scan and repeat xrays to alleviate my fears. But I know it wont help. A xray would most likely show a tumor, a ct scan most def would. You do not have LC. You really dont. Let me ask you, do you smoke? Smoking history?
I also have back, neck, shoulder pain. I always "what if" it is caused by LC, but it most likely is anxiety related. Yours very well could be as well.

[Jaydee]

Thank you for your reply WyattsMomma.  This is my one and only health related fear as well, though with the symptoms I have, and no firm diagnosis as to the cause, I can see falling into a slippery slope of other health related issues, because these symptoms have to be something.  I do not currently smoke, but I do have a history of smoking.  I smoked throughout my teenage years, a little bit in college and a little after that.  I am 40 and quit when I was 24.  Although the physical pain is very bothersome, I swear it is the news of LC everywhere that gets me the most.  I like how you phrase it as "following" you - I keep saying it is the universe giving me a sign.  It just pops up in everything I watch and read. Although I don't wish this on anyone, it feels better that I am not alone in seeing these signs.  I have been in therapy to work on the anxiety, but the physical pain is still there.  I am sorry to hear about your family's experience with LC.  I am sure that contributes to your fears.  After my clear CT scan, the anxiety diminished for a little while, though it has popped back up.  Maybe that test would help you a little too?

[WyattsMomma]

I have learned that NO amount of testing will help me with this fear. Unless they come up with a fortune telling test that can promise I will never get LC! lol   But I have learned a lot through 2 doctors and a little Google about LC, maybe that will help you? Per my doc: LC is EXTREMELY RARE in people under 50, for ANY reason..... LC is so deadly, because it is a "silent killer", meaning when you show symptoms you are at an advanced state.....The lungs do not have nerves, so they can't feel pain (hence why you get referred pain with LC, because it has usually spread or pushed against other muscles to cause pain)......That is takes about 20 pack years to get LC from smoking (1 pack a day for a year is a pack year, 1/2 a day for 2 years is 1 pack year, 2 packs a day would be 2 pack years)......And a HUGE study of over a million woman shows that if you stop smoking by 30, you drop your risk of dying from all smoking related death including lung cancer by 97%. And if you stop by 40 it is still 90%......

[WyattsMomma]

And I forgot: LESS THAN 10% OF LIFELONG smokers actually get LC.....And lastly, within 10 years of stopping smoking, your lungs are that of a nonsmoker. By 15-20 years they are just as if you never smoked before. I hope this helped you!

[Allochka]

Hi,
I think we HA people should never think of anything as a sign. There are no signs, we just geet fixated on smth and then put it out of proportion when noticing accidentally somewhere. If you had not a LC scare, but, let's say, heart worries - you would read the same articles about LC, without much concentrating on them and freaking out. Thye would kinda pass unnoticed.
I had a friend, who died because of LC. She was a nonsmoker, and had no symptoms at all. It was discovered on an x-ray, when she got a severe cold and was checked for pneumonia. What I want to say - chest pain is mostly an indicator of muscle or spine minor problems, not LC, because LC really is a silent killer, as Wyattsmomma said. And even an x-ray is enough to diagnose. CLean CT scan means you are OK, and your fears are absolutely irrational. At the same time, muscle pains can last for a pretty long time, as well as cough. I once coughed for a couple months. First you cough because of a cold, but then your bronchs (??? don't know the exact word in English) become irritated, and you cough out of irritation and reflex.

[Jaydee]

WyattsMomma, thank you for the information, it is very helpful and I really wish I could let it sink in.   I will keepmre-reading this info and hope it gives me peace.  Thank you Allochka, for the discussion about the "signs".  That is one of the worst parts of this whole thing.  I am really glad to have found this site.  It is a great place for me to put all of these thoughts out there and know others are here to reassure me, listen to me and often feel the same as me, so I know I am not alone.  My latest thing to focus on is a specific type of LC, a pancoast tumor, which doesn't have normal symptoms as LC, but shoulder pain is a common symptom.  In theory, an X-ray or CT could pick up this type of tumor, but since these are harder to detect, because of their location, of course, I am focusing on this and thinking maybe my tests missed this.  My ortho is supposed to send me for an MRI after some physical therapy (assuming the physical therapy doesn't work) hopefully, it will include the part of my shoulder that would show a pancoast tumor if I had one.  Maybe then I will believe the tests?!?! Probably not, though.  Isn't that what HA is about?  Ugh! 

[WyattsMomma]

Pancost tumors are VERY rare. I believe they are less than 5% of ALL lung cancer combined. And a CT scan would still catch it. I was worried about them too, until I read the statistics. Lung tumors 95% (or more) of the time present in the lower lobes of the lungs. Of all lung cancers, pancoast are not the ones I would fret over.

[Jaydee]

Thanks again WyattsMomma, good information.  I do know that pancoast tumors are rare, but someone has to get them, right?  Today I went to a physical therapist to see if I can get relief from the shoulder/back/arm pain.  Hopefully after some time there, this pain will go away.  On Thursday, I am going to a gastro dr to see if the cough and hoarseness have some GI basis.  I honestly think my anxiety would go away feel if these symptoms would go away. 

[Jaydee]

I was just finding something to do before going to bed and was reading damn you autocorrect.  Up came a post about lung cancer.  Seriously,  these "signs" are everywhere.   

[WyattsMomma]

Yeah, I know how you feel. I can't watch one show on tv without one of those lung cancer commercials coming on. I know it feels as though it is a sign, but it really isnt. I bet if we feared breast cancer we would notice that everywhere too. I know those avon and yoplait commercials always bring up BC, but it doesn't stick with me, they go right by. LC comes up and I am drawn to it.