Is It Okay to Go to The Doctor for Every Little Lump or Cough?
If you develop a cough or a lump that concerns you, make an appointment to go to your doctor as soon as possible and have it evaluated. If you are not sure whether it needs evaluation, call your doctor’s office for advice. You deserve to find out whether the problem needs attention or not. You deserve a speedy evaluation if the problem does warrant medical attention. Having a plan of action for problems will relieve everyone’s anxiety before and when problems arise. The earlier you go for evaluation,
• the less time, energy, and emotion you will waste worrying about whether or not you should
have it evaluated
• the less time you will have for your imagination to work on all the possible outcomes
• the less time a real problem will have to get serious
What If I Feel like a Hypochondriac?
A hypochondriac is someone who suffers from imaginary illnesses or problems. We use the term loosely to apply to anyone who seems overly concerned about his or her health.
After cancer, just as after a heart attack or after being treated for asthma, you are entitled to be a bit of a hypochondriac, especially in the first few months after therapy. It is adaptive and beneficial to you to be tuned in to your body’s signals, especially when you are still adjusting to its changes.
Be safe, not sorry. It is better for you to call or see your doctors about a small problem and have them reassure you that it is nothing significant than to wait with a problem in order to avoid being considered a hypochondriac and end up with a more difficult problem to treat.
One survivor did not hesitate to put her family through the stress and expense of having her mild back pain evaluated. Another survivor tried to avoid the appearance of a hypochondriac, and to minimize her family’s stress, by enduring a similar pain. The first survivor found out she had a pulled muscle and had it treated before there was any significant impact on her health or the family. The second woman got progressively worse. Her pulled muscle went into spasm, causing her to favor it and strain other muscles. The stress of worry caused her to develop an ulcer and her family relationships to become tense.
Doctors expect patients who have had cancer to be tuned in to their bodies and to be more concerned about common symptoms than a person who has never had cancer. Do not worry about being a hypochondriac. Do the right thing: listen to your body, and get yourself checked.
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