I keep worrying about my health

Bluebelle, thank you for the info about infusion. I have a hospital appointment for exactly that in June.

Oh yes Iam I can tell you all about that one having been living a busy, happy life and then waking up one morning having had a stroke in my sleep. Never smoked, drank very little, weight on target and no real problems so it was a shock - but I am alive and enjoying being so.
It is so easy to make unwise comments when one has not reached that stage of life when health starts to go downhill. Just enjoy every day peeps and do the best you can with exercise and diet and eat the best food that you can. Smile in the mirror every morning whether you feel like it or not and keep that smile pinned there come what may because smiles release endorphins and boy do they like being released!

The posters who suggest a positive attitude and avoiding the doctors may have been blessed with better health than some us. It isn't always the smokers, heavy drinkers, over eaters, no exercisers and so on who fall prey to serious ill health you know.

You are right to a point Jimbow but it is wise to keep ourselves well and if that includes all available tests that is fine. It is clearly better and easier to stay well than try to get better. My mother was always a worrier and died too young from breast cancer but it does not mean that everyone else will do the same because we are all different, unique in fact,

Oh that must be the answer then 'stop worrying and start living' . Why didn't I think of that? All those years of anxiety, panic attacks and visits to GPs could have been averted!

If only it were that simple, Jimbow.

As well as ageing I think we are bombarded by so many different messages about health and lifestyle these days it's easy to start worrying and you can end up spending far to much time reading about different things and then feeling even more confused. I have hypothyroid which is a real nuisance and coupled with the menopause has made me feel really down. I'm battling to get back on top of things as I'm generally a positive person. I'm desperate to,lose so,e weight. I think overall we just need to all do the best we can, exercise regularly where possible and try to eat sensibly. I do understand why you might feel like a hypochondriac- stay around positive people and remind yourself of all the good things about yourself and your life.

With respect Jimbow , load of cods wallop.

Best thing to do is live you life with love and fill your day with loving activities.
Then your health will be fine and you will be stress free.
Worry creates stress which cause a ill health and it becomes a vicious cycle..
Stop worrying and start living
Joe
Psychotherapist

Some say that mammograms can be woefully inaccurate but I am sure that many women like me were very happy that our breast cancer was found by mammograms. My first mammogram was 3 weeks before my 52nd birthday. Had I had it at the age of 50 the tumour would not have been visible and by the age of 53 it may have grown to stage 4. So everyone has a choice but I am pleased I decided to have it. 22 years later I have just had a mammogram and echogram and it was clear. I have to pay but I shall continue to have them.

Inaccurate...just like previous spelling

I've never taken up offers for mammograms, smears or bowel cancer tests.
None of them are guarantees that the results are 100% accurate in fact the screening for breast cancer is woefully innacurate.
BP can be done at Boots or Lloyds Pharmacy as a walk-in, where they (obviously) give you a copy.
I rarely see my doctor but have to think of an excuse every 2 years, otherwise you are taken off their list. ??

In a word, NO.

milly12 please keep having the mammograms! I've had them since I hit 50 ( the first being the week of my 50th birthday!) and this year, my 6th, I had a call back. Following a second mammogram and biopsy I've been told I have a small tumour which I will have removed in a fortnight followed by 3 weeks of radiotherapy. I'm lucky as it's early days and treatable

Hannah I cannot take the oral acid for oesterporosis so have an annual infusion it takes fifteen minutes then is done for 12 months no side effects apart from feeling a bit tired the next day

're checking blood pressure: our GP practice has a "pod" in a corner of the reception area, it is for DIY blood pressure checks, weight, BMI etc. For BP you sit yourself down, put your arm in the sleeve, follow the instructions on screen and the rest is done automatically. The results are printed out for the patient to keep, as well as being sent to your medical notes. Amazing. I know the latter info because the last time I was at the doctors to actually see someone (more than a year ago), the GP told me when I'd last used the machine .

Thank you Farmir and Lulu. Yes Farmir, I know about PPI link to osteoporosis, after I'd been prescribed it! Now changed to an H2 blocker but it's not quite as efficient at damping down the acid reflux. I shall persevere though and hope that along with my natural methods I'll get on top of it. I also read that long term use of PPIs can also increase the risk of stomach cancer by eight times! When I mentioned that to my GP he said its not conclusive and only refers to people with a family history of stomach cancer. He hadn't asked if I had that history when prescribing it.
Lulu I shall investigate the charity. Thank you.

KatyK I also have "white coat hypertension" as my GP notes it on my file. I have bought a home BP monitor and have a arrangement with my GP that before a visit I take my BP 3 times over about half an hour, and note the readings for her to check.

Travelsafar
We are not living too long we are living longer.What would you estimate to be the average age of Gransnetters ?

NannaM that's good they've found it early - hope you get treated quickly and successfully!

I go for the routine tests too but otherwise don't visit the doctor although I did have to give in and go in Feb with a bad chest infection. I have never felt like a hypochondriac until diagnosed with atrial fibrillation 2 years ago. Now on the medication I'm always worrying about niggling pains and also the possibility of a bleed somewhere due to the blood thinners. Sometimes think I was better in ignorance!

I grew up in the forties married in the fifties and can never recall hearing the word' cancer'. Neither I or any one I knew had tests or offered tests of any kind the likes available now. If you survived the second world war, working in/ or coal mining disasters, childhood diseases, diphtheria, polio you may now be one of those living longer Anything between 80 -105 seems to be todays norm. Is it purely by luck ?
What expectations are there now for those born in the last fifty and future years of living to a hundred or even longer other than without medical intervention.

I feel fit, cheerful and healthy but I will leap at any opportunity to have a test of any sort if it is offered. They are a sensible insurance policy; why wait until something goes wrong and then try to get it fixed? The Chinese evidently have a philosophy of keeping the fit healthy rather than trying to cure the sick, and I read that sweet and sour sauce, made the proper way, is basically honey and cider vinegar - both these things are good for the digestion and for joints it seems. The Chinese try to have medicine in their food to keep them well. To my way of thinking check ups are just the same - foil that potential illness before it can get a grip!

Routine mammogram - called back - after ultrasound and biopsy - surprise - stage 1 Breast Cancer.
So I say Thank you for routine checkups. They have probably saved my life!

Thanks everyone. Sensible advice as ever!

As someone who has been treated successfully for cancer 4 times because it was caught early, I don't think doing the tests and screening when offered and keeping an eye out for unusual symptoms is hypochondria , I think it is good sense!