worried

[Rusty821]

I had my scan results last Friday and all was stable though Friday night I was sick I was ok Saturday but Sunday I was sick and Monday I was scared to eat that I just had a bowl of soup and that didn’t stay down

I’m worried sick now as Iv been Googling and it says it could have spread to my brain

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Dear Rusty821

Sorry to hear you have been sick, please do not google as the information can be inaccurate and cause more anxiety.

There could be many reasons why you have been vomiting and we would advise you to contact your lung cancer nurse specialist, oncologist or GP for review and assessment. It could simply be a virus, try and keep up your fluid intake and if you are struggling with that, try sipping flat coca cola. If you are unable to tolerate fluids you could contact NHS 24 on 111.

Vomiting, is not the first symptoms of brain cancer or spread to the brain, there are more neurological symptoms such as weakness in a limb, headaches, loss of balance etc.

If you are on any drug treatment for your cancer it could be the side effects of these.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to discuss anything, you can email ask the nurse at [e-mail] or call our free phone nurse led helpline number on 0800 358 7200 Monday to Thursday 0900-1700 and Friday 0900-1600

Hope you feel better soon.

The Roy Castle Support Team

[Rusty821 in reply to RoyCastleHelpline]

Thankyou x

[Elt79]

Please don’t Google!! As someone who had brain mets (successfully treated) sickness was never a symptom. It could be so many other things - I understand as we tend to over think when we are living with it. Hope you soon feel better x

[Rusty821 in reply to Elt79]

Thankyou I think it’s just anxiety getting the best of me as I’m due to be a grandmother Xmas I worry that I will be ok to help my daughter

Keep well x

[JanetteR57]

Sorry to read of your current symptoms which could be anything - a virus, bug, something you've eaten but possibly anxiety/stress. I remember googling when I was waiting to learn what I had 12 years ago and being very frightened. Google is very unreliable regarding lung cancer treatments or information as so much has been learnt on both fronts in recent years after a massive increase in lung cancer research but the results are often only in highly specialised scientific journals or institutions who do not work on their search engine optimisation leading people to conclude all sorts of inaccurate things as you have done.

I've been involved in lung cancer research since the end of 2013 (after my diagnosis in Jan 2011) and cannot begin to explain how much has changed even in the last 5 or 6 years so unless things you're looking at relate to the most recent years and UK patients, they're unlikely to be relevant.

sometimes our brains and imaginations run riot fearing the worst or even reacting as 'shock' symptoms even when all is well. -

you describe the results as 'stable which is good but our imagination goes into overdrive on the 'what if' until our brains think that has happened - better to deal with the what is, have some anti sickness meds, return to food slowly as you would if you have an upset stomach and if you want to learn more about lung cancer, then use a trusted website like Roy Castle lung cancer foundation which does its best to keep its information updated but with so many new treatments being approved or different combinations every few months, even it can't keep completely updated.

There are so many different types and stages of lung cancer and we're all different to start with - so don't get ahead of yourself...

I found the book 'cancer is a word not a sentence' by Dr Rob Buckman helped me enormously when I thought symptoms might be a sign it had returned - as his explanations of how we catastrophise every little niggle after a cancer diagnosis but wouldn't dream of doing so if we heard the word 'infection' or 'virus' despite both having the potential to be really serious due to our conditioning around the word 'cancer'.

hope your symptoms improve soon - you may find counselling helpful to come to terms with what's happening or if you have a lung specialist nurse, ask if you could talk to them for reassurance. good luck.

[Rusty821 in reply to JanetteR57]

hi Janette Thankyou your words have been very helpful and now I think it’s anxiety as my stomach feels nervous xx

[JanetteR57 in reply to Rusty821]

I've always found distraction techniques help me through particularly anxious times - can you lose yourself in a good book, film, DVD, music or task? thinking about something entirely can move our thoughts on so our body's systems can take a breather.... good luck.

[Elt79]

Big hugs and just look forward to that new baby at Xmas ❤️

[Rusty821 in reply to Elt79]

xx