[IchbinkeinTeufel]

Very possibly triggering for health anxiety.

As some of you may remember, I'm super anxious over moles, and my health anxiety has been kicking my butt about it for a while now. My dad made me another appointment with my GP, to ask about that plus other things, and I'm just... crapping it, now. I kept it at the back of my mind, but my dad reminded me today, and now I'm getting anxious. I just took another picture of the main mole, and... now I've got it into my head that it has grown, and/or gotten darker. I'm anxious, now, and it's climbing. No real purpose to this thread, just needed to get this out there, because I'm alone, at the moment, and it's gone midnight. :\

I looked at a slightly older picture of the mole, as well, and... either it was just the position I was sat in, or... something else, I dunno, but it looks like it has grown a bit. My dad saw the mole recently (also saw it ages ago) and said it looked about the same, but maybe he was just lying to not freak me out? >.< He seemed to hesitate and say something like "Looks about the same, yeah." I mean... "about"... am I just being super paranoid over nothing?

Problem is, thanks to OCD/health anxiety, I often make this crap up without realising, then get in a tizzy over nothing; this has happened a lot of times over the years. I never know what's in my head or not. :| It makes it almost impossible to give doctors a straight answer... for example: "Has the mole changed?" I'd end up saying I don't know, because I don't! How am I to know? I don't even know whether something is in my head or not. What if my anxiety/OCD gets me killed because I can't give a straight answer? This is some scary ****.

Oh, and I'm back on Propranolol, now. Anxiety was just getting too bad, so my dad pretty much just insisted, then got me the pills; glad he did, though... think I'll take one now!

[atomicc]

Zwang I hope that you can get this all sorted. I won't tell you to try and relax cause I know it's hard, but hopefully the GP can get it all sorted. If they're worried they'll do a biopsy then you'll know for sure.

[TheOriginalMe]

You have a photo taken a while back, show that to your GP when you get the mole examined, I'm sure it will help with the check up.

I get worried about my moles, so I'm always asking my GP to check out moles for me, I have them in all sorts of places, and I can only check some of them out with a mirror. The docs I've spoken to have always been really nice about doing this and don't mind when I'm uncertain about why the mole is worrying me. Only once have I been referred on to a dermatologist and they did a biopsy that showed inflammation but nothing sinister, so something had irritated my skin just where I happened to have a mole.

If you have the money, you could always self refer to a dermatologist and have all your moles professionally checked out. They decide, which (if any) need closer monitoring, take pictures and measurements as appropriate and are generally very reassuring. My friend did this and it only cost about £50 (a lot of money if you don't have it but a lot cheaper than you'd expect).