Hello All,
My head has not been all it should over the last few months and struggling with health anxiety but have in general 'been well' following an auto stem cell transplant in June last year.
I have now got myself into a major panic as about a week ago my appetite began to suffer and have been feeling a little more tired. No lumps that I can tell or night sweats. I have convinced myself I have already relapsed as I remember a loss of appetite before.
I appreciate that you can not tell me whether I have but I was wondering if anyone else had periods of poor appetite or whether that high health anxiety can put you off food?
Really feeling in a bit of a mess.
Mike
Hi again Mike Whatcanyoudo, oh the post SCT runaway train can indeed take some twists and turns and I would say for a good 18 months I was all over the place.
Yes I went off food at times and this triggered the brain getting 2+2 =5, then the what if’s? started up resulting in stress and anxiety.
So I went off my food even more (as this is what stress and anxiety can do) which in turn is a vicious circle as food is our bodies fuel and during a cancer journey the brain can use a good 60% of our daily fuel intake so you get tired and fatigued and you get more stressed because you are fatigued.
During these early days my Specialist Nurse Consultant was my sounding board. She would give reassurance when required but also a kick on the backside. I had a bad time with infections over the first three winters so ended up in hospital 5 times so I think we had to get an understanding as to what was or was not normal daily challenges or something that had to be checked out.
Never apologise for taking up my time.... this is exactly the reason I volunteer on the community while sitting in my comfy chair with a coffee watching the rain falling.
I remember well the years (22) of treatments and not having anyone to talk with until I started the SCT journey in 2013, peer to peer support brings lived experience that can reinforce what your professionals say.
The past year had brought a new dimension to the term isolation and more so post SCT as this is isolating in its self.
18 months post my second Allo SCT my SNC (funny the different types of specialists) strongly advised me...... basically escorted me across the road to our local Maggie’s Centre and made me sign up for their “Where now” course....... best thing I ever did.
There were 10 in the group only me and another man who had also been through a SCT although an Auto. So there was a lot of ‘women’ talk 
but when we were all asked to unpack our journey I think the women were shocked as to the journey we had both been on during SCT.
I found out during the course that I had been given an invisible rucksack when I was first diagnosed and over the years had kept loading it up with all the stuff (emotions, anxiety, stress...) that so had collected and had never emptied it out. So I now regularly go through the process 4 1/2 years on from the course.
Do check to see if you have any Local Macmillan Support in your area that has opened up or a Maggie’s Centre as our local Maggie’s (Inverness) are slowly opening up and do run some great support groups online including our Heamatology Group that at the moment only has SCT patients.
Do also check out Lymphoma Action who run regular regional online Lymphoma Zoom support groups and a great Lymphoma Buddy Service..... and there is a good chance you will bump into me there 
Always around to talk.
