u/Fragrant_Pumpkin_932

Hey everybody, new post coming in with a renewed and unfortunately more intense bout of HA in regards to melanoma. First ever skin check + biopsy done yesterday after the initial spiral of noticing something funny looking, derm lopped off 4 moles total (one on ear, one on finger, two on back), and the experience was overall not my favorite. NP came in and felt rushed and dismissive, which was funny, because she had a student who seemed to be way more thorough with her analysis. Ear and finger spots were immediately flagged as suspicious and were the main concerns I had, and I had to argue with her to get the ones on the back too, since they were pretty new and I figured I may as well while I was here. Overall stressful and negative experience, and I may do my followups at a different provider going forward.

Walked out of the appointment feeling relatively okay, and I rode the high of pulling up my big boy pants and taking care of business. But then the dread of awaiting the results kicked in hard, arguably more than the initial HA I had. Went home and cried my eyes out for several minutes and that seemed to help quite a bit, but then when I went to bed I quickly woke up a few hours later with my heart pounding, a recurring trend the past couple days.

Office said they'll get the results back in 7-10 days, and the anticipation is driving me up the wall. Luckily no family history overall of melanoma, and moles are a hallmark feature of our family, but I can't help but spiral on Google/Reddit/other forums again, and the anxiety's made it difficult for me to eat, sleep, or try to do anything else without lurking at the forefront of my mind. It's been a week since the spiral started and I am so exhausted.

PCP appointment is still a month out and she's a new doctor for me, so all this flurry of stuff will be at her desk by the time of our visit, and I don't want this to overpower other concerns I want to have addressed.

Hey everybody, just wanted to get this off my chest and share my story with you guys. 28M.

Never really considered myself a hypochondriac (though I've been fighting with generalized anxiety and major depressive disorder for years), but I'm currently wrestling with a gnarly bout of health anxiety since this past Saturday, mainly hyperfixating on moles around my body, leading to me making the world's dumbest decision and consulting renowned doctors Google and Reddit and spiraling and catastrophizing as a result. It's really been taking a toll on me the past couple of days, leading to me not sleeping much and just feeling awful in general as a result, further exacerbating my anxiety.

Haven't seen a doctor in a few years and never had a formal full body screen check from a derm in my entire life, but finally got my insurance sorted out and got a new PCP after not having one since I got booted off my parents' insurance, and am set to see her next month to get the ball rolling on this as well as some other things. The moles are driving me crazy though, so I jumped the gun and booked a derm full body check for tomorrow (5/15) and plan on paying for it out of pocket, since my insurance would only cover it otherwise if I had a prior referral from my PCP, which I don't, because 1. New doctor for me, so I don't think they'd write a referral for a patient they've never seen before yet, and 2. I frankly can't wait a whole month since my anxiety is in full effect.

I figured my peace of mind and proactiveness is well worth whatever cost it may be, right? May not be the wisest decision financially, but my thinking is getting ahead any way is well worth it. Still freaking out, but I'm not letting the fear paralyze me and am willing to take initiative and tear away the veil. Been ignoring my health in general for a while and it's time to do something about it, money be damned. I'm not getting any younger. :P