Scared, is stomach cancer possible? - Cancer: Stomach Message Board

SandyES00 · 05-05-2009, 04:25 PM

I may be completely overreacting, but I can't help it. My family history is riddled with cancer. My maternal great grandmother died of breast cancer as well as my maternal grandmother. My mother got breash cancer when she was 40 and recovered, but was diagnosed with stomach cancer when she was 48 and died at age 49. She was the most atypical person to get the disease, her age wasn't in line with what is the usual, she was female, she was white. So over the past several years, I've been suffering from a variety of different symptoms including sensitivity to cold, extreme fatigue (sleep a whole night and still take naps during the day), dizziness (varying from extreme vertigo where couldn't lift my head to bouts of dizziness throughout the day), as well as sways between diarrhea and constipation. Doctors have checked my iron levels (normal) and thyroid levels (normal). The only thing that came back as odd is:

April 2009
Vitamin B12 231 (range 211-911)
Folic Acid 20.9 (range 5.4-16)
Vitamin D 37.8 (range 32.02-100)

I already take a daily vitamin that has 100% daily value of B12 and 200% of Vitamin D. My doctor said to just take more.

My worry is that I have pernicious anemia which can be caused by stomach cancer and/or is associated with it. Should I be worried? What should I do? I'm just scared because stomach cancer doesn't come with a good prognosis, especially because it's always discovered late.

lauralietx · 06-20-2009, 01:35 AM

Hello, I had precancer in my stomach but they did surgry and removed 80 % of my stomach and said I should be fine now. But I have to have follow up test done yearly. You need to go see a gastric specialist. They put me out and ran the camera down my throat and bottom. Was no pain from the test you sleep thru it. They said that my type precancer was rare most of all for someone under 50 yrs old. My stomach was covered in precancer polyps. Good Luck and best if it is caught in precancer stage so have it checked. I was anemic and was coughing up blood that was my sign my stomach was ok except for pains that shot across it occasionally.

vh90453 · 06-20-2009, 07:20 AM

The only way you will find peace of mind is to have an endoscopy. My cousin's husband had stomach cancer, he had 2/3rds of his stomach removed. It was early and hadn't spread so he didn't need any other treatment and is now considered cured.