Anxiety Archives - Ronny Allan - Living with Neuroendocrine Neoplasms

24Oct 2017 by Ronny Allan 2 Comments

Round up of NANETS 2017 – Let’s talk about NETs #NANETS2017

Awareness, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Technical NETs, Treatment

NANETS (North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society) is one of the biggest NET conferences, bringing together NET Specialists from around the world to discuss state-of-the-art treatment modalities, new therapies, and ongoing controversies in the field of Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (Tumors and Carcinomas). This is fairly complex stuff but much of it will be familiar to many. I’ve filtered out several outputs from the conference which I think are both relevant and topical to patients. The list is below allowing you to easily peruse and read further via linkages if you need to read more. Remember, some of these are extracts so do not contain all the details of the research or study – although some of the linkages will take you to in-depth information if that’s your bag. Where applicable, I’ve also linked…

08Jun 2017 by Ronny Allan 20 Comments

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer – 8 tips for conquering fear

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship, Treatment

Opinion: Before I was diagnosed with cancer, my health was in reasonable condition. I had minor irritants that seemed to come back now and then, nothing that was going to kill me. So I just put up with most of it and time was frequently a good healer. Occasionally, I would use medicine to speed up the healing or ask a doctor for advice. Even leading up to my diagnosis, this was my strategy despite some strange things going on. Luckily for me, the 'system' picked up something suspicious and I am where I am today. It's amazing to think a cancer can grow inside you for years causing a lot of damage but without a grand announcement. Stabilised Following diagnosis, I got quite a lot of attention in…

14Dec 2016 by Ronny Allan 3 Comments

Neuroendocrine Tumours: a spotlight on Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma

Awareness, Patient Advocacy, Technical NETs

I spend a lot of time talking about the most common forms of Neuroendocrine Tumours (NETs), but what about the less well-known types? As part of my commitment to all types of NETs, I'd like to shine a light on two less common tumour types known as Pheochromocytomas and Paragangliomas - incidence rate approximately 8 per million per year. They are normally grouped together and the definitions below will confirm why. If you think it's difficult to diagnose a mainstream NET, this particular sub-type is a real challenge. So, let's get definitions out of the way: Pheochromocytomas (Pheo for short) Pheochromocytomas are tumours of the adrenal gland that produce excess adrenaline. They arise from the central portion of the adrenal gland, which is called the adrenal medulla (the remainder…

08Sep 2016 by Ronny Allan 18 Comments

Serotonin – the NET effect

Awareness, Diet and Nutrition, Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Technical NETs

[caption id="attachment_14036" align="aligncenter" width="750"] A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have used high-powered microscopes for the first time to view serotonin activating its receptor[/caption] Background I'd never heard of Serotonin until I was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine Cancer in 2010. It is frequently discussed, often with contrasting views from the respondents. One common assumption/question is that it is responsible for many things that can go wrong with Neuroendocrine Cancer patients who have serotonin-producing tumours. "It's the hormones" is an easy assumption to make or an easy answer to give in response to a complex set of circumstances. It's difficult to get a definitive answer and the science behind the behaviour of our hormones isn't really 100% tied down. You may see serotonin referred to as a 'neurotransmitter', a 'chemical' and a 'hormone' - this is complex…

11Jun 2015 by Ronny Allan 24 Comments

Neuroendocrine Cancer Forums: frighteningly good or good at frightening?

Living with Neuroendocrine Cancer, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

OPINION When I was diagnosed, I was happy with my own research and kept away from forums on the advice of a fellow patient who said they can be negative. Just before my second major operation in 2011, I decided to take the plunge and registered with an online web forum (not a Facebook one). Looking back to that period, I wasn't really a major player, more of a 'lurker'. I found it quite 'cliquey' and I should have listened to the initial advice of that fellow patient! So I left it. Joining Forums In 2013, I joined several large Facebook closed groups which function as forums. After 4 years, I felt more experienced and knowledgeable and I wanted to learn more about the disease to help with my blog activity. Be prepared!…

10Apr 2015 by Ronny Allan 19 Comments

No Fear

Inspiration, Survivorship

It's that time again, every 6 months I need some checks. I've done the specialist blood test (Chromogranin A - CgA) and the 24 hour urine (5HIAA) and am waiting on my CT scan appointment. It's also time for my annual Echocardiogram. I then see my Consultant and he delivers the news. Happy days :-) I positively look forward to my tests and I cannot wait to get into that scanner! 'Scanxiety' isn't in my dictionary. Why? Because testing is one thing that's going to keep me alive for as long as possible. If I don't get regularly tested, then one day I might just 'keel over' because something wasn't spotted early enough. Even in the event of 'not so good news', I still see that as a positive because it…

17May 2014 by Ronny Allan 1 Comment

Dr Google will see you now

Awareness, Humour, Patient Advocacy, Survivorship

Whenever I need to know anything nowadays, I mostly just look on the internet and sometimes I ask my virtual PA 'Alexa' to look for me! However, you need to be very careful in acceptance of what is credible information and what isn't. As a relatively experienced health blogger and activist, I like to think of myself as 'internet savvy', so I occasionally find myself using 'Dr Google' to diagnose my aches, pains and unusual feelings (and I confess to using it to help others). I mostly find there are no real or definitive answers online for patient issues. Although I seem to learn something on each piece of research, I also find some really worrying stuff. Some symptoms can have dozens of reasons and I often realise how…