Travelling abroad with a cold

[Anonymousemouses]

I admit I'm incredibly anxious right now (my threads are testament to that).

We are going abroad in a couple of days, I'm scared of flying, scared that we will get ill, scared the car will be destroyed in the car park - though that is not unfounded as our last car was destroyed at Luton.

DD has been moaning about a sore throat this week. It looked red a couple of days ago, today it is not as red. She also has a cough. She had the same at Christmas and it lasted for about 7 days. She has tested for Covid 3 times with different tests and different days and they are all negative. I would also be likely to have come down with it and I have a pretty weak immune system and ended up in hospital last time I had a very mild cold, and have never had a cough that hasn't resulted in oral steroids. I do have a rescue pack of Prednisone I will be taking with me.

The GP surgery is at capacity and honestly if we weren't going abroad I wouldn't be thinking of the GP anyway.

We've been out this week and DD has been fine.

But now I have that voice screaming in me that she may have a chest infection/pneumonia, that the sore throat may be something sinister and I'm being reckless when she needs a battery of tests.

I don't know what to do. She says she doesn't need to see a GP, but I'm scared and very, very anxious. (Please try not to be too flaming as I'm struggling atm).

To make it worse she was seen at the hospital yesterday as one of her permanent teeth has grown in her palette instead of her gums and needs removing. They showed me a bulge and I felt dreadful that I never noticed, that it was something I did when pregnant which caused this (she has 'honeycomb' enamel, which must also have been caused by me doing something bad).

Be kind to yourself. Try not to worry about the cold. If Incan get a GP appointment at any time use it to address your anxiety.

I get mild travel anxiety/ intrusive thoughts but this sounds much worse.

If your car got destroyed at Luton you're probably more traumatised than you realise and this is you reacting to that.

In the absence of a GP things that work for me

A big cardio workout - when my body is shaking or heart racing bring the rest of me in line with that through exercise helps

There's also a kind of exercise that makes you shake that is meant to help release trauma - I'll look up the name in a mo.'

Time in nature - cliche but scientifically proven

Speaking out loud - sharing / but apparently the act of saying not just texting helps.

Some people swear by tapping - look up videos.

Good luck

Thank you. I saw something about tapping last night, so will definitely explore that and the exercise.

I've always been anxious, but haven't had this level for years. When DD was born I went pretty crazy, I sometimes threw away her porridge (with breastmilk in), in case I'd opened a cupboard and a paracetamol had fallen in. As much as DH tried, I couldn't be rationalised with. I wouldn't take DD out in her pram for a while, as I was worried that a bee swarm would cover her or a car would veer onto the pavement. I've not been anything like that for 12 years, but it feels as intense as that right now.

Since we last went abroad I've suffered a few very close losses, including young people, so right now I don't feel as if life is as safe as it felt previously.