Health Anxiety By Proxy

[Franticgeeknerd]

Hi I'm here to find mum's who are also suffering from severe anxiety over their baby's/child's health I have to admit this type of anxiety is absolutely horrendous in the last week I have convinced myself that my 16 week old son has asthma, tonsilitis and an ear infection not to mention the upset stomachs which according to my head he has regularly I seem to be spending my nights watching him constantly either thinking he's ill or waiting for some sign of illness (he hasn't even had a proper cold) then there is the constant googling of symptoms he coughed 3 times today and it took me less than 5 minutes to convince myself he had coronavirus (he hasn't been further than my garden since Febuary) but in all seriousness this anxiety is not only effecting my mental health but also my physical health I am not eating properly my stomach is in constant knots my heart beat is through the roof and I am sick to my stomach I constantly check my son for any sort of temperature I know I should see my gp but given the current situation that's not possible so does any of you mum's out there have any advice someone told me to try that cbd oil but I don't think that's for me unless any of you have tried it anyway thanks for reading my post

I feel for you. You sound very stressed. You need to speak to your GP. Lots of parents Google symptoms when their children are unwell but you sound like you are taking it to the extreme.
Try to rationalise with yourself. Babies ate sturdy wee things. Use the NHS symptom checkers to try to help you rationalise of they are ill or you are over anxious. If they are feeding, wet nappies, responding to your voice /touch not lethargic etc then these are all good signs. Is this your first child? I was similar with my first especially in the first month or so. Do you have a partner? Get them to help you work out if your baby is unwell or needs medical treatment. You need to speak to someone in real life and ask GP for help. It could be PND.

are not ate sturdy wee things 😔

Hi hun,

I have health anixety that started approx 3 years ago after my mum was diagnosed with cancer. I convinced myself for 2 years i had cancer, various blood tests and scans, and a colonoscopy, once i had that i felt better but then focused on my husband before finally settling on my son who is now 15 months old.

I not only convinced myself i had cancer, i then thought its got jaundice, liver failure etc. I even paid for a private scan taking my then 4 month old son with me and crying thinking id finally know something is wrong with me when i walked out.

So really im just saying, your not alone.

Hi. I have health anxiety as well and get very panicked if there’s the slightest thing wrong with one of my dc’s. I spoke to the GP and started medication which seems to be helping a bit. Why don’t you request a telephone appointment and explain, that may agree for you to try something. There’s also some online resources/books for health anxiety it might be worth having a look at.

Hi,

I saw your post as I was scrolling looking for reassurance for the same reason as you. I suffer with bad health anxiety by proxy, I’ve always had anxiety but after loosing my baby nephew and then having sepsis when I was in labour with my daughter within months of each other my anxiety has gone through the roof. My daughter is almost 2 and since starting nursery she’s picked up a lot of bugs/viruses/infections. This year has been particularly bad for illnesses and it’s caused my anxiety to peak, last week she was ill and like you I convinced myself she had coronavirus and the inflammatory syndrome that some poor children have suffered with, after calming down I then somehow started thinking that she had leukaemia as she’s ill fairly often! On Monday I decided I’ve had enough with feeling like this, it’s ruining the joy of watching my happy girl grow up as I’m constantly worrying and when she is ill I can’t sleep or eat. After speaking with the doctor who has now referred me for therapy I feel relieved that I’m on the path to getting help, so I would recommend doing that if you are able to . I’m just so sorry to read that you are going through this aswell and I hope you can get the help & support you need, I just wanted to comment so you know you aren’t alone with feeling like this.