Health anxiety or gut instinct?

[ivy621]

Hello, just after some advice I guess..
I have quite bad healthy anxiety and now I feel I have it for my LO who is 18 months old.

Sometimes I can't help but think something is wrong, she is tired quite often, quite pale with puffy eyes. Sometimes she gets petechiae type marks on her. Tonight I've noticed a small bruise near her ribs which seems like a strange place to have a bruise. She doesn't eat much but she has never been a big eater but the past few days she barely eaten much and she vomitted a couple of days ago. She is also very constipated (we have been given lactulose)

I convince myself something is wrong but I keep blaming my health anxiety, I cannot tell the difference between this anxiety and a gut feeling. She was born very early at 30 weeks so I have always worried about her.
Does anyone else struggle with this? Am I being irrational or should I trust my gut?

I just don't know what to do, any advice would be appreciated
Thank you in advance!

I personally feel that seeking advice when you are concerned is always valid when children are concerned. If she has been sick and is unusually lethargic it’s worth getting her checked out. Most likely a bug and nothing at all to be concerned about but I would focus on checking her out and easing your anxiety.

on a personal note, do try to address your health anxiety. I go through stages of terrible health anxiety and now, with 2 children it’s only got worse over the years unfortunately. It’s not a good place to be when it’s bad.

Ask for help. I’ve had a lot of cbt and when I properly engage in strategies to help myself it can work.

I hope your daughter is fine and you both feel much better x

Any doctor will tell they would rather see 100 healthy children with concerned parents than the alternative. Maybe pop through a note to your GP, get their height and weight logged too.

I feel for you as I have health anxiety over my daughter as well, it really is an awful way to feel.
as the others have said, definitely better to get her checked over and voice your concerns about the symptoms.
if it help, my little girl used to have petechaie on/off and it worried me, when we saw the dr they were never concerned as long as no other symptoms such as fever. My little girl also bruises really easy and sometimes in weird places, I used to really panic about this too but I think it’s just the way she is. Hope you both feel better soon x

I was in your exact shoes 8yrs ago when my ds was a toddler. I also have awful health anxiety and could never tell when I was overreacting or acting appropriately in regards to his health. He had the exact same symptoms - dark circles under his eyes, frequent viruses/fevers, bruising and petechiae rash several times. I took him to the GP over and over to be told he was fine. I was absolutely convinced he had leukemia or an immune disease, I kept a daily log of all his symptoms for months as I thought no one is taking me seriously and I need this evidence for when he's eventually diagnosed with something terrible. He's now 10yrs old, he still bruises easily, he still occasionally gets petechiae rashes and just generally has very sensitive skin (excema etc), it's just him! There was never anything seriously wrong with him. I wasted so much time worrying.