Anyone else feeling depressed and anxious due to the coronavirus?

[palomasky]

I know I am probably being silly but I feel very depressed about the outlook for the next few months even the next year due to the coronavirus outbreak. When I first head about the virus in early january this year I had a horrible feeling about it, much more so than with previous novel viruses. I tried initally to just hope for the best that it would be contained relatively quickly but I think all hope of containment is more or less gone by this point.

For the past 10 years I've had very poor health but last year I did begin to improve with a new treatment and started to get some of my life back. I joined a gym in January to try and improve my fitness and lose some weight, I was hoping to get back to work later in the year for the first time in a decade. In december last year I had pneumonia which was a setback but I had recovered but since late february my husband has preferred that I don't go to the gym because of infection risks. I feel like everything is slipping away from me after I had so hoped to restart my life this year. I know this is selfish but I haven't been on an overseas holiday in 14 years and hoped this year might be the year I eventually got to travel a bit but its looking very unlikely now.

My parents and inlaws are now all 65+ and have various underlying health issues, I worry that they will catch it and never get to enjoy their longed for retirements.

Two people I know have already died of pneumonia in the past week they were older people but prior to this nobody I have known has died of pneumonia and now two in one week? Both died very suddenly and have not been tested for covid19.

I am worried about the stress on the NHS, how this will effect peoples jobs, the food supply, long term economic effects that might have a negative impact on the lives and jobs of ordinary people. I am worried about what happens when this virus hits a very poor country without the medical provision that the developed world has, how many will suffer and die, how many kids will be left orphans?

I try to put all these selfish and general concerns about coronavirus out of my mind but the reality is that its not going away and that it will most likely get worse and so I'm always vaguely aware of it even when I'm happy.

I know I can't do anything about it except take the advice of doctors and the government and try to do my bit to prevent any spread and be a good neighbour or citizen if the time comes but I just needed to get all these concerns out and to ask if anyone else feels the same?

Be kind, I know I'm being daft but its just how I feel at the moment.

I have Health Anxiety and this hs caused a massive flare up. Other than high blood pressure (bring controlled with meds) I. Otherwise ok, not fit but no diagnosed conditions. But all the niggles and pains I get when I'm in an HA phase have gone wild. Convinced I have an underlying heart condition as my heart keeps thumping. My inner ears has gone noisier -and my memory is shit - all things that I get when stressed but the HA is making me think I wont survive CV. All nonsense and if these niggles are the only health issues I have to deal with I'm exceptionally fortunate. The rational part of my brain knows that. It also knows that the media have whipped this up no end and that I need to stop watching the news. Anxiety sucks especially when you know its out of.proportion and some pp put my issues into perspective. toeveryone else whose life is ruled by anxiety

I was in a bad state last week as I felt like it was coming at me from all angles. Doesn't help that i'm in the crisis team at work to see what measures will be put into place.

I narrowed it down to what really concerns me:
The impact on the global economy (which will have long-lasting effects)
Having enough food, supplies etc. for my family
Lockdowns, quarantines, and social unrest (hey I live in Paris - it happens)

I actually don't feel like I will get ill which is odd but a relief.

On the first point I can do absolutely nothing. I just have to trust that the WHO and governments know what they are doing.

On the second point, I can act and so I have done (not panic buying, just looking through my full cupboards and reasuring myself we'll be ok. Also getting repeat prescriptions in for my Dc and myself).

On the third point i can't do a lot.

My next move is to stop reading about it...

Sorry to hear about your son anxietyqueen I appreciate that your anxiety right now must be high.

I'm not particularly worried about the illness itself but I do feel like we're all living in a kind of limbo, unable to make plans, as we don't know what restrictions may be in place.

A proper 3rd world problem I suppose but I do think it's putting me on edge and the lack of things to look forward to is making things seem greyer than they should.

I'm also starting to be anxious about the economic impact. Last time things were this bad we got a decade of austerity!

AnxietyQueen - remote hug. My ds got swine flu too, xmas eve 2010. Two days in paediatric icu, the most frightening hours of my life.
Take comfort, swine flu hit toddlers badly, this virus much less so. Please try not to worry x

I’m really struggling. I usually cope fine with this adulting lark but I really feel scared for the outcome here.

I’m so very worried about this. I suffer from anxiety and with all the media attention around it, it’s just making me worse. I talk about it all the time to family members, so much so, it’s starting to either make them seriously annoyed or worry.

In my head I know I need to chill out, and what will be will be, I know the virus is in the uk and nothing we can do can change that, but doesn’t stop me panicking.

I feel like I’m driving myself insane. I hope you are doing well though

I’m with a lot of you, it wasn’t so bad last week but with each day it seems to be getting worst and I dread the news alert on my phone reporting the latest update

Have also got many elderly family and worry for them as many have other conditions too but I don’t know if they understand how at risk they are they seem in denial

Well l don't suffer with anxiety, but l am very worried as my very elderly parents have moved in to a granny flat with us, and my DDad has a lung issue (he is 85).

I think that many, many people in this country are so used to great healthcare ( by world standards)and no major diseases on this scale for decades they simply cannot imagine it. It is very hard to imagine the NHS haing to choose who to give a ventilator to....But look at Italy and it is actually happening......there is no avoiding the fact it is here and will spread.

My household are doing all we can, luckily DH is now working from home, ready to take Dcs out of school, l am rejigging my work so less travel by public transport.
No unecessary outings, food delivered.
Of course so many don't have these options and it makes me really concerned for them.

I am finding that the people in my family I'm most concerned about- one with lung cancer and the other another lung condition (sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease) are not taking measures to protect themselves such as staying home etc, but are out and about, one travelling across Europe, and I'm torn as one is very ill anyway and I understand them just going ahead, and feeling I want to protect them more. There's limits to what we can do for others though and up to them as well, but it is difficult also. I got them some antibac gel. Not sire if they will use it though

I am.also a bit worried. Mostly because dh and I are both over 50 and we have a 15 yr old DS ( ASD and ADHD) who is depressed and off school for 6 weeks now ) and we are very worried about him . In the worst case scenario ( which I know is very unlikely) that both DH and I both get it and die, I can't bear to think what would become of DS. However we are in.the beginning of the higher risk group so it is a bigger worry than it would have been when DS was younger and we were in our 40s

To add to this, I have family living in the red zone in Italy and my DH is making fortnightly trips across the UK by public transport because his elderly father is dying
So yes I am finding myself a bit anxious and worried but not excessively. I am sleeping ok and can watch something or read or work and forget about it

The weird thing is I am not as worried about the economic problems or unrest, though I know that could be bad. Just DH and I both dying and leaving DS alone. Or my older sister dying
My niece and nephew and my DS.are all young enough I assume they will be fine if they get it

I'm struggling at the moment as I have a cough and a "heavy" chest and I am trying to convince myself it is not coronavirus! I think I should probably come off mumsnet as it is making me worse. We are semi-self isolating at the moment which is making it worse. I feel better if I go out and meet more people but am also trying to avoid doing that - aaargh!

It's really getting me down too, and it doesn't help that it's all anybody talks about at the moment. I wouldn't mind catching it if I lived alone but I live with 3 other people with weak immune systems and so it's worrying me in case any of them come down with it. The whole thing is just putting a looming cloud over my head

And now the whole country is locked down. Thank goodness DH isn't away at the moment for work.

so where to start my health anxiety has been really bad to the point where I think it is making me physically I'll I have a 5 month old son who I adore but feel like I'm not being a good mum or putting him first over my anxiety in the past 3 weeks since lockdown he was rushed to hospital with a fever of 40 which wasnt covid thank god was a UTI and slight chest infection all recovered now but I still worry I have been bed bound for a couple of days thinking I'm comming down with it runny nose last night with sneezing and runny nose so spent the evening in bed I think it's because I have been gardening and trying to take my mind of what's going on that I have developed hayfever as my OH suffers bad with it take an antihistamine which I did no cough or temp but feel tired due to the anxiety I think but its horrid and never thought it would manifest in actual physical symptoms the anxiety I mean I lost my mum at 49 3 years ago due to heart trouble (died on the operating table) and as an only child took it really hard as was always me and her and was really sudden ah maybe just thinking there might be others out there feeling the same

Yes this is happening to me too. I have suffered with depression on and off as an adult, with two lots of PND as well. I’m finding that being at home a lot is reminding me of when I was on maternity leave and how I felt then.

My toddler is in the shielding group (has a rare disease) and I’m very anxious about that. He has had four operations in his life and I feel like I can’t cope with anything else to do with him, surely he has been through enough? I am able to deal with my anxiety about this fairly well and rationalise, but it takes work.

I’m seeing this as a long game and taking it day by day. At my worst with depression someone advised me to think of nothing apart from the next hour and then just keep on doing that. It is good advice.

I hope you are OK OP. You definitely aren’t alone, so many of us will be feeling the same way and I imagine most will be trying to hide it and be upbeat for their friends and relatives.

it's just so debilitating aswell I am sitting here now feeling guilty that my OH is doing everything for him as I have a bit of a cough and snotty nose probably hayfever as I didn't know that could be developed after pregnancy as never suffered before so worried its covid and the anxiety is sky high atm hands all hot and sweaty which makes me think I'm getting a temp so it's a vicious circle also checking my temperature constantly probably isn't helping and so tired wow I sound like it's all about me normally can take a walk or take him out but cant atm so probably all making it worse

At last I've found people like me. I am petrified. I have severe anxiety anyway. I was hospitalised over the weekend and I'm very worried that I will have caught it in there. I can't eat or sleep. I can't function. I have health conditions. I have kids who need me. Including two with special needs

Not the virus. I've never felt an ounce of fear about the virus.
I do feel very depressed about the control measures.
Not anxious, just straightforward depressed.
The control measures have finally hammered my mental health.

I'd like to find a really physical job like picking strawberries for 10 hours/day 6 days/week, so I was always too tired to care about the rest of the world for a long time to come.

Literally no job in my area like that and I can't understand how British people apply for the live-in jobs. Nobody ever explains where they are advertised or how to get those jobs.

Yup I'm a wimp. Just add to my depression by telling me that, why don't you.

obf yh I honestly get it as 16 days ago I was in there with my little one something surreal being in a hospital and also they only let one parent in so had to be me and I'm sure u will be ok I know its easier to say that as that's what I feel with people saying it to me but hopfully u will as the hospital I went to was super clean and the docs and nurses took precautions but the health anxiety physical symptoms is so real and scary I feel your pain I really do

My levels are rising. Work are really putting on us at the moment as are clients. They don’t seem to realise we are people too with concerns and worries.

Im struggling too, not scared if the virus but people & the measures put in place.my partner doesnt live with me, he works in itu, so does my best friend. Im scared for them both & obviously cant see either at the min. I keep thinking about cutting, im ashamed to say. I can tell no one in real life.
You arent alone op.

I get the no adult contact thing my OH is a construction worker and was working in london till last week so obviously cant have him staying at the house either but well done to your husband and best friend what a great job they are doing high respect obviously I know that must be very hard on you aswell please dont turn to that as it will only hurt you