I need stats/figures/help! Anxiety Related.

[JustDavesWife]

Ok so I have major health anxiety which goes up and down on a daily basis and today is not a good day. Over lockdown I was super careful, kids were off school, all of my shopping was delivered and if we needed anything else then dh went and got it. I was so nervous to get back to some normality but for the sake of my family and my marriage I did it. Now it's all happening again and I'm terrified, I'm terrified of catching it and dying that's it really.

I need someone to tell me my chances of dying from it.. I live in a London Borough but Kent border. I'm 41, I'm overweight by about 3 stone but I'm not unfit, I can run 5k on a treadmill and do that once a week at home then the odd 2 & 3K on other days. I have no health conditions. Both kids are at school (primary and secondary). I wear a mask in shops. I'm trying to lose weight but I'm shit at it.

I'm feeling rough today, my head hurts and I feel like I'm maybe getting a head cold which I know isn't a symptom but I'm stressed.

Less than 1%. You'd be fine probably. But be careful crossing roads as the risks of death are greater.🚑

Tiny risk if you are 40 (ish) as the biggest risk factor is age. For your age, it's about 1 in 1400 IF you got it, so your chance of getting it and then dying from it is miniscule. But that also gives the risk for both men and women and doesn't account for health, so your risk is even lower than that.
mobile.twitter.com/GidMK/status/1309241457757151232

You say you're trying to lose weight but shit at it. Maybe focus on this. It'll give you something to focus hour mind on. You're not shit, you just need the right education and surely lowering your risk of being unwell is a great motivation!!

JustDavesWife Hi, I'm probably similar to you in that I have anxiety. I'm slightly older and probably 5 stone overweight and no known health conditions. Probably no where as fit as you but use to jog, which I hope to get back into but it will probably take a while for me to get to that point. I'm just focusing on power walking at the moment.
I too was nervous to get back to some kind of normality but the children needed me to. I'm still work from home because I asked if I could due to being in an area where cases are quite high and travelling on public transport.
Before schools reopened OH did all the shopping, I'm now venturing to the shops but that's it apart from walking to school and back and a couple of power walks.
When, like now I hear how much the cases are per day I panic and don't want to do anything.
I just want to be calm but worry that no distancing in schools and the fact the children are back at activities (distanced) I will catch it and might not survive.
I need to snap out of this panic mode but I'm struggling and know I need to go out to some shops soon for Xmas presents but the thought of busy shops just scares me.

"You're not shit, you just need the right education"

You're right that she's not shit.
You don't need education OP, you need to give yourself a break mentally. I am very similar to you - health anxiety and overweight. And losing weight is absolutely nothing to do with education in this case. It's to do with anxiety and, I think quite a natural (if not ideal!) reaction to a pandemic. Some of us, when stressed, overeat - or rather find normal life hard enough to manage, without then undereating in order to intake fewer calories and so lose weight. If you eat the perfect number then you're going to stay the same. Plus there's the whole thing of being in a stressed state that makes you take on more calories.

Be kind to yourself OP. Your odds (like mine) are extremely low of both catching it and then going on to die from it, but anxiety makes it feel so much more likely than it really is.

Just do what you can, just like you are. And try to take time to relax mentally as much as you can, which will also eventually help with losing body weight too, as then you'll be in the right place to do it in your own time.

@duffeldaisy that is such a lovely and kind reply to the OP. Mumsnet needs more people like you

Ah thanks @Poppyliveshere for your lovely comment!

My heart just went out to the OP. I totally understand the misery of health anxiety at the best of times, let alone in a pandemic, and it's sometimes a lot easier to give advice to someone else, and to see how out of perspective things can get when anxiety takes hold, than it is to calm yourself down when your own inner voices are going "Aaaaaghhhh!!!!" :-D

Hope this makes you feel a bit better

According to this study, the infection fatality rate for the 36-45 age group is 0.06% - so roughly 1 in 18,000 people. As female death rates are roughly half that of men and if you are white and have no other underlying conditions, your true risk would be less than this.

That is, of course if you catch it. See page 19 of the pdf

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.23.20160895v4.full.pdf+html

I have terrible health anxiety and am about 1.5 stone overweight. Eating is a massive comfort to me and helps me to block worries out (until I stop and then I feel worse). I am 42 and terrified of catching it.

@duffeldaisy your comment has really helped me too.

@Satsunday

DuffleDaisy, what a lovely post.

So sorry I disappeared it it's been a rubbish weekend anxiety wise, feeling a bit better today though. What I wanted to say was a massive thank you to you all for replying, I have read the messages a few times over. I know you're all correct and my risk is relatively low but when I'm in the mood that I was in on Friday I can't see that and then as someone above said the more stressed I am the more crap I eat and then I feel terrible and scared because I've probably gone up a few pounds in weight 😫 Today I've been and watched my son play football and it was good to get out and chat to people however nervous I was inside.

I need to concentrate on my weight and getting it down.

@duffeldaisy that was a genuinely lovely reply ❤️

@dancemum123 I hope you are doing ok as well, it's so hard ❤️

@Satsunday completely understand what you say about eating and I do exactly the same which makes me feel better at the time but it's very short lived. Sending you lots of love x