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OCD - covid

4 replies

Evey43 · 22/02/2021 15:59

I am currently having treatment for OCD although it’s undiagnosed and I am struggling so much with covid at the moment, which I know everyone is but I feel my anxiety around it impacts me almost every second of every day.

My main anxiety ridden thoughts at the moment surround my 3 year old daughter and whether she has a new persistent cough or not. I find the NHS guideline of ‘coughing episode’ very vague, what the hell is classed as an episode. She coughs sometimes, if I took her for a test every time she coughed 3 times in a day we’d be testing every week.

I have spoken the GP and occupational health about this to try and get some clarity. They advised the little coughs I can essentially ignore and could be just she is clearing her throat but anything bigger to consider an episode. Still a bit vague as she sometimes seems to do something in between this. And surely if she had 2 episodes a day for a few days she hasn’t technically met the criteria but I would call that a persistent cough.

Sometimes she’ll have a bit of a cough during the day, then nothing for a few days and the a bit of coughing in the day again. It’s so hard to determine when to take her for a test, as she absolutely hates it , lots of tears and we struggle to even get the swab in her nose. I come away feeling awful.

The last thing I want is to be taking her for unnecessary tests ‘just in case’ as again we’d probably be there weekly.

I am terrified of accidentally passing covid on to someone vulnerable because I made the wrong decision and say, didn’t test. Im even worried now I’ve got the GP info (above) wrong and putting it in this post and someone may read it and get something wrong too!

My husband is at the complete other end of the spectrum and never thinks she needs a test, she could be coughing all day. This leads to us arguing and I feel like I’m alone dealing with it.

Sorry for the extremely long post! Not sure what I’m looking for, maybe just a rant!

OP posts:
MistakenAgain · 22/02/2021 18:21

I think the difficulty for you is not knowing what is normal for your DC or not. I would also think its normal for a child to cough a few times a day.

If the GP has said its fine, then I'd follow their advice.

Most vulnerable people (in UK) have been vaccinated now so risk of severe covid even if you passed it on are low.

Evey43 · 22/02/2021 23:23

Thank you for your reply, I try to outlet my anxieties elsewhere so my daughter doesn’t see it. Sometimes it’s just reassuring that some one hasn’t said ‘omg you terrible person/mother!’

I think logically I know what her norm is but the doubt is huge and I can’t shake the ‘what if’ very easily

Thanks again
Xx

OP posts:
MsYamada · 23/02/2021 09:08

I've been like this too. My son has SN and a throat clearing habit and my husband has had a cough since last winter. I've been in a constant state of over-analysing any noise they make.

FabledFoibles · 23/02/2021 15:21

@MsYamada doesn’t it just make you feel on edge all day! I’m the same with over-analysing every noise, I thought my I heard daughter cough the other day only relapse she was at nursery 🤦‍♀️.

Every time I feel a tickle in my throat I convince myself I’m suppressing a cough. It’s so difficult

Xx

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