Anyone have health anxiety that's been worse since becoming a mum?

[greenbananas29]

I've always had health anxiety to some degree but since becoming a mum to my DS now 5 it's gotten a whole lot worse.
I may sounds really silly but I have this fear of something bad happening to me, it has ranged from brain tumour, breast cancer, bowel cancer, sepsis, and most recently thanks to some muscle twitching I've got going on over my body I've been googling Motor Neurone Disease 😩
Since having my DS I'm terrified of dying and leaving him without a mum and I have panic attacks thinking about being diagnosed with something terrible.
It's the same vicious circle every time, convincing myself that it's the worst case scenario and googling frantically for answers.
I have had enough of feeling like this it's draining and taking over my life daily.
I've made my first appointment with a health anxiety therapist next week and I hope it will be the start of learning how to deal with these feelings.

Yeah totally! Personally (though the science is not clear) I think it's some kind of brain changes in the postpartum period. I felt my anxiety turn on just after I had my baby. I would have fought a lion for that kid. Except I've never really been able to shut down that hypervigilence thing afterwards, and then it manifests in all kinds of ways, including terrible health anxiety if even one tiny thing about my body is off. Pregnancy shrinks your brain and makes other parts thicken. Crazy.

Hello! You are not alone!!! I struggled really bad with all sorts of Anxiety I have since the age of 16, I'm now 22 had my daughter when I was 18. During my pregnancy with all the excitement and distraction of 9 months of all about baby I felt like I finally was better. But not long after I gave birth is allllll came back, i had to stay in hospital for a few nights as I had low blood pressure and all sorts Anxiety related symptoms. Anyway I've been on medication for about 6 years now it helps which is good. But all what your saying is the same for me I always think too much Init things thinking I have cancer etc I drive myself mad. But your deffo not alone and good on you for booking that appointment step in the right direction! Good luck x

Yep!! I’ve suffered from depression from a young age and probably anxiety too but never really acknowledged it. Since having children though the health anxiety has taken centre stage. And particularly in this last year and a half, I have never seen a doctor/ spoken to 111 so much! It’s awful! At one point I even got sent an ambulance by 111 and taken to hospital - but they could find nothing significant wrong. Any new bodily sensation I think is cancer - it’s awful and I just feel so selfish for people who are currently affected with it but I just can’t stop assuming the worst and I’m so scared of missing something and then It being too late! I have been having psychotherapy since the beginning of this year but it hasn’t made much of a difference. 4 weeks ago I made the decision to start an SSRI and my doctor and I decided I should try fluoxetine. I think I am finally seeing some improvement in my mood but my health anxiety has not changed that much and I am having further tests with doctors in relation to my physical health with the hope that if I rule EVERYTHING out, I will be able to relax and concentrate on living the best life with my children. (Pretty sure this my GP wouldn’t support this/ I realise it’s a massive waste of resources/ I’m sure I’d find SOMETHING else to worry about) I’m also certain that COVID has had a massive impact on my hyper vigilance - all those bloody press conferences/ warnings in the media! So tired of this!!

Yes this is me too. Always had a tendency to be anxious and low at time but now I feel panicky about DD being ill and about my dying and leaving her. It's horrible and I've no idea what to do about it.

Yeah, it’s VERY common to a million different degrees. My anxiety is wild since kids but not specifically health anxiety.

Its normal but needs treatment for some people if it starts interfering with life and ability to function and negatively impacting family members.