Utter panic when child is unwell

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Due to past trauma of my child being unwell in hospital, now every time they are poorly it triggers me into utter panic. My stomach drops, my heart races, my blood runs cold, I feel sick and can’t eat and really can’t sleep. It’s a horrible anxious punch in the gut feeling that lingers for days.
I know logically that it is probably a minor illness and I can handle it, and can seek medical help if needed. I tell myself this but it’s like my body doesn’t listen.

I started 50mg of Sertraline a few months ago which has helped in a lot of aspects and my mood is really good day to day. It’s just when these situations arise, my child had a high temperature yesterday and all these symptoms instantly come back.
I have referred for CBT and was thinking of asking GP to increase my Sertraline dose (it’s annoying because I will feel fine for weeks/months at a time).

does anyone have any other advice for this? I can’t carry on this way! with winter coming up it’s inevitable lots of illnesses will come along and I would love not to feel this way. My child is now 4 so is getting unwell less frequently but is still at nursery.

Box breathing - lots of how to videos on YT. Practice daily so that it becomes second nature when you need it in the moment.

Longer term remind yourself that in everything that life has thrown your way there has been one constant: you coped. No matter what has happened, and what will happen you will deal with it because that's what humans do.

Your record for getting through bad days currently stands at 100%. Remember that and trust yourself to have the resources to cope without the need for falling apart.

Thank you 🙏 I will look into box breathing now.
thank you for the reminder. I try to remind myself this in the moment but it doesn’t seem to help. I tell myself that I can handle it and that I can make a plan no matter the circumstances and have got through the hard times, but it’s like my body can’t listen to my head.
it creates sleep deprivation which then worsens the anxiety like a viscous cycle.

Is it PTSD? Because PTSD in parents of children who have for instance been in intensive care is under recognised. If it is, EMDR can be life changing.

Yes I think it is PTSD. I actually did some private EMDR therapy nearly 2 years ago which seems to really help for a while then about a year later something triggered it and all the panic came back and since then it’s still there. I was wondering if I needed to go back to do more. I don’t think it’s something you can access on the NHS?

I’m afraid I’m not sure as I accessed mine via work, as it was work related PTSD. No harm in asking?

I don’t have any advice but I share your anxiety - my dd has an injury which caused extraordinary suffering and a permanent weakness - the four hour wait for an ambulance didn’t help - and six years later I’m still terrified when she does anything remotely active that might trigger the problem again.

I learned to live alongside the fear - recognise it, acknowledge it, let it play out.

I don’t think this is great advice but I couldn’t afford therapy.

Thank you for your reply and solidarity, it can be so hard, it doesn’t help how expensive therapy is.