If you had anxiety, what ridiculous things did you panic about? Please make me feel less alone :(

[Turkeysandwichs]

I can be high functioning but in patches I will crumble with anxiety. I’m currently worrying that the neighbour is going to circulate a piece of paper round the area saying my home is messy and to stay away from me. I know it’s insane but I have thought of this non stop since Sunday. It’s exhausting.

That a teacher in my sons school will report me to social work services as my sons finger nails are too long and they will think he is not being looked after properly.

My sons finger nails are always short and he spotless so no justifiable reason for this 🤦‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️

Mine is more around accidents.

I “know” when I drop my daughter off at school. She will not make it down the driveway without falling over or she will bang your head at school.

When my son is getting on the school bus I “know” it’s going to crash. When I’m walking near stairs with my baby, I “know” I’m going to fall down the stairs.

same sort of thing where my husband is driving a long distance for work or when we fly. I’ve learnt to kind of manage it in that I just have to ignore it and think about something else but I’m even worried now I’ve written it down. I will somehow make it more likely to happen.

@CupOfAnxieTea I think my worrying is a form of OCD because its almost like intrusive thoughts, I never realised the two were linked. I do have mild OCD anyway in the form of checking things and rinsing dishes, pans etc before using in case they have traces of detergent on that could make me or family member including dogs ill! 🙄

@AmIThatMam how did you start to mange it? I don't have kids but I know if I did I would be constantly worrying about accidents etc. When my Nephew had a party at home at 16/17 I was convinced that he or a friend would end up with alcohol poisoning, even though it was supervised by my DS and BIL.

The fire alarm drill in school... the practise we do all the bloody time but it stressed me out so much!

@Ilovechintz - it took me ages to make the link and it really helped when I realised what it was. I read a book called 'overcoming unwanted intrusive thoughts' it helped so much just to know that it was a thing - if that makes sense. Also it gives some really good strategies to help - might be worth looking into. I think another name used for this type of OCD is 'pure O'. Sorry to read that you struggle with these types of thoughts too - it's really hard 💐. I got on top of them for many years after reading that book but had a traumatic experience which seemed to refocus the thoughts on other things annoyingly.

On my bad days...

Asking questions at work
Sending work emails
Driving (this is a constant tbh- I passed my test first time but have barely driven since)
Health worries
Queues in shops
Germs
If I'm going somewhere, major anxiety about being late/finding places
Anxiety about the number of life admin things I need to do and never getting through it all

There's probably loads more. It's exhausting, anxiety has ruined my life. I've just started on fluoxetine again, after having it in the past, and paroxetine years ago too. Can never get on with sertraline.

Am also taking propranolol and waiting for it all to kick in. Going to keep upping the dose of the fluoxetine whenever they'll let me.

@HalloVegBot you've articulated the way my anxiety manifests so succinctly! I get anxious about the bus because the machine for cards doesn't work half the time I try to use it. If I have to do it I pay cash 😂

I get anxious about there not being a seat. And ringing the bell.

God I hate being in my head!

@CupOfAnxieTea thank you, I will have a look at at that definitely .

That I was hanging washing out wrong and my neighbour would see it and conclude I was a terrible mother who couldn’t even hang washing right and get my baby taken away.

Anxiety is horrible, it is your brain lying to you!

Thanks for this book recommendation, and the heads up about Pure O. I've been suffering quite badly with intrusive thoughts recently and reading up on the treatments for OCD, but since I don't have compulsive behaviours (apart from rumination, which is really just the thoughts themselves) nothing seems like a good fit. I've tried to make sense of the thoughts by working out where they come from and why I'm like this (a childhood where I had too much responsibility put on me and frequently felt unsafe) but I was interested to read on an OCD site yesterday that this approach isn't helpful. So I'm keen to find out more and tackle it in the best way.

I'm another one with anxiety centred on my house. We live on a main road and I worry a lot about the air quality and that the diesel particulates will have harmed my children. I even bought a measuring device from Amazon and was somewhat reassured by that, but then the anxiety immediately shifted to a worry about there being asbestos in the house somewhere. It seems particularly cruel when your mind finds ways of making you feel unsafe in your own home, like you're literally not allowed anywhere to escape this horrible thing.

So what if she does?

That sounds really tough, definitely hard when it's about your own home - I worry about gas explosions and break ins a lot. I thought this too about the compulsive behaviour but after reading the book I realised that seeking reassurance was my compulsive behaviour and then discovered how that made it so much worse.

I suffer with anxiety . When my husband works away (every week) I convince myself someone is going to break into the house to murder me and the children. Hate even writing it. But I can't relax all evening. No thought of it at all any other time . Really wish I could stop it .

Never had it at all-- but in last 5 months it's been health related. Had some horrible neurological stuff including numbness and pins and needles in legs and hands straight after 4th booster and a dose of covid - seems to have sent my nervous system into overdrive- I've had varying tests and saw a neurologist only thing they've come up with was high blood pressure and high cholesterol plus pre diabetic. I'm now on low dose beta blocker plus statins and an Apple Watch ( where I'm constantly checking my heart rate and blood oxygen)! I have a lot of sympathy now for women who get migraines a lot- as the headaches and weird light head feeling came right out the blue and although much reduced never went away 100%. My positive head tells me it's nearly 5 months now and I'm no worse, in fact in many ways much better . Anxiety really does become all consuming

So many. I have always suffered from anxiety, since I was small. My current anxiety is that I will suddenly turn my steering wheel and drive into the path of the oncoming traffic. I never think like this when there's anyone else in the car though. And I don't feel suicidal. It's just a bizarre fear that I'll do something stupidly dangerous.

I remember when my eldest started nursery, there was a very strong wind. I spent the whole of his first session convinced that the roof would blow off the building. I had the full emergency services, complete with black and yellow police tape and scrolling news reports about 'nursery tragedy' in my brain. I didn't enjoy one single second of my free time. At least I didn't have time to worry whether he would settle in!

Your thought processes sound very like mine @HalloVegBot. You have my sympathies😅😅

A few years ago I was absolutely 100% convinced I had a blood clot and was going to die . They'd tested me for one whilst I was pregnant as I had slight swelling in my calf and the thought of it terrified me for years. I had so many appointments for leg pain and chest pains, chest X-rays, tons of blood tests but it was all negative. Just some lovely PTSD and anxiety

@ArseInTheDogBowl @Tessisme it's exhausting isn't it! I can laugh at myself now I realise it's not normal, I honestly didn't realise until a few years ago that most people don't think like this 😆 My GP had to explain it to me and tell me that it's actually classed as a disability because no, most people don't question every little thing. Who knew 😃

My anxiety is my 11 year old son going to school (or coming home) by himself and he's set upon by a group of older boys and gets seriously hurt because he's slow and can't run very fast.
I've posted a thread about this. I think about it day and night and I feel sick for it. But I want him to be independent and he needs to know how to travel alone.
I can't sleep for thinking about it. My heart races when I picture him alone walking along the street
I'm scared to send him to my local shop because old drunk men and drug dealers hang around out there. I keep imagining him being hit by a stray bullet
I'm scared all the time but according to my thread answers I'm wrapping him in cotton wool and a bad mum
More anxiety

I have to check, double-check and check again my son’s swimming bag, even though I KNOW I put everything in first time.

My biggest anxiety is always, always what other people are thinking about me - wether they’re judging me negatively and whether what I have said sounded stupid etc.
gets 1000% worse when I have a hangover.

also, worrying about my loved ones getting serious illnesses and dying.
whether I’m going to end up lonely in the future.
whether my husband will fall out of love with me

I've just reported my own thread incase its outing thats how much I worry! I don't want anyone irl to know my crazy thoughts.... :(

Post not thread*

I once worried that my barely mobile toddler would sprint across our open plan house and leap into the oven during the brief period I opened it to take the food in and out. (That was the worry that finally made me go and get help)

Now mostly I just obsess about having the right paperwork when I go to take care of something or packing properly for a trip (I sometimes start a month before)