Health anxiety after pregnancy ruining our lives
Posted , 24 users are following.
Hi all,
pretty much as the title says....I have developed quite extreme health anxiety after having my baby four months ago and I feel as though I am making my husband's life, and my own, a living hell. We are currently on holiday where, there days ago I had a sharp pain in my breast and I am convinced I have breast cancer. My Grandmother had this and since. I got the thought in my head. I have been self examinined almost continually to the point that I, and my family, have not left the house for three days and I have found lots of lumps and bumps that have only further convinced me. I have made an appointment for Thursday to see a private specialist when we get back. I am also having back pain near my epidural site which I am convinced is a cancer spread. Even as I write I can see how ridiculous this all is. A few weeks ago I had a melanoma scare and didn't leave the house for a week. It took three dermatologist reviews to convince me it was okay. I have seen my GP about my issues and I am due to start CBT next week but I am now worrying it won't be enough to help me. I am determined to get rid of this as I feel I am wasting so much precious time with my new family, but the irony is that this is all driven by a fear of leaving my baby to grow up without a Mummy. I cry every day about that thought and then I feel like such a bad person because I am healthy and there are people out there with genuinely life threatening conditions and I feel so pathetic. My husband is very supportive but doesn't seem to understand that I can't just 'talk myself out of it'. I don't know how to explain?
has anyone else got or conquered HA? Xx
3 likes, 31 replies
melissa100379 mrs18053
Posted
Hi
I have had HA for a long time since I was about 16 I think. It comes and goes particularly at times of stress ...exams etc. What makes it worse is that I am a doctor so I should be able to rationalise these things to myself and to some extent I can but the thoughts take over particularly when I have recently had a baby which I have 3 weeks ago and I'm currently convinced like most of you that I have breast cancer because I had some pain in the outer side of my right breast last time I breast fed a year ago which has now returned again. I suspect it is the nursing bras but I read all these terrible stories and fixate on them and leaving my children.
I understand what all you ladies are going through and if anyone has found a way of managing this please let me know ... I have just found avoiding stressful situations helps but obviously you can't avoid childbirth nor would want too and I do desperately want to enjoy my baby without this preoccupation X if anyone wants to chat about thier experiences please feel free to get in touch X my sister also suffers and we find talking about it helps a lot xxx
Jay84 melissa100379
Posted
I too would love to know if anyone has found anything that really helps with this. I've been struggling for almost 2 years on and off (or at least I think I have - I still can't quite convince myself that some of my symptoms are actually anxiety yet). I find it difficult to try to talk myself out of the worrying because I worry that I am teaching myself to ignore real symptoms of something serious. For me it's mostly chest/heart related worry - some days I can't go out with my little one because I'm scared I will collapse and worry what will happen to him. I have a few weeks of being ok and then it's there again and is all consuming.
lena67712 melissa100379
Posted
I know your post is a year old, but I really hope you get to see my msg! I would love to know if anything helped and how your doing now!!
My health anxiety started when my baby was 6 weeks old. Headaches and dizziness, the dr said let’s just make sure there is no brain tumors! So had a CT scan done. Everything looked good. The. It was my back ! One spot in my spine where was very sore! Again let’s have an MRI make sure there is nothing there! I was mentally and physically exhausted! I couldn’t enjoy my baby or anything I did I was like a body without a soul! And symptoms are still appearing. I don’t know what to do anymore!!!! I don’t know what’s real and what’s in my head! No one actually knows what it feels like and it’s draining the life out of me. Help plz!! I would love to hear what helped !!
lyndaay17685 lena67712
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skate23851 Jay84
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heppy123 lena67712
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lyndaay17685 heppy123
Posted
Sorceress mrs18053
Posted
When I had my second baby 8 years ago I got some health anxiety then, convinced I was going to get cancer and die, leaving my two children behind. It took about 4 months to get past that and I refused to take any medication of any kind for anything in case it increased risks of any illness or condition. My third baby is 15 months old now and this has all come screaming back in the last 5 months. Before Christmas I had a melanoma scare and then was worried about prolapse. The stress and anxiety gave me sleepless nights, Stomach upset and palpitations as well as weight loss and so I convinced myself I had bowel cancer. Then thyroid cancer. Then I got a throat infection and all my lymph nodes came up on the right hand side of my neck. A nurse told me there was nothing wrong with my throat and she had no idea why my lymph nodes were big. Took about 3 days panicking about lymphoma before my throat was covered in pus filled blisters and it was obvious I actually did have an infection. I got a cold straight off the back of that infection which is common, but I also noticed a bruise on my thigh which made me think I had leukaemia. Then I noticed my breasts had shrivelled somewhat from the weight loss and their different appearance made me examine them like mad, all the time. Obviously I've found loads of lumps and bumps. I had reduction surgery years ago so my breasts don't feel the same on each side. I've googled and googled and I'm now worried I have breast cancer. I had a school friend die at 32 from breast cancer, leaving 2 young children behind and I am terrified that will be me. I'm even scared that typing this will be jinxing myself so I might delete this part. I've pulled my shoulder but turned it into bone cancer. Got a bit of a tight chest? Lung cancer. Everywhere I go, everything I do, all I see is cancer.... adverts for fundraising, awareness, pages of magazines, doctors leaflets, social media, people constantly posting that relatives have died.... I just want to get married and bring my children up. I want to see them become parents themselves.
skate23851 Sorceress
Posted
It's such a relief to read all of these posts and to know that I'm not alone with these types of thoughts. Its crazy how much pregnancy and having a baby effects our mental health with little or no warning and it's so difficult for any family member or friend to understand it unless they think the same which rarely happens so we all look like crazies, which can be a very lonely and isolating feeling. One thing I would advise would be to stay away from reading bad news until you're feeling a little stronger. Bad news is all around us- unfortunately not many people report on the good news and it's not as interesting. As much as it sounds impossible, I have done this in recent months and it does help. It has also been proven that using social media constantly massively increases anxiety so try to put Facebook away while your anxiety is bad. Every half hour to an hour think of a positive thought. Look around you in the moment and think about what is positive in your life... the sun is shining outside, the birds are singing, your baby is playing happily, you like the shoes your wearing today, you're meeting a friend, etc. It can be something tiny, but make sure it's positive and you try to think this way as much as possible. This helps to rewire our brain. In the same way that we all google things about our health and it gives us the worst possible answer, our anxious brains are hard wired to think negatively so by thinking positive thoughts you're breaking this cycle. This was taught to me by my dad who is a CBT psychologist and it definitely helps, so do it. If you drink coffee, cut back to one cup a day or even better, cut it out completely. Sleep, as much as you can. Sleep deprivation plays a massive role in anxiety. It's hard with babies but ask a loved one to help out and try to catch up. You'll feel so much better. Excercise. Get outside, no matter how exhausted you are and walk, run, cycle.. do it for half an hour a day. You owe that to yourself. It will make you feel better. And keep it up. And do talk to someone. Talk to as many people as you can about it in fact. Especially moms. You will be surprised at the amount of people who are going through the same thing. I hope my input helps somebody somewhere. Smile and enjoy every day, it's truly a gift and we're lucky as hell to have it.
aimen Sorceress
Posted
having health anxiety
after my 4th baby girl she is 4 month old and i have sameeeeee isuuue like cancer fear even every single pain in my body i believe its dying disese 
just want to know howwwww long health anxiety reniun my life
sasha08557 mrs18053
Posted
I was facing PPD with my first baby and was not sleeping well and tried too many remedies to cope with it but still was having problems. A friend told me about a natural tea called "Relaxing mama stress reduce tea" which helped me a lot and my PPD period ended.
aimen sasha08557
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sasha08557 mrs18053
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Definitely, it's PPD. Exercise is great for depression. The adrenaline levels that are heightened during exercise are a natural combat for depression. Plus, Relaxing mama stress reducing tea will help to keep yourself fit and stress-free at the same time.Edit (in 4 minutes)
heppy123 mrs18053
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I see this is from 3 years ago, but I can relate to this completely ; I could have written it. Just wondering how you are doing now and what helped? Lots of love ??
lyndaay17685 heppy123
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