Anxeity is getting worse - help!

[Sumada]

I've always been someone who worries, but since having a child, I feel like it's getting worse. I think daily about the possibility of losing my child (DS, who is 2 1/2) to illness or accident. I think part of my worrying too is that he will be an only child and some deep down regret that we won't have another (my pregnancy had many complications and I'm to scared to go through another).

I feel like these thoughts of losing my son are getting worse. I am afraid to see my dr b/c I think she would be very quick to prescribe meds, which I don't want to do. Any advice out there?

[mom0810]

It sounds like PP-OCD, which is really common.

If you want to avoid meds, I would suggest starting to walk/exercise for 30 minutes every day, getting enough Vitamin D, taking a good fish oil supplement (1-2 grams a day), taking a vitamin B supplement in addition to your prenatal or multivitamin, and making sure you get plenty of sleep.

Therapy is also a great option, IF you can find someone who specializes in PPD and related disorders.

Did you stop nursing recently? A hormone change could be responsible, also.

Check out www.postpartum.net for a list of therapists.

My therapist was really helpful in that she told me that PP-OCD was a way that our primitive brains would have worked in order to protect our babies on the plains. You know... hidden dangers everywhere, like bears and mountain lions, or injury from playing out in the wild, or poisonous berries? Our brains haven't changed that much although our surroundings have... and we are programmed to be on the lookout for any possible danger in our environment that could harm our kids. So this anxiety does have a logical base to it, but it does not serve us well in the modern world. Knowing that the thoughts were normal helped me to accept them and let them go a little more.

I hope this helps some how. I am right there with you, I've been down this road and I'm still fighting it. Pregnancy can bring on OCD or make it worse if you already have that tendency. Knowing this helped me, too.

[Sumada]

Really? PPD? I stopped nursing about a year ago. Can PPD go on for that long? I do try and exercise daily because that helps me with my SAD (which when I talked to my dr. about it, she offered to start me on meds, I don't think it is at that point).

The explanation totally makes sense. Thanks.

Any herbal remedies that people have had success with?

[Sumada]

Something else I will add to - I have major anxiety at night when my husband and/or husband and son are away. If my husband goes out with friends, I can never sleep until he gets back because I am afraid that someone will break into my house to harm both my son and I. If my husband and son are both gone, I still can't sleep because I am afraid as well. Ugh, it sucks!

[mom0810]

It sounds very PPD ish to me, and yes it can occur a year or more later. It could also just be average, run of the mill anxiety.

As far as herbals, you can try St. Johns Wort if you are done nursing. I never have done it but I have read very good things. Don't take it if you start meds, though. Very very bad cross-reactions there.

You can try Rescue remedy when you are home alone, that might help. Or there is a homeopathic, Calms Forte, that can help with being anxious. Chammomile tea might help when you are alone to calm you down, too.

You mention lots of complications with your pregnancy. Could you have PTSD? That would be something that I would check in to... your symptoms remind me a lot of mine and I had that, too. Meds are very effective for that. I would try and find a therapist that specializes in PP-PTSD. That totally makes sense the more I think about it and the fact that it isn't going away and/or getting worse fits with that, too.

Hugs, mama. I have dealt with both of these issues and I'm doing a lot better now. I have a 2 1/2 year old, too! My major stuff was with the first pregnancy and PP with him, but I found a great therapist who specializes in PP PTSD and she really helped.

[Turquesa]

Oh dear! Join the club! Seriously, it may or may not be OCD, and it may or may not be a post-partum condition. But some sort of anxiety disorder is at work!

Kellymom has some great information that you can use regardless of whether or not it's post-partum onset. I get the same fears as you, Mama, so I understand.