Anxiety in my 3 year old...

[hipumpkins]

I don't even know how to begin ..My DD seems to be suffering from anxiety attacks. It has been a long time coming with her being overly nervous in normal situations or with people. The culmination seems to be now with her stomach. When a situation is too much she screams about her stoamch hurtung. I don't think she is making it up but I do think she it is more psychosamatic (?) due to stress. It all seemed to come to a head yesterday in the car she became panicked and started scvreaming for her street and begging to get home b/c her stomach hurt...she was screaming in such pain I c alled the doctor just b/c I wanted rule out anything physical. we went over. It was not DD's regular doctor and I was angry when she asked condesendingly, "Does she always do this when she doesn't get her own way?" This isn't about a spoliled kid...it seems to be real panic. I told the doctor that. The doctor tested her urine...negative and prescribed mylanta. I have not given the mylanta b/c I dion't know if that's the right course of action.
Have you ever heard of anxiety attacks in someone so young with no real issues by that I mean, no family problems, no abuse..there just does't seem to be reason. I would love any input b/c now DD wont go in the car...I am afraiud she is headfing toward agoraphobia. She wants to get to a place but not if sge has to go in the car.

[hipumpkins]

Ok maybe more anxious behavior is needed:
DD screams in the nght for me even though I am right there
Before falling asleep she calls desperately for me even thoguh I am right there
When I go into another room she panics and screams for me (Our aprtment is very small and on one floor)
When the doorknob turns when anyone is coming in...moslty it is just daddy she screams and runs to hide
She is randomly afraid of people...some she's met some she's never met but she has a total breakdown around some people and there is no rhyme or reason to it...sometimes she hides in her room if someone is over she is "afraid" of. I have to stay with her as she screams the whole time, "Is (whomever ) gone yet???
She used to like going to dancing at the Y then out of nowhere she wouldn't even go in the room
We got her a new booster car seat b/c she was constatly complining that her carseat was too uncomfortable...she loved the new seat saying how much room her arms had..than boom she hates the booster and is terrified of riding in the car.
Now she doesn't want to go ANYWHERE b/c she is afraid of the car
She is also afraid of the vaccuum and when I say afraid I mean breakdown hysterical crying terrified with the shakes.

Otherwise she is really cute funny kid

[Village Mama]

I don't have any advice to give. I just wanted to say that I had panic attacks as a child... starting quite young. It is a really real thing. My mom was told that it was asthma. But into my young adulthood I realised that it had been panic attacks all along. Hugs to you guys! ( maybe you could look into Bach Flowere remedies... not just rescue remedy but the single types. she is at the perfect age to really show improvement when using them!)
Not suggesting that this would help.... but an interesting tidbit... when I cut sugar out of my diet the panic attacks decreased significantly. If I ate somthing with refined sugar in it I would have panic attack after panic attack. organic sugar doesnt have the same effect.

[hipumpkins]

Thank you for the reply. We just started today cutting down on dairy. I have heard dairy can adversely affect kids. My DD who LOVES ice cream and has it almost every night asked for sorbet tonight b/c she didn't want her belly to hurt anymore. (I told her that we were going to try taking out dairy to see if it helped) I was very impressed that remembered and didn't beg for ice cream. That is just one reason why I know she really is feeling pain.
I will look inot those bach floweres...thank you!
I would love all adivce b/c this can't just be typical 3 year old behavior

[Truvie]

My 3 year old shares a lot of these anxieties, though I guess not to the same extreme. You might check at the library for a book called "Your Three Year Old" by Ames & (somebody else). It says that 3 is the age of weird anxieties. Perhaps your daughter has a cautious personality to start with, and normal developmental changes are exasperating the situation. My son, who is extremely outgoing and usually loves the chance to talk the ear off anybody, started occasionally freaking out when strangers would look at him. He also developed a fear of the dark, a fear of wolves (those darn fairytales!), and a fear of his blood and intestines (anatomy book). As we get closer to 4, the fears seem to be lessening and he;s better able to cope.

[lucyem]

I am as my mother always said the most anxious child she ever met. And she is a teacher. These days she actually admits some of it is her fault and she blames Ferber and my father for pushing me into scary situations. Anyway I have always had issues, worse as a child. My husband has learned to deal with it and is supportive and so forth. Well my normally brave outgoing son hit a stage where he suddenly became very anxiety prone. I think he was about 2 when a lot of fears began to show up. Things that never bothered him before started to. Now that he is almost 4 some he has worked through and some others we run into now and then. My advice is to support your child. Do not belittle them or the fear. Do not force them if they are scared. Some of the worse memories of my childhood is my father forcing me to do things I was scared of. Distraction is key. Also if something makes the situation easier for them and it is not a big deal, do it. Do not make a big deal out of the fear. We let our son work through them as he needs to. Luckily for him he has parents with lots of experience with anxiety. I also have totally agree with the possibility of food allergies. Dairy, sugar, chocolate for example. This past year has been a real eye opener for me with food allergies with my youngest. I have also been paying a lot more attention to how food affects me and both my sons. If I were to put a finger on why I have fears/anxieties I think it is a combination of me, possibly foods I ate, extreme sensitivity to motion (elevators, cars, etc) and very young parents who were clueless on how to deal with an anxious child. Had they dealt with them differently and if I discovered the food thing sooner my guess is I would have outgrown more and life would have been easier.