I googled !!!

[cassie1975]

I am so scared, I was having a reasonable day until I went on google. I am so worried. A while ago my husband and his friend took Artex off the chimney breasts in our house. We did not know about the dangers of asbestos. The only reason I found out was because I was watching one of these home improvement programme. My problem is I cant shift the thought that I have accidentally exposed my daughter. She wasn't in the house during the day when they were doing the work but we were home later. She would have been around 5 at the time. My brother in law found a really good article that said artex didnt pose any significant threat to health and that settled me down but panic has come back with a vengeance. I have just googled and its all doom and gloom. I feel like I have given my daughter a life sentence and I cant shake it!!!!! I hate not knowing but there is no way to find out until symptoms present. I cant even check because we dont live there anymore and it was years ago. How can I get out of this thinking ??

[cassie1975]

I am unable to sleep again! I am trying to calm my body down (unsuccessfully). I am suffering from constant panic attacks today. Could do with a break from them x x anyone have any tips?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Cassie,

I really would advise you not to Google this issue as a gneral search. If you need to look it up, add some safe words to your search like HSE, NHS, etc. Otherwise you will pull up every crackpot on a forum out there and many of them could be trolls for all you know.

It's like if you Google an antidepressant. You will get the main drug sites but you will also get the loonies on rightwing web forums telling all sorts of stories which is why I think NMP is a great place because we are by & large much more neutral on here. We get the odd "anti med" brigade person on but they don't last long because rational argument means they have loads of people telling them why they are wrong and they can't keep it up.

Another lesson I have learnt is that not all of these people are who they say. We get people on here selling covertly and as we spot them, we report them and Admin ban them. The same can be seen on meds sites because you get people selling natural remedies and they will just moan on about "big pharma" and conspiracy.

Getting up can help. Lying there feeling anxious won't help. Get up and have a wander around, do some chores, read some neutral stuff, have some chamomile tea if you have some or some warm milk, etc. Splash your face with cold water as this helps with panic.

The one thing that will make you not sleep is worrying about sleep. It's very hard not to and it's a bad habit you learn your way back out of.

[cassie1975]

My name is Terry, many thanks for your reply.
Even though I had read the original article about Artex, they have not changed the law which in turn made me question the validity of the article!! That is when it all went downhill.

Am I to believe the article or the people who are quick to dismiss it. I know I will have to wait a number of years before I can answer the question. I can't even begin to explain the level of guilt I have, and on top of that I have been attempting to calm my panic attacks (to no avail really).

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think the important thing is to look beyond the reporter and to the studies cited. Those studies were conducted and backed by an official body. Whether a change in the law occurs is always going to be complicated because you have a load of companies raking in tons of cash and they pay tax. Just look at what the energy companies did when the Ed Milliband banged on about fixing prices...British Gas vowed to move it's business offshore and sack British workers to get around it. These companies have the ears of MP's and civil servants so it takes a lot of push or public awareness and I'm not sure that many people follow it.

To understand why a change in the law hasn't taken place would take more digging. However, if the reporter is quoting accurate & accepted studies - that is what you need to focus on.