Anxiety around fear of asbestos.

[AnxiousAnne]

Hi I'm new to this forum so please bear with me. I wrote a long post about my problems and somehow have managed to lose it so I will try to keep it short this time.

I am a mummy to a 20 month old son and 6 months pregnant with number 2. I have always been a 'worrier' and think I have health anxiety and possibly generalised anxiety. I have episodes which come and go and I can usually manage to get myself out of the anxiety grip, but not this time.

My current issue is regarding asbestos and possibly having exposed my son to something which could shorten his life. We are updating our house which was built in 86 and every ceiling has textured coating or artex. I got so worked up I had a company come out and test 3 ceilings, which came back negative for asbestos. My fears then shifted and I called them out again to test other materials in the house as we were renovating our bathroom. These too came back negative. I was calling the company often and they suggested it would be better for them to carry out a management survey to help put my mind at rest and identify all visible ACMs. We thought this seemed sensible as we had other work to do and went ahead with this.

Good news, the survey came back as no asbestos found in our house. Most people would have been happy with that, and I was for a couple of weeks until we had a plasterer in to skim a ceiling and he scrapped the artex. No protective equipment, no questions to see if we had it tested, didn't even close the door to the room so the dust and fragments were everywhere! My problem is that ceiling wasn't sampled as part of the survey but referenced to the kitchen ceiling next door which was sampled, and clear, as it looked like the same material (same pattern etc, believed to be applied at time of construction). I now can't get this out of my head and feel like my entire house is contaminated, I've spread it through hoovering, and exposed my son to a deadly carcinogenic material! I do think that these are irrational thoughts as my husband isn't concerned and feels happy with the survey results.

I'm currently doing an online CBT course and I'm at the stage of trying to challenge my thoughts by looking at any evidence for or against (the survey report!) But I can't seem to crack this one. I'm also due to start counseling next week, and hoping that the pregnancy hormones are making this worse as I don't think I can live like this!

Not sure what I'm after, just wanted to put my fears down in writing. Also sorry it's not as short as I'd hoped!

[Annie0904]

As far as I am aware Asbestos was only used in Artex until 1884 so if yours was built in 86 it will be fine. If you have had tests done as well than you have nothing to worry about.

[AnxiousAnne]

Thanks for the reply Annie. I know they stopped manufacturing it in 84, and an asbestos free version was available from the mid 70s which does help. As I said we've had some of the ceilings (they only sampled half of them) tested and the all came back clear, which is yet more evidence supporting the fact that it is my anxiety causing these fears and irrational thoughts. Just having difficulty believing the evidence and breaking these irrational thoughts at the moment, but I guess that is part of the nature and challenges you have to face when trying to overcome anxiety problems! I appreciate your comment though, and hope it will help me realise I need to, and can move on from this particular fear.

[Annie0904]

There are a few other threads on the same subject if you search them. You would have to be exposed to quite a lot over a period of time for it to cause any real harm. My husband was in the building trade in the 60's and 70's and was exposed to a lot of asbestos. He has some on the pleura round his lung but it causes him no problems and he is 68. This was from using asbestos daily over a long time. You really have nothing to fear. The amount used in artex was very small anyway.

[half-empty]

im sure your house would have been built using all the same materials, I do think your letting your mind run away with you due to this anxiety, and I highly doubt you have poisoned your son! stop worrying its not good for the baby or yourself

[AnxiousAnne]

Thank you both for your replies. I have looked through some other posts as this is what brought me to this website and forum. Everything you both mention are the arguments I'm using to try to challenge these thoughts, I.e. prolonged exposure, builder using the same materials etc. It's reassuring to hear strangers saying the same things as my husband, and it does seem to be helping to reinforce the fact that these are irrational thoughts on my behalf.
I'm going to try to put this out of my mind and enjoy my son and the last few months of this pregnancy. Thanks again.

[Annie0904]

Yes Enjoy it :)