meant2live
04-04-17, 18:48
I am starting to wonder if my recent onset of physical anxiety symptoms (over the last year) is mostly just a result of health problems that have been plaguing my family.
I know that many people have terrible health issues and I really don't have much excuse to complain, but it seems like these physical symptoms may be caused by my husband's reoccurring labyrinthitis and my daughter's food allergies, plus my breast cancer scare not long after I gave birth.
I have accepted that I have health anxiety and that most of the symptoms I experience are due to that, but I guess it's starting to help me to see how all of this started not long after my daughter was born.
My daughter has an allergy to dairy and we carry an epipen everywhere we go with her. She usually just reacts with hives, but she has had swelling around her eyes when accidentally exposed to dairy in the past. I'm terrified that she will go into anaphylactic shock at some point.
Then there's my husband who develops labyrinthitis with every common cold due to the fact that he has a weak immune system (spleen was removed as a child due to an accident). He never had this issue until a few months after our daughter was born. We all had a cold and he started to develop dizziness. Then, one night, after he returned from work, he started vomiting uncontrollably and could barely stand. We ended up going to the hospital with no idea what was going on. He became delirious (he was very dehydrated) and thought he was going to die. It was one of the scariest nights of my life.
This vertigo has happened 5-6 more times since then. It pretty much happens any time he gets a cold so, when our daughter picks up a cold, I freak out. When one of us gets sick, we all get sick and he ends up in the hospital.
I've been living in a constant state of vigilance for any sign of sickness and I'm starting to think that started my health anxiety. I had a more general anxiety prior to this, but these physical symptoms really only started after my daughter was born. Maybe I'm just terrified for her and for my husband's health.
Has anyone dealt with this?
I know that many people have terrible health issues and I really don't have much excuse to complain, but it seems like these physical symptoms may be caused by my husband's reoccurring labyrinthitis and my daughter's food allergies, plus my breast cancer scare not long after I gave birth.
I have accepted that I have health anxiety and that most of the symptoms I experience are due to that, but I guess it's starting to help me to see how all of this started not long after my daughter was born.
My daughter has an allergy to dairy and we carry an epipen everywhere we go with her. She usually just reacts with hives, but she has had swelling around her eyes when accidentally exposed to dairy in the past. I'm terrified that she will go into anaphylactic shock at some point.
Then there's my husband who develops labyrinthitis with every common cold due to the fact that he has a weak immune system (spleen was removed as a child due to an accident). He never had this issue until a few months after our daughter was born. We all had a cold and he started to develop dizziness. Then, one night, after he returned from work, he started vomiting uncontrollably and could barely stand. We ended up going to the hospital with no idea what was going on. He became delirious (he was very dehydrated) and thought he was going to die. It was one of the scariest nights of my life.
This vertigo has happened 5-6 more times since then. It pretty much happens any time he gets a cold so, when our daughter picks up a cold, I freak out. When one of us gets sick, we all get sick and he ends up in the hospital.
I've been living in a constant state of vigilance for any sign of sickness and I'm starting to think that started my health anxiety. I had a more general anxiety prior to this, but these physical symptoms really only started after my daughter was born. Maybe I'm just terrified for her and for my husband's health.
Has anyone dealt with this?