bad health anxiety and an ill child.

[claire m]

i have very bad health anxiety that is causing me many problems like ocd and agorophobia the past 3 weeks have been particulary bad and im really suffering.
I am a mother of 2 boys and i love them very much.
Today my eldest who is 9 has come home from school not feeling great with a bit of a sore throat and tummy. this has sent my panic into overdrive i cant eat i feel sick and i cant stop myself from asking him how he feels and touching his head.
He is not in bed and is up playing his computer and has just ate dinner.
im so afraid that if he starts to feels worse i will just have a meltdown.
im worried that it will take over my maternal instincts will be overpowered by the anxiety.
has anyone been in similar sitiuations? if so how did you cope?
thanks.

[amu]

Hi

This has happened to me, especially when my son was still a baby (he is five now). Once he had a bad fall and he hurt his eye and he was crying hard and I panicked and I actually fainted, landing on my face on the kitchen floor.
Luckily a friend was there with us at the time and he managed to get both of us together.
I was so ashamed afterwards that I reacted this way. When he is sick or something happens to him I still feel the panic creeping up on me and I feel like I am a bad mum :(

So to answer your question I guess I cope really badly with these situations... I try to be strong and pretend everything is ok in order to avoid freaking him out. I always try to concentrate on how I don't want him to end up like me, and because of this I have to hold it together and react like any other mum would react - I tell myself a cold is just a cold, a stomach virus is just a stomach virus, etc...

you are not alone :hugs:

Amu