How to avoid the downward spiral...

[ktdid2000]

Hi guys,

I tend to go through cycles of my anxiety - all will be fine for a while and then it will come back full force and cause all kinds of misery. :(

I'm a year postpartum and have had a couple of months of really bad anxiety since he was born, mostly I think triggered by being overwhelmed/stressed and then reading something on the Internet or hearing a news story. I immediately go into the "that's me!" syndrome and then spend the next 2 weeks going nuts. It's like my mind is in a state of anxiety, then it sees something health problem related and goes "Squirrel!" and chases after it instead of dealing with whatever caused the anxiety to begin with.

Anyway - my 1 year old is still breastfeeding and just got his molars almost a month ago. Almost immediately he changed his latch so it was really bothering me when I would feed him. Now it hurts in between feedings and I have all sorts of damage, blanching, etc. that's causing a lot of new symptoms for me - pain in between feeds, etc. Now all this seems totally rational and explainable, but couple this with my background anxiety and I'm about to go off the deep end about breast cancer again, which is one of my big hang-ups.

How do you guys handle when you recognize you're about to enter the health anxiety death spiral? I have an appointment with my OB next week to get screened for an infection or some other non-feeding related cause but we all know how reassuring doctors visits can be for someone with health anxiety. And I think deep down I do know this is caused by his breastfeeding and not something else, but I'm starting to go down the wrong path.

Just looking for a way to stop this before it starts!

[half-empty]

I am having a breast worry but if I think about things I always seem to find something to worry about through the winter months. I am beginning to realise that the weather really does have an effect on my mental state. Thing I worry about in the summer just don't seem to affect me the way they do in the winter. All you can do is keep in the back of your mind that your are being seen by professionals and if they were worried they would certainly run other tests. Your breast feeding, that can and will play havoc with your boobs! I'm sure it's nothing serious try and not worry about it, as hard as that is