Any other new mums experiencing health anxiety?

[Joy-Carousel]

Hey everyone,

I thought I would join this community because I want to know what's going on and to see if anyone else can relate to this....a couple of months ago I had a baby and since then, my anxiety has been terrible, and I am not sure what is going on. My first period after baby was fine. I had a bit of health anxiety but soon recovered. After all, I had a very good labor.

Just after this, my friend's husband committed suicide,and my friend was heavily reliant on me. She would tell me that if it wasn't for me she would commit suicide too. I was really anxious and grieving over the shocking situation, and on top of it had to support my friend. After just having a baby and having health anxiety in the past, I was not emotionally able to deal with this. I really tried, but I wasn't, so I had a bit of anxiety. Not so much during the day, but definitely a lot at night. My husband has been very supportive during all of this, so it was getting better. (I have set healthy boundaries with my friend now and only respond every couple of days).

Then came my second period after having baby. I had the worst migraine ever, where I couldn't even speak. I was so frightened, especially since I've started having migraine with aura and don't want another one where I can't speak. My hormones with this period seem to be out of control. I am worried about whether or not my period hormones will settle back down and go back to how they were before, because right now I am having terrible health anxiety, as well as being very emotional and not sure whether some of the things I am experiencing are anaemia, health anxiety or just hormones regulating! I have no idea if I have postnatal anxiety and it's all so confusing for me. I have taken a blood test, booked in to see a counsellor, and now I am just waiting it out.

I have a few questions though.

1) have any other mums on here experienced terrible periods and anxiety after having a baby - did it settle back down and the periods go back to how they were?

2) how can you work through anxiety whilst also having a baby to look after? I just don't feel I have the time for myself to get through this anymore.

[Melonpony]

I'm very sorry you are going through this with your friends suicide. That's really intense, postpartum.

My health anxiety was partly caused by motherhood, so I feel like I can offer something.

First, I believe anxiety is caused -in many cases- by hormones. This is especially true after birth, perimenopause, and menopause (I assume).
I have a 5 and a 4 year old. My periods got horrendous after my second child, and I also developed ovulation pain, bad cramps w pms...the worst. All new. Never had cramps ever.
4 years later, still here. :/

As far as managing it while caring for a baby, my recommendation is to take TIME FOR SELF CARE. You must take alone time. It will be hard for a few reasons, but it is the only way to manage the anxiety.
Good luck! We are always here, too.

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[Leah88]

Hi there,
I am in the same boat. I have an 8 week old little girl and I had my health anxiety under control for a while but now it's back. I think sleep deprivation aggravates anxiety/OCD etc and impedes the ability to think rationally and clearly. Well it seems to for me. Sorry I don't have any advice, I'm just trying to get through each day by eating healthy, excercising and meditation alongside my meds 🙂 I don't have a period as I'm still feeding.

[Hypomean]

I'm starting to believe my anxiety started after I had my son 5 years ago. About 4 months after I had him I got bleeding that was so bad the urgent care doctor and nurse who saw me, where white faced to see how bad it was and that was followed by 4 months of constant period. During that time I had started going to the hospital for "heart attacks"
Postpartum depression/anxiety? Most likely.
I was put in an IUD and it helped settle things down for the bleeding but as for the anxiety I continued. CBT and meds helped for a while until I stopped taking them.