I cant stop thinking the worst

[PanicQueen]

I did a welcome post. Im pretty nervous to post here but here goes.
Im having a horrible day today. My youngest son (17) is traveling tomorrow to work a function for NYE with a friend of mine from high school. Its 3 hours away and my husband and I are not going. I have had multiple panic attacks about it the last few days and today has been horrendous. I cannot stop overthinking and having catastrophic thinking. Im sick to my stomach, shaking, have a headache and cant seem to stop worrying about it. I know its normal to worry about your children but this is insane! I Worry alot everytime my boys go out but this has been just awful. He is staying out there and coming home the following day but it's literally the only thing i can focus on right now. I dont know what to do ☹️ Help!

[Kirk]

It can be difficult at times not to worry. We have one daughter who is 26 now and she lives with her boyfriend. I remember her going away to live at college,
going to the middle east on a group trip for 2 weeks, traveling to Florida by herself, etc. It is never easy.

[PanicQueen]

Right! Most all parents worry about thier children (as it should be) but i think im going a little over board. Then i think, well what if i calm down and let it be and something were to happen? Its a viscous cycle! ☹️

[Kirk]

I think it may be better sometimes if their are some things that I don't know about.

[Kirk]

By the way, their is no reason to be nervous about posting on this forum as we are all here to help each other out.

[Kirk]

Studies have shown that it is a lot harder to be positive than negative. My GI physician once told me that
many people that come to see him think they have a large tumor growing inside of them and that they are
doomed.

[aml0017]

Hi, panic queen! I wonder if your son has returned from his trip at this point - I assume he's ok? What is it you are afraid is going to happen? More to the point, how would the extreme worrying prevent any of it from happening in any case? Sounds to me you are giving into to the catastrophic thinking. It is definitely normal to worry about your children when they are away in some unfamiliar circumstances, but the key is to recognize that the anxiety is amplifying this natural worry into an irrational one. When the thoughts come into your head, face them head on, say so what? that is very unlikely to happen! or whatever works for you (you can write it down if you prefer). Stop the lie in it's tracks. Accept that the anxiety is there and just go back to whatever it was you were doing before.