Hello

[colinsmom]

Hello! I am a 25 year old mother of an 18 month old and wife. Around the end of July I had a scare with some chest pain that the doctors have said is muscular. I have had so many different pains since then I could not even remember all of them. I have had headaches, body aches you name it, it has hurt. I am constantly scared to death that I have some condition or something that the doctors have not found that I am just going to fall over one day and die. I have contstant lightheadness from the time my feet hit the floor to the time I go to bed and some periods I have these spells where I get really dizzy and fee like I am goin to pass out. The first one of these happened one day while I was driving down the road I got really flushed and lightheaded so I pulled over. I thought I was going to pass out then and die. I have this constant fear that I am not going to live to watch my son grow up. I am scared to go anywhere because I am afraid that I will have another one of those spells and actually pass out in front of people. I have been to neurologist and all my test cam back normal. I am in the process of going to a cardiologist, I had an ekg down yesterday and it was normal. Is this anxiety that I am experiencing? Does anyone have any advice for me?

[Carla]

Hello
I am sorry to hear the way that you are feeling. I am sure that you are probably very stressed & tired out by looking after an 18 month old baby. It is very demanding I know! Do you suffer with any depression? I know that a lot of mums can get Post Natal Depression and anxiety even months after having a baby. One of my friends started having panic attacks after her baby was born and when he was young which eventually disapeared later on. She was told it was due to hormonal changes after having a baby. Have you been tested for anemia too? A lot of symptoms you described can be caused by this which is easily treated by taking iron tablets. I found that after having my son, I became very run down, lightheaded and dizzy. I was later told I had anemia. It used to give me palpitations too, which went away after I took the iron tablets and brought more iron into my diet. I was a vegetarian at the time when I was very anaemic cos I wasnt really eating any iron rich foods. You may simply be worn out with the demands of motherhood, or you could be experiencing anxiety. Are you seen by a health visitor at the clinic? If so have you told her how you are feeling. I found that my health visitor back then was so helpful, obviously cos she had plenty of experience of how new mums feel. Do you have support in the way of a partner, family and friends who know how you are feeling? How you are feeling healthwise is probably scaring you and this is causing the anxiety or it could be that you have anxiety and this is making you anxious about your health. Do you eat a healthy diet? smoke? drink? Do you take vitamins. I know that for me a healthy diet and the right combination of vitamins has transformed how my anxiety is. I was really ill with anxiety a few months ago, to the point of being hospitalised and without prescribed medication, I have managed to get to where I am now, which today is virtually anxiety free, just by simple diet and lifestyle changes. I am not saying I am rid of anxiety but compared to how I was I am now about a 1000 times better. I know you are feeling scared and stressed but allowiing these feelings to scare and stress you will only aggravate how you are feeling, so please try to not let these feelings scare you, try everything there is to keep you feeling calm, no matter how simple it is. You will feel better and it wont always be like this. Read through a lot of the verygood posts on this forum that people have posted. I find this to be really useful and they have helped me so much. Keep posting and let us know how you are.

[colinsmom]

I do not smoke or drink. I do try to eat fairly well. I had my gallbladder removed in June. I have been checked for anemia as well. I take a womens ultra mega active vitamin everyday. I am just so afraid that their is something wrong with me the way I have been feeling lately and the doctors are missing it.

[Carla]

Hello again
I think the best person to talk to would be your doctor. Once all medical tests have been done on you and if they come back clear then I think you can safely assume that it is anxiety alone causing you to worry so much over your health. If there were something wrong physically with you then the doctor would pick up on it by the test results. I guess you could always get a 2nd opinion to make certain. Anxiety can cause all sorts of aches and pains. It definitely causes dizziness and makes you feel lightheaded. I used to get a lot of shoulder, neck and muscular pains due to how stressed I felt. I spent weeks only a few months ago being sick constantly due to anxiety.I felt constantly tired and drained, dizzy and lightheaded. Anxiety really can affect your health. It can really be debilitating.I have kidney problems that have been aggravated by anxiety. Since doing all the self help though that there is for anxiety it is finally beginning to go away at long last. There are a lot of informative posts on this forum about health anxiety. I know that anxiety used to make me worry so much about everything there is to possibly worry about. Would you consider therapy to talk about your fears? Did you feel the way you do before you had your gallbladder operation? It sounds like you are doing all the right things for your health which is a good thing.Take a look at some of the posts on here and see if they can be of any help to you.