*** PREGNANCY AND ANXIETY- PLEASE HELP :( ***

[Haley]

I found out a few weeks ago that i am expecting my second child. But I have been suffering from anxiety for the past 2 years, and i am pretty scared of how i will be when my baby comes :(

Has anyone been pregnant whilst having anxiety? How did you feel?

[Haley]

Nice to see the 10 views but no replies :(

[Haley]

I cant believe that theres already been 40 views on my post and not one reply form anybody :( where else can i go to get help? :cry:

[Bridgie]

Sorry about your anxiety Haley. But I am sure once your new baby comes into the world, all your thoughts will be on him/her!

How well do you deal with your first child and your anxiety?

[Haley]

Thank you very very much for your reply Bridgie.

I didnt suffer from anxiety with my first child. She is almost 4 years old and i have been suffering with anxiety for 2 years

[Haley]

WOW! 100 views and 1 reply! im very impressed with this helpful forum :shock:

[stressd]

Haley~
I posted a similar topic under social anxiety forum and received a ton of hits but no reply. I, too, worry about becoming pregnant and having anxiety. In fact I fear that I will be unable to take any beta blockers or Xanax if I get into a fearful situation (those only really occur if I have to publicly speak, etc.)....so, I FEEL YOUR PAIN! I, unlike what it sounds like you have experienced, have delt with anxiety since grade school...so I guess you can feel a bit lucky you haven't delt with it until now...but I definitely am not downplaying your anxiety...so hang in there and hopefully we will get some answers! Also, I do have a friend who has a cousin (not making this up I swear :0__ ;) ) who has anxiety (panic) and was pregnant with her 3rd child. She said her doc said it was okay to take a beta blocker, but I need to find out which one...
hope this helps!
Keep me posted!
Stressd

[Foxfire]

Just as an aside, I think sometimes we don't reply because we've already responded to similar things elsewhere on the board.. It's not that we don't care, it's just that we don't want to continually be jumping in saying the same things that people have already heard from us a hundred times before (well I know that's why I don't respond all the time anyway).
Don't forget that there's a search function that you can use to go through the previous posts and see if anyone has put something similar up already.
We all feel your pain and your worry, after all most of us are experiencing the same thing to varying degrees as well.
Good luck,
Foxfire

[neverbeenright]

Hi Haley,

I've had general and social anxiety since I was a small child. I have my ups and downs and have been on and off a variety of medications (mostly off). When I got pregnant with my only son six years ago, I was very happy about it but also worried about a lot of things as usual. I loved being pregnant, though. I don't know if it was just excitement about this life-changing event, or if it was somehow hormonal, but I felt great - even at 8 months. So I felt pretty happy, but don't get me wrong, I still continued to have a lot of anxiety during the pregnancy. The physical symptoms of anxiety seemed even more intense at times ...those sickening rushes of adrenalin, heart palpitations ...you probably know what I'm talking about. I worried about this affecting the baby, but there was nothing I could do about it. Since I also have problems with depression and crazy hormones, I figured I'd be a prime candidate for post-partum depression or psychosis, so I worried about that, too. My mom was kind enough to come and stay with me for two weeks after the baby was born in case I "lost it". I think it was a wise precaution, all things considered. Turns out the baby was born healthy and normal and I didn't have any PPD. Of course I had anxiety, but it really wasn't any worse than what I was used to - even with the sleep deprivation and all of that. Don't know if I'm right, but I attribute some of that to breastfeeding, which has hormonal effects, too - definately calming. So I encourage you to breastfeed if it is a possibility for you. Great for both mom and baby. Pretty silly to say "don't worry" to someone who suffers from anxiety, but I hope you can be reassured by my experience. Hang in there!