Being anxious makes me sick; being sick makes me anxious

Miliska

Hello,

I don't really know where to begin, but I can say that I think my problem is related to anxiety more than depression.

I've always been a very organised person. My DH often jokes that I have an OCD because everything has to be organised the way I want, or else I panic. I hate when he says that because OCD is a real disease, but I wonder sometimes if he's right because I do get physically unwell when I see him (or anybody) doing a chore I'm usually doing and they're not doing it exactly the way I want it. I also have an history of migraines. I was taking medication before but I had to stop it when I started to TTC. I had an esay pregnancy.

Fast forward to now. I have a healthy little baby. I love taking care of him, but I always live in the fear of my next migraine. When I get sick, I can't even change a diaper or take him if he's crying, or else I vomit from exhaustion. It's really hard on me. Last time I had a migraine, my DH had to go to work and couldn't take care of the baby. I told him I would drive to my mom's house so she could take care of DS while I would rest. He pointed out I couldn't drive since I was puking every 20 minutes... Fair point! He drove us there and I cried almost the entire way because I felt everything was out of my control.

I discussed with my family doctor about a plan for my migraines and now I have some medication I can take if I have a crisis. I live in the daily fear of the next one. Many things can trigger my migraines, like the lack of sleep, and my baby is faaaaaaar from STTN (wakes up every 2-3 hours). I'm so anxious about being a new mom, not being organised, and being helpless with my migraines! I don't know where to start to get some help. DH is really concerned about my migraines, but doesn't seem to take my anxiety seriously. I have been dealing with these feelings and that stress for a bit over 4 months now, but it's really starting to get me now! I really don't know what I can do or which help I should seek.

Sorry, this post turned more like a rant than anything else! Anybody else is living something similar?

flcl

Sorry to hear that things are so rough right now. Having a migraine plan is a good start. I would encourage you to talk to your doctor about your anxieties. A lot of people talk about PPD but not much is mentioned about PPA and that is actually more common. Talking to my therapist (struggled with depression and anxiety for years) really helped me contain my PPA. Some of the anxiety you're experiencing is completely normal being a new mom but learning some coping strategies may help. GL.

deanna1313

I agree. I'm seeing a psychologist and she said managing my anxiety is goingto help my PPD so much. The anxiety only makes symptoms worse. When you see your dr for the migraines I would mention your anxiety and they can tell you where to go from there. Take care of the migraine situation first and then if you need to start seeing a therapist you can do that also.

Miliska

@flcl @deanna1313 Thank you for your answers. I agree talking about my anxiety to my family doctor could be a good first step. I have a reference to meet a neurologist who specialise in migraines so I think I will bring anxiety up when we'll talk about my migraines.

deanna1313

@Leftie22‌ I have postpartum depression/anxiety. My son is 10weeks and I had blood loss during delivery causing anemia. It was pretty bad I guess because it was causing me to pass out twice in the hospital and they had trouble reviving me. My blood pressure was 78/30! Interesting that your dr mentioned getting tested for anemia. I heard it can be related to anxiety and depression. Is that what he mentioned?

deanna1313

They didn't realize that I had blood loss after delivery and didn't find out until the next day so the only treaent they gave me was iron supplements. I continued to take them for weeks at home. I'm still taking them. The problem is that it can take a while to cure the anemia. I just had blood work done and don't have the results yet. I'm 10 weeks postpartum.
I'm not sure if it helped or not, but I'm doing so much better for the last two weeks.