Anxiety worse after baby

littlemommy1

When I was in high school, I suffered with depression and anxiety. I was on meds for a while, and did therapy. I seemed to do much better, to the point I did not need either anymore.

Fast forward to the present day. The depression hasn't made a re-appearance, but I am soo anxious all the time.  I worry. A LOT. About everything. The safety of my baby, whether things will get done in a timely manner, where my family is ect. It's gotten so bad, I even worry about silly things. Like every time I get in the car I worry about getting in a wreck, and even worry about the end of the world (stupid, I know.)

It's interfering with my sleep. I wake up a million times a night to check on DS. I'm always paranoid that he will quit breathing. I have nightmares every night about bad things happening to myself or my family.

What can I do for this? I don't want to live the rest of my life worrying about things. I want to be able to have fun and enjoy my life!! I'm breastfeeding, so not sure if meds are possible. Also not sure if therapy is covered by our insurance.

Thanks for listening. I hope I'm not alone. 

mrs.vanderwall

I am exactly the same way...Literally, exactly.  I worry about getting in a car accident, the end of the world, death and  dying, etc.  So I feel your pain.  I had to up my medication dosage from 20 to 40 mg daily (I take lexapro).  I've also started seeing a psychologist every other week.  I'm feeling better than I was right after DD's birth, but still not 100%.  I'm hoping that I will eventually feel normal again.  I would call your dr. and see if you can get on some medication and see a psychologist.  HTH.  PM if you need anything!

mrs.vanderwall

Sorry, I forgot to add...I also breastfeed and both my OB and my psychiatrist okayed the meds even though I breastfeed. 

mristine6

I'm in the same boat. When DS turned about a month I started becoming obsessive about checking his breathing. I could not walk away from him while he was sleeping and was checking on him so much at night I was running on no sleep and having break downs on a daily basis. If I did have to walk away from him for a minute I would panic on the way back to the point where I felt like I was gonna pass out. I went to my OB 2 weeks ago and was put on 50ml of Zoloft I feel like a brand new person. I still don't leave him alone for more than 5 minutes while he's sleeping but I'm not panicking about it anymore and I'm actually able to enjoy him. I still worry but I'm not obsessively thinking about him dying or something terrible happening. I have dealt with anxiety/depression in the past too it just sucks twice as bad when your worry is focused on your baby. Don't wait ot try to 'tuff' it out. The sooner you call your doctor the sooner you will feel better. You can take Zoloft when you're breastfeeding. I hope you feel better soon

littlemommy1

I don't know if this is related to my anxiety, but I am scared of other people watching DS. Besides the fact that it's not possible (breastfeeding, and refuses to take a bottle, even after 5.5 months!) I'm just scared of him being away from me. FIL came by one day and wanted to take him on a walk. It WAS almost feeding time, but I was annoyed when he kept saying "oh he'll be fine for a few hours. Go do something yourself." He just kept begging and begging to take him. I think this is more of an in-law issue than my anxiety. FIL is divorced, a horrible driver, and an alcoholic, so I'm not comfortable with DS being alone with him. 

 I'm just so scared to leave him. I don't want to be a super protective parent that never lets their kid go out, but he's my baby and I want to be there for him if he needs me. My in-laws haven't been around him enough for me to let him be with either of them alone.

I feel like I've lost it. I'm going to talk to DH and hopefully a doc soon!