Anyone else have mental health anxiety versus physical health anxiety?

[PressedAndStressed]

I’ve always had bad anxiety. Especially post partum.
I had a baby a year ago and had it pretty bad then. I worried incessantly about developing psychosis and harming my baby or family.
(Fifth baby and this has happened with all of them).
This was an ongoing fear. Even before I had her. Then a couple months after the babe was born I started doing better. (Saw a therapist and was proactive)
Then a friend died in December and I was put on antibiotics for an infection and my health plummeted mentally. I convinced myself that I was going schizophrenic. I was at the store and the intercom said something and I jumped and wondered if they said my name. I knew how silly this was... why would they say my name? I knew they hadn’t said my name but I worried that since I thought they said my name that I was experiencing some psychosis of some sort.
Small noises made me jumpy and I didn’t want to do anything because I was scared of everything. I felt like my mind wasn’t working right. I felt foggy and miserable. I even thought I may have hallucinated at one time. It was honestly terrible. I was experiencing major hyper-vigilance .
I went to a therapist, the ER, a psychiatrist, etc. everyone said, “this is just anxiety, this is not psychosis”
I started getting better. I started doing SO much better because I cleaned up my diet and started taking vitamins and minerals.
I see a functional medicine doctor and a psychologist regularly.
However, I feel it creeping up again. After a decent 4 months-ish... I feel “off” like my thoughts are weird again and I’m not right.
Went out of town the other night and some guy was standing behind me and my baby at the store (baby is one now) and I had this weird thought that he could knock me out and steal her. I know it’s weird. I knew he was probably looking at the crayons and not at my kid, plotting to steal her... but I still walked to the next aisle because I was worried. And then I obsessed over the thought... “is this me starting the prodromal stage of psychosis”
It’s never ending.
I try to use healthier language... for instance, this isn’t “paranoia” this is “anxiousness” and etc. but it doesn’t always help!
I used to have soooo much health anxiety about blood clots, aneurysms, and even heart attacks... I would gladly have all that back if this stopped! Worrying about my mental health is soooo much more exhausting. I over analyze everything.
And I’m truly terrified that I will develop a psychotic disorder. I experience tons of intrusive thoughts. Sometimes more than others. They are primarily “weird” thoughts that just don’t sit right. Like imagining a coworker having sex, harming my children unintentionally, crashing my car, losing my mind, falling and breaking my teeth out... etc. writing them out don’t make them seem as bad as they feel... but they are horrible.

Does anyone else experience mental health anxiety versus physical ailments?

Please share. I feel soooo alone and I’m so terrified of going crazy.

 

[Sacto]

I’ve had very similar fears, especially after my kids were born. Your kids are so important and you love them more than anything but also having kids is hard and exhausting so there are times you probably have mixed feelings toward them. Those feelings aren’t comfortable, so then you suppress them and feel guilty about them and then those thoughts turn into the irrational fear that you’ll go crazy and hurt them. Maybe being honest with yourself about how hard parenting can be would help. Watching funny shows or comedians who talk about kids being a pain or decompressing with friends might help. Remember that thinking something doesn’t make it true. Thoughts don’t have that kind of power. What helped me the most was when a friend who is a therapist told me that schizophrenic people don’t have any fear that their thoughts are crazy, so if you’re worried that you’re crazy, you aren’t. Eventually I mostly stopped having fears of mental illness. Now I’m back to health anxiety lol.

 

[matisworried]

"If you're worried you're going crazy, you're not." I heard a therapist say something to that effect on a show i watched about mental illness. essentially, people suffering from mental illness typically don't realize they're suffering.

 

[Cyber-stan88]

Hi. I really suffer from a things you have stated and at times thought I was literally going mad. It was horrible but as ‘matisworried’ just stated a dr told me that the fact I feel like I’m going Crazy proves I’m not because if I was I wouldn’t feel like I was going mad and all of my crazy thoughts and feeling would of felt right. ( sorry don’t think I explained that very well.)
Basically don’t worry your not going mad. Hopefully another decent run of months is around the corner

 

[AnxiousBambi]

Hi there.
Reading your story I felt like you are describing my situation and type of fears. I feel exactly the same way. I am a new mother and I have had extreme anxiety and fear of mental illness from the past few days. I also have a history of health anxiety, but what I am experiecing now is beyond anything I have gone through before.
I honestly hope you are doing better. I understand exactly how you feel because I am experiencing just the same. You are not alone. Feel free to message me if you would like to talk to someone.