racechick79

I think sometimes it helps to know that we all can relate and we have all gone through those times when we wonder how we are going to get back on track. Thinking of you and hoping that things get better soon for you.

Pneumonia has some pretty tell tale symptoms and is often much worse than the common cold. I agree with Gilly in that with all that you are taking to have such a great immune system; your chances are a lot less than most of getting it. I have had pneumonia a few times in the past, and if it makes you feel any better, have never been admitted to the hospital for it. If your symptoms get worse than that of the common cold (sniffles, sore throat, etc.) then you should call and get in. Usually one of the first signs is shortness of breath and compromised breathing in general. Good luck and I hope you start feeling better soon. I, too, feel like you will be just fine!

I second and third and fourth the other posts made! LOL! I accept my "quirks" because they do not affect my life in a very negative way, nor do they affect my family or friends. On the other hand, my husband's definitely affects our family negatively because it truly interferes with caring for them or time which is supposed to be devoted to our children. When he is on medication, he is able to keep those under control. So - as almost everybody else has said - it really does depend on what those quirks are!

Having an official diagnosis may or may not help, depending on if you feel it is bad enough to want to try something along the therapy or medication route. Both my brother and husband have social anxiety to the point that they are on medication for it. Each of them has had their times when they feel "better" and have tried to go off the medication; only to go back on it a few months later because they realize that they need it to be able to function in their respective careers and social lives. Most of the time your primary doctor can help assess what you are going through and can suggest some things that might help. Myself, I do not need medication, but have gone through therapy and have ways that I am able to deal with my anxiety. Good luck!

I wish any of us could tell you exactly what would be the best decision to make (doesn't it always seem like we wish that somebody would just tell us the right thing to do?!) I moved back in with my parents for about a year before I got married in order to save money and start of my married life on the right foot. I have a great relationship with my parents though, so it sounds as if it were a much different situation. I agree with some of the other posts that it might not hurt to sit down and talk with your parents. Whether that means asking for some help or setting some boundaries if you would move back in. It sounds as if you know what your anxiety triggers would be, could you work with your parents at all in order to avoid some of those triggers? As an example, certain discussions with my parents would sometimes trigger anxious feelings in me (especially before the wedding); and I had a really serious conversation with them before I moved back explaining that to them. It worked out well for us! Good luck.

I was just talking with my mom tonight and told her that the worst part of it is that I just feel like I need a break. It is so tiring to be worried about them all the time; and I feel like I can never turn it off. I can't go out and have fun or even run errands without thinking about them and their safety. We are going away this weekend and my 19 year old niece is coming along with us to help us watch the kids and to allow us a little time for ourselves to go for a little while ourselves. I know she is perfectly capable (I babysat myself so much at that age); and she has taken care of so many children. Yet, I know that while we are gone I will be worrying about them; texting her, and just, in general, not be away!

We are all here for you if you need. Eating disorders can be very scary things; but you are taking the right steps, and even though it is hard to think about now, you will be happy you made this decision and took these steps down the road! Good luck and definitely keep us posted!

I feel a little better knowing that I'm not, obviously, alone in feeling this way. I had kind of felt from some other posts that others were also feeling similar things; but it still makes you feel a little more "normal" knowing that you aren't alone. I worry sometimes that it will affect our marriage eventually, too. My husband also suffers from anxiety, but does not really feel the same way I do about the children's safety. He is more than willing to go away overnight and have some time for us; but I just can't bring myself to leave them. I trust my mother more than anybody else to watch them during the day if I need help; but she is 70 and the thought of leaving them with her overnight then sends me into panic about her, too! The new one that I had in the last couple of days is worry about ticks. My brother lives next door and was telling me that he had a tick crawling on him the other night. Now, I do a full on tick check every night before bed for my children! I agree that it is a wonder that any of us made it to adulthood! I went to visit my grandmother in the nursing home a few days ago and this little lady stopped me and my kids to talk. She asked if they were my only two and I said yes. Her response was "you need to have more children; because if something would happen to one of them, you would only have one left". I was almost in tears after that! Geesh!

Just wondering if anybody else has extreme panic when it comes to your children. My sons are 3 and 1 and I lay in bed at night and panic about all of the what ifs! I think about the highway close to our house and can't get the mental image out of my mind of them running into the traffic. We live by a pond and I panic over them possible getting out of the house and falling in. I panic about them sleep walking out of the house; or choking on the simplest of foods. I just wondered if anybody else deals with this and what you do to make yourself calm down when you are really panicked about it!

I have always been told that it is because so many people with anxiety are the "perfectionist" type personality. Being that I fit into that category; when I went to therapy, my therapist explained that often times these kinds of behaviors are due to the control factor. When the world feels like it is out of control, etc, it is a way for us to feel like we are in control of something. This is often why eating disorders also find their way into this kind of category. Control, control, control!

I feel like I've come home on this post! I have done many of the things written about (or similar). I also used to do this weird thing when I was younger that I have also grown out of. I think I might have posted about this on a previous thread, but I couldn't go to sleep unless the first number on the clock could evenly divide into the second numbers. Like it would have to be 7:21, 8:32; 11:44 or something like that! Some nights when I was so tired it would drive me nuts because all I wanted was to go to bed, but I had to do it or I felt something bad would happen! Craziness!

I know that the first time I went to therapy I felt the same as you. I felt like "how can I tell someone who I don't even know all of the things that I can't even bring myself to tell my family?" It almost made me feel as if I was more of a failure than I had felt like before. But once I went, I realized that it was the catalyst to help me to be able to communicate better with my family. Since they do this for a living they can not only give you a lot of tools to help with whatever you are going through, but they also give you the insight to help you deal with it at some point without them. That is what it did for me. It gave me the knowledge to be able to utilize my family and friends around me and ask them for what I need.

I think I have learned that it is okay to leave them for periods of time, I just really still struggle with leaving them overnight. My youngest is a year and I haven't left him overnight at all. My oldest we left when he was a year and a half for one night for a wedding and then I had to leave him with my mom one night and husband the other when I was in the hospital for the second birth. I think i struggle with it because I know that as a mother I hear everything and I worry that others will not hear those little things that I have intuned!

I have found that my anxiety has increased with each child. Before I had children I didn't find that it affected my life as much. After my first child I struggled leaving him, but forced myself to do it (although only once overnight and he is now 3). And when I had my second son I found that my anxiety and worry for both of them increased to a point of being a little over protective. I, too, lost a baby in between the two and can totally see what your thoughts were with the fear of losing another. My mother and I have talked about this often, as she dealt with this, too. I agree with some of the other posts, that you have to just do what you feel comfortable with and deal with it baby steps that you feel comfortable with. I get frustrated with people who tell me that I "have to" start leaving them overnight (they are 3 and 1). I work through my other anxiety in the best way i know how to, and I don't feel it is necessary for me to go that far to prove myself!

I do have some shortness of breath with exercising, but I have had asthma my whole life, so that isn't something uncommon for me after pregnancy. I consider myself to be pretty physically fit, but exercise definitely does take some work for me to get through. The reason they thought it might have to do with the rib thing is that singing takes breathing through your diaphragm differently than normal breathing. I am not able to get into my doctor for awhile since it is not an urgent matter - but we shall see what happens.