lizatola

I don't know about any of you, but I tend to be a worrier. It exhausts me. I know all the lines from Al Anon, I call my sponsor, I call my mom, I write it in a journal, yet I am so weighed down by worry.

For instance: my ds has been suffering from 4-5 days of diarrhea now. No other symptoms, no pain, no bloating, no fever, etc. He feels fine other than having to run to the bathroom 5 times a day. So, I sit here and think about it WAY TOO MUCH: maybe he needs to have a stool sample test done? maybe it's serious and he needs surgery on his colon? maybe it's a bacterial infection? what if this keeps up through next week when he has school and tennis, etc and he can't get to a bathroom in time?

See? This is how crazy I am! Instead of just turning it over to God, I go through a million what if scenarios and take it to the most extreme possibility. I did this with my AH and all the crap that goes with him, too.

FYI: I took ds to the doctor yesterday and he thinks we should give it more time and then try antibiotics. I told him that antibiotics always give my son serious diarrhea to begin with so I'm really hoping we don't have to go that route. That's all he needs: you have diarrhea, but you treat it with more diarrhea? WTF?

Anyway, I just wanted to let the worriers know they are not alone and I wanted to see what tools everyone else uses to handle their worries.

Johnston

I'm a big worrier too. Runs strong on my mother's side of the family. Diet, exercise, social interaction, sleep....all these help. I have also found that hobbies help to distract me from worrying too much. Lastly, I don't fight it. Anxiety is more a character trait than a defect IMO. If there weren't sensitive people our species would have died out long ago. (:

rigby101

My AH went to collect the car at 9am. Spent the day trying to be normal but the worry and anxiety are winning. fighting the urge to go and try to find him and bring him home, not to save him, simply to save myself!?

HopefulinFLA

Rigby I hear you! I used to go to collect my RAH's keys from him when he was drinking at the bar. There's a lot less trouble to be found on foot than behind the wheel.

jessicajoe

Hiya Lizatola
I'm a worrier too. In fact I was sharing at a meeting last night that as I start to feel a bit better about/with my A I'm remembering all the things I used to worry about (like the need to repair the kitchen ceiling) and thinking I just forgot to worry about all that stuff for a couple of months and now I'm remembering ughh !!

I worried so much about my kids' health when they were little my doctor cousin (patient man that he was) used to jokingly call it "hypochondria by proxy" In fact it was only when I shared with my girlfriends that I was worried that my worrying would do the kids some sort of damage that I discovered lots of them worried the same way.

Absolutely not medical advice but....kids' diarrhea can go on a bit, my doc once said to call back after 11 days. I hope he feels better soon.

rigby101

Couldn't stomach it. went and found him. hes now crying on the sofa but safe!?

NWGRITS

It could be anything, really. I hate the doctors who throw antibiotics at everything. If it's not a bacterial infection, you don't need antibiotics! Likely it's just viral and will run its course. If he starts having pain, fevers, or BLOOD, get him to a doc. My Crohn's Disease started out as "just IBS" and then progressively got worse and worse. I oftentimes have to wonder if I'm really flaring or if I've picked up a virus. Anyway, try to not borrow too much trouble for another few days. If it doesn't let up or it gets worse, definitely get him back in to be seen, preferably by a specialist.

OnawaMiniya

Can I ask, do you tend toward this kind of worrying with others, yourself, or both? Asking because the example you have was of you worrying for/about someone else.

If it's others, does it tend to be a few, or one, select people/person?

Peace.

hopeful4

You are not alone! I too come from a long line of worriers. I hate to say, i finally had to be medicated, the worry and anxiety were too much. It does help along w the things others have mentioned. Hope your DS is better soon!

Quish16

Honestly - Lizatola you are not alone. I have always said I will worry myself into an early grave but I have got a little better as I have got older and managed to 'detach' a little from my AH - the number of times I have watched him passed out and convinced myself he was in an alcoholic coma when he was just drunk....I worry dreadfully about my feline family too but I do think knowledge is powwer, and the more I read about breeding/feline health the better I feel but yes, I still worry. I guess you need to talk things over with someone you trust......that has helped me but deep down I think we are worriers or not and you and I are in that camp although hopefully you can stop it taking over your life which I encountered int he spring when mega stressed.

lizatola

Everyone, including myself. Actually, just yesterday we were heading out for a family hike and the dog lunged while I was holding the leash and I couldn't move my leg around a large rock that was next to the trail, so my shin smashed against the rock and I had a 3 inch bump in like 3 seconds. I took two steps and realized we had to turn around.

As soon as I inspected the wound, I immediately saw myself in the hospital with a blood clot or something because my vein was inflamed on my leg and of course, there was quite a bit of blood, too. I always have to remind myself that my own mind gets carried away. FYI: it's healing well and the swelling is down to just a 1/4 of an inch now.

As for my son, he's still battling the loose stools so I guess I'll be calling the doctor in the AM to see about getting some stool testing done to rule out parasites or see if there is a bacterial issue. As NWGrits made mention, Crohn's disease has crossed my mind, but I try not to worry about this stuff too much. I figure if it was truly something bad, that he would have more symptoms like cramping, nausea, bloating, or even a fever, but there's been none of that. I'm still hoping this will just run it's course. In the meantime, I have him back on a regular diet except for the sugar and dairy because he's already lactose and fructose intolerant.