Anxiety Support Group

Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...

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Extreme anxiety

Annethomas
Annethomas

I have always struggled with anxiety and I worry and worry about the people I love. Most of the time I'm able to brush it aside thinking I'm being irrational etc But sometimes it's just too hard.


Recently I was putting my son to bed and a thought just popped into my head about the radiation that comes of a tv. 


My son is 6 now and he has always had a habit of standing very very close to the screen. It just how he likes to watch tv. We correct it most of the time but sometimes he'll just keep standing there. He's six now so I just keep thinking that's about 5 years of exposure to radiation! We have a LED Tv so I'm told it's not that bad - but I have this crushing fear and guilt and it's all rolled into one giant ball of anxiety - I fear he'll get cancer or a tumour or something now that I've exposed him so much. This little boy is my whole life and I just imagine something bad happening to him. My friends and family don't understand. They think I'm being silly. I cannot function at all- im gripped with fear. And now everywhere I look I see kids with cancer etc and I just can't handle it - I fear I've put my son into the 'high risk' group for catching cancer - I just don't know what to do - I want to scream and cry as I keep thinking of the worst. Please someone just advise. Please. Thank you. 

Gladdmatt
Gladdmatt
It's wonderful how much you love your son; wish I had such love when I was his age. I have no kids but I manage to have plenty of anxiety attacks, sometimes over the smallest thing. You're right to be concerned about all the toxins your boy gets exposed to in today's polluted world, but IMHO there's genuine concern and then there are anxiety attacks. It sound like you have the distinction clear in your mind. I hope your anxiety goes away. As for your son, maybe you can make a game out of having him sit farther away from the TV, like he'll win a prize. Sometimes, too, kids respond to the notion of being grown up; you could tell him that grown-ups sit a certain distance from the TV, and he's a grown-up. You might also get his eyes checked if you haven't lately. I pray your anxiety passes.
Annethomas
Annethomas
Thank you so much for your reply :) I'm still struggling and trying to push the anxiety away :( I just feel so guilty about not realizing the tv could be harming him and putting a stop to it sooner - then there's iPad and nintendos etc etc ... I just feel so overwhelmed and doomed.... as for my son he's actually quite fine - and healthy and happy - I just feel like something bad will happen nevertheless :((
Tired
Tired
I would find a psychiatrist that can give you medication. It helps a great deal. Also, find a therapist that specializes in anxiety. You need to be able to get your anxiety down to a manageable level.
cookiewoman
cookiewoman
I can see that you care for your son very much. You're really stressed because you feel out of control in the situation. You do need to talk to a counselor/therapist because you appear to have an anxiety disorder. They can help you accept the things you don't have control over and help you rely more on logic than your emotions and that's really what you're needing in order for you to have peace of mind.
4nkrgg
4nkrgg
When we worry about things that could happen we are not accomplishing anything positive. What we are doing is adding more stress to our situation. Unfortunately, children sense this too.
Instead, turn your worries into concerns. That way, you can actively do something positive and correct it. Just as you were doing, but you need to be consistent. And if that doesn’t work, you have every right as a parent who wants only the best for her child, to be prepared to turn it off. Your child doesn’t understand the consequences. But you do! I hope all the best for you and your son.
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