Anonymous wrote:Who are these people who don’t have these thoughts and are you really really happy? I wish I could know and get there, medication didn’t help, so how can I be like the happy people?

To the OP, every few minutes, constantly, always, even when I wake up to go pee or something i think of dying and someone finding me. The worst the absolute worst is during pregnancy and thinking about birth and dying during childbirth.

I think it's a brain chemistry thing. Some people don't suffer from anxiety and intrusive thoughts. Must be nice!

Who are these people who don’t have these thoughts and are you really really happy? I wish I could know and get there, medication didn’t help, so how can I be like the happy people?

To the OP, every few minutes, constantly, always, even when I wake up to go pee or something i think of dying and someone finding me. The worst the absolute worst is during pregnancy and thinking about birth and dying during childbirth.

Extremely rarely. Sometimes I will think about what our lives would look like if my husband or child gets sick and dies, but I very quickly am able to push them out of my head. It is not something that just generally enters my brain.

Every day all of these.

Anonymous wrote:Please, save the “get help OP” comments. I am truly trying to gauge, on an anonymous forum, how often you have these thoughts.
Never-rarely-sometimes-often

Flashing images of:
Your child getting hit by a car
Your child dying in your arms
Freak accidents/brain injury

Thoughts of:
This is too good to be true, this won’t last, we are being set up for heartache.
Hold this moment, might not come again.

Fears:
Tumors
Cancer
Death

Incredibly often. Maybe daily, certainly is weekly. And yes, I’ve considered getting help but every time I find a therapist they can’t fit me in/have a wait list etc

OP here.

I sincerely THANK YOU for this kind and varied responses.

I'll be honest, here. A lot of it is "caused" by instagram. Accidentally click on one photo of a child with cancer, and then your entire "interest" feed is cancer kids. You have to click on a lot of other photos to get rid of them and then block the accounts. I have gotten sucked into reading some terrible stories.

Thank you for the replies.

A few times a year maybe?

I definitely have such thoughts, but for me they are not daily or intrusive...more like daydreams (daynightmares?) when I let my mind wander or when I can't sleep. So, from my experience, it seems like there is a range of normal, and they only become a problem if they interfere with one's life. And I am not counting when my teenage son is not home by midnight and not responding to texts, because I think in such situations worrying about a car accident etc. is justified . FWIW, I don't remember having these types of thoughts before the kids were born, so I get how the evolution theory makes sense. Good luck OP, and, if possible, I would try not to worry about having such worries, if that makes sense.

I have the child getting hit by a car anxiety regularly, because I was hit by a car and seem to have transfered that trauma onto my child. I do get help for it, but it doesn't go away.

Often!

Anonymous wrote:Please, save the “get help OP” comments. I am truly trying to gauge, on an anonymous forum, how often you have these thoughts.
Never-rarely-sometimes-often

Flashing images of:
Your child getting hit by a car
Your child dying in your arms
Freak accidents/brain injury

Thoughts of:
This is too good to be true, this won’t last, we are being set up for heartache.
Hold this moment, might not come again.

Fears:
Tumors
Cancer
Death

Only the potential accidents. Those very disturbing thought flash in my mind fairly frequently and are always upsetting.


As for the good moments, I try hard to identify those amazing moments and feel gratitude.

Anonymous wrote:Daily to weekly. My midwife once said something very helpful to me: this is evolution's way of making sure we keep our kids safe. Women 10,000 years ago probably obsessed over a saber tooth tiger eating their baby out of a cave. Our brains are wired to worry, that's how we have survived this long. Mothers who didn't worry about their children were careless with them and their line died out.

Our pediatrician said pretty much the same thing to us - maybe she and your midwife know each other

Same boat in having these thoughts regularly, but not obsessively. I do have occasional bouts of anxiety; the thoughts occur more often during those times.

Daily to weekly. My midwife once said something very helpful to me: this is evolution's way of making sure we keep our kids safe. Women 10,000 years ago probably obsessed over a saber tooth tiger eating their baby out of a cave. Our brains are wired to worry, that's how we have survived this long. Mothers who didn't worry about their children were careless with them and their line died out.

Anonymous wrote:I am so shocked by the answers.

I have all of these thoughts, multiple times a day, every day.

It used to be worse, specifically the images of my kids dying. That went down after I took Zoloft and they got out of the baby stage.

I still worry every day about me or one of them or DH dying.

I honestly thought this was just part of being human and being blessed with people I love so absolutely-of course you’re going to think about it all being taken away in an instant.

Same here. I worry that I'm too lucky and something is bound to go terribly wrong (though my life is far from perfect...)

These are intrusive thoughts and are associated with anxiety. I have the first category a couple times a week. The rest, never. OP if these are interfering with your life then you should seek help. I mean that kindly.