Having anxiety whilst pregnant

I've never begun a pregnancy whilst having anxiety. Now that I have I can say it's pretty scary.

My anxiety began around 2 and a half years ago. I don't know what triggered it. There is nothing I can think of around that time that was traumatic for me. No bad news, no bad health news, no devastating event. When my anxiety started I had no idea what was going on with my body. I suddenly started to get pins and needles in my hands almost every night. Then it would be my arms and legs. This then caused me to worry and my heart would pump faster from panicking that I was about to have a heart attack. Things spiraled from there. I started to experience other weird symptoms such as tingling lips, palpitations, itchiness, pains in my chest, hot flashes, stomach pains and other body aches and pains.

So what did I do...

I did the worst thing possible and the one thing that you shouldn't do. Google. Each night I would Google all my symptoms and create a disease or condition for myself. Over many months I convinced myself that I was going to have a heart attack, I had IBS, MS, diabetes, meningitis, cancer, leukemia, fibromyalgia. The list is endless. This all probably sounds crazy to people who don't suffer with anxiety. My parents thought that I was going crazy. But to people who are going through this same disorder all this will sound familiar. And yes anxiety is a disorder. It's called generalised anxiety disorder or GAD for short.

Having anxiety whilst pregnant is definitely noticeable. My other two pregnancies were full of symptoms that I took with a pinch of salt and believed that it was just pregnancy related and normal. This pregnancy is a different story. Any pain or discomfort I'm worrying isn't normal. But I have to wonder is my anxiety creating these symptoms. For example when I feel a pain that I've never experienced in pregnancy before I start to think on it then worry about it then panic about it. This then sets off my anxiety triggering anxiety symptoms such as tingling of the lips or palpitations or hot flashes. I try to suppress the worrying but then I have a war going on in my head and body.

I'm feeling like this pregnancy will kill me which is an extreme thought. But it's a thought that people with anxiety will understand. This has been my worst pregnancy. Is that because it's my third one and I'm older than I was with the other two and that I have a busier life with two different school runs and a three year old who wants to be carried all the time. Or is it because I have an anxiety disorder?