Fear and Death

[jwhitleyjr]

I am pretty much ashamed to place this post. But this is the first time where I am fearing death.. I have General Anxiety Disorder but my trigger feels like pure fear and when I get triggered it feels like a shard shop to my heart, then I get a headache. This is a shame because I was recovering well from my GAD and now I am trying to conquer what causes my GAD in the first place. I just fear of being literally shock/scared to death from chest pains and headaches. So all of this is a shame.

[Ak771]

I had the same thing happen to me about 10 years ago, and now I'm going through severe panic attacks from a separate issue.After losing a baby to miscarriage I had anxiety and panic over dying. I always thought there was something wrong and would run to the hospital all the time thinking I was dying. I was having panic. I started taking lexapro then and it took a little while but it did help me. Talking to a therapist is also very helpful or just anyone really. So of u ever need to chat don't hesitate to reach out. I could use a friend to chat with too.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Ak771]

Thank you for your reply. I just feel that my situation is more than anxiety, my trigger is causing pure fear. I will try and pull through.

[Mamatired in reply to Ak771]

I did this too and would walk over to the hospital from work on occasion. It becomes so debilitating and I felt like I had bad tunnel vision. I thought I was having a stroke from the anxiety and pains too. It’s so frustrating when you don’t know what’s going on with your body and it goes into that mode of being.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

I hear you.

[ShareYourLove]

Aww... I'm sorry to hear you're struggling. I understand you're feeling scared and fearing death around every corner and every little body sensation freaks you out. I also understand feeling a bit of shame about feeling like that - like, "other people don't deal with this and can't relate" - BUT - be gentle and accepting of yourself. There are plenty of people who experience these things day-in and day-out and never own or accept this aspect of themselves. And, these are really at the heart of GAD - feeling scared and your body goes into hypersensitivity mode, when there is no real actual danger, right? So, there's no shame in that at all.

It feels good to get it out, to vent, and to share in an anonymous board with others. It's good you shared it. Even just expressing yourself helps!

There's many of us who have similar feelings and to hear others sharing, helps! I've tried just telling myself - for every one of these panic/death attacks - how many have actually resulted in death?

We've survived every single one of them and we're still doing just fine. We're not dead and we're not dying. We're totally okay and we just have to talk and rationalize our way through each one.

Challenge the racing thoughts and push back - have these ever killed me before?

I hope you feel better and please, don't ever feel shame. You are special, uniquely gifted and truly one-of-a-kind!

♥️

[jwhitleyjr in reply to ShareYourLove]

Thank you so much and you are correct. I am still here.

[Mamatired in reply to ShareYourLove]

I love your recommendation on challenging the thoughts. It is a very helpful strategy that my therapist suggested to me as well and can help over time

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

But to get it off my chest, it feels like pure fear at times and not anxiety.

[Mamatired in reply to jwhitleyjr]

It’s a scary feeling. Have you tried just feeling it thru or grounding yourself? I feel so silly recommending that because when you’re in that state of mind it’s so scary and it’s hard to come back

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

Oh, what I mean by fear is my trigger. I can try to ground myself. I just git freaked out last night reading an online article saying fears kills. How when you get scared/triggered what it can do to your heart.

[Mamatired in reply to jwhitleyjr]

Ohhh I get it yes fear itself triggers you. I wouldn’t doubt that fear has effects on our bodies. The mind body connection is so strong and can impact each other drastically. For instance my anxiety and fears have caused me to feel weaker, feel strain in my throat and chest and jaw/head and causes headaches too. It’s important for us to try and work our way away from feeling fear so that our bodies can be strong and healthy. You are safe, you are safe, you are safe. Bad things happen but right now, you are safe.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

You got it. So I just feel like my health is getting bad because of being triggered by a particular fear.

[Mamatired in reply to jwhitleyjr]

I’m sorry to hear that. It’s so frustrating. Fear is like this incessant hole that grows bigger and bigger. I don’t know why but with me, I feel like I keep feeding it what it wants and let it grow and have to remind myself not to feed it.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

Keep doing activities and my job.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

Yes same here I have relapsed a bit on this.

[Mamatired in reply to jwhitleyjr]

Same, if it’s okay, I’ll remind you to remember not to feed your fear. It’s not hungry today and had a big McDonald’s meal so it should be fine for a few days.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

Yes, thank you so much.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Mamatired]

Well the only thing I can say is just keep living.

[Agora1 in reply to jwhitleyjr]

Hi jwhitleyjr Actually, the difference between pure fear and anxiety is that

anxiety comes from a thought and not a reality. Pure fear is when something

real scares you, a lion, tiger, you're in harm's way.

The feeling is caused by the rush of adrenaline in either case.

I was doing some research last night for someone else on the forum but inadvertently

deleted the post by mistake. I hope he PMs me again.

I think this site can help you with your concerns regarding b/p.

Type in Calm Clinic /

How Anxiety Affects Blood Pressure It's a good article xx

[mvillarreal]

I'm sorry you're going through this. I think we all worry about death from time to time, but it can be especially severe when we're dealing with anxiety. Just curious, what are your beliefs/uncertainties about what happens when we die? If you're open to the idea of an afterlife, there are thousands of what are called "near-death experiences" that often have remarkably similar elements on nderf.org. While it does not prove that there is life after death, it does give hope, at least for me.

[Bella_lee]

Hi @ jwhitleyjr you have nothing to be ashamed of in sharing how you're feeling. You are so brave for sharing and I want to encourage you not to despair or loose hope. I pray that you will conquer this fear and recover fully from GAD. You will continue to be strong even when the fear comes and eventually they will subside and you will still be alive and standing strong. That's my prayer for you.

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Bella_lee]

Thank you so muchGod Bless You

[catch_the_music]

Continue to push through the fear like you are doing. It gets a little easier each time you do.

In the Bible, Psalm 27:14 says - "Wait on the Lord. Be courageous, and he will strengthen your heart. Wait on the Lord!" Keep stepping through the fearful situations - praying for God's strength every day. In time, you will feel better. There are a lot of passages in the Bible on fear - check them out. Good stuff! Prayers for your success!

[jwhitleyjr in reply to catch_the_music]

Thank you. God Bless.

[Agora1 in reply to jwhitleyjr]

How are you tonight jwhitleyjr?

[jwhitleyjr in reply to Agora1]

I am fine Agora.