Death anxiety

[grey27]

Is death anxiety part of GAD?

>When you fear and think about death most of the time not only during the panic attack..

Has anyone ever experienced that?

[MarkW83]

Everyone is scared of death but if your like me you suffer from health anxiety and yeah it falls in to the GAD category

[Janco]

I had Anxiety and panic attacks due to heart arrhythmia problems and I was scared to go to sleep at night(thought my heart would just stop). It did not stop and it is nearly 20 years ago, and I'm still here.

I know how you feel and it's awful. I went for therapy, did breathing exercises, got involved in sport, used meds for about a year and prayed a lot. It went away, and I documented all the "victories" I had and how scared I was but got through some situations where I challenged myself(with the doctor's approval).

[vcathryn92 in reply to Janco]

This is so helpful. Thank you!

[Bostonj]

I had a high BP scare and a dr told me I potentially had a heart issue at 26 and it caused extreme health anxiety to even today where I constantly have dizzy spells hyperventilation and fear of sudden cardiac arrest. I had a fear to go to dr etc so I lived in constant fear.

I still deal w SCA fear but I control it and slow my mind to face the anxiety.

[Cbskywarn2 in reply to Bostonj]

Same here. I’m 31 now. I was 26 when I was told I have a heart problem. To make things worse, I’m an EMT/Emergency Dispatcher and the only time it affects me is when I’m the one that doesn’t feel good.

[grey27 in reply to Bostonj]

Sorry I wish you a long happy life

[Hidden]

I suffer from health anxiety too, which means when ever I hear someone who died by a heart attack, stroke or any sudden related death it worse my anxiety.

[grey27 in reply to Hidden]

So it’s all about death in the end? Or you’re just scared of suffering?

[Hidden in reply to grey27]

Suffering..

[Jeff1943]

Grey27, if you feel on the brink of self-harming go to your doctor or a hospital straight away, believe me it will stop you making the biggest mistake of your life.

Maybe it's just the fear of death that troubles you, usually there are at least two people a week who post here with an obsessive fear of death. So the answer to your question is: yes, worrying about death and the fear that death is about to strike is a very common symptom of anxiety disorder.

Let me explain why you feel this way. When our nerves become over-sensitive through too much worry, over-work or stress one of the symptoms is that it magnifies all our worries ten times. Tasks that are normally easily accomplished seem like unsummountable mountains, even driving a car can become a terrible ordeal as the normal worry about having an accident is exaggerated into an obsession.

With you, the normal concern not to die before our time becomes magnified into constant feelings of imminant death and doom.

This obsession with death is just another symptom of anxiety. To recover your quiet mind it's no use trying to treat the symptoms, you have to treat the cause: anxiety caused by sensitive nerves.

The constant fear of dying causes the release of fear hormones that sensitised nerves thrive on. So you end up in a vicious circle of fear causing an obsession with death that causes more fear causing more obsession with death etc etc. The way to recovery is to master your fear giving your nervous system a chance to recover and when they do all your symptoms including this irrational fear of death will pass.

If you can frame your mind to accept for the moment the bad feelings and troublesome thoughts calmly and without fear you will certainly recover. Acceptance takes time, it offers no quick fix, but it will bring recovery and your obsession with death will surely cease.

[grey27 in reply to Jeff1943]

I’ve never self harmed. Thanks for your long response I really appreciate that

[Tonyhope]

Yes all the time,but it's going away the thing is we can't run from death it's promise to all just live the right way

[jandlinaz]

Yes, I have. I used to work on a golf course. I would cry all the way to my job for that day. I would look around and realize how beautiful everything is and I was soon going to be missing all of it. That was 20 years ago. Somewhere along the line, the meds they prescribed helped a lot. But to this day, I can still have moments of health anxiety, e.g. just had my annual physical with a blood draw (it came out ok but I was sure something would show up), another time I had an unusual looking freckle and had to go to a dermatologist to have it biopsied (It came back as a freckle.) Best of health to you.

[grey27 in reply to jandlinaz]

Best health to you too:)!

[Directorgal]

I have bouts of this that last for months at a time. Right now for some reason I just feel like I'm going to die of a heart attack. There is really nothing physically I'm feeling that makes me think that. I just believe it. And pretty much everyday all day I think I might drop dead at any second. The only thing that takes it away, is if I get sick or hurt (my back is terrible) OR if I get totally engrossed in something like a project or something. Otherwise, I just push through each day until eventually it goes away. It's awful.

[grey27 in reply to Directorgal]

Sorry that you’re feeling this way

[Ollie33]

I think about it everyday .

[Icanbeathis2016]

Hello to you. I hope things have gotten better for you. I'm not at all new to this forum. I still check back here often. I too have the same struggle and face this fear. If you are still facing this I'd like to share my broadcast endeavor with you.

I wish us the best. 😊

youtu.be/kReK2k5cSCw(Not working as expected?)