Fear of death.

[Sunflowersav]

So my anxiety and panic attacks have been very frequent lately, and I’m waiting to see a doctor. But I have this horrible feeling that I’m dying or that I’m going to die either in my sleep or pass out during the day and just never wake back up. It’s 2am and I can’t even sleep when I have work tmw morning at 8am because I’m terrified I won’t wake up. It’s taking a toll on me because it fucks with my sleep schedule so some days I sleep hours on end and some I can’t sleep at all. Any tips?

[EleanorRose]

Hi Sunflowersav,

This sounds really frightening.

I can relate to the fear of dying ‘soon’ - it’s something I’ve experienced on and off, in differing forms, for years.

I’m glad you’re going to see a doctor. Hopefully they will be able to treat your panic attacks and put your mind at rest about dying. It’s likely that if your anxiety is reduced, those fears will lessen anyway.

In the meantime, have you tried anything to relax yourself?

Mindfulness, listening to peaceful music, breathing exercises or even herbal remedies for anxiety and/or sleeping. I can tell by the time you’re not in the UK but Holland and Barrett (if they have that where you are) do a lot of those types of things that could be worth a try.

You are going to wake up. The chances of you not are minuscule - think about how many times you’ve thought it and the fact that every time you have woken up - you have much more evidence that you won’t die than you will.

You do need to sleep, your tiredness is probably adding to your anxiety. However, sometimes if I am struggling to sleep I find it useful just to get up and do something (not something that involves screens and I try not to put the ceiling light on, just a lamp, so it’s not too bright and doesn’t make me ‘too awake’) - laying in bed worrying is horrible and sometimes I find it helps my anxiety if I just do something else - breaking the cycle of just laying there worrying about dying and worrying about not sleeping over and over.

Good luck with this, I hope you get some rest soon. You’re going to be ok ❤️

[Natsteveo]

That’s health anxiety for ya... had it 12 years and it’s awful to have it’s usually something that’s triggered it though mine was the death of my mother and had a lot of trauma growing up if you can identify your trigger it’s the first step of controlling it

Nat

[raymond58]

I had that 10 years ago now. it took tablets and patience to allow condition to settle down. I was working in the Banking industry dealing with Fraud on Debit cards and I had to walk away from a good job to deal with it. The way I dealt was sleeping with curtains open at night. During the day going for walks through woods and only talking about positive things and staying away from negative subjects and people. It was a year before I felt capable of going back to work in a less stressful job. You need to realize how important you are just being you and to ignore the haters. You are a beautiful person warts and all. Perfection is a myth and what is in your heart is more important.

[kenster1]

embrace the life you have enjoy it to the fullest try not worry about the inevitable don't let it spoil the here and now.