Constant fear of death ruining my life!

[dannibear94]

Hi, I'm new here and I'm just looking for some advice as it'd be much appriciated.
Basically my fear of death began to stem in the summer of 2010 due to a relative in the family who I didn't even know suddenly died from a blood clot in the leg he was only young. However even though I didn't know him it affected me quite badly to think that my own body could kill me.
Since this happend I have suffered a couple of bad panic attacks where I've lost my vision, I have had a few spells where I've overcome my anxiety for months only to find it come crashing back and ruin everything for me!
I've been to the doctors multiple times convinced I had life threating illnesses only to be told they are minor things. Despite this every ache pain I feel I'm convinced it's death related. I'm only 17 and it's really getting me down especially this month because it's my favourite time of year and I can't enjoy it :( like tonight I've been lay in bed for 5 hours now trying to sleep only to find myself jolting back up with strange tingling sensations in my chest. I don't want to take medication because when my sister suffered depression she said it made her feel worse. My parents ignore the fact what I'm going through because I find it hard to talk about I feel alone and the constant worry is ruining my personal life also. I'm a young girl I should be having fun living life to the max and not worrying about death :(
sorry for the essay hope somebody can help me
many thanks - Danielle <3

[Em84]

Awwwww hi Hun :hugs:
I have this as well, pretty much all the time. I've tried to think back to where it could have started...the beginning of last year from stress I had alopecia areata where I lost a full eyebrow and lots of hair on the top of my head....eventually it grew back then about 6 months ago I had another patch. I remember the first time I had no anxiety at all but remember googling about alopecia and it gave some crazy causes which I think triggered it thinking I had a major underlying disease
I've tried Citalopram which didn't work and Sertraline (both prescribed) the Sertraline was giving me bad side effects so I went cold turkey about 4 weeks ago....I'm feeling bad today, super adrenaline rush and dizzy, shaky!
I get so fed up and I'm sure my doctor thinks I'm mad, I'm 27 with two kids so the stress is always there especially at this time of year.
Your so young at 17, losing someone close or not can impact you....I think you should speak with your doctor...

YOU ALWAYS have here to come to...my husband doesn't believe the anxiety thing and isn't much use to talk to...he thinks I'm weird.

This site is a great place to talk to others or just checking the forum can help put your mind at rest...

Xxx

[countrygirl]

Suddenly being faced with our mortality is a nasty experience and this is what happened to you. Most people can forget about it but it can trigger health anxiety in a person who is prone to anxiety.

You are so so young and personally having suffered from health anxiety since the age of 4 due to trauma of illness and death I would hate for it to ruin your life like it has mine.

I do not want to sound in any way cruel but having now got to age 50 I can say that you can either enjoy your life, live in the now not in the what ifs of the future or you can spend all your life worrying about every single bodily symptom and get to 50 and realise how you have wasted your life and yes everyone dies its none negotianable:).

Ask your Dr for some CBT therapy as this can change your way of thinking and hopefully you can then enjoy life, if only this had been available when I was a child:huh:

We all on here know what you are going through and some of us have suffered as I say all our lives and despite therapy still suffer but you are too young and need to go out there and enjoy life please:bighug1:

[pablo22]

hey! just want to give u a :hugs: , ur not alone with these feelings, i constantly fear for my life, having been told theres nothing physically wrong with me, had numberous panic attacks over the years, so i am completely sympathetic <3

[justina]

Hello, I understand you so well, since my father died I have been constantly afraid of dying.
I have read that this is not rare at all, someone dies and you realize that death is for real and not just in the movies.
You are so young and you certainly will not die yet for many many years... maybe you should try psychotherapy. It's really a pity someone so young like you should worry about these things.:hugs:

[ConAnima]

Hi there.
I know exactly what you're going through I think the only thing I really think about is dying and how I might die today or in a moment etc..
Every single thing my body does I notice and worry about. I'm so tuned in to every process that's happening that I can't even sit and read a book 'cause I'll feel something and be up and trying to distract myself. Every night when I go to sleep I bolt up and start freaking out 'cause I think about dying and I end up slapping myself in the face to stop the thoughts.
I've been like this since I was 16 I'm 33 this week..
I wanted to tell you that I never got help although I tried and it never went anywhere.
No one really understood or knew what to do. Maybe your Doctors and Medical people will be better but I'm writing to you urging you to speak to them and get some help because I've ruined my life with this and now I just accept this is how I will always feel probably. But you can get this fixed somehow and please take the steps. Don't end up like me and have faith you will be ok one day :0) xx

[kentucky]

I know this post is over a year old, but I'm experiencing the same thing. I am a single mother, mid 30's, & feel like every tingle/flutter/ache/etc... is something major that will lead to certain death. I am so sick of living like this. I get so tired of worrying all the time! I know now that I'm not alone, which helps. Has anyone here overcame this craziness? What helps?

[Graham2012]

I can totally relate to this all my life till 2 years ago everything was fine then i had a health scare and like most here i now fear every ache and pain i was able to deal with it for a while by reassurance from GP that i was ok and i was suffering anxiety, then bang the sudden realization i am going to die hit me this made the anxiety much much worse i never had this aspect to it at all before and this just makes it worse as i guess fear is the driver of all this anxiety and fear of the end is there for us all but people who dont suffer this anxiety take this for granted as did I 2 years ago i am currently taking CBT and will bring this up on sunday in a hope to find a way to free myself of this fear.
Hang in there guys this seems to be a common factor in this anxiety.

[Evan Ramboz]

Hi,

Just reading all of these posts is a great help, as it allows me to understand that the way I am feeling is not something that ONLY I am feeling, but something that (sadly) is incredibly common; and more importantly, has a cause.

Since the age of 16, I've had episodes of worrying about my health, about death, and in my late teens, I lost 2 friends, one 16, and one 19, to diseases that struck them down while they slept. Until recently the fear, and the panic, and the state of not being able to think about anything else, was only intermittent, at times of great stress, now and again.

I am now 27, and since October last year, it has become a greater presence in my life. In this month I spent a week barely sleeping and eating, and was incredibly close to committing myself by the end (got as far as the doors of the psychiatric hospital).

Currently, I am more able to rationalise this feeling, to understand that it is a way of my feelings of anxiety about other areas of my life, to manifest themselves, and in fact to guard against the depression that lies behind it all.

A few weeks back at the end of a health-scare period, I realised I was simply feeling depressed, and no longer panicked, or tense with thoughts of death. This was one of the strangest feelings I have experienced, for in that moment, I was overjoyed, to be experiencing a simple depression; this was something I knew, and I knew that my moind was finally experiencing the sadness that all the all my non-existent health problems had been distracting from.

Anyway, I have recently begun a psychoanalysis, in order to begin dealing with these feelings. For me, the realisation that thinking about my health, and own body, serves as a means of stopping me thinking about any other problems, was an incredibly important one.

I would love to exchange more stories of coping with this, as through it all I have realised, if there's one thing that will get you through, it's the support of other people.

E

[dann]

I use to be like that but now I'm the other way around, I'm welcoming death!

Death is inevitable and it will happen, but it's one of those things you need to ignore because there's nothing we can do about it.

Whenever I'm thinking of death etc I force myself into thinking about The Lion King - Circle of Life, puts a different twist on it and can be quite calming

[Khadijah]

I overcame my fear of death by simply thinking, if I die, then I die; nothing can be done about it.

I'm also an Atheist which made it hard at first. I'd imagine it would be easier to overcome for religious folk!

My dad is an atheist and he doesn't fear dying, I am a Muslim and although I believe in Heaven, I freak out about dying all the time :weep: because I also believe in hell..
It's just the unknown I suppose that leads us to feel this way

---------- Post added at 17:31 ---------- Previous post was at 17:30 ----------

I can totally relate! My fear started about a year ago and these past few month's has effected my life. I have had a few small panic attacks and one bigger one a few days ago. I constantly nearly every minute of the day think 'what If I die right now of a heart attack'... I sit shaking and crying in the corner like a nervous wreck. I was diagnosed with symptoms of anxiety today and sent for counselling, I hope this helps! I recommend speaking to your doctor because I know feeling this was is messing up our lives!!

[ihavetheanswer]

EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT, THERE IS A SOLUTION this is necrophobia and it is CURABLE.
I had the exact same problem where this fear of death would consume me, i would think about dying what happens after and scare myself into panic attacks, it felt like there was a pressure on my chest and i wasn't sure this feeling would go away. i had a few good days and bad days but sometimes the days turned into weeks and so on. I am so glad that i have supporting and caring parents who i reached out too, they may not fully understand the problem but the tried their best and i had a few other people who were helping.
The thing is i googled it to see if i had a problem and i found this blog but it didn't get me any answers, later my friend found me a therapist who solved my problem through hypnosis but there are many other ways to do it. Basically what we have is necrophobia which is and irrational fear of death that can be triggered by many things. i urge you to go to this website about "How to defeat Necrophobia, The irrational fear of death" it will help a lot just type it on google!
This isn't a life time problem it is fully curable, even if you don't believe in hypnosis what is the harm in trying it when it can solve your problem, please go to a therapist even if you don't want to go though hypnosis.
Im sorry this is really late but i just want anyone who has this problem to know that everything lis fine and things can go back to normal. please email me of you have any inquires!

---------- Post added at 23:10 ---------- Previous post was at 23:08 ----------

hi, you have necrophobia an irrational fear of death please look at my post at the end of this thread because there is a solution to this.

[ShannonR]

Hello,

I know this post this old but wondering if anyone can help me also.

I have recently been having the fear of death constantly, mainly at night when I am in bed and it is keeping me up at night.

I was in a car crash in October last year where the car flipped over several times into a field whilst doing about 70mph and very lucky to be alive with only minor injuries. Just after that in November, a close colleague committed suicide and then another colleague died in January (wasn't very close but worked along side) due to cancer who was only in his 40's and then my dog had to be put down due to cancer at the end of January this year.

I am unsure if any of these things have a part to play in this as I have experienced deaths in the family before with my Granddad passing away around 5 years ago although I was not very close to him and also a family friend.

I haven't spoken to anyone about this as I feel they will not understand or that they might think I am being over dramatic as I know pretty much everyone fears death but for some reason I can't stop thinking about it recently and unsure if I would be wasting the doctors time going to see them about this as it is such a common thing.

Thanks all! x