Fear of Sudden Death Syndrome

[hermionegranger]

I am currently lying in bed at 1:24am and have to be up at 8am, but cannot fall asleep. I am on the verge of a panic attack over my fear of SADS, which I am convinced will happen to me tonight and I won't wake up in the morning. I know the likelihood of this is infinitely miniscule (particularly because I'm a teenage girl) but I can't take my mind off of it. I took Ativan and it calmed me but not enough to sleep. Any advice or comfort would be appreciated

[tiredofthis14]

hun this is my biggest fear too
logically i know its ridiculously rare
keep your chin up x

[hermionegranger]

Ended up falling asleep around 4 am until I woke up randomly at 7. Cannot stop thinking about this occurrence, particularly since all my anxiety centers around death. Glad to know I'm not the only one but still desperate for this to stop

[Nicholebear]

Hmmm I know how you feel to an extent. My fear wasn't of dying spontaneously, but of the inevitability.

I started looking at it this way, since I am going to die, should I waste my life worrying about that?

If you DID die tomorrow (you won't die tomorrow) would you want you're last days to be full of fear?

You and I are both too young to worry about it. There are people in hospitals right now begging to be in your shoes.

I know it is difficult but you can overcome it. Do you listen to music? I've found that making a station on Pandora.com helped me out a lot. When your thoughts get too overwhelming, play music and focus on that. It really does help!!

[Fishmanpa]

I would suggest buying a lotto ticket as you stand a better chance of hitting than you do of having this incredibly rare genetic issue.

Please share if you win :)

Positive thoughts

[Nathd1991]

Hello there, sorry to hear you're having a rough time of things, alas we all go through them when we're suffering from anxiety at some point. Sometimes you have to look at the facts and use logical judgment regardless of what your anxious mind is trying to make you believe.

For example, your fear at the moment is Sudden death syndrome. It's not a silly fear and in your head the threat is real. Don't worry I've been there myself with numerous cancers, brain tumors, heart conditions and neurological death sentences. Most Health anxiety sufferers have and it's exhausting :unsure:. Sometimes though you have to separate what your anxiety is telling you and consider the reality of the situation. For example, Sudden adult death syndrome affects twice as many men as woman. It tends to appear in those who are in their 30's and 40's. Overall as well it affects only 3000 people in the age ranges of 16 to 64!! That's millions of people with only a tiny fraction of people suffering. Just keep in mind the facts and see through the scare tactics of anxiety :)

[Krayo]

That must suck. It's like fearing a plane falling on your house.
And just as ridiculous~ take care of yourself

[hermionegranger]

Thanks for all the help guys. Got a good night of sleep last night despite lots of anticipatory anxiety thanks to Advil PM. Will be starting Prozac very soon so hopefully over time that will help as well. I need to stop worrying about things I can't control but it's a lot harder in reality than in theory.

[blinkthebrink]

It's strange how are anxiety fixates on different things. To me, this sounds like the way to go...never see it coming. My fear is the agony and knowing it will happen after a diagnoses.