When you hear someone has died, does it send your anxiety out of control??

[lozalgi]

I found out someone had died from cancer this morning and it just seemed to have sent my anxiety through the roof and i'm convinced the same will happen to me. It's always the same when i hear someone has died from an illness. Is anyone the same. I'm really struggling to cope with this now. I dont know what to do.

[janni]

Same here, I obsess about people who have died especially young and unexpected. Try not to think about it being you. We all die sometime but not today. Try stay positive and be good to yourself.

[Cell block H fan]

Yes. Although not always just because they had cancer. Someone of 27 in our town died in a car crash last week, & it just reminds you these things happen. Its not like they guy wanted to die in a car crash & we cant even say it'll happen to someone else, because we're someone else to someone else! I think it just brings it home to you when someone dies. Makes us more aware.

[pd]

Yeah I definately get this...

Not illnesses, I don't know many people who've died from illnesses, at least since I've had HA, but I got really anxious after hearing someone I went to school with had died in a crash, and when I heard that someone else had been killed in afghanistan...

I didn't know either of these people particularly well at all, but the tenuous connection that we went to school together freaked me out...

I guess it just reminds me of how fragile we all are, when I really don't need reminding!

[trev1234]

yep it used to send me worried as hell.(it still does..we all die..enjoy life as much as u can).we all worry about that disease..its part of life..cancer doesnt mean death all the time..its on the tv on radio..we are in a decade of cancer awareness..its scary ! try and stop worrying so much....u may get swine flue then die in a car crash on the way to the doctors !! cheer up ..!!

[j2]

Not just people. My dog has cancer and it freaks me out just thinking about it.

[MissChampers]

Yes it does! When I've heard that someone has died, especially if I know them, I start to feel very panicky and it plays on my mind for days.

[Ella_Jayne]

Yeah I feel he exact same. Everytime I hear someone has died of cancer (even if i don't know them) it send my health anxiety soaring. It's so hard to deal with. Lately a friend of mine lost someone to Brain cancer, that day I had myself convinced I was gonna die from Brain cancer too... It's so hard to live with.

[Meewah]

Me Too. In actual fact anything health orientated. I read a cancer poster the other day saying that 1 of 3 of us will get cancer. This sent me through the roof. I also find when my family say they have a pain or a lump I cannot sleep for playing various end results.

Mee

[Ella_Jayne]

I just seen that poster today, it said something like 1 in 3 of us will experience cancer directly. That freaked me out! I knew it was common but I had no idea it was THAT common...

[Amazeen]

I get the same thing. My panic flares up when I hear about heart attacks etc. For example an old mate of mine had a heart attack at the age of 25 just before last christmas. It completely ruined my christmas (I don't want to sound like an egotistical a**hole but those are the facts ;)) It was later that I found out he had been popping diet pills like candy and that was what caused it. But by then it was to late for my anxiety, I still thought about him and gave myself panic attacks even though I knew I don't use drugs or anything like that that can cause this.

[lozalgi]

Thanks least its not just me. Ella jane, my grandma died from a brain tumor 9 years ago at the age of 69 and i dont know whether you watch it but Mr Jordan on casualty is going through the same thing a the minute and it sent my anxiety off thinking whether its genetic and the same will happen to me with my grandma having it. Why do we live like this the smallest thing sets me off

[majdle]

Yup, yup, yup...oh, how do I know this...any single thing on the news, a flyer, a poster, someone I know dying...here I go! It makes my anx levels soar like nothing else. Unfortunately, I have many keen storytellers in my family and that makes me suffer. Like my Grandma came today, counted all the ppl who died of something awful, then closely described what happens to the body when cremated...and then added: well, you never know, it might be you the next minute. Well, yeaaah...but is this what I wanna stress and obsess about when I´m 25?

[amu]

Hi

I get this too, especially with young people & cancer & misdiagnosis - if those three are in one sentence, I wanna scream and run.

It is true that a third of people in developed countries get cancer, however, most of those are still over 65.
So the chance of getting cancer by the age of 65 is a lot less - I think about 8%, which is just one in twelve.

Also it depends on cancer type, for example the lifetime risk of getting a malignant brain tumour is just one in 200.

[sandy35]

Yes it does. One of my aunts died suddenly when I was 21 and I had anxiety for weeks. Also when i hear that someone has died I wonder if the next person is to die will be me. I know its selfish to think that but I have suffered from health anxiety for far too long now.

[blacksheep]

I think we all do at times, my HA started the following summer after my Gran passed away, my former hypnotherapist thinks this was the trigger for me. I hate going to hospitals or funerals because it makes me feel horrid and I dont even like seeing Ambulances or Funeral Cars because of this "reminder" of mortality.
I saw someone die the other week, young lad knocked off his push bike, laid in the road, was so horrendous and left me tearful for days after, but actually not because of worrying over me but because that person lost their life, there and then.....we all need to break free of HA and live.

[joll]

yes big time eveytime i hear it the C word i hate it the most and the always adds about furnals on that makes me think about it more ohh it sucks hey

[westofengland]

yes. It's even worse if somebody close to you dies of it. My wife died almost a year of breast cancer and it's sent my HA out of control. Her brother in law sometimes suffers from HA too now, as both his sister and mother have died of cancer.

It's a common trigger. But it doesn't mean you have to give in to HA. Yes, one in three of us will be affected by cancer in the UK, but that's just one statistic, and it's over the course of a lifetime. And it doesn't mean if you get three people in a room one in three will get it

You can't control it, but think it about logically. A lot of people don't look after themselves. They use sunbeds, or continue to smoke, or drink too much, or eat lots of red meat and dairy products.... Nobody can guarantee you wont get cancer, but there is stuff you can do, and even if you do get it, it's not necessarily a death sentence

At least sufferers of HA are likely to spot symptoms early and go to the doctors with them! They think this can boost cancer survival rates loads

Good luck and try not to worry about stuff you can't control

[teez]

im ok ,,as ive said i do have breast cancer in other threads,,but if i hear of someone dying of it it ,,it does give me the odd day of panic,,,i used to worry about heart disease as our family have a bad history of it but as my dad reached 80 bad heart an all and mum is 81 and she survived 2 heart attacks ,,ive calmed down,,and figure even though all my relatives have a form of heart disease , with care these people are all still here

[westofengland]

Good luck - hope i didn't upset you mentioning my wife. She was very unlucky, breast cancer is frequently survived

And do you know what, she said it was the best thing that happened to her in some ways as it gave her a spiritual awakening

I miss her every day and kick myself for not appreciating her more when she was around