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View Full Version : Constant fear of dying/ death.



sketchyboots
25-02-11, 19:41
I am getting obsessed with ideas that I'm going to die - I don't fear dying myself but fear for those I would leave behind. I'm 38, heavy smoker and have slight liver damage due to taking too many paracetamol over the years. I am also overweight. The fear seems to grip me in the evening time when my partner gets home from work. I worry about how upset he would be if I died. The terrible trap of this type of thinking is that the more I feel fear, the more I want to smoke to calm down, the more I smoke, the greater the chance of getting ill. I already have wheezing at night. I feel as if I am about 80 - everything aches. I am under a hell of a lot of financial pressure - we can't afford this month's rent, bills aren't getting paid etc - maybe this is making my anxiety worse. A friend of a friend has just died of cancer aged 40. My ex-partner died of cancer aged 51. This could be causing the anxiety. Maybe I should get some counselling. I also live in a small town with lots of old people around, and hear of other people dying etc. I just can't seem to shake off the feeling of fear. I need a fag now! I don't drink anymore so can't blot out the feelings easily. I am a depressive with a natural negative outlook and my partner says I need to start thinking more positively and give up smoking. But it's so hard, especially when I'm so stressed out. I get chest pains, get dizzy, feel like I'm having a heart attack etc. Seeing my doctor next week. Anyone else out there suffered from the death fears and managed to overcome it?? :ohmy:

itoldyouiwasill
25-02-11, 20:24
Isn't it funny how we can fear death and yet not actually be living.

I spent an awfully long time trying to solve that paradox and don't think I ever did...the best I could do was finally acknowledge that the fear wasn't grounded in death but was actually in the living.

...it helped a little.

sketchyboots
27-02-11, 22:41
Funny you should post that as the realisation dawned on me only last night that perhaps it is getting on and living my life rather than death! The realisation came almost instantly after posting, very strange, but I am thankful for it! Thanks for your reply as it perfectly reflects what I am now thinking! Time to get on with life and stop dwelling on death!!