Do you have a fear of getting sick/dying?

[Mad Hatter]

I'm interested to hear from people who suffer with anxiety about getting sick or dying. Did something trigger the anxiety or was it always there? Do you have symptoms? How do you deal with it? etc.

[daisy84279]

I have a fear of dying/getting terminally sick. I didn't always have it. I think it started in early adulthood, after I graduated high school. Basically, I went to a Christian school for all my education, but then went to a IU for college. Totally different scenario. I think my fear started wen I began to become insecure about my beliefs. I wasn't as sure anymore what I really believed in. And ever since then, I have been worried about getting sick and dying. I still have this irrational fear that my body will just "power off", like a computer does when you shut it down. That something will happen electrically in my body and cause me to just drop dead. Also, I work in a hospital now (just in the kitchen) but I do go up to the floors regularly. Being in that setting also makes me worry about my health. I deal with it just by convincing myself that my body is fine. I know that if I worry about something bad happening, I will worry myself to death (literally). I have had these thoughts for almost 10 years now, and it's very difficult to change my way of thinking when it's been like that for so long.

[Buttercup]

I used to be very worried about getting sick/dying. My dad was a doctor so when I was young i would look through his medical books- there were so many awful pictures of diseases and descriptions of what they did to you. I think this is where my health anxiety started. I seem to have gotten over it in recent years though (am now 32) and have come to accept that death comes to us all- it's a part of life and is inevitable, you can't do anything about it. This way of thinking has also led me to try and live a more fulfilling life as time is precious. Not always easy to lead a full and happy life when suffering with anxiety but the thought that who knows what is around the corner actually helps me. It almost spurs me on to get over anxious periods becuase I don't want to waste my life being scared.

[laurandisorder]

Fear of dying is a very common trait for anxiety sufferers and I have solved my problem with it through this two thoughts: one; hell, if I die I'll never be anxious or have a panic attack again. It will be a relief.

Plus I have lost enough good friends in my lifetime that I know l have some important people waiting for me. It sounds silly, but these two thoughts - which I guess are extensions of the 'So what!?' principle have really helped me :) I'm not scared any more.

[Sentao]

I used to, but not anymore. I made peace with the fact that eventually we will all have to go sometime and dedicated myself to being a better person so god would take it easy on me later :)