Anxiety about death

[Myka]

Hi, I am a 22 year old woman who has just moved here in Australia this year. I have never had any health issues, but over the past few months, my anxiety has been triggered by a sudden death of a family's close friend because of heart attack. Because of that I overthink that what if I won't be able to wake up because of a heart attack. Now, I am having severe migraine and panic attacks due to fear. I have already done a check-up with a GP and did an ECG (which comes out normal) but I still overthink that I may have a heart problem. Hoping to know/see what things you have done to overcome anxiety. Also, I just want to have someone to talk to about this, that's why I signed up here. Thank you so much!

[Croix]

Dear Myka~

Welcome here to the Forum. I think it was a wise move as if you look around you will find others who have recently arrived here and also been very unsettled.

It is actually a much bigger thing to come ot a strange country than one might expect. Even if the language appears the same in fact there are many dissimilarities and causes for difficulties. Plus just daily living is different, from foodstuffs to TV.

On top of that if you have left a family behind that can create loneliness and isolation.

All in all a big thing to cope with. It's courageous to come and I admire you for it.

All of that combined with the death of your family's close friend is bound to have some sort of reaction -if nothing else it reminds a person how fragile life can be.

You are doing the right thing in getting tests as they can rule out or identify physical causes, however if they do not locate the problems you may be like me and suffer physical effects from  anxiety.

I have had every sort of heart test for chest pains and there is no medical reason for them, so my GPO and psychiatrist have assured me they are the result of my anxiety.

It was a bit hard to believe at first and I kept wondering if the tests were wrong or mistaken. But as thay all came back negative I now accept they are due to my mental health condition.

Overcoming anxiety in the long term has been by therapy and medication combined wiht as healthy a lifestyle as possible, avoiding things that will upset me like the news, and family support.

I'm now far better that I used to be.

May I ask if you have anyone to support you in your life, also have you discussed anxiety with your  doctor?

I hope you feel like coming back and talking more

Croix

[Myka]

Hi Croix, thank you for replying and making me feel better. As of now, I have my friends to talk to about anxiety, and yes, I also told my anxiety to my doctor and she recommend me to have a massage and do exercise. If you have any more recommendations, can you please tell me on how to get better? Thank you so so much again!

[Croix]

Dear Myka~

I'm pleased you have friends to talk with and have seen your doctor. Anxiety is a most unpleasant  thing that changes judgment and affects all of life.

There is an excellent and very long 🙂 thread called:

https://forums.beyondblue.org.au/t5/anxiety/self-help-tips-for-managing-anxiety/m-p/50482#M7636

The first post gives some pretty good tips and there are tons more in the following posts. As it is so long I'd suggest just skimming though in stages

If you need help with mindfulness I'd suggest what I use, the free smartphone app Smiling Mind. It has all sorts of exercises, adult as well as children's. It takes a bit of practice but after htat really does break that loop of anxious thoughts.

Beyond Blue has some information about this and also things to do here:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/mental-health/anxiety

I hope this helps

Croix

[sb9803]

Hi! I just signed up because i have severe health anxiety and death anxiety, i’ve always had death anxiety but the health anxiety only just popped up in November last year. My mum had an aneurysm that burst in her brain when i was 5 and i had to go get a scan to see if i had one, i was stuck in a panic attack for 3 weeks until i got the results back (they were clear) but it took 7 doctors and multiple emergency visits to convince me i didn’t have an aneurism but then i had a family member pass from a heart attack and they are also quite common in my family so i moved onto a fear of that, it was awful and i had multiple blood tests, ECGs, emergency trips and it was all clear but im still worried. I’m so glad to see that there’s other people dealing with the same thing, i hope you are doing well and i’d be more than happy to talk to you! 

[Croix]

Dear Guest_80294401~

Welcome to the Forum, I hope you can get some comfort from the fact others have similar problems. I guess at the start it is quite logical to be tested for things that have happened in your family. The hard part starts - at least for me - when tests are negative.

It does not matter if it is chest pain, headaches or one of quite a number of symptoms, each has been tested umpteen times and I've been very doubtful about the always negative results. It is almost as if my mind is trying to find excuses not to believe my symptom are caused by anxiety, PTSD  and depression and I will wonder if they were done properly, or open to interpretation or any one of umpteen reasons.

In the past I'd have to keep going to new GPs and some of them did not accept things were not physical and would insist I go though all the tests again just to satisfy themselves. This tends to bring back my illogical doubts. A right pain, I think it shows an attitude that they think they know best and no other medical personell are as competent -rather a conceited attitude after the same tests have been done by so many and the results recorded in detail.

I hope in the future if you get an unexplained symptom you do get it checked out properly, but if it turns out to have no physical cause you find that easier to accept.

Croix