Hi everybody. I have been doing the program for 3 weeks. I am feeling better but still struggling. I will have a good day and 3 bad days. I suffer from most of the anxiety symptoms. My biggest fear is dying of some dreaded disease or illness. Everyone at work really doesn't understand nor does my husband. I am so grateful to have all of the support that comes from this community. I tend to go from one ailment to another. One week I swear I have cancer then the next I am having chest pains and think I am having a heart attack. This week I have been having severe swelling and cramping in my leg( probably a pulled muscle or something) but someone at work mentioned the possibility of a blood clot!! And of course that sent my mind into overtime pulling up every website I can find on blood clots. I am tired of all this unnecessary drama in my life. CAN ANYONE OUT THERE RELATE TO THIS PARTICULAR FEAR OF DYING??? Please write back. I need to know that I am not a total nutcase. THANKS SO MUCH!!

Hi there. I can relate to this. My cat was just diagnosed with cancer and of course, that has brought up a variety of worries for me. I am very concerned about my cat and his quality of life, but my mind is now in overdrive thinking about the things that could happen to me or my husband as well. I worry about illness a lot. The only advice I can give you is that if you have persistent physical symptoms, go to a doctor and get a professional opinion about your symptoms. Don't attempt to diagnose yourself with information from the internet. I've done this many times and it always leads to a great deal of anxiety for me. Try to resist the temptation to google your symptoms. It will only produce anxiety and worry. Keep going with the program. There will be specific parts of it that will help you with your negative thinking and worry.

I had myself convinced that I was dying. Give it to God! If you were dying you could not write the message you just did with such mental clarity. Have a warm glass of tea or milk and breathe slowly. This is a rough time and you will see light at the end of the tunnel.

I am not taking your post lightly, just adjust your thoughts.

Yes, I can relate. I am in the medical field and when I was in school I had every illness known to man. I even had symptoms of prostate cancer and I am female! LOL. The more I have seen of life, the more I realize there are worse things than dying. I realized that my real fear was not of dying but of the lack of control over when you die. I mean, you can be walking around totally healthy and doing all the right things to stay healthy and fall over of a heart attack! Or you can smoke, drink, be overweight, eat horribly and live to be 100? Doesn't make much sense? All you can do is try to live the best you can and do the right things to stay healthy. Having this servere anxiety is just putting additional stress on you and stress contributes to physical illness. Regarding your leg swelling and cramping. Do your legs normally swell or is this something that has just happened and never happened before? You didn't say what age you are but if this swelling is severe and painful, you probably need to see you pcp. I hope you can conquer this fear of death. I know at times it can be all consuming. Good luck and let me know how you're doing. gg

Yes I can SO totally relate to this. I am exactly the same way. If its any help and I hope it is I have been "dying" for six years and I am still around. I feel your pain and anguish because I totally understand that feeling. I will pray for you, God bless you, Kucek.

Oh YES ~
CLASSIC symptom of anxiety that was one of my first and worst Very normal for us unfortunatly. Work the program it will help tremendously!

yup, that was exactly me when my anxiety started.

tomuchtodo2day,
well it does bring back memories..i had to laff. not at you. but laff at me...seeing a hearse pass and think i was in it...but i was going the other direction....hee hee hee...
just to let you know you are not crazy. nor having a heart attack...you have ANXIETY...it will get better in time...it took me 50 yrs to get this far... and i am doing so much better. now i ask that you have 2 good days for a change. know that you are in our thoughts and prayers...GOD BLESS...
don

Thanks so much to everyone for their response. I just needed to hear from someone else that I am not crazy and am not the only one that goes through this crazy feeling about dying. I had a good day today and I guess I just have to take this one day at the time. Anyway- Thanks for your support.

Fear of dying just sounds too mute.

I have had major fears of stroke and heart attacks - and I'm 24.

I get these weird headaches and I know it must be some sort of blood clot or stroke coming and im just going to fall into a coma.

Or sometimes my heart beats so fast that I can't catch my breath and I feel like it will never slow down and I'll have a heart attack. Oh and of course jaw pains or chest pains, or even pain in my left arm - must be a heart attack. But with all these things happening numerous times, I'm still here.

Oh, what about west nile virus when I get a mosquito bite. Or fear of meningitis. I'm even scared of getting a cold!

I know it's scary. Most of us have been there. As long as the doctor checked you out and you're okay, don't worry.

As you progress in the program, it will get easier. You'll have one good day then several bad days. Remember baby steps, not leaps. When doing this program, expect to get worse before getting better, but please dont give up!

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<3Shiksa