Hey Easy and everyone else, I have been dealing with a fear of death anxiety on and off since shortly after I turned 30 (seems kind of ridiculous now although I am certainly not making light of it) I will be 43 in two months and I consider myself lucky because my fear/anxiety was always correlated with a depressive episode (my death anxiety became a palpable fear that was so intense that I was "frozen"). The reason I say I'm lucky is that when my depression is treated correctly the fear subsides. (I now know that I am more bipolarII than unipolar). Anyway, this past fall until not long ago I went into a horrible depression and the same obsessive fear was there. I think outright fear is a better word to describe it than anxiety. I really believe I know what you're going through and I think some people here have said some good things, however I would like to ask you a couple things and relate something(s) I've learned about my own fear/obsession. Unfortunately, I am exhausted now and have to get to bed. Sorry to leave you hanging but I will correspond more tomorrow.

Hi, Sherrie! As I said I do not believe to antidepressants, even though I have never tryed them in my life- my observation from experiences of many people brought me to conclusion, that they no good at all. You know what is BEST PHARMACY in the WORLD?! Answer: Our own body, which supposed to be produce our own antidepressants. In order to trigger them- we need just do regular, and sometimes hard excersices. Since I went to Gim, I started feel much better. Its regulate the serotonin properly. Endorphin and Adrenalin which produced by our glands, make you feel more energetic, happy, healthy, and even younger. Of course, it do not remove the anxiety for 100%, but it gives you relieve, break, and sence of easyness. I hope it'll help you.

I just typed the most brillant reply and got kicked off! Oh well I will try again. Thanks to every one who responded regarding the fear of death. Chicago I have never heard anyone describe my thoughts and feelings so well. I now feel that I am not alone in this even more. Thank you for your honesty. A part of my dilemma is that any antidepressants, and there have been quite a few that I try other than Wellbutrin stop working for me after a short time and the medicine heightens the anxiety and makes the thoughts of death worse. I have racked my brain for the similarities between the time when I was in my twenties that I experienced this and now. I can't make a connection. I have been going through this for about two years now. Recently I tried Cymbalta and I loved the way I felt it even took away the physical pain that goes with my depression but it also quit working. The meds that havn't stopped working have made me feel so wierd or have totally killed my libido that I quit taking them. I have been dealing with depression for 25 years and I keep trying to find what ever new thing will work. I been in therapy many times and that has helped the depression that was situational but the biological thing is still there or else I just didn't get to the root of the problem and I don't have a clue. My therapist once told me that with my childhood I am lucky or very strong because I should be totally insane. I like a lot of people with depression had very little positive experiences as a child and have had a lot of losses as an adult. In the last 12 years I have been widowed twice, lost my mother and two brothers and so many more that it would require to much space to mention. I keep singing the Elton John song in my head I'M STILL STANDING and sometimes marvel at my pure tenacity.

Well, I'm going to see a psychologist in april, (it should have been next week but it overlapped some exams I have) so I think s/he might use hypnosis on me...

Thank you Chicago to your interesting input to this very complex topic. I have question to all. Is someone tryed to have hypnosis seances in order to treat fear death anxiety? If so, can you share your ideas, because I do not believe to any deppression treatment medications. I believe, medications not only not solve the problems, but even worthens by pushing you deeper to the bottom, not counting that they gives variety of sideeffects, which will be shown down the roud.

Hi all of you... this is my first post here. I've had an intense fear of death off an on since I was a child and I'm 21 now. It first manifested itself when I was told of death at a young age and I remember it hitting me on and off throughout childhood and adolescence... I would usually be lying in bed and suddenly, out of nowhere, an intense realization, "YOU WILL DIE," would hit me out of the blue. All sensations relating to anything but that thought would drain and my realization of that fact felt so pure and undeniable that it would leave me shaken and upset for hours. But, I'd get over it and I'd never have anxiety attacks. In ninth grade I got caught smoking weed by my parents and stopped for quite a while, only to start up again (feeling very guilty and aprehensive) a few months later with a friend on a day off school. The high was awful and that night I became convinced that the marijuana was laced and that it would kill me. So sure was I that I'd die in bed that I wrote a pages-long not to my family for them to read when they found me dead the next morning. Panicking, I eventually went and got my mother who sat with me until I fell asleep. Nightly terrors that I would die if I forgot to keep breathing kept me up crying daily for months, and my mother would have to sit with me as I dozed off very often. I was ashamed of this at the time but I couldn't explain it. I stopped smoking for a very long time, though, and eventually the fears moved to the background. Nevertheless, the fears kept haunting me from time to time with the sudden realizations that would strike me at night... "YOU WILL DIE." As time passed I continued smoking again (I know this isn't healthy but for a long time most of my social options have involved drinking and weed smoking... I was younger and less adept at saying no) and usually without major problems. But in my first year of college I had a panic attack while high... convinced that I was going to die. Again I quit for a long time. I barely smoked again until my junior year, and again I managed the drug. Alongside all of my marijuana use (which is relevant because I tend to really let my mind wander down existential paths that can upset me when high) I had a voracious need to read about existence... biology and es

Thank you for saying that. I don't feel quite so alone and crazy. I am sorry that you experience it because I know the feeling all to well. It is an ever present state of being and I have found that when I use food or work to mood alter it helps the thoughts to stay away but I end up exhausted and fat. I don't know which is worse, well honestly the feelings are intolerable at times and I don't know another way to deal with them.

Well, I think I can really add to this. I've found this site as a result of google searching "death anxiety" because that's what I have. I'm 16 years of age and ever since I can remember I've had a strong fear of death. This fear started off very much the same way as yours I'd imagine. "You're going to die someday." Yes, I would feel sort of scared and then eventually forget about it. But what if this thought started to come back? Imagine having that thought played over and over in your head and start to generate and pull lots of morbid thoughts together. It started to get stronger, and stronger, and stronger.. Then one day they got so intense that suddenly I was consumed by a large amount of fear and as a result just collapsed into a nervous wreck while at an age no more than 8 I guess. I eventually recovered and life continued, but it was buried into my mind and manifested itself. The knowlege of death was there whenever I woke up or went to bed. It developed and I had some minor 2-second attacks at random periods. Then it started. Awareness levels started to increase and I started to realise how unescapable this fate really is. "It's this view. It's this life. It's this world.". Finally I consciously uncovered what had been brewing for several years and had the ultimate panic attack. It was more terrifying than anything anyone could imagine. It's like your mind is being torn apart by something that's not even comprehendable. Like sticking a probe into your brain and activating every possible fear-centre beyond maximum capability. The ultimate view of my existance in relation to everything and how there is no escape how it will happen, how the world will just suddenly end, how everyone around me will die and how the years between this event does nothing to stop it. How it's not just an unnerving thought casually interrupting people or just happens to characters on tv. It's this life. It's this world. It's real. *The attack would go here* So these thoughts are now with me every day. Interrupting me whenever I'm not doing anything and even sometimes when I am busy. Death-panic is going to be with me forever. So you keep those attacks under control and stop them while you can because it's a nightmare existing like this. Really.

Wdarling; Yes, I have had this problem in the past. When I was 20 years younger, I was going through a tough time; and I didn't know at the time it was a sign of anxiety. I had the same symptoms; I would ly in bed, and as I was falling asleep; I would stop breathing, and wake myself up. I could not get to sleep because of it if I slept on my left side. If I stayed on my right side, I was o.k.; so I got checked by the doctor who sent me for a heart checkup at the hospital, and I did have a little heart murmer, but nothing to get too alarmed about. Looking back now, I think it was stress. Eventually I also suffered with irritable bowl too; and had to get that all checked out a few times which was terrible; but once I started on medications, all of those problems went away. Actually the heart thing went away when tension in my life decreased, even before the medication; but occassionally it comes back. I was also tested for sleep apnea, which is when you do stop breathing for a few seconds, and start up again, when you are snoring. It also causes weight gain. Well the doctor said it was do to antidepressant/anxiety and sleep medicine. I also had jurky leg syndrome which was also caused by the medicine, because when I stopped that particular type it went away. I begin to wonder if everyone who takes these medications and gains a lot of weight aught to also be given the oxygen at night they prescribe for overweight med takers. I have thought of being retested for this again , because the less oxygen you take in during the night the more fat you put on. Anyway; I think it is really expensive, so perhaps I wouldn't be able to afford it anyway. But as to the going to sleep and stopping to breathe, I know it is probably your body's nervous system reacting to something. Please mention it to your doctor. :)

TO WDARLING I HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED THE THING YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT BUT I APPLAUD YOU FOR EXPRESSING IT. THIS SITE HAS BEEN A PLACE I CAN EXPRESS THINGS I CAN'T EXPRESS ELSEWHERE. I DO BELIEVE THAT JUST FEELING IT ACKNOWLEDGING IT AND THEN SEEING IT WRITEN DOWN HERE AND KNOWING THAT OTHER KNOW HOW I FEEL HELPS ME TO NOT FEEL SO ALONE. SOMETIMES THESE KINDS OF FEELINGS CAN CAUSE ME TO FEEL SO ISOLATED FROM OTHERS. SINCE EXPRESSING MY FEAR OF DEATH HERE IT SEEMS TO HAVE ABATED AND I AM SO GLAD THANK YOU