Anxiety and Stress Forum - Afraid of death

Mental Health > Anxiety and Stress Forum > Afraid of death

Learn how doctors clinically diagnose one of twelve kinds of anxiety disorders...and which doctors you should see for an anxiety diagnosis....

Q: Afraid of death

asked by: DoctorQuestion on December 25th, 2005

I am 24 years old, and have suffered from anxiety and panic attacks since I can remember. It was just a few months ago and they became worse, I stopped eating, sleeping, experienced weight loss, crying, tacycardia, chest pain, dizzyness, sharp headaches...etc... So I went to the doctor and they prescribed APO-Propanolol, Celexa 10mg, and Ativan prn. The pills seemed to be working. Then my doctor said to increase my Celexa to 20 mg, and try to wean myself off of the Propanolol. I began with headaches everyday, and I am experiencing panic attacks all over again. I feel like I am losing it. I went to the doctor about the headaches and he said that it could be any number of things but there were no signs of nerologic problems. He told me to take the Propanolol 3x daily and take Ativan up to 3x daily prn.
I am scared, every little pain I have makes me worry, I think it is due to my profession being a nurse I see many things and deal with death everyday. I am absolutely afraid I am going to die. Any advice? I feel like I am ALL ALONE.

Replies(1)

Dr. Nikola Gjuzelov , MD

replied on December 26th, 2005

Anxiety & Stress Answer A22

To be sure that you are not experiencing any kind of neurological, cardiac or other organic disease, you can request that standard physical, imaging, and laboratory examinations be performed (standard blood/urine analyses, EKG, ultrasound, etc.). If everything reports normal, one remaining possibility is a mental health diagnosis, which is not treated only with medicines but requires the expert of a psychiatrist or mental health professional. There are many methods for treating possible psycho-somatic disorder, including individual and group psycho-therapy as well as seeking the support of family, friends, and coworkers.

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