'I'm dying': the fear of getting sick

Many people live with the only goal in life not to get sick, when we feel that being sick brings us close enough to death, to abandoning this world in which paradoxically "they do not live".

We are going to see the possible origins of this problem and the possible evolution of this type of people who have their care oriented towards themselves, with the fear of getting sick as a flag.

• Related article: "Hypochondria: causes, symptoms and possible treatments"

Possible origins of people with fear of getting sick

The main causes are as follows.

1. Activation

The activation of the sympathetic nervous system that arises in any situation in our life; allows us to act to respond in a more or less suitable way, and that, depending on our way of interpreting said stimuli, we will generate more or less activation according to the "danger" that we understand that we are about to happen.

Over time, this activation arises unconsciously from any aspect of our environment environment or any thought that crosses our mind and activates it, as if a racing car were treated.

With this way of reacting extended in time. we end up having various symptoms in our body. Symptoms of anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms, which at first may go unnoticed, since we are busy with what has alerted us at that time. But once this alert passes and these symptoms are manifested in the body, what happened ends up worrying, and greatly, these people, to the point of feeling an imminent death in them.

2. Overprotective education

Overprotective parents, caregivers or tutors in childhood make up another ingredient (perhaps not definitive, but it does add up), to end up developing hypochondria or fear of getting sick.

If at the slightest sneeze, the slightest fall, the slightest scrape on the knee... parents, caregivers or guardians react in an exaggerated overprotective way going to the doctor with a very high level of excitement, that fact It can end up generating in the child the idea that not being well is something very bad.

This can generate that when you are a little older and more use of reason, some slight setback as a slight symptom (such as a minimal headache) is seen as something very bad, and what could possibly be an effect of life stress, or even tiredness, can awaken the idea of ​​a stroke or tumor.

3. Biological vulnerability

Having a somewhat fragile physical health can lead some people to perform a little exaggerated self-care for the possible problems that are suffered. And even more so, when comparing your health with that of others and seeing yourself below, at first just because of your health, self-esteem problems can arise.

This generates a mistaken idea of ​​general inferiority: the idea arises that you must exercise extreme caution since at the least you can get sick, and consequently, die.

• You may be interested in: "Low selfsteem? When you become your worst enemy "

4. Traumatic experiences with close people

Having a family member who started with a slight lump in the chest, for example, or with blood in the stool and this kind complications ended up triggering a cancer that ended up taking the lives of those people, it is something that it can end up affecting said family members, making each time these people feel a slight sensation in the chest (an itch, a tingling ...) or see any anomalous punctual thing in your stools (too liquid, too dark, too hard ...) think of a fatal outcome of your lifetime.

• You may be interested in: "Delusions: what are they, types and differences with hallucinations"

Types of people with fear of getting sick

How are the behaviors of this type of people usually? They are usually of three types.

1. People very concerned about their health who at the slightest bodily sensation think the worst

They worry excessively about these sensations; his body goes one way at a speed and his head (his mind) goes the other way, at a much higher speed (thoughts run over from possible fatal diagnoses).

They are people who frequently visit medical consultations, various specialists depending on the type of ailment (mild) or sensation, which is known as “doctor shopping”. They are people who do not believe that they have nothing, who are not satisfied with what the doctor of the non-existence of said disease, since they have felt something and interpret that “it is not normal that they do not have nothing".

2. People not seeking health help

People who have so much, so much fear of the disease, that they try not to look at anything related to diseases and ailments, people who try not to step on hospitals or medical consultations, despite feeling illnesses, because of the terror that this whole issue of diseases produces in them

3. People with a mixture of the two previous types

They are people who take time to look at each and every one of the above symptoms and worry excessively (and always with ideas pessimistic about what they have and how it will end) and another season, they are excessively unconcerned, and do not want to know anything about the subject of health. People who worry about some symptoms and who don't worry about other types of symptoms.

Examples of how this situation may affect

A.R.In a routine inspection in front of the mirror, he realized that he had one breast (the left one) a little larger than the other. He felt both breasts and no strange lump was noticeable; Even so, he was not satisfied and made an appointment with his family doctor, who attributed this to a possible effect of taking a certain medicine against heartburn. Even with all that, and not looking like a sign of seriousness, she decided to send him an ultrasound that would be done a week later.

From here, to A.R. Thoughts of possible breast cancer were invading her. This thought generated a kind of nervousness in him, tickling due to the anxiety that ran through his entire body at the same time. that his heart was easily set at a rate between 120 and 140 beats per minute, all this daily until the date of the appointment. Every day, he felt strange sensations in his left breast like tingling, slight pinching, etc.

She kept searching and asking "Doctor Google" the meaning of all her ailments and sensations. Finally, the day of the ultrasound arrived, while the doctor passed the device through her left breast, her heart was pumping so fast for fear of what she might find, that his heartbeat was heard in an exaggerated way in said artifact, and only when the The doctor who did the test told her that she had nothing and that she was calm, that was when she really went down her blood levels. activation.

F.P. she decided, one day when she was with a family member alone at home, to try a hashish cigar (what is known as "joint" in colloquial language).

As is known, one of the side effects of THC (cannabis) intoxication is a slight tachycardia. F.P. She interpreted this as something very bad, fatal, and her nervousness increased when she saw herself with tachycardia, which would create a vicious circle: I My heart beats fast and I get nervous, when I get nervous, my heart gets even faster, and when I go faster I get more nervous. I put... So she decided to go to the doctor after more than two hours of extreme anxiety due to these kinds of ideas regarding a possible impending heart attack.

Signs, symptoms and recommendations

Being afraid of death is normal and natural. By nature we fear the unknown because we do not know what will happen, but put that normal fear as a way of life; And therefore, transforming it into an irrational and constant fear, delimiting our life, is clearly a sign and a symptom that we must start working on it in an important way. Extreme anxiety and depression can function both as triggers, or as maintenance factors, of said fear..

Conclution

By way of conclusion, I would like to refer to a scene that I really like from the movie “Saw 2”.

In that scene, the protagonist (who has inoperable brain cancer), and another person, talk about how paradoxical it is that people who do not have a more or less exact date of death does not really enjoy life, because they think that their time is infinite in this world; however, when a person is told that date is imminent, they try to savor everything from a glass of water to a walk in the park.

Someone who constantly diagnoses herself, with the most extreme negative outcomes at the slightest symptom or bodily sensation, who in his day to day lives with his eyes turned inward, constantly looking at any sign or symptom, for that such a great terror to die, she does not really live her life, she really is dead in life, because in her head there is only the word "death". Unfortunately, he does not live or enjoy his life, because in his head the idea of ​​death is bigger than the idea of ​​being alive today and savoring the present.

Given this, my recommendation is seek professional psychological help, since the spider web of fear is so powerful and so great that it is very difficult for a single person to disengage, when it has been wound deep enough for so long.