[BiscuitTin]

Does anybody else worry about obtaining various diseases and health problems like cancer and heart attacks and other horrible stuff like that? I'm afraid to excercise these days, I just wait for a heart attack . . . is this some sort of anxiety problem i am going through and do u know what it is? I have been excercising my whole life, but just lately I am worried about dying due to excercise and I worry about lots of other stuff, like getting Multiple Sclerosis and other stuff. I also fainted last week after reading articles about diseases.

Thanks.

[Perna]

Exercising does increase your heart rate and breathing, etc. which can be similar to a panic attack; could easily be confused for the feelings one has then. Could just be that you're worrying about something else you don't want to face so are projecting it onto your health. Your health is okay so takes the psychological brunt of the projection. I would work on it "literally" (you're afraid of being afraid -- future fear which you can't do anything about either way so are "stuck") and just rebut it with logic.

I would see if you couldn't read about "health" subjects rather than the opposite. The Centers for Disease Control is very good for accurate information on how to stay healthy.

http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyLiving/

Do you have a therapist at all, someone to talk to about your fears? I would try to think back and see, from just before this happened, what happened to scare you and talk it over with a trained therapist.

[LizardL8y]

Although I have heard rare cases of excersize-induced heart attack, usually there are other facters invovled. Most docs will tell you that good excersize that raises the heart rate actually makes your heart stronger (remember, it is largely made up of muscle) and makes it less likely for people without other risk factors to have a heart attack in the future. Talk to your pdoc about this... it sounds like some form of panic disorder, but I am no expert. Hope it gets better!

[BiscuitTin]

THe problem is just worrying about health issues that I can't control and 'what if i get that disease' and stuff, and I think, 'why not, someone has to get that disease, it may as well be me' and stuff like that.

[_Hope_]

i worked with a guy like that, he was terrified to get a disease, he would wear 2 pair of latex gloves at work and wash his hands obsessively, he was not very happy because he felt the need to worry all the time.

i am not sure how to fix this as he never did for as long as i knew him, but i am sure that this needs some theraputic attention so that it does not control your whole life

Linda

[Perna]

Do worse case scenario. If you get a disease, you get it. Not a whole lot you can do about it if you're "chosen" to get it. When I was on a ski lift in the summer, first time on a ski lift and afraid it was going to fall, etc. I eventually decided to just enjoy what was left of my life until it fell :-) So I started looking around, trying to spot deer, etc. instead of focusing so hard on what might happen in the future.