Anxiety,panic disorder, or something worse?

[anniejd]

Hi :)
Let me explain a little before i ask my question.
I'm 15 years old.About a month ago my grandfather died..it was very sudden. One morning he was there, by afternoon he was already gone...I was prepared for something like this, and during the funeral i was sure i'd be ok after the event, but thats when things started going wrong. i started to be obsessed with health, cancer, and any other life threatining situations. I stoped going out, i kept on searching for symptoms on the net.Everything that even slightly felt wrong i thought was a sign that i was going to die. Then one day I was watching a movie about dying and it hit me...my heart started pounding like crazy, i was kinda sweating, red, shaking and felt the need to pace. A couple of minutes later it passed and everything was normal. After that ,stuff like this happened often..but most of the time i feel like i have nausea, i get dizzy and feel faint, headaches and i had this horrible feeling inside... i couldn't stop thinking about death...i still can't. I had chest pains too..still sorta have them as a matter of fact.The weird thing is that i never used to think about these subjects before my grandfather. My family has never had a history of cancer, and actually is a very healthy history line but i keep on thinking that i could be the first...and then i found this page..i felt SO much better. but that was for a day or two..then it started all over again. i keep on thinking that its cancer..cause the symptoms are so similar...i want to go to the doctors or something but i'm awfully scared...i can't get to sleep at night because i keep thinking that its the last night...I talked to my mom about this but she just keeps saying that its all in my head.and i'm just reacting to the situation ...nevertheless i just can't get that feeling of dread out of me....
Oh and i'll mention that when i'm distracted most of these feelings go away..sometimes i feel dizzy and faint but when i completely distract myself these things seem to go away..but they always come back :(
So my question is: is this just anxiety?panic attacks? or something worse??
Opinions and advice are welcomed .
Thankyou for your time.

[mammo]

I agree with the above post.
You are having classic panic attacks, and it's probably due to your grandfather's passing.  You need to let you mother know how badly this is affecting you because it is snow-balling on you. You ARE reacting to the situation, but this needs to be addressed with therapy to help you cope.  We are never prepared to lose a loved one, and this is what happens.  You are young and healthy...accept this and start living your life!  If you don't get this under control with or without help, you will wake up one day an old man and wonder where the years went.....you will have worried them away.  Life is too short and you don't want to miss a moment of it! Start fighting back, stay off the internet and take back your power!  Anxiety can hold us hostage if we let it, and now is the time to get this under control.  Tell your mom you want and need someone to talk to about this and insist she get you some counseling.  You're going to be fine, you have an irrational fear which is fueling your anxiety and keeping it strong.  Stop the worrying and ease your anxiety.  I wish you all the best and good luck.

[crustideadhead]

First off, I am so sorry to hear of your granfathers passing. Mine died when he was 32 of a brain anorsim, which was caused by his Polysistic Kidney disease which funs heavily throughout my family(father,brother,GF,Aunt...you get the point.) It haunts me, that I too m ight have this, but I wont know till im 30 for sure. I was also in Iraq, and I choose to keep for the most part, quiet about the things and feelings I experienced in war. I know first hand what panic attacks feel like, and its not fun. I too, have a mother that tells me most of what Im going thru is all in my head, but the truth is, If you feel like your having them, then I respect that you really feel that way. Let me tell you about PTSD, because I expect your are having Acute symptoms...Anxiety is one of the first signs of it. It sounds like you, expecting his death, "prepared" for it. Well, I am sorry to tell you, but no matter how prepared you thought you were, there is no way of preparing for it all the way. Instead we bottle it up. Not a good Idead at all. The human body needs time to grieve and not giving time and thought into what happened, and your feelings on it, combined with the stress you feel for your parents and family, who are going thru the same thing, combined with the stress you feel everyday just from being a teenager can all be a mountain of doom. First advice is to let it all out. Feel what you feel, and mourn, you deserve it. Everybody deals with death diffrently, and you are no exception. Its hard on every living thing in the world. When you feel you have mourned long enough, its time to get up, and start living. Death is a reminder of how much we have to live and enjoy our lives while we have them. Start excersicing, eating good, talking to friends and if this is not enough, counciling works. Go to a group that deals with losing loved ones..You can make it through, trust me I know you can. Also having a higher power can totally help out emmensly...hang in there but always remember the more you reppress, the more you will regress...(I like that). Start living! life is truly short, okay? Make the most of it!