Can you really die from fear? (6 photos)

Is it possible to die from coronavirus?

The high mortality rate from the new SARS-CoV-2 virus is frightening the population around the globe. Today, a dangerous disease has been detected in residents of 145 countries around the world - people are dying from coronavirus in Asia, Europe, and America.

To correctly assess the situation, you need to understand why there are so many deaths and what to expect in the future. Rumors that the coronavirus is deadly and 2019-nCOV will kill humanity are increasing every day. The coronavirus itself is not fatal, as a person with a strong immune system may not show symptoms. For others, the symptoms are mild, more like a cold, and they are less likely to die.

Coronavirus mortality chart in China.

Not all infected people go to the clinic, so it is impossible to provide objective statistics. Estimates from China state that the death rate was 4.5%, while scientists from Hong Kong believe that this percentage is significantly overestimated and the real death toll is 1.4%. As of April 3, 2020, 4,149 people infected with coronavirus were officially identified in Russia, with 34 deaths. The mortality rate is 0.82%.

Death when infected with coronavirus occurs from complications that it provokes. Viral pathologies, even the familiar flu, are difficult for the body to tolerate and hit the weakest points - the respiratory, cardiovascular, urinary and endocrine systems. The likelihood of dying from coronavirus is increasing. Mostly people with chronic severe pathologies die, especially in a decompensated form at the time of infection with the virus.

Treatment for coronavirus infection is currently symptomatic. Patients with complications receive treatment not for the virus, but for the complications it caused. But, undoubtedly, there is a point in treatment - it reduces the likelihood of death by several times .
As medications, the protocols of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation recommend the use of interferons and ribavirin - familiar, tested drugs that fight other types of viral infections.

Death from fright from a scientific point of view

Fear kills more than just the mind.
he is quite capable of killing the body. Death by fright may seem like a myth, but it really happens to people—and animals. The authors of Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About the Health And Science of Healing examine this issue in detail. So what really happens to those who are scared to death?

The number of heart attacks increases during earthquakes, financial disasters and civil unrest. They also often occur during extra time at football matches. and when watching horror films. They occur in people and animals, and not physically injured ones. Our bodies are designed in such a way that we can literally be scared to death.

Mechanism

There are several ways fear and stress can stretch, tear, or break a heart. The heart is a collection of chambers surrounded by muscles that support and compress them, forcing blood through them.

There is a well-known syndrome that disrupts the balance between the chambers and muscles. Japanese doctors have noticed that relatively young and healthy people who are under constant stress, pain or fear may develop symptoms of a heart attack. Having looked closely at the heart of one of the patients, they saw that one of its chambers was noticeably swollen. Someone in their place might have thought it looked like an eggplant or a light bulb, but they saw it as a takotsubo - an octopus trap used by Japanese fishermen - and called the syndrome "takotsubo cardiomyopathy."

The nervous system controls the rhythm of contractions of the heart muscle. Stress hormones - catecholamines - are, in principle, supposed to increase the capabilities of muscles, causing them to work harder and faster than usual, and to respond better to nerve impulses. Sudden shocks—whether simple fear or deep emotional stress—cause a release of hormones that disrupt the heart rhythm, increase tension on certain parts of the arteries and muscles, or completely poison the muscles.

Most patients with Takotsubo syndrome recover. In some cases, however, the normal heart rhythm was so disrupted that people died. Sometimes the ventricle literally burst. This circumstance, combined with the emotional background of the disease, led to Takotsubo cardiomyopathy being called “Broken Heart Syndrome.”

However, stress and trauma don't just kill the heart. Catecholamines burn all the muscles in the body. They cause muscles to literally burn and break down. This is especially true for skeletal muscles—the muscles associated with the skeletal system. When these muscles are destroyed, proteins from them enter the blood, and from it into the kidneys. The kidneys eventually cannot stand it and fail, the body is poisoned and death follows. This process is called, not so poetically, rhabdomyolysis. Sometimes it happens unexpectedly, but more often - as a result of a long chase, with constant muscle tension and emotional exhaustion.

Of death

Deaths from takutsobu syndrome come as no surprise to one segment of the medical world: veterinarians, who have been dealing with the deaths of freshly caught animals since their profession began. This phenomenon is called catch myopathy. The mortality rate among captured wild animals ranges from 1% to 10%. For some species, including most birds, it can be up to 50%. Since the focus shifted from hunting to conservation, techniques have been developed to reduce mortality. These include limiting mobility as little as possible, not following the animal, minimizing noise and traffic, and allowing the animal some space to move. It is also believed that one should not look directly into the eyes of a captured animal for a long time.

If animals do not die upon capture, these factors help reduce mortality. They also help reduce mortality in captivity. Zoos know that animals need a lot of space, they need places to hide from visitors, and that noise must be reduced at all costs. There is a known case where an opera performance in a nearby park scared an okapi to death. Another zoo learned that some animals are better off not being kept together when several zebras died while they were housed in the same enclosure as an African buffalo.

Reasons why people die

The mortality rate exceeded acceptable standards.
With coronavirus, patients die from exacerbation of chronic diseases, which are severe due to infection. The following pathologies are called the causes of death of coronavirus patients in Russia:

• pneumonia;
• cardiovascular diseases (especially in patients after a heart attack or stroke);
• kidney pathologies;
• diabetes;
• oncology.

The highest mortality rate is among people over 60 years of age. In China, 80% of deaths were recorded in this age category of those infected.

The reason for the high mortality rate is the natural processes of aging and weakening of the immune system. This leads to an exacerbation of chronic pathologies that did not make themselves felt for a long time or occurred in a mild form.

In children

The occurrence of death due to asthma in childhood is due to the characteristics of the child’s body. Young patients have an incompletely developed immune system, which is why asthma in them can be especially severe. As the body matures and becomes stronger, symptomatic manifestations may subside. That is why severe forms of the disease are usually recorded in young children, and not in adolescents.

The second reason why asthmatic children die is their inability to assess their well-being and communicate to their parents about discomfort when they approach. Therefore, adults notice an attack only when the child is completely unwell. Also, children are not able to follow medical recommendations regarding preventive measures. Therefore, parents should prevent their baby from coming into contact with traumatic factors.

The situation is complicated by the fact that children are more sensitive to insufficient oxygen intake into the body. Their organs are still developing, so hypoxia leads to the appearance of additional diseases. This can worsen the baby's condition.

Most often, deaths of children from asthma occur during an unexpected attack of suffocation at night, when there are no adults near the small patient who can provide assistance. Also, death is likely at the first manifestation of asthma. Unaware of the presence of such a pathology in a child, parents do not know how to act, and sometimes they cannot correctly assess his condition.

Analyzing other situations where a sad event occurred due to asthma, we can blame the cause on incorrect therapy. Doctors do not always prescribe the steroid medications children need, or they prescribe them in doses that are too small. The medicine does not have the desired effect, and the disease continues to develop. The resulting severe attack is fatal.

The last risk factor is the lack of awareness among parents regarding caring for an asthmatic child. There is also no clear therapeutic program designed to combat asthma in children. To select adequate treatment, doctors have to experiment with dosages, which slows down the results.

Symptoms of death from Covid 19 infection

Symptoms of death are related to the severity of the illness that led to it. More often, death from coronavirus occurs as a result of pneumonia. The bronchopulmonary system is the first to be attacked by the virus when it enters the bronchi and lungs through the respiratory tract.

The virus causes an appropriate response from the immune system:

1. The bronchioles begin to swell, so the patient experiences an acute lack of oxygen.
2. The area of ​​tissue damage increases, and acute respiratory distress syndrome develops.
3. Patients cannot breathe on their own, which is why they have to be connected to a ventilator.
4. Dying people become confused or fall into a coma. Life functions are supported by devices, medications, and special food.
5. Death occurs in an unconscious person. Cardiac arrest occurs as a result of hypoxia.

In China and some other countries, other symptoms of how people die from coronavirus are known: deaths were recorded on the street. In this case, the coronavirus does not affect the respiratory system, but the cardiovascular system. As a rule, people with severe cardiac pathologies, ischemia, and as a result of a post-infarction condition die quickly.

How many days do coronavirus patients die?

According to researchers, the time it takes for coronavirus to kill a person is 18 days after the first symptoms appear. The statistics are based on the results of those patients who were admitted to the clinic with symptoms of respiratory infection and kidney damage. When the coronavirus affects the cardiovascular system, death can occur earlier and appears instantaneous. Doctors get more accurate results after an autopsy.

Cockroaches, clowns and gold

For example: something scared a man on the street, but he overcame the danger and got home safely. Instead of letting go of this situation and forgetting about the incident, an impressionable person can digest it for a long time in memories, tell friends about it, lose sleep, become fixated on frightening thoughts and images, constantly expecting a repetition of this event - although there is no direct threat for a long time.

“In reality, there are not so many real fears of situations that threaten physical damage “here and now”, 10%. The other 90 are phobias, i.e. far-fetched, imaginary fears. Phobia is the fear of unreal things, of one’s own images, thoughts, of what is not nearby. A person is afraid not of what is happening directly in front of him at a given second and threatening his life, but of some imaginary situation. Such phobias, the inability to let go of the past, replaying negative scenarios in the head and constructing unpleasant options for the future create a serious psychological problem that needs to be solved. Fixation is one of the symptoms of phobia,” says psychotherapist and coach Alexander Polishchuk.

Phobias are distinguished by an enviable diversity - as many things are in nature, there are as many phobias. Many are afraid of spiders, cockroaches, mice, open (or, conversely, closed) spaces, airplanes, some are afraid of clowns, public speaking, shame, and so on.

Fear and hate

At interviews

All these phobias have their own names: for example, the fear of ticks is called acarophobia, the fear of heights is acrophobia, the fear of men is androphobia, the fear of making decisions is decidophobia, the fear of physical defects in one’s own appearance is dysmorphophobia, the fear of ridicule is catagelophobia, the fear of overwork is copophobia, fear of being left without a mobile phone, without communication - nomophobia, fear of Friday the 13th - paraskavedekatriaphobia (another name for this phobia is friggatriskaidekaphobia). There are absolutely wonderful things: fear of everything or constant fear for an unknown reason (panophobia, panphobia, pantophobia) and fear of the phobias (fears) themselves, the appearance of symptoms of fear, fear of experiencing fear (phobia).

Someone is afraid of flowers, cats, toilets, washing, streets, sex, amputation, stars, infinity, gold, walking, vaccinations, words, wine, pleasure, marriage, old people, bridges, forests, sleep, pregnant women. Some are afraid of religious objects (apparently, numerous films have been made about them, in which, as a rule, an aspen stake and a silver bullet appear).

All these fears are far-fetched: in reality, a cockroach, a clown or a bridge cannot attack a person and kill him. However, cockroaches, spiders and snakes are a different story, based on people’s inherent wariness towards strange creatures, explains the psychotherapist.

“Our distant ancestors, who lived in huts, had reason to fear snakes, tarantulas and other poisonous creatures that could kill them. For a modern person, this fear will become real if a snake actually crawls along it. To be afraid of this theoretically, sitting at home and imagining how you will die is pure phobia,” says Polishchuk.

Those. By scrolling through negative future scenarios in their heads, people spoil their present, living in constant anticipation of some kind of danger or setup. “This is a defect in our psyche. We can give the following analogy. A person has an immune system that protects him from an external “enemy”, destroys him and calms down. And there are autoimmune diseases - when our defense system begins to attack our own cells, attacks some organ and begins to destroy it. Autoimmune diseases appear that can lead to death. The same thing happens to our psyche: the system that is supposed to protect us fails and begins to cheat a person out of nowhere,” explains the expert.

Who dies and who recovers

Death from coronavirus is most often recorded in older patients. Their body cannot cope with the scale of damage caused by the infection. Elderly people and patients with severe somatic pathologies are dying.

People with strong immunity, leading a healthy lifestyle, and without bad habits or excess weight, tolerate the disease relatively easily and have a better chance of recovery. In children, the disease also occurs in a mild form, so they are considered the most likely carriers of coronavirus. According to WHO representatives, symptoms resemble a cold or do not appear at all.

Thus, we can conclude that mortality is affected by the condition of the body, the age of the patient, and the presence of concomitant complications.

New York doctor's opinion

Robert Glatter, a practicing physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, often encounters unusual situations in his work. In his time, the doctor had to see everything, including death from severe fright. We all know about the release of adrenaline in response to fear. This feature of the body helps to cope with force majeure situations, escape from invaders and temporarily not feel pain. In cases where we need to flee, the adrenaline rush really brings us invaluable benefits and seems to triple our strength.

However, if a person has to deal with retaliatory actions of the enemy, the level of the hormone can become prohibitive. The heart beats at an accelerated rate, the pupils are dilated, and the muscles are literally paralyzed by a powerful blood flow. According to Dr. Glatter, this condition cannot be controlled or corrected.

How not to die from coronavirus?

Means to prevent death from the covid 19 virus.
To protect yourself and elderly relatives from infection, it is important to carry out primary and secondary prevention. To prevent the virus from entering the body, doctors recommend:

• wash your hands thoroughly with soap or treat them with an antiseptic containing more than 60% alcohol - only this concentration can kill the coronavirus;
• wear protective masks;
• do not contact people with signs of respiratory diseases;
• limit contact of foreign bodies with facial skin and mucous membranes;
• regularly ventilate the room;
• have less contact with other people, if possible, do not go outside, do not travel to places where coronavirus infection is spreading.

The virus has a thin protective layer made of lipids. When the fat layer is destroyed by aggressive substances, SARS-CoV-2 dies. Therefore, pay special attention to hand cleaning, and also try to disinfect the surface of your mobile phone, keyboard, elevator buttons, etc.

How to reduce your risk of dying from asthma

The only way to reduce the risk of death from asthma is to control the disease. This involves the use of a variety of methods, selected according to the clinical picture and individual characteristics.

The main thing is proper treatment of asthma. The specialist must prescribe suitable medications to eliminate the attacks. The patient should always keep these drugs within reach so that they can be used when necessary.

It is also important to prevent exacerbations. Since asthmatic attacks occur under the influence of external irritants, it is necessary to avoid contact with them or minimize dangerous interactions. Patients are advised to avoid cigarette smoke, strong odors, dust, wool, and cold.

In addition, measures to strengthen and improve the health of the body are very important. They involve following a hypoallergenic diet, taking immunomodulatory drugs and vitamins, moderate activity, performing breathing exercises, and frequent exposure to fresh air.

The patient should independently examine the functional features of the respiratory system using a peak flow meter. This will allow you to notice an approaching attack before symptoms appear and take the necessary measures to stop it.

Can coronavirus kill humanity?

Will we die from coronavirus is a key question in the COVID-19 pandemic. The population will suffer from the virus, but humanity will not die out. According to scientists, the probability of human losses will be 0.66%. These figures are comparable to other viral infections, but it is too early to analyze final statistics because they are unreliable.

As of April 3, 2020, 1,018,948 people infected with the virus have been identified worldwide. Death occurred in 53,211 cases. There are no objective figures on virus detection and recovery, since patients come in only when their health condition worsens, and in most countries, a PCR test is carried out only if there are severe symptoms of coronavirus.

The Nature of Anxiety

A person suffering from vegetative-vascular dystonia usually has a combination of several phobias. The following fears most often appear during VSD:

1. Fear of going crazy with VSD.
2. Fear of a particular disease.
3. Metrophobia.
4. Fear of crowds.
5. Agoraphobia.
6. Fear of an attack.
7. Thanatophobia.

Psychological factor

Psychology says the following about the fear of death: there is a certain type of people prone to this phobia. People who are susceptible to thanatophobia are:

1. Overly impressionable individuals.
2. Persons characterized by anxiety and excitability.
3. People with low self-esteem.
4. Suspicious individuals.
5. Creative people (mainly musicians and artists).
6. Persons prone to reflection.
7. Selfish natures, intolerant of other people's positions.

Main reasons

A phobia, in which a person is haunted by the fear of dying, develops for various reasons. The main factors are given in the table.

Basic forms

Common forms of the disease are presented in the table.

Fear of losing control

It is observed in very anxious and suspicious people who believe in their own exclusivity. The fear of death is closely intertwined with this phobia and keeps a person in constant tension. Sometimes OCD can develop “in the background.”

Fear of cardiac arrest

Cardiophobia is a disorder affecting children and adults. A person tries not to sleep on his left side, constantly monitors his health and considers any ailment a serious cause for concern.

The result is that he constantly lives in terrible tension.

Against the background of pregnancy

Fear of death before childbirth accompanies a complicated pregnancy. A woman is afraid to die and leave her child orphan. There is also a fear of giving birth to a stillborn baby. If the birth ends successfully, the young mother begins to worry about every cough of the child - it seems to her that he may die.

Children's fear of death is based on personal experiences.