I was very close to one many years ago. It got old fast.
Hypochondria, do you or a loved one suffer from it?
- Thread starter Toto'sDad
- Start date
loopfinding
Poster Extraordinaire
This 100%. The last few years have blurred the line between reality and contamination fears. I was right in a lot of my fears, when people were shrugging things off. Fact of the matter is that I don't want to be "normal," to a certain extent, being normal is often just being demonstrably careless.
The disorder creates non-starters for me, and frankly I think from an evolutionary perspective that's why it hasn't been wiped out, because there are advantages to survival when things get rough. I have seen people shoot themselves in the foot in a variety of risky situations that wouldn't have even been a blip on the radar for me.
The main problem for us is that we have no ability to act between careless and all-consuming defcon 1 level risk mitigation, regardless of the situation. That impedes a lot of functioning in life, and people see that part and dismiss our concerns, because when it's ugly, it's ugly. But we are right in our extreme attitude some of the time, and that also makes treating it or moving through the world difficult. We are always compensating for everyone else.
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telemaster03
Tele-Holic
I have a couple step-daughters who are hypochondriacs. It seems strangely tied to the process of doing things they don't particularly want to do or when they want the world to feel sorry for them. It's annoying and causes me a lot of frustration, I asked my wife to not take calls from them on speaker phone and I don't want to know about it. I hope they never get anything really serious, no one will believe them.
Let put it this way, I don’t look up symptoms or click on those warning signs of “______” anymore.
Nogoodnamesleft
Tele-Afflicted
Agreed.
The greatest proof of this phenomenon I can think of is Ignaz Semmelweis, who not only thought of a way to help save lives, but was punished for it by his fellow doctors, died within weeks of being institutionalized, and proved to be 100% correct all along. Arrogance is a very dangerous thing.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ampioned-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives
Sometimes I wonder what people in 150 years will look at regarding our present day and shake their heads at how backward we think.
And even the term "normal". Mathematically that's roughly the 50th percentile. Typically not something we aim for.
String Tree
Doctor of Teleocity
The Worst cases I have seen, are with people who refuse to do anything about it.
YEP!!!
YEP!!!
Knows3Chords
Tele-Afflicted
Web MB certainly made things worse for hypo's. My primary care doctor has a sign in his waiting room and each exam room that says "Google is not your doctor". I'm not sure if I think it is unprofessional or I can understand how his job is made harder by people who scare themselves by looking up symptoms.
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Nogoodnamesleft
Tele-Afflicted
I think it would be difficult having patients coming in who have convinced themselves of a diagnosis with no medical training. Like they're showing up because they couldn't fill out their own prescriptions too. I'd imagine a lot of talking people off the ledge of worst case scenario in some cases, and in others the opposite where people are diagnosing themselves as fine when there is something that could be easier to address in a more timely fashion.
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loopfinding
Poster Extraordinaire
it can actually be really frustrating with OCD. especially with gated plans.
primary care doctors mess up all the time with less common ailments (to be clear, i don't have beef with specialists, they have been my heroes). they're mostly treating respiratory infections and looking for stuff that kills middle aged+ people (heart disease, diabetes, etc). that's what they're there for.
i've been written off "just another dumb patient" but have been correct in assuming the worst in many cases (once i get to a specialist), researching the differential factors, and being persistent. cause i'm mentally ill and no regular person would waste hours combing through pubmed papers for weeks with that level of obsession. it's not very different from ADHD or autism hyperfocus, it's just the fire under your ass is negative instead of positive.
hypochondriacs and people with OCD look the same from the outside. but the difference is that hypochondriacs are just convinced they have the thing or "something", regardless of evidence, and somatize. whereas people with OCD are like "okay, we have to act as if we have the thing whether it's the case or not, because there is still a 0.000000009% chance, and we have to rule out all possibilities, find all potential candidates, consider anything overlooked, for 100% certainty, or die trying."
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Knows3Chords
Tele-Afflicted
As someone who has been knee deep in the "system" for years, some primary care doctors can be very frustrating to deal with. It is strange when you know that something is wrong and you just aren't getting thru to the PCP when you are describing the issue. There are bad good, and great doctors out there. You have to be your own strong advocate at all times.
Nogoodnamesleft
Tele-Afflicted
Yes. With OCD there's always an element of truth and possibility. My therapists have told me most brains focus on probabilities, but the OCD brain focuses on possibilities. It comes naturally. Automatic thoughts. In a way it's something that, if harnessed right, could have benefits. But it's a real monster to live with.
Personally I've spent years in some cases scouring the Internet for reassurance that a specific fear is not going to happen. And in the end sometimes maybe something clicks, but in many others all I've really done is lost time. OCD is a thief in a lot of ways.
My wife is not a hypochondriac, but she takes a TON of meds all day ( since Fall 2015) as she is disabled/compromised from years of untreated type 2 diabetes
(.neither one of us had health plan at the time/ not getting checkups/ lab tests...STOOPID!!)
She had a bad leg infection in 2015 that got her to the Kaiser Urgent care- her blood sugar was 300+:with bad infection then things just 'exploded' in her!
So today just to keep things from getting worse, she takes:
- 2 kinds of insulin shots ( checks glucose thru day
- cholesterol med
- 2 blood pressure meds
- Tylenol Extra Strength
- Iron pills
- laxative
- 2 eyedrops for glaucoma
- often antibiotics for UTI's
NEW:
- Inhaler for COPD
- oxygen now ( machine at home), tanks for when out
* so at least no strong painkillers/opioids, but she takes a lot of stuff
I have a bad back and knee pain, so I gotta watch my ibuprofen intake...
(.neither one of us had health plan at the time/ not getting checkups/ lab tests...STOOPID!!)
She had a bad leg infection in 2015 that got her to the Kaiser Urgent care- her blood sugar was 300+:with bad infection then things just 'exploded' in her!
So today just to keep things from getting worse, she takes:
- 2 kinds of insulin shots ( checks glucose thru day
- cholesterol med
- 2 blood pressure meds
- Tylenol Extra Strength
- Iron pills
- laxative
- 2 eyedrops for glaucoma
- often antibiotics for UTI's
NEW:
- Inhaler for COPD
- oxygen now ( machine at home), tanks for when out
* so at least no strong painkillers/opioids, but she takes a lot of stuff
I have a bad back and knee pain, so I gotta watch my ibuprofen intake...
Nogoodnamesleft
Tele-Afflicted
Yeah. I've had the "oh so your marriage is failing, here are some antidepressants" types. 3 minutes in the office, most of which was initially describing the situation. About 20 years ago I found a great doctor and I've been his patient since. He also steps out of his way to let me know what's going on, given my anxious nature.
57joonya
Tele-Afflicted
My wife’s sister has had every illness I could think of in her mind ,
She’s had both knees replaced , probably elbows and who knows what else replaced . I’m pretty sure she didn’t need those surgery’s . Lol. But that’s just my 2 cents . Always thinks she has something , my wife is much the same . Always strange things alike , “I’m having heart palpitations, or I think somethings wrong with my gall bladder “.
So it’s like , ok let’s get u checked out . Nothing is wrong ever
metalicaster
Friend of Leo's
I don’t have that, but I keep thinking I do.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Maybe a little. I’ll diagnose myself with all sorts of exotic diseases before I think that maybe I’m tired because I only get 3 hours sleep on workdays.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Maybe a little. I’ll diagnose myself with all sorts of exotic diseases before I think that maybe I’m tired because I only get 3 hours sleep on workdays.
stxrus
Doctor of Teleocity
Can’t say I’ve ever had it but I worked at a dive shop where the owner always had something going on, in her mind, so she didn’t have to do much except complain about how bad, tired, sick she was
sloppychops
Friend of Leo's
I've had times when if I read or heard the symptoms of a disease, I would start to think I had it. When I was 16, I was pretty sure I was dying a slow death from something. I was never really sure what, just that it was happening.
I'm pretty much over it now and really can't stand being around people who are always thinking they have a serious health issue and blaming it for why they can't do things (like work).
I'm pretty much over it now and really can't stand being around people who are always thinking they have a serious health issue and blaming it for why they can't do things (like work).
Nogoodnamesleft
Tele-Afflicted
This is one interesting aspect of anxiety and how unique it is for different people. A lot of people could be adverse to scuba diving because of a perception of risk. And outside of the dive community they might find a large amount of agreement. Yet health concerns are something we’re expected to not be anxious about.
I have an element of irony about that too. When I travel I go light with nothing but a daypack or small carry on, and if it’s somewhere new I only have accommodations booked for the first few nights. I want to get there and see what I feel like doing once I get an idea of what it’s like. I even took my daughter on a trip once where we did that. That kind of adventure is right up my alley buy I’ve been told by most people they would never travel that way.
Yet, if I had to walk by a petrol station I would give it as wide a berth as possible.
A friend has hypochondria. The doctor has him on broad spectrum placebos.
Seriously, he works in a paper mill where one of the daily routine for the employees is "what I have is worse than what you have ". Each in that group is constantly getting tests and trying to get in to see some specialist or other. The company health benefits have gone to their heads. Unfortunately, the doctors in that town have given up and seem to go along with it.
I understand getting caught up in that .
Years back I was going out with a woman that worked in a clinic. While waiting to pick her up, I would read the posters and brochures "Do you have any of these symptoms? " Yeah, now you mention it, I do feel a tightness in my chest. And yes, I do feel that... and that... Oh no.
I have Diabetes, heart disease and I just had a stroke and whatever disease this brochure is talking about and that poster says I have early onset dementia.
Seriously, he works in a paper mill where one of the daily routine for the employees is "what I have is worse than what you have ". Each in that group is constantly getting tests and trying to get in to see some specialist or other. The company health benefits have gone to their heads. Unfortunately, the doctors in that town have given up and seem to go along with it.
I understand getting caught up in that .
Years back I was going out with a woman that worked in a clinic. While waiting to pick her up, I would read the posters and brochures "Do you have any of these symptoms? " Yeah, now you mention it, I do feel a tightness in my chest. And yes, I do feel that... and that... Oh no.
I have Diabetes, heart disease and I just had a stroke and whatever disease this brochure is talking about and that poster says I have early onset dementia.
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