Do you know any hypochondriacs?

[Shooby]

Is it also possible that some of the people you think are not sick truly are?

[Nazgul Girl]

   I know that the biller had some physical problems.   I just think that the general public shouldn't have been subjected to the same recitations every day.   How many times does one want to hear the story of the failed bladder sling and the resulting problems ?   

   She also had a lot of financial problems, but lived in a 2400 sq. modular home by herself.   We heard all about those, too, and she constantly wanted to borrow money.  I didn't loan her any.

[Shooby]

I had Lyme's disease. It was miserable. I was miserable. I avoided being around people as much as possible because I couldn't fake feeling good when I didn't.

[NoNamePerson]

If I listened to everyone about what I should have in my old age I would be one. Think it pisses them off that I'm not "them" 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

He pulled a groin muscle that didn't heal quick enough for him and he went to the doctor. Who then suggested he may need to see a surgeon "just in case" it was a hernia the doctor couldn't detect on routine exam

Our DH's must go to the same doctor!   DH had a pulled muscle that would not go away . .can you guess what he decided it was?   A SPINAL TUMOR.

So he ran to his doctor who did a $1200 MRI that showed nothing then he suggested DH have exploratory back surgery!

DH announced this to me and I flipped my lid. I told him if he so much as dared to go see a surgeon we were divorcing.  I said no way in hell was he risking his back over what is probably a pulled muscle.

I convinced him to see his cousin who is a chiropractor.  She adjusted him and he was fine.   That was a serious bullet dodged.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Had I been a bit more of a hypochondriac, my medical year of hell may not have happened.  I felt like crap for a week and after 3 days, was not getting better.  I keep Monday morning quarterbacking that if I had my infection been found then, perhaps both my joints and my lungs wouldn't have gotten hit with it.

And now, I border on it and fight to keep it under control.

Just another side of the coin.......

[Shooby]

There are at times relatively minor problems that are indeed big problems. Lay people don't always know the difference. It is totally appropriate to go to the ER for chest pain. That chest pain may turn out to be a GI problem and a minor problem or not. But u arent wrong to go to the ER in that instance.

[zibazinski]

Standard protocol.

[Deleted]

I'm beginning to think my family thinks I am.   I went from never being sick  to all kinds of ailments and illnesses and hospitalizations just in the last two years.   I try not to bore them with the details.  Would like to go back to good health and am seriously trying!

[Deleted]

Jun 28, 2014 14:50:54 GMT -5 @ezzie said:

I'm beginning to think my family thinks I am.   I went from never being sick  to all kinds of ailments and illnesses and hospitalizations just in the last two years.   I try not to bore them with the details.  Would like to go back to good health and am seriously trying!

I feel the same way. I use to never get sick and for the last year and a half, all I've been doing is complaining that I don't feel well. Actually I got tired of hearing myself complain a long time ago, so I keep it to myself mostly. My Mom accuses me of not being truthful sometimes when I tell her I feel fine. She's usually right. Complaining doesn't change anything though.

I hope your health improves soon ezzie.

[Shooby]

And if you are truly struggling with an illness like I was with Lymes disease then sometimes you simply justneed to isolate yourself from people because your way of being in the world isnt approved of by someone else.

[zibazinski]

An interesting thought and it makes sense. When people ask how are you, they don't really mean it but as a formality. You are supposed to answer fine even if you're dying.

[Nazgul Girl]

   Well, I don't know.  The lady I'm referring to used to have three main things she'd always be complaining about:   her health problems, including the infamous bladder sling failure, which caused her to, you know, pee at night, which we heard about, her monetary problems coupled with how much money she gave to her children and grandchildren, her grandchildrens' health and how their parents weren't taking care of them properly, and, finally, her lack of close friends.   

  She's such a negative person all of the time that she just drives people away.   She's like a broken record.  She wanted my phone number "right away" after she retired, via a mutual friend, and I told him not to ever give it to her.   I can't imagine how batshit crazy she would make me.

  I've met people who have very difficult conditions, but they usually try to have something pleasant or interesting to say, along with talking about how they're feeling on any given day.

  I think it's important to have a balance in the conversation in order to keep people interested in one's day-to-day goings on.   She also lacked the ability to sense that maybe she should ask how others were doing !  If she'd ask how my daughter was doing, or how DH was getting along in pharmacy school, perhaps I would have taken more interest in her affairs.   

[Shooby]

There are hypochondriacs. For the most part I do think think they are people who are in some kind of pain be it mental emotional or physical and the complaining is a way for them to try to feel that someone cares. But unfortunately it drives people away.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Why did the drs decide to go through all that testing in the ER

Protocol and money. An MRI thru the ER costs way freaking more than what it costs in office.   I also have excellent insurance that covers ER visits.

They also tried to push a spinal tap. I had a cow because I work in microbiology. If he had anything that warranted a spinal tap there would have been a sign on the door, the doctor would have been wearing PPE and I would not have been allowed in the room. Fortunately DH is terrified of needles so he refused.

No way would I have let a random ER doctor do one regardless.  That's something you want done by someone who has a lot of experience so you don't end up with serious complications.

If anyone thinks I am cold hearted I offered to take him to urgert care to get some meds. I offered to set up an appointment with a neurologist if he was that concerned we don't need a referral. Nope we have to go with the most dramatic and expensive solution possible.

The irony is he ignores real health problems. He didn't get his psoriasis diagnosed for 4 years, only reason he did is because it really started to spread like wild fire. He had undiagnosed kidney stones for years, by the time those were found one was 6 mm and one was 8 mm requiring surgery to break down so he could pee.

I don't get it. A migraine = brain tumor but not being able to pee isn't anything to worry about?

DH's hypochondria is learned, his mother is the same way. His mother does do it for attention, she's a martyr. DH has absorbed that attitude towards health issues his entire life.   It's very hard for him to go against it.   I try to be as understanding as I can be but sometimes it does get out of hand. Fortunately the most it's cost us is $850 and he swears he learned his lesson.

[Shooby]

An ER doctor needs to rule out the worst possibility. Therefore a lot of expensive testing wilk occur.

[Deleted]

Jun 28, 2014 16:23:03 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Jun 28, 2014 14:50:54 GMT -5 @ezzie said:

I'm beginning to think my family thinks I am.   I went from never being sick  to all kinds of ailments and illnesses and hospitalizations just in the last two years.   I try not to bore them with the details.  Would like to go back to good health and am seriously trying!

I feel the same way. I use to never get sick and for the last year and a half, all I've been doing is complaining that I don't feel well. Actually I got tired of hearing myself complain a long time ago, so I keep it to myself mostly. My Mom accuses me of not being truthful sometimes when I tell her I feel fine. She's usually right. Complaining doesn't change anything though.

I hope your health improves soon ezzie.

Get yourself checked out, pinkcashmere.  I wasn't feeling well for the longest time but continued to struggle on to work everyday. It culminated in a stroke, followed by illness after illness.  Good luck to you (let us know)

[Formerly SK]

I just got a $1300 bill for an upper GI scope (my portion).  I'd been feeling all these symptoms for 3-6 months and we finally decided to check and see if I had an ulcer (or something similar).  It was all clear.  Then I did some dietary changes and all the symptoms went away.  None of the foods I cut out were abnormal, I guess my body just can't handle them anymore (I've already cut out egg/dairy/gluten for a few years).  But man, it sure sucked to pay $1300 for that scope when it was just more food intolerances.     I totally feel like a hypochondriac now when it comes to food.  Well, maybe not hypochondriac since things really hurt me, but I definitely come across as paranoid and obsessed and OLD.  

[Shooby]

But, at least you have a direction to go. Medicine is about ruling out what something is NOT so you can get to what it actually is. And, there are other more serious things that could have been causing your issue but the scope rules those things out. Anyway, my sister has a lot of food intolerances and allergies. You might try keeping a food diary and systematically go through using a particular food like dairy, etc and then keep a log of how you feel using it and how you feel if you don't. THat will take time and effort but you might be able to get to a place where you then know what your body likes and then feel better in the long run.

[finnime]

Jun 28, 2014 7:55:44 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

   I know that the biller had some physical problems.   I just think that the general public shouldn't have been subjected to the same recitations every day.   How many times does one want to hear the story of the failed bladder sling and the resulting problems ?   

   She also had a lot of financial problems, but lived in a 2400 sq. modular home by herself.   We heard all about those, too, and she constantly wanted to borrow money.  I didn't loan her any.

A friend was for a time the director of the hospital's radiology department. The lead rad tech, "Peter" was an awful hypochondriac and also a whiner; a difficult person all around. He did actually get diagnosed with hypertension.

One day he was beginning his usual litany: tired, can't sleep, dizzy and high blood pressure, when "Jane" stopped him. She told him that it sounded like Lackanookie - something to get checked right away. Symptoms of Lackanookie were fatigue: I've got that!, insomnia: I have that, too!, hypertension: I have that!

Peter ran to the phone and could be heard calling his doctor, demanding to know why he wasn't being treated for Lackanookie. Even people at work could see he was obviously suffering!

Peter never lived it down.

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

I am somewhat.

Although, my whining actually helped one of my relatives. She got a really bad headache one day (She said it felt like someone took a baseball bat to her head). She went to the doctor and the MD blew it off, telling her she had a migraine (She is in her 50s and has never had one before). She has heard me and her mother whine enough about our migraines and told him she KNEW it wasn't a migraine (because she had relatives with them).

MD got attitude with her and said "fine, go get an MRI then".... she did and they found a brain aneurysm. The "baseball bat to the side of the head" feeling was the artery bursting. Luckily, it clotted off fairly quickly. They ended up having to surgery and go into her brain to repair the artery.

This was also a good lesson on the importance of blood pressure meds. Her beta blocker saved her life (kept her BP low enough so the artery could clot instead of bleeding out).

[toomuchreality]

I know a guy that is... Lays in bed at night, going on and on about how he can feel his  _____ (insert inner organ/body part here - your choice! He's used them all) failing/dying/etc. The thing I think is funny about it, is he trained to be a paramedic. I guess it's good to know what your body parts are, but he learned more parts of his body, to have issues with. 

[sheilaincali]

I don't know if my BFF is or not (I'm thinking she is). I just know that she seems to love going to the doctor. Everything is an emergency and requires a second and third opinion (if the first didn't find anything wrong).

A typical "doctor" heavy week for her.

Sunday night- nephew (age 2 1/2) will have a slight temperature and wake up once during the night coughing.

Monday AM- first in line the minute the urgent care clinic opens. Doctor tells her it's just a bug, treat fever with Tylenol and/or Motrin.

Monday night- she will sleep on his bedroom floor convinced the doctor is a quack and the Boy will have problems over night.

Tuesday AM- she will check his temp first thing, if it's still elevated at all she will call her regular pediatrician and start freaking out until they get her in that day.

Tuesday night- sleep on his floor again

Wednesday- if he still isn't better and neither the urgent care doctor or the pediatrician have been able to find anything she will take him to the ER

Thursday- she will decide he is "out of alignment" and make an appointment with the chiropractor for him.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday she will keep him home and in quarantine all weekend "because he's getting over a bug and I don't need him to get sick again".

Meanwhile all that happened was he coughed a few times and had a low grade fever on and off for a day or two.

She's the same with herself, Her DH and her DD as well.  If my niece gets the sniffles she is basically banished to her room so she doesn't get the rest of the family sick. 

I'm the opposite.  I ignore nearly all medical issues because I assume they are nothing.  Broke my finger once and told DH, he was all "should you go to the doctor?"  My response was "why?  I can tape it to it's neighbor and that's all the doctor will do".  DH's mother is a hypochondriac and tried to pass that on to DH but I'm a total bitch and when he starts in on the "I think I should go to the doc...."  I immediately interrupt with "Nope, give it a couple of days first".  As a result he hasn't gone in for any of his mystery aliments and they have all cleared up in that day or two I make him wait.

[NancysSummerSip]

I had an ultrasound a few weeks ago where Abigail was off the chart by 1%, he was calling his mother telling her we're going to have a premature midget baby.

Well, when you do, post pictures.

[happyhoix]

Had an office mate that was one.

Over about five years went to the doctor for 1) tiny pink dots on her arm (non specific rash that went away), 2) cold fingers when she didn't think they should be cold, 3) knee pain (wanted an MRI - nothing), 4) Shoulder pain, wanted an MRI (nothing), 5) wanted a cardiac stress test because she felt her heart sometimes beat funny (got the stress test, nothing wrong). At one point she went to three different doctors in three months because she had a shoulder pain that none of them could diagnose. Finally, the pain went away on it's own.

Worst of all, when she had a bruise or odd spot or rash she insisted I take a picture of it for her so she could email it to her mother and three sisters, then she would call them all and find out what they thought about it.

No I do not know how she kept her job.