is being a hypochondriac a symptom of AS?

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Hypochondria can be symptomatic of depression, and many aspies are depressive.

I think it can be, because of sensory issues and sensitivity. I tend to assume the worst when something about my body seems out of the ordinary. I can't always tell what's "normal" and what's not. Is that twinge in my arm a cramp or an early sign of a heart attack? Is my thirstiness an early sign of diabetes or just going without liquids?
Is that a freckle or skin cancer? My throat is scratchy and my nose is running, should I go to the grocery store anyway? Why won't that person stop coughing? Should I Purell my hands after touching that shopping cart? Does my drinking water have E. Coli? Is the lunch meat I just bought full of listeria? Is my sunscreen more cancerous than the sun's UV rays? Is my bug repellent more dangerous than blood-sucking insects? Should I stop eating anything and everything I don't grow myself? Should I even bother getting out of bed today? WHY WAS I EVEN BORN WHAT WERE MY PARENTS THINKING BRINGING ME INTO A WORLD WHERE THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS READY TO KILL ME?!?

Being a hypochondriac can definitely cause some peoples AS.

if you look at it, people with AS have the tendency to obsess over things and even have OCD as a co-disorder, so we obsess over illnesses and disorders.

i was always worries about being sick. never mental disorders but physical illnesses and injuries.

Greetings digger1,

According to my research and study, hypochondria does not seem to be a symptom of AS.

However, there may be some people with Aspergers who are hypochondriacs.

I'm not sure if I would be diagnosed with Aspergers or not, but I WAS diagnosed with OCD as a kid. I remember being really afraid of diseases and compulsively washing my hands, and afraid of getting dirt in my mouth, coming into contact with other peoples sweat or spit, or deafly afraid of using the toilet in a public restroom.

As I got older, I stopped obsessing over those things, and got some thicker skin. I think I was mistaken for being a hypochondriac at one point as much anxiety as I displayed over such fears of getting serious diseases.

I still don't like using public restrooms, but I just tough it out these days.

I also have been diagnosed with tourettes. It is not a symptom of AS, but there are in fact people with AS who have tourettes.

I hope this helps to satisfy your curiosity.

Hi ZombieBrideXD,

Did you mean to say, "Being AS can definitely cause some people's hypochondria." ?

That would make more sense in context with the rest of your post here. Just asking, because I'm not sure.

Yes, I also never worried over mental disorders. I kind of have accepted that throughout most of my life, but yeah I've had anxieties over diseases like the haunta virus, or ebola, and things like that. Not so much anymore.

How are you doing these days? Things getting better?

It kind of has been for me. I don't think I'm actually a real hypochondriac; just extra sensitive to my body and obsessing about any sudden changes I experience. I just went to the ER thinking I was having a possible heart attack, because I was having shortness of breath, chest pains, and cold hands with light left arm pain. Turns out I was just at the beginning of an upper respiratory infection, due to the common cold. I don't usually catch colds so it took me by surprise. Although I was really relieved to find out it wasn't my heart, the $900 hospital bill kind of sucks.

It certainly isn't a "symptom" according to both the DSM-V and the ICD-10.

I've known people who are definitely not on the Spectrum who were hypochondriacs.

Certainly, people with autism spectrum disorders could be hypochondriacs. They can be many things. It does not mean any of these "things" indicate that a person has an autism spectrum disorder.

answer to the title question: No.

AS people have a problem when doctors see only AS and not the person it is attached to, and doctors make little effort to provide aspie friendly communication, which leads to miscommunication and misunderstandings, where the patient is the loser.

Many AS people have multiple conditions, some of which are rare. As doctors are trained to see "horses not zebras", less common conditions - like coeliac disease for example - are overlooked for years, and manifest many different symptoms. Doctors tend to see each symptom in isolation, rather than the disease. I was a classic presentation of CD, and it took 30 years for them to recognise it. They thought the skin issues, digestive issues, chronic fatigue from malnutrition due to a damaged gut, stomach pains, and chronic anaemia were either "my fault" (you need to get more exercise and interests etc) or a poor diet or just "in my head". It took them 60 years to identify that I had rare immunity disorders which caused all sorts of problems. Eventually these issues were acknowledged. No doctor apologised for previous demeaning dismissals and the trauma that caused me. None of them LISTENED, HEARD or CONSIDERED that I was a "zebra", not a horse. I suffered needless infections of a serious nature due to their arrogance and ignorance. Some intimated that the various symptoms were "anxiety" and offered tranquilisers and a psychiatric referral. I lodged complaints with the authorities, who ordered one written apology to be made by one doctor. It was too little too late. As for the medical dictum of "first do no harm", they did immense harm to me, and were so glib in their hypochondriac insults.

It is estimated that 88% of coeliacs remain undiagnosed due to dismissal or misinterpretation of symptoms by doctors.

Hypnchondria is not a symptom of AS, it can be a symptom of faulty application of heuristics by the medical profession.

Although I am not one of them, women with endometriosis take an average of NINE years to get an accurate diagnosis, and that's just an average, so some wait much longer. Instead they are misdiagnosed with things like irritiable bowel syndrome, appendicitis, hypochondria, psychiatric disturbance, and other wrong diagnoses. This leaves physical and emotional scars. I know of none who ever received an apology (but myself) for their needless suffering, time, expense and suffering.

I welcome the new development of personalised medicine where the individual genome sequencing improves service to patients, especially women, who are doubly penalised by gender bias in a male dominated medical profession, though some of the women doctors are just as blinded by the gender bias that makes it harder for women to be evaluated in a comprehensive way.

Many women, both NT and AS, have presented with serious heart conditions only to have their lives endangered by insulting diagnoses of "anxiety" "hyponchondria", partly because of gender bias (the research was conducted on male subjects, and men present differently). For those interested, there are links that explain this far more fully in my thread Barriers to Good Health Care for AS Women in the women's forum.

There will be a small percentage of AS people, who (like their NT counterparts) are hypochondriacs, though the difference between their number, and the number of AS people accused of this would be found to be huge I suspect, if comprehensive research was ever done. There seems to be no will to do that, perhaps because it would reflect badly on the medical profession as a whole.

The huge expense of consulting a string of useless doctors over the years before a good one recognises the issue is another penalty imposed on the so-called hypochondriacs. But the biggest personal cost is the wreckage of personal function and well being, and the scars it leaves emotionally and psychologically.

https://thedoctorweighsin.com/listen-to ... diagnosis/

Some people may be wary of strobe lights because they may be a trigger for seizures, which can be a common co-existing condition for people with Asperger's.

No, it's just another form of anxiety. These people will exaggerate a symptom and worry about having a bigger issue so they will go online and research the symptoms they have fearing they have a disease. It is also known as health anxiety. It can mimic Munchhausen disease and look a lot like it but the only difference is the intention behind it. People with MS know they do not have it but they claim they do anyway because they love the attention while someone with health anxiety don't want the attention and they fear they have a disease and can't stop thinking about it they even think they have it.