Hypochondria

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Do you ever get accused of being a hypochondriac? Occasionally I can become obsessive with regards to my health or just get engrossed in a medical compalint. This leads people to assume I am a hypochondriac.

I have that problem sometimes.

Tim

This made me laugh, not at you, but because I was called a hypochondriac yesterday.

It's funny because when I'm sick I usually don't bother, and I find it hard to worry about many other health issues..

Not EXACTLY, but I had a doctor laugh me out of his office because I was in California and asking about a Lyme disease test! The FACT is that you COULD concievably get t there, and I WAS to denmark where they HAVE had cases. Heck, Ticks DO travel! Still, that only had a POSSIBILITY of fitting a third of my problems.

I then went to ask perhaps 6 doctors after that. THEY said there was nothing wrong, and obviously thought I was nuts. I FINALLY found the problem MYSELF! A magnesium deficiency. And it fit 100%! All of the problems are gone.

The symptoms were things like decreased immunity, muscle pains, and headaches. NOW, I only get headaches with some colds.

Steve

I haven't been told this because I was raised as a Christian Scientist and had negative reactions to sharing any illness.I do often feel 'not right" and try and research what I might be doing wrong(eating ,excercise,sleep).I also have an interest in health because it was kept a mystery when I was growing up....we were not supposed to learn about illness and I had to miss any classes that dealt with it.I do think that many aspie sensitivities might make us more aware of physical discomforts,While others,might make us unaware of some kinds of pain and have us second guessing ourselves.I also think some co-morbids actually can make us more vulnerable....stress can make you sick.I also have a thyroid condition,IBS,sensitive skin resulting in rashes.I think my "spacey feeling" or dissociation has often scared me into thinking I was going crazy,but is just part of an autistic trait.

Krex,

Is your "spacey feeling" or dissociation basically like a vacant stare where people may think you "aren't there", etc... but you are really just kind of in your own world? I mean you may do it if you aren't really interested in what you are doing, etc.... If so, I think that is probably relatively common, and even some NTs may do it, although it IS known as an autistic trait. I WISH I could really put it down into words, and it is a LOT better and safer than it sounds.

BTW it happens to me. I like it, and have never been worried.

Steve

Yes, but I do have lots of ailments, real ones. They might be psychosomatic but they still exist.

SteveK....I'm not referring to daydreaming but a "feeling" like the world is not real.Not in an intellectual way but visually one dimensional and unreal.It isn't pleasant for me, it's very disturbing.It makes me feel like not moving and comes with a sense of dread.I feel both paralized and restless.The closest explanation I have ever found is in some existential writings.It is pretty hard to put into words.I have tried with some psychs but they seem to think it is dissociation,so that is the word I use,for lack of a better one.

Krex, I have those weird feeling also that you mentioned. It's like the wrold dosn't feel real to me at all. Like i'm walking in a dream and I could do anything I want just by thinking it. I once discribed it to an old friend and I believe it is the best I have ever conveyed my thoughts for someone to understand. (espicialy thoughts like this)

"The way I see the world is like I am in the 3rd dimension but everything around me is in the 2nd dimension. There is something missing out of this picture. It dosn't feel right or real."

I did some research on it and some of my thought paterns go along the line of Quantum Physic theorys.

But it still dosn't explain why I have these feeling.

I also seem to dwell on the side of an Hypochondriac!

It seems to be a form morbid aspie obsession I believe.

My thought's seem to be "If I get this I will die and I can't die so I have to avoid it at all cost or catch it early!"

It's like a fear of crossing the street because you can get runned over and die.

Hyper sense fear of danger?

It all boiles down to a fear of death if you really think about it.

Oh, yeah, we're not talking about psychosomatic stuff here... that's real, even if it does originate in the brain and travel out to the body, rather than the other way around.

Hypochondria is more of a worry about being sick ("I can't go outside when it's cold--I'll get pneumonia!"), reading too much into real symptoms (i.e., "I have a stomachache--I must have stomach cancer"), or being excessively worried about germs ("Did I get AIDS from that public toilet?").

Psychosomatic symptoms are real symptoms that you may ignore or exaggerate, depending on your temperament, and which are caused by one's mental state--usually, by stress.

Anyway, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac; but once I've researched whatever symptoms I have and found a benign explanation that fits (or, in one case, going to a doctor about what turned out to be just an easily-treatable skin rash), I'm reassured and don't worry about it anymore. Actually, for me sickness is rather rare; I haven't had a virus for two years, and since then I've had only menstrual cramps and some unexplained but quite benign vertigo. I still haven't figured out why my heart sometimes does this weird "flutter" thing, but I imagine it's left over from a childhood heart murmur. And, anyway, a chest ultrasound a couple of years ago, to check out an arrhythmia a doctor found in a checkup, came out fine.

I agree that I'm more "in tune" with my body than most people are, though I'm not necessarily more coordinated as a result--I just know when something's wrong, when I'm about to get a cold or when I've put too much strain on a muscle and need to rest it; or how to stretch a cramp out or to stretch my back after sitting for a long while; or how to move to alleviate the sore upper back and chest that comes from my mild scoliosis. I know how my body works, and what all the different feelings in it are. All in all, I'm pleased with it; the benefits outweigh the drawbacks--Even though I can't run fast or play most sports well, and I get back pain easily, I also have a strong immune system, good endurance, nimble hands, and a stomach that can tolerate just about anything.

Yes. But only when I don't feel well and I insist on things (ie: referrals). And it doesn't happen too often because the first strange look I get from a doctor, I'll change to another one until my health concerns are solved. And usually they are.

The first time I did something like this was when I was 18. My doctor kept giving me antibiotics every time I had a runny nose and a hard time breathing. I told him one day that I don't think I have colds this often. I said, "I think I have bad allergies and I want to see a specialist." Sure enough, they did the allergy test on my skin and I'm allergic to most everything.

For the last half of this year, clinicians have been looking at me with those hypochondriac eyes. Only when I mention to them that I have AS. Eh, whatever...it's mostly their problem as they don't know enough about it. One doctor said that AS is mental retardation and I just laughed at the silliness of it all.

Oh and BTW, I have a primary doctor, a Gynecologist, and Allergy doctor. So, I don't consider myself a hypochondriac.

Krex, I wasn't even necessarily talking about daydreaming. Maybe it is a kind of daysleep, as you can have dydreams in it, but you are still fully concious, you just don't want to seem that way.

The closest thing I had to yours was every now and then for a day perhaps every few months or so, I would have this nasty feeling that I HAD to do something. It was a kind of foreboding feeling. As for this world being real, it is the one I wake up into, and the one where I can think of dreams and have no real control of. I guess it is real, or at least more real than the other. 8-(

Steve

summer,

REPORT THAT QUACK! AS SPECIFICALLY excludes Mental retardation. You have to have an IQ very near normal or over. So it is impossible for anyone to hve mental retardation, and be considered AS. Of course, I am speaking of retardation in the medical sense, and in general, but he must be also. I mean does ANYONE live up to their potential?

ALSO, antibiotics are usually NOT the answer. They are for bacterial and perhaps some parasitical problems, NOT for viruses.

Steve

I'm not sure what "hypochondriac eyes" are, but I went to an Allergist for the first time three days ago, and I mentioned to them that I have AS. I told them that I thought I should tell them because there are a lot of seeming links between autistic disorders and allergies, so I thought it was relevant. The way they responded really made me think that they didn't believe me. They immediately said "When were you diagnosed? Who diagnosed you? Full name of the doctor? etc." And they wrote all of it down. Maybe they're just insane about getting a really detailed medical history, but I took it as "Oh yeah, says who?"

[quote="Mnemosyne"]

"hypochondriac eyes"

quote]

Sorry about that. What I mean is that the clinician might start squinting his/her eyes like they don't believe me.