Hypochondria

Hi, yes I am aware of the association with gut problems. Very interested in nutrition. Haven't tried a low salicylate diet but have been doing a trial of Trienza which is supposed to help metabolise it - so far haven't noticed a difference though. Avoiding Fodmaps (which include wheat and milk) and taking probiotics seems to make the biggest difference.

SOI, Are you aware of the high frequency of gut problems in ASD patients? Have you tried any of the diets (e.g. low salicylate) that are alleged to help some people?

I can so relate to this! I was a complete hypochondriac as a child. Read about illnesses in magazines, and convinced myself I had anything from leukemia to MS. And still remember the joy at discovering the melanoma on my leg was just an insect bite encrusted with black sock fluff. By 10 I was challenging other kids with names of rare diseases to defend my place as the school "spelling champion" - otherwise known as how to win friends and influence people 

The most annoying this is that just because you are a hypochondriac it doesn't mean you aren't ill. I have been plagued all my life with gut problems and what I now recognise as sensory issues. And ironically I do now have a potentially fatal rare disease. As part of this karmic joke it is one I had never heard of and wouldn't have known how to spell. 

However my ability to spend hours on end researching it online, cross referencing medical papers, making associations with other diseases and devising alternative treatments has come in very handy indeed, as so far I have managed to keep myself pretty well physically. The downside is that I can quickly fall into a black hole of being obsessed with every little symptom and bodily sensation - and can find myself poisoned by stress. Which is what has led me to look into AS. 

I haven't had a diagnosis yet so of course this might just be something else I am being hypochondriac about...

This describes me pretty well. I am nearly always aware of things going on in my body. I too am worried about my heart as I was on a high dose of Ritalin when I was younger and since then I have frequent palpitations, my pulse is rarely steady and have had about three angina attacks. Yet I am never taken seriously. I have never thought that it could be due to my usual lack of facial expression, my high pain threshold and generally being terrible at verbally expressing myself, but thinking about it now, this is probably the reason.

I wish there were a way that one could challenge a doctor's diagnosis (or lack of one) without having to directly confront the GP. I hate confrontations

I understand now that a lot of it is probably because I'm so sensitive to every little feeling and every little change.  The smallest pain can be noticed.  I don't know how to tell the difference between pain I have to tell someone about and pain I have to not mention.  I think what doesn't help is our difficulties with explaining and communicating. I keep getting sore swollen glands that are really uncomfortable (but of course I've had all tests, come back clear) but the way I seem to describe it the doctors are always looking in my ears and saying they're clean and don't look infected, but I don't mention my ears so I don't understand what's happening.  I also keep getting told 'It's ok, no need to worry, you don't have lymphoma'.  I have never worried once about having lymphoma, nor have I ever mentioned the word.  So, I'm also confused as to why doctors keep saying that to me.

I can relate to the broken bone incident.  My brother, also on the spectrum, broke his arm and everyone thought 'you're having us on', but it turned out his arm was badly broken and was in a cast for ages.  Think it's just a communication thing, or something related to facial expression.  I can imagine other people with a broken arm with a very painful looking face and being very upset, but with my brother he didn't look any different and all he said was 'it's sore'.  That might not be the case, but it's a possibility.

Hi,

 I think it's important to distinguish between hyperchondria and the genuine feeling that most with hypersensitivity experience.

I've had several different experiences and they present with their own unique difficulties.

One of my lads has an extremly high pain threshold. (He also has dypraxia and falls a great deal.) He can go to casualty with the severest of breaks and show little or no sign of discomfort. This has always been an issue when facing the staff. As a parent you can come across as overbarring or over insistant when you push to have an assessment they feel is unnecessay. The staff at my local hospital have had to apologize in the past to my son, having x-rayed his arm on my insistance, only to find a severe break. (One member of staff accused my son as, 'having me on.' She later appeared with a lollypop for him, expressing that she'd never witnessed a child with so little symptoms and so much mobility in a broken limb!) Given that they wanted to send him home, this could have been a disaster. 

My other son however, is extreamly sensitive to what he feels throughout his body and this can be difficult to guage. He also was sent home from hospital in severe pain following a sports injury, but had to return to hospital days later when the x-rays were re-reviewed and it was revealed he had a broken thumb. Yet in his most recent trip to casaulty the same level of pain was related to a simple torn muscle.

In my own case i'm also hypersensitive. I've experienced extreme bowel pain for some years and had a number of tests which have been negative.

However, in more recent years i've also experienced other pains, which I dismissed having had negitive results in the past. My GP was also unsympathetic & I never challenged his dignosis because i didn't want to embarrass myself further. When I began displaying other symptoms and could bare the pain no more, a scan revealed haemorragic cysts, which I've clearly lived with for some time and suffered prolonged pain and no treatment for.

Both under and over sensitivity can lead to their own very different problems. How we respond to them however can have totally different outcomes.

Some like chest and stomach pains can be induced by the high levels of anxiety we face on a daily basis. It is no coincidence that bowel issues run in very high numbers for those on the spectrum. This does not mean they are not valid, it just means that they are caused by anxiety, not by a specific disease. This does not make them any less real for the sufferer.

The balance of knowing when to ask for investigation is always a tricky one. I'm very good at asking for assessment for my children, but poor at insisting on help for myself and too quick to dismiss subsequent pain because I didn't want to further embarass myself for the same negative outcome.

My understanding of the definition of hyperchondria is that it is 'imagined ill health.'If that is what you are describing then this maybe indeed what you are suffering from.

If however, you are experiencing genuine pain then perhaps you need to acknowledge that. The truth is that you maybe experiencing that pain or making that pain worse because of your anxiety, not because of illness. Once you establish the cause, it maybe possible to break the cycle where you jump to the conclusion that the pain is something more serious or worse ignore the pain when in genuine need.

The link below is by a woman who has looked in anxiety and the affects for those on the spectrum. You may find it of some use.

www.youtube.com/watch

I'm no GP or Psychologist and in the event you feel ill, I'd most definately advocate seeking medical treatment, but since dicovering the link between my own anxiety and the related bowel pain I suffered as a result, I've been able to manage my bowel pain levels and minimize my trips to the GP for more pressing issues.

Mindfulness, may also help with managing your anxiety levels. In doing so you may find that your pain is reduced and it may also help with your pattern of thinking that all pain is related to something more serious.

The book 'Living well on the spectrum' by valerie Gaus can also give some great insights into the thinking paterns of those on the spectrum and ways to manage anxiety more effectively

Good Luck

Coogy

I can totally relate to this because I have the same condition. In my case I worry that something is wrong with my heart, despite having had all the tests available at my doctors, and everything coming back clear. It is a vicious circle: I get aches in my chest area, I focus on them while getting more and more anxious, I notice more aches, then spend the rest of the day on high alert.

I also worry about catching an illness because when I am ill, I can't stand the unpredictability and the change to my routine. Also, like you, I find it hard to know what body sensations are normal, and what ones might need attention. I don't like people fussing over me, and this is also why I fear illness. Even a minor sore throat or cold will prevent me from going out, and result in literally no sleep at night. I am very sensitive to body sensations, despite the fact I am rarely ill.

Hypochondria is a horrible condition, and so I know how difficult this must be for you. Hopefully you will be able to access some therapy to help you with your worries.

that sounds hard. I think it's definitely linked to asd - you are needing to know exactly what is going on and you are sensitive to any changes in your body. Hopefully talking about your worries on here might help. Rationally you know that if Drs were worried then they would be doing something. I know it can be hard to out-reason such fears though xx