It's only a paper moon

hanging over a cardboard sea . . .

now let's sell some books.

Many years ago, when my brother was just 4 or 5 years old, my mom became convinced he had scarlet fever after reading the symptoms in a medical book. She took him to our pediatrician, who was an old country doctor. He listened patiently as she described his symptoms and her fears. Then he offered his take.

"The first thing you do," he told her, "is you throw that damn book away."

Is that you, goodcelery?

I think the underlying reason for hypochondria is fear of death. Some people manage to push death away, but for some of us, it's forever lurking.

Every time we turn on the TV we are innundated with DRUG commercials telling us we NEED their product, all the while running the fast talking disclaimers of all the maladies the drugs can cause as side affects if you take them.

Hint: An apple a day keeps the sickos away! Juice...raw veggies and fruit.

My daughter is about to lose her third job in 2 years. She doesn't realize it yet...but I see it coming. How do you convince a hypochondriac to "not go to work and complain about the symptoms" - so you can keep the job long enough to start seeking medical treatment with insurance? She doesn't make that much money to begin with...she is 22 and not in school so I can't carry her on my insurance. I would like to check into the CBT but I can't afford it...neither can she. And unfortunately, we are not unemployed to qualify for the assisted medical insurance.

There is an insider-aspect in journalism and writing these days that’s getting a bit much.

Whatever happened to the subject being a regular person – like you and me? Sometimes they can muddle through the putting together of their story. Sometimes they can’t and need the assistance of an editor. Either way they are still the main subjects.

Not only is everything by a media insider, it’s about a media insider:

I observed this and made a comment recently after reading a medical piece in a newspaper. I’ll spare the details…but all the subjects appeared at first to be regular folks, sharing heartfelt thoughts and experiences. It took something away when I realized all of them worked in medical journalism and were contemporaries of the piece’s writer. Honestly, it seemed kind of lazy on the writer’s part that she didn’t go beyond her own world to write about.

The same goes for TV. How many TV news stories start out with, “Our own….” (Maybe the over-the-top coverage upon the death of Tim Russert, whom I admired, is an example of this.)

I work, not in the field of journalism, but in a field that deals with getting subjects. I try to hold one rule of thumb - don’t make your world the subject.

Back to print journalism… Frankly, I’d rather hear from a troubled person who writes than a writer who’s a troubled person.

hypochondria is no laughing matter - it takes up time and resources best reserved for ER visitors who might actually die of a heart attack or injuries sustained in a car wreck

happily, ER staff know the difference - so, hypochondriacs, hear this - hospital staff knows who you are - paranoia might be a good symptom to add to your list of ills, one that might actually have a cause based in reality

perhaps it is a simple matter to 'fix' the problem with CBT and or SSRIs - but only if the victim is willing to let go of their problem, and not enjoy the payoff in extra attention from loved ones beholden to their imagined ills and instilled guilt

Most hypochondiriacs eventually have real medical disorders, but like the kid who cried wolf one time too many, their real symptoms are often ignored. My Mom, like the author, is a life long hypochondirac who is convinced she is suffering from virtually every known ailment. But when she went to the Doctor with what turned out to be real symptoms, she had already worn her welcome and she was ignored until she almost died. She had been a Type II Diabetic for years with out knowing it, because the doctors dismissed her complaints as being in her mind and didn't even bother to do routine tests on her. By the time she was diagnosed years later, she had advanced neuropothy and her life is now a living hell. Nobody who knows her cares to hear her troubles because they know she is a hypochondriac, and truth be told, after years listening to imaginary ailments, it is hard for to have much sympathy for her very real ones. I have other friends and relatives who rush to the doctor at the drop of a hat insisting they are ill including my brother-in-law who recently was convinced he was having a heart attach while riding his bike and biked 10 miles to the emergency room where he was laughed at when he insisted they do and EKG on him. In the mean time my household often ignores real complaints, hoping that they will disappear on their own because we can't afford the co-pays on top of very exspensive insurance premimums. While I have sympathy for hypochondiacs, it angers me that they all seem to have great health plans and so are free to take up huge gobs of the nations healthy care dollars on immaginary ailments, while I go without care I need because I can't afford it.

It's interesting that Ms. Traig (and a lot of those commenting) only points to her undiagnosed conditions as being related to her hypochondria. If you believe that your mind is capable of creating symptoms for diseases you don't have, don't you also think it's capable of creating very real illnesses? Dr. John Sarno has written some fascinating books (most notably The Mind/Body Connection) in which he presents very compelling evidence that a vast number of diseases are created as the body's coping mechanism for dealing with stress. It doesn't mean you're crazy, because it's very difficult for us to control our minds. It just means that until you find the root cause of your anxiety and figure out new coping mechanisms, you will probably continue to have new ailments, both diagnosable and imaginary.