What would be the opposite of hypochondria? Or in other words, an individual who is sick but pretends everything is fine?

Sent by Alex Dalpe | 3:16 PM ET | 07-07-2008

Whenever my mother got sick, she tend to act as if she was at death's door. I always believe that she was doing this to get attention. When she was older and after grandfather passed away, she got tired and the doctor diagnosed it as "fatigue". I wonder if it was really her way to not knowing how to cope and exaggerating like she always did before. Could her fatigue really be a form of Hypochondria?

Sent by David from Ann Arbor, MI | 3:17 PM ET | 07-07-2008

Could the author's self-diagnosed hypochondria actually be a hypochondriac symptom? Maybe she doesn't really have hypochondria, but only thinks she does.

Sent by Neal Rauch | 3:21 PM ET | 07-07-2008

Does your hypochonria extend toward other people. that is, do you fear for other people's health or just your own

Sent by nick | 3:29 PM ET | 07-07-2008

In highschool I had a classmate who's mother was a hypocondriac. She was always dying of some ailment or another. Some short years after I graduated highschool I found out that she did indeed die, and at a young age. Do any studies show that constant worry about dying can be a self-fullfilling proffesy? That perhaps you can worry yourself into being as ill as you think you are?

Sent by Alex Barry | 3:30 PM ET | 07-07-2008

I had panic attack disorder and hypochondria that started when I was about 7 or 8. I was afraid of choking, getting cancer, having seizures, even leprosy! It became more difficult to leave home, and I had to go to therapy to discuss my irrational fears of dying. What I remember "curing" me was the fear that if I did not go to summer camp with my best friend in the sixth grade, she would find a new best friend. I survived summer camp, kept my best friend, and became gradually less anxious about my mortality and health (I am now 32). Is there any evidence that this is easier to "cure" in a child than in an adult?

Sent by Wendi from Tucson, AZ | 3:31 PM ET | 07-07-2008

does she think that her father's being a doctor has anything to do with her condition?

Sent by Martha | 3:34 PM ET | 07-07-2008

My parents, like Ms. Traig, are both doctors. I grew up with them always telling me that everything was fine with me. When I would get a cold, or the flu, they would tell me everything was fine. Which, turns out, I was.

When I left for college 4 years ago, I didn't have my parents there to always tell me everything was fine. I believe it was then that I started developing this hypochondria. Even though I still always called them with all of my symptoms, their assurance wasn't as assuring anymore because I believed they weren't understanding or seeing my full symptoms. This was all compounded with my interests in Global Health and my love of international travel, to places where communicable diseases are prevalent.

I take very good care of myself, so I've pretty much taught myself to ignore those scary feelings. Although they still are there, I've learned to push them out of my mind until my yearly check ups.

Like Traig, I have eczema and have had several bouts of food poisoning. I'm also convinced that I have some sort of stomach problem.

Sent by Suzy | 3:35 PM ET | 07-07-2008

Interestingly, my life was ruled by this condition for probabl 20 years. Now my 23 year old daughter has had it just a severly as I did. She will call me when she visits France and will need to talk for an hour or more and still I canot convice her. SSRIs saved my life. I could not live in peace for years. I do now have been diagnosed fibromyalgia (if it really does exist). I am convinced that worry over 30 plus years contributed to this. I have been unable to work as a cillege professor since August ecause I am so exhauster.I really see hyprochondiatism as a form of OCD. Therapy did not really help. I is really no way to live,

Sent by Tracy McDonald | 3:35 PM ET | 07-07-2008

I couldn't believe the timing of your program. Was prescibed Prozac last week after I realized I had hypochondria. Was convinced I had lupus after an infectitious diseases doctor casually suggested its possibility, not knowing his audience! My primary care doctor has been very patient and uses humor to cut through my anxiety, and when I'm in his office, I feel okay. It's when I'm home and get on the internet that I can spiral. There is an excellent article in the June 8th issue of New York Magazine titled "Listening to Hypochondria" that helped me realize what was going on. I highly recommend it.

Sent by Bonnie | 3:51 PM ET | 07-07-2008

Jennifer Traig mentioned a comment on the spleen from the Renaissance period. In Asian medicine the Spleen and Stomach are associated with thinking, overthinking, worry and anxiety. I was wondering whether Jennifer could elaborate on what Renaissance people thought regarding the connection between the spleen and hypochondria?

Sent by Brian Skow | 3:53 PM ET | 07-07-2008

Sorry Jennifer, (and NPR)
People like you really bother me. Privileged sons and daughters who have nothing better to do than IMAGINE illnesses and USE UP medical resources that people who really are sick just have to do without.

Good people die of terminal disease and physical trauma, while the priceless bourgeois piss away valuable medic time whining about the disease of the day.

Please don't play the mental illness card.....I've seen that ploy and been caught up in THAT machine too.

Your book, which I'm sure is a stunningly delightful read will profit enormously from the free national exposure that NPR just gave it.

The NPR screener hung up on me when I suggested a slight divergence from the "approved" "candid listener" response.

Jennifer, It's way too obvious where you are coming from. Book tours and signings for the drooling masses who are in love with their afflictions.

NPR, I'd be disappointed....but I'm already making excuses for your "commercial free" programming that is frequently punctuated with advertisements from "Investment Counselors" and big dollar law firms that have little if anything to do with justice. Freedom and Liberty for all those who can afford it....

"All Things Censored".

I picked up an FM radio years ago because after more than a decade of NOT listening to radio because NPR had that glimmer of just maybe turning into something worth listening to.

Whats next, the unexpected pleasures of drilling in ANWR?

Next time you're all whining about how badly you're suffering, take a ride to Connecticut. I'll meet you in New Haven and we can tour the VA where I'm both a patient and a shocked observer.

The possibilities for you would be endless. PR, photo ops....new diseases.
Christmas.

Sincerely

Gerhardt Willet

G. Willett

Sent by G. Willett | 4:43 PM ET | 07-07-2008

"Entangled Minds" by Dean Radin explains how scientific studies have proven that people are psychically connected. Empathy, intelligence and psychic ability are related. The guest responded with strong, instantaneous empathy when callers told her of their maladies. Is she connecting seamlessly to their feelings?

Did hearing of her father's patients as she grew up prompt her to open up to thinking about them, sparking psychic connections? When she experiences hypochondria, is she actually connecting to someone who is really sick? Since psychic connections have been considered taboo (though they are proven), do people not untangle the connection to realize who is sick? Could psychic connections with people who in conflict explain mental disturbances? My favorite movie character was E.T. because he had this psychic, empathic ability of being entangled with the young boy (and the flower).

I wonder if people whose minds prickle with intimations of disease might try cleansing their intestines of parasites. Digestion affects everything, including the mind. Also, thinking about something really causes physical changes. The placebo effect (and its inverse) have been proven.

Sent by Irene | 6:26 PM ET | 07-07-2008

If the "percieved symptoms" Jennifer experienced had no underlying pathology, and therefore, were not actual diseases, what do you call a psychiatric disorder that doesn't have any underlying pathology (this would be all psych disorders, including hypochondria)?

Sent by Joseph | 9:26 PM ET | 07-07-2008

I became increasingly frustrated listening to Jennifer's conclusions. Certainly there are people who suffer from hypochondria and think they are inflicted with a variety of diseases.
But others of us have real pains. I have suffered stomachaches and gastrointestinal pains for more than five years. I have followed a gluten free diet (with some relief) and been recently diagnosed with IBS. Every day I wake up with pain and then it's just a matter of how long it will continue. I often don't know if the pain will come back later in the day and eating is often painful.
Of course I want to solve this problem. After many evasive tests, my doctor smiles and tells me that the good news is that I'm not going to die and I don't have cancer, but I do have IBS and there's nothing he can do for me.
I do not consider myself a hypochondriac. I do not think I have cancer. I do not think I'm going to die. I resent the implication that anyone with IBS, fibromyalgia, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome, and other pain related conditions, is a hypochondriac. I have regular bouts of pain. I just want it to go away. And if our current medical system doesn't have the resources to guide me along that path, then I will need to figure out a solution myself.
You don't fix an overheating car by constantly adding water and being careful where you drive, you find the problem and replace the part. I wish that our medical system could help to solve our problems too.

Sent by Rick | 10:58 PM ET | 07-09-2008

"People like you really bother me. Privileged sons and daughters who have nothing better to do than IMAGINE illnesses and USE UP medical resources that people who really are sick just have to do without." Mr. Willet, I am a hypochondriac and have a very real (diagnosed) anxiety disorder. I am not 'privileged' and hate it when my body produces symptoms because I have poor medical insurance and not much income. Do not assume we have 'nothing better to do', we do not relish in going to the doctor!!!

Sent by Laura | 4:57 PM ET | 07-28-2008

im a hypochondriac. my insurance will pay hundreds and hundreds for my relatively frequent tests but not SSRIs or CBT. interesting.

Sent by L | 5:00 PM ET | 07-28-2008

There are hypochondriacs who don't see doctors and develop agoraphobia. I know from first hand experience... Some people develop this because of a loss in their family. Wake up and try to be more open - don't tar everyone the same. I am sure some people do it for attention, but there are also a majority who really believe they are dying, and I mean believe

Sent by aw | 11:54 AM ET | 09-03-2008