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Comment by zabzonk | Hacker News Reader

is there an inverse for hypochondria? and if so, how would it manifest?

My parents were both medical doctors. They were extremely concerned about hypochondria, to the point where it was essentially forbidden to think about one’s own body or health. To me that’s just as unhealthy as hypochondria, and in a sense its inverse.

Is such a prohibition really that unhealthy? If the only result of a consideration of one's own health is anxiety inducing and lacks a path to a diagnosis and treatment, is it worth doing? Of course, _some_ self-awareness is crucial. But, it's a balance between concern and obsession. The former is sensible and the latter borders on the pathological. If something is identifiably wrong, there is something to be done; and that's reassuring, at least. If nothing is identifiably wrong, but only suspected, reasonably or otherwise, there's nothing to be done apart from testing the next hypothesis; that's a very anxious time for the sufferer. At some point, one must decide to stop worrying about what's not known and can't be addressed.

As I see it now that whole line of reasoning is unhealthy. The normal / healthy state of affairs is that your body’s constantly telling your brain “I feel good!”. If you can’t feel that it’s a sign of dissociation.

I'm a little ambivalent on this. Sometimes the body says "I don't feel good!". My body says that quite a bit. Mostly (just math) it's something transient. A sore throat is probably not cancer; a bruise is probably not that either. If there's something to be done, then do it. But, don't perseverate about what it could be. You'll drive yourself mad.

Telling someone not to worry about something, particularly from a position of authority, when the chances are (again, math) that it's not serious seems a charity. "You're fine, and come back in a week/month if it persists. But, stop worrying." is a fair approach. Nobody wants someone else to worry unnecessarily. It's pointless.

never diagnose family members, i had a friend who had a mild attack of polio as a kid, and his medic dad just ignored all the first symptoms because he couldn't accept them.

"if farmers would only come by the hospital anytime before it's almost too late, we'd be able to help them with mild treatments" — the doctor in my family

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni0YfrSK570

Or The Black Knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmInkxbvlCs

quite funny and probably true

I'm not sure what it's called, but I think my father has it! A bit over a decade ago, he had severe abdomen pain but refused to go to the doctor because he had similar symptoms a few times over the past several years and it was never successfully diagnosed before it went away after a day or two. This time though, he got to the point where he was severely jaundiced, and my mother forced him to go to the hospital. It turned out that this time, his gall bladder was filled with stones to the point where it was about to start overflowing into his liver, so they removed it and he's been fine ever since.

Theoretically it would be called 'hyperchondria' (akin to hypoglycemia and hyperglycaemia) which would be very confusing, and doesn't appear to be used, apart from an Urban Dictionary entry.

> The persistent conviction that one is never or is likely to never become ill, often involving blatant disregard for emergent symptoms, and persisting despite reassurance and medical evidence to the contrary.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hyperchondri...

That definition sort of just sounds like how most people treat their health lol

Yeah, the kind of people who refuse to see a doctor no matter what; they will often shit on people that are sick / disabled and attribute it to a lack of willpower. Think (grand) parent that humblebrags about their 20 mile snowstorm uphill trek to school.

But there's a variant of that too that will beg you not to call an ambulance for them (either if they're conscious or via a bracelet or something); in the US especially, medical costs are a deterrent for seeking help. It's a thing in my more socialist country (Netherlands) too, where there's a €385 a year deductible for many health care expenses; a lot of people cannot afford that, and they can barely or not at all afford the €144 a month for the base insurance (average rate, although people get a rated government subsidy if their income is below a certain threshold)

Here's a few interesting encounters.

Once I went for a dip in the spa and when I finished, decided to stretch out on the bare ground for a bit to relax (chaise lounges were removed during pandemic)

A neighbor lady immediately began shouting at me and started to call 911. I had to prove I wasn't dead!

Another time I sort of freaked out at a bus stop and laid face down on the sidewalk. Drew a huge crowd and while I refused to move, the ambulance rolled up. There was nothing physically wrong with me but I was transported anyway, just to peel me off the public right of way.

I visited a little pharmacy-based clinic for blood-pressure monitoring and they took two cuff measurements. The charge nurse said it's alarmingly high and she's required to call 911. So I found myself fending off a cadre of EMTs who insisted I needed to go; they put me on the phone with the ER doc who read me the entire risk profile before the ambulance could be dismissed. I calmly informed them that their presence was extremely distressing to me and the sooner they went away, the sooner my diastolic would readjust.

I've walked into Urgent Care and ER 3 times with cardiovascular concerns and each time the outcome was like, "yeah, keep an eye on that for us."

They can bill the patient for hijinks too. Perhaps the general public has hypochondria and enjoys transforming minor annoyances into state-sponsored crises.

If you're conscious and stable, an EMT visit will culminate with the $64,000 Question: "Do You Want to Go to the Hospital?" Well you're the pros; is it necessary or not? Call my insurance or something.

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