Guide for Hypochondria Diagnosis, Symptoms and Treatment

What is Hypochondria: Hypochondria is obsession with your body health and functions. If you are a Hypochondriac you immediately think your headache might be a brain tumor or some pain as cancer. Any minor complaint or pain must be a disease or serious sickness. Even with medical tests, you are still convinced it is a serious disease. You change doctors constantly, because you know he is missing something or he is just incompetent. This obsession with body, health, and symptoms becomes a major problem in your work, life and relationships. The focus on your body is the focus of your whole life. Hypochondria occurs equally in both sexes. It can occur in any age group and race but most often it starts as an adult.

Other symptoms include obsessive health research; obsessive examination of your body; obsessive monitoring of pulse, temperature, and blood pressure; when the body stats appear to be normal, thinking the machine must be broken; seeking a doctor's advice for every minor pain and problem; changing doctors when they say nothing is wrong; and thinking you have whatever disease is being discussed on TV, radio, or in conversation.

Causes: Experts are not sure what causes hypochondria but some feel it is a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some doctors feel it is a malfunction in the adrenals where your body determines danger and then reacts to that danger, perceived or real. If you are walking and hear a noise, you have the same reaction in your body whether the noise is from a wild turkey or a stalker. Your pulse races, your anxiety accelerates and you heart beats hard. Often people who suffer from hypochondria feel great anxiety. This anxiety causes symptoms that include panic, shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, headaches, stomach pain that you then feel are signs of a serious disease.

Factors That Contribute to Hypochondria: Being seriously sick in childhood; losing someone you love; anxiety and panic disorder; having the attitude and belief that healthy people do not have any pain; and having people in your family who contribute to your obsessive focus on your body. There are mothers who monitor their children's health to the point of obsession.

Diagnosis: Your doctor will give you a complete physical exam and lab tests including a complete blood count, thyroid tests, test for heavy metal poisoning if that applies, and tests to rule out metabolic disturbances. The next step if all testing comes back normal is a referral to a psychologist for testing. To be diagnosed with hypochondria, you must meet certain symptom criteria spelled out in the DSM manual used to diagnose mental conditions.

Thyroid disorders: The thyroid gland is the most important endocrine gland in your body. Thyroid malfunction can cause symptoms that range from depression, cold hands and feet, heart symptoms, mental instability, immune problems, weight gain or loss, and a host of symptoms that can be wrongly diagnosed. Thyroid tests are not always accurate. Even if you are borderline hypothyroid, you may have symptoms that the doctor ignores. Please read Hypothyroidism Type 2 - the Epidemic by Mark Starr, M.D.

Treatment Options:

Psychotherapy is the main treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy from an experienced therapist or psychiatrist is considered the most effective psychotherapy treatment. In cognitive behavioral therapy, the physician helps the patient to understand the false beliefs that are causing his fears. He gives the patient tools to use to stop these obsessive behavior patterns. This may be the pattern of taking ones blood pressure or temperature many times a day. The psychiatrist may directly expose the patient's fears in a safe environment then giving him techniques to deal with his obsession.

Hypochondria Patient Groups: Meetings where hypochondriacs meet to discuss their fears. The group offers support to overcome their obsession. The right group may be very beneficial.

Distraction Therapy: Used with over-eating. When you are driven to take your pulse or blood pressure, have a plan to distract that action. This could be to garden, work in the garage, pay bills, play with your children,or take the dog for a walk. Let your partner or loved ones know your plan, so they can help you with this.

Keep a Journal each day to determine if you can pin point the triggers for your anxiety such as article in the newspaper, program on television, or perhaps a call from a friend who is sick.

Drug Therapy: Drugs used to help hypochondria are fluoxetine, clomipramine, and imipramine. These drugs can make a hypochondriac worse because drugs do cause side effects. Even if the drug is not causing those side effects, reading about them will cause anxiety and fears. Drugs should be the last choice after other more positive therapies have been tried.

Maintain a healthy lifestyle including diet, exercise, and stress reduction. Avoid drugs and alcohol.

Alternative Therapies:

Try meditation or yoga: Meditation can help bring blood pressure and anxiety down. Soft, calming music is effective on anxiety. Pet therapy works on many kinds of anxiety. There are now using dogs to calm the behavior of ADHD children. The effectiveness of therapy depends on many factors. Trying the therapies above will not hurt you and they might help. Try them over several weeks and keep the results in your journal.

Alternative Medicine:

Note: Do not take Herbs and antidepressants / anti-anxiety drugs at the same time. The herbs may render the drug less effective or increase the effectiveness of the drug. With hypochondria, depression, and other mental health problems you must take herbs under the direction of a physician. Orthomolecular physicians would be the best choice for treatment options not involving drugs.

Herbs: Kava Kava is taken for anxiety and could be useful to some patients.

Bach Flower Remedies: A formulation of crab apple and Mimulus is used for hypochondria. You will find it online under Bach Flower Remedies and Hypochondria. Bach Flower Remedies have been around for years. The formulas deal with emotional fears and phobias.

Orthomolecular Medicine treats many brain imbalances and mental health problems. There are links at the bottom of this page to Orthomolecular Medicine so you can research this further.

References:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hypochondria/DS00841/DSECTION=symptoms

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hypochondria/DS00841/DSECTION=complications

www.orthomolecular.org/

orthomolecular.org/library/jom/index.shtml

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18717

http://www.uib.no/med/avd/med_a/gastro/wilhelms/hypochon.html