Inside the Mind of a Hypochondriac

You recognize a small bump, have an offsetting feeling. Maybe slight pain, or simply uncomfortable vibes. Your mind rushes in a million different directions to find an answer to your thoughts, fantasies. Do I have an illness? Am I hurt? What's wrong with me? Something is not right!

A Hypochondriac, a normal bodily function seems to take a more epic role on your thought span than a person without the ailment. Sweating, slight aches, everything becomes extreme. As you can see by this explanation from medterms.com(http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=18717):

"The hypochondrium is the anatomic area of the upper abdomen just below (Greek "hypo" meaning "below") the cartilage (Greek "chondros" meaning "cartilage") of the ribs. Hypochondriasis was thought by the ancients to be due to disturbed function of the spleen and other organs in the upper abdomen."

The news can be another contributor to hypochondriacs, with most of it portraying the tragic events that have happened. Be it in newspapers, on the radio, or on the television. It's a ton of information hitting us in every way, on every day, and we keep absorbing. People are gathering more and more information all around them for what could be wrong with them.

There are also Cyberchonriacs. They are people, like myself, who research the internet constantly bombarding our brains with information about what could be wrong... Most of the time nothing is wrong! Reassurance is one more thing that can make a hypochondriac more on edge. Instead of relaxing in the security from a doctor or friend that you are fine, you worry about the possibility that it may come in the future.

Hypochondria has not been shown to progress generations through genes. It is, however, taken on by healthy individuals who witness a tragic event, or fall prey to friends and family dying from diseases. It can be a panic, you wonder if it will happen to you next. It intertwines so well with Anxiety and Depression. They go hand-in-hand with this disease.

There are not a lot of answers for the treatment of Hypochondriasis, therapies are a great option, meditation and exercise, or perhaps with seeing a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, who has the money now a-days to afford that? As it has not been seen until recently as being a serious illness, hypochondriacs have mostly gone on with their lives finding their own way to cope with the problem. Perhaps for the best, perhaps not.

It is something a lot of people are coming to terms with as a serious disease. Most people are not fond enough of learning about it, and do not feel that it as something serious. With the ability to cause anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and panic, that it is a very serious problem that deserves some recognition. Remember, that the stress and anxiety related to this problem can cause medical side effects such as nausea, insomnia, panic, headaches, being lightheaded, and an assortment of other things. We're not just "faking" it. So I say it's time for a solution, simply because:

Why spend your life wondering if you're going to die instead of living it?