To think we are becoming a country of hypochondriacs?

I think the rise of the internet and social media has led people to believe that anything other than a human having perfect physical and mental health is somehow seriously wrong and somehow exempts them from the duties and responsibilities of life. Most people will develop physical conditions, especially as they age and if they don't look after themselves. People need to realise that this doesn't make you the exception and you have to take responsibility for managing these conditions as best you can as the state and society simply can't shoulder the burden when the majority of the citizens are grappling with such issues.

The same goes for mental health conditions. I believe that idea that most people are Neurotypical and don't struggle at all with their mental health is a fallacy. The science around Neurodiversity isn't as robust as most people assume and the definition of Neurodiversity has now been pulled so wide that scientists and doctors are admitting that there is now a huge overlap between the ND and NT community. Lots of people will struggle with mental health conditions and traits of ASD/ADHD/depression/anxiety etc to the point it has a significant impact on their lives. I would argue that most people will have periods of time where this is the case. We have to accept this is in most cases by definition a normal part of the human condition in the modern world.

I work with people who have chronic conditions. The vast majority do want to work and can do some aspects of their job. Where they come against problems is when employers can't meet their needs.
Yes, many of us have pain. We do some exercise, we take paracetamol and life is manageable. With chronic pain population, the vast majority already maxed out on opioids and it doesn't touch the sides. What do you do then? You probably won't be able to move very efficiently without exacerbating your symptoms so this excludes any roles which require you to be on your feet or travel between sites. Or even getting up to your office which is on a third floor of a building without a lift. If god forbid, you have to take a couple of days off when you have a bad flareup, you fall under disciplinary fairly quickly.
If you have migraines, you can't cope with sensory stimuli. You also have predrome and postdrome with severe fatigue. It's not just a headache. You may technically be able to get yourself to the office but not then being able to carry out any part of your job. You often can't look at screens and not every employer will provide you with assistive equipment to help mitigate the effects.
So your options become very very limited quite quickly. Not because you can't work at all but because you can't work reliably and the employer cannot/doesn't want to meet your needs.

Jeez! Chronic vestibular migraine cannot be cured by paracetamols or water. So much ignorance.
Its the difference between a cold and acute bronchitis.

I really agree with you. Total sympathy for anyone living with a condition/s BUT - for example - you can barely read a post on this site without someone mentioning they have an illness/condition, big or small. A parcel not delivered? Made worse as I was very ill that day. School sent the wrong jumper home? Made worse as I was recovering from flu. Etc etc!!

Oh dear yes - every other person seems to ‘have anxiety’ nowadays.
There certainly seems to be a worrying lack of resilience.

I agree with OPs main point - that in general we seem now to be prone to a mental overreaction to pretty standard human ailments.

But also we are so at the end of our capacity, that a cold or a pulled muscle or indigestion is simply too much - back in the day, we could take life a bit easier when ill, our grans or dads etc would put us to bed with a lemsip/rub our soreness/be there to help and support for the couple of days of unwellness. But now everyone is at capacity, no one has time or energy to care for another. So a cold can feel like the final straw.

Not a great example but yes we need more resilience. I have a friend who works for herself (cleaning) but continuously cancels her work because she’s ill. So she will say she’s got a migraine. Oh, poor you, what have you taken? Paracetamol. Are you drinking loads of water. Oh I’ve had a cup of tea, but I will have some. Are you getting enough sleep? Well we had a bottle of wine last night so we got to bed late, but Ill try to get to bed earlier…

I have sort of noticed it but I think it's no wonder. There a lot of poor mental health underlying it, and also, regarding working the from home issue, the extra cost of childcare and travel.

I think we have to have sympathy and empathy for people in this economic climate, not bang on or use stupid words like "snowflake ".

I agree. The NHS is barely functioning and services have been cut to the bone. People are waiting for essential operations and treatments for years while their conditions get worse.

Mental health treatment is a bunch of pills and you can only get support if you reach crisis point.

People are going to hospital with vitamin deficiencies because they're too poor to afford a healthy diet. They're using food banks or they'd starve and a third of children are in poverty.

Children are suffering from poor mental health because of what they're accessing on the internet and child mental health services, barely exists.

Bunch of hypochondriacs - you've nailed it.

Malingerers get too much sympathy these days.

The one that frustrates me is 'I've got anxiety' as if it's a medical diagnosis and verging on a disability. A convenient excuse to opt out of things they don't fancy doing.
This is not a pop at people who are actually ill, diagnosed and being treated, I think statements like this actually devalue their experiences.

If she has severe chronic pain and migraines, that will be debilitating.
Also I must defend the Brits here, I've found both Europeans and Americans far more obsessed with getting constant medical care. An American friend was shocked that I didn't go to the doctor demanding antibiotics for a cough. And then there's the French...

It was said during Covid that our population was quite uniquely vulnerable due to the enormous amount of people with chronic conditions and disabilities. I don't know the cause but this was based on numbers of diagnosed, so not just people making it up because they feel stiff that morning.

Migraines are utter hell and yabvu to throw around the new Mumsnet buzzwords like 'resilience' about them. My friend who lives with chronic migraines is much more resilient than you or I considering each and every day is a lottery of agonising pain.

I think most of us suffer from aches and pains and headaches from time to time?

How to tell us you’ve never had a migraine without telling us you’ve never had a migraine.

I suffer horrendously with migraines. I get migraines, migraines with aura, vestibular migraines and gastric migraines. They can happen as often as 21 days a month. I have to take 4 preventative medications, plus 3 medications when they occur. On top of that I have Botox, on the NHS every 3 months and I pay for acupuncture every couple of weeks.

DS1 gets the odd occasional migraine, but he used to suffer quite badly as a child and a young teenager. When he came to join the army he was rejected because they don’t take people with frequent, recurrent migraines due to them being so debilitating and how they interfere with your life. Our GP helped in his appeal, which he was successful with.

Chronic pain is a very different to a “few aches and pains”. I’ve lived with multiple disabilities, which cause chronic pain, for almost 30yrs. I don’t sleep, I can’t eat because I’m so tired I feel sick, I’m isolated, I’m incredibly lonely especially at 3am when everyone else is snoring. I couldn’t play with my kids to the same extent that other parents could, i now can’t get on the floor and play with my grandson nor push his pram. Everything we do we have to think “ooh can Fairy do that?” We can’t just get up and go like most other people.

It’s incredibly insulting to lump your “aches and pains” in with people who live with chronic pain. I’d love to have a few aches and pains and crack on with it. I’d love to be able to work, even from home, but I can’t. Fortunately DH has a well paid job so we don’t need to worry about money for now.

Have you read Three Men in a Boat?

I was talking to partner only last night .
Some people go to Docs for the least little thing
( him being one of them ) taking up appointments that could be used for more serious ailments .
Leave the Docs to be available for really ill people. He's had 2 or 3 xray or hospital referrals, because he's not happy with outcome.
Ridiculous! When poor people are waiting in corridors to be seen by doctors.
Thank you for letting get that out .
Sorry , rant over !!

OP you've picked the wrong article for an example. I have chronic migraine and work part-time, I absolutely couldn't work full time at the moment but also getting the right medical support from the NHS is almost impossible. I had to pay to start a new medicine last year as my headache clinic wouldn't fund any of the new drugs available. I had six months off work sick before accessing this drug as I couldn't work. If more people with chronic conditions could access the right treatment then we would have more people in work.

I still get migraines but they are more treatable and easier to manage.

Yes there are also a lot of people who head to the doctors for illness like colds and sick bugs who should just stay home and deal with it themselves. But it's almost like some people have a learned helplessness in not being able to deal with general colds. They certainly shouldn't be bothering doctors to treat a lot of minor illness. I hardly ever see a doctor for anything other then my migraines.

This is such a poor example, OP. The women works. She just WFH. So do I.
Big deal.

Chronic pain and migraines are not aches and pains and a headache

YABVU and frankly goady as fuck

But how people look has no bearing on how well they are, and it's ignorant to think otherwise (not aimed at you). I have debilitating chronic migraines, but of course, I can exercise on days when I'm not having one, and surely keeping ourselves as fit as we can within out limits is a good thing?

The woman int he article actually works, but for some reason the OP still has an issue with her working from home, which might be the only way she can keep working. So, I'm not entirely sure what the problem is!

I think this is true, but I’d also add that people act sooner, because they have no confidence that if they were to find themselves in an emergency that the emergency services would be available to them. E.g hours long waits in A &E or for an ambulance. I’d 100% take kids in “for a precaution” for that reason really, which is sad

I don't think the woman in the BBC article did herself many favours with the sceptics by choosing a photo of herself apparently out for a jog in the woods to illustrate the story.

I'm not judging that either way — people with chronic conditions have good days too, and maybe she wanted to show herself looking positive for an appearance in the national media — but I suspect that "she doesn't look very ill too me" will have gone through a lot of people's minds.

Completely agree with you.

Most of us with real chronic pain and life long health conditions actually do work and try our hardest. I take my medication, wear joint supports and get on with it.

I believe a lot of it is laziness and attention seeking, people just don't want to work these days.

Absolutely hit the nail on the head

I wish more people were hypochondriacs to be honest. The number of people who have learned nothing from covid and are going around spreading horrible viruses and flus and norovirus and god knows what else and on top of that want to be congratulated for being so brave and carrying on when they're ill, seemingly oblivious to the fact they're spreading their nasty germs everywhere and they are the exact reason they things spread.