to wish that people would stop (mis)diagnosing themselves?

[AKMD]

Why do so many people diagnose themselves or their children with illnesses that they do not have? For example:

"Oh, I have asthma" = you are unfit and so get out of breath easily when you do have to run for that bus.

"I am allergic to broccoli" = you just don't like broccoli.

"I have a migraine" = you might have a headache but if you had a migraine you would be at home in bed with the curtains drawn, unable to attend this party.

"DS has ADHD" = your DS is spoiled to death, you set him no boundaries and so he runs riot.

Inevitably, when sympathised with and asked when they were diagnosed the reply is "Oh, I haven't seen the doctor about it, I just know." They have no idea what life is like for people who actually do have these conditions and their laziness and exaggeration make it incredibly difficult for real sufferers to be believed or accommodated for. It makes me so cross - AIBU?

Stealth I completely agree as I said upthread. OCD is a killer and is not something trendy to have.

My best friend

If anyone does have OCD however, please can I urge you to get in touch with the numbers and organisations that can help. Please.

Don't forget the people who proudly declare they are "a bit OCD" because they hooer every day, or have to have all their tins facing the right way, or soemthing . That's the one that bugs me, not sure about the rest

I don't mind that one as a mother of a child who has had severe and debilitating OCD. I think I said it earlier in the thread but as part of his homework on day one of CBT was to find adults who do thinks that are "a bit OCD" such as having locking up rituals or not standing on cracks in the pavement, avoiding the number 13 etc.

The idea was and it worked, that the children felt that they were the only ones to feel the need to "ritualise", that in turn made them feel they weren't "normal", in turn increase their anxiety which goes on to make the OCD worse. So at the start they had to find adults who also carried out quirky routines which most of us have.

SO I really don't mind people saying they are a bit OCD at all.

And I look up to the likes of David Beckham who talk about their OCD because that again helps children with the condition to feel OK about the condition.

Lady I've just read your best friends story and it is very sad indeed. My son regularly gets suicidal and it's no ones fault. I have to manage it, work with him, get support agencies in, get the schools on board etc. He also has autism and my life is based on keeping him "balanced". Suicide and mental health scares me to death, OCD and Autism both have higher than normal suicide rates.

I still think people talking about OCD is a good thing, I still don't mind people saying they're a bit OCD because given the guidance from the CBT's it helps the people with OCD to not feel so different.

As I understand it OCD is normal behaviour that has developed into something that takes over an individual's life. So I suppose it is true that you can be 'a bit OCD'. Most of us have rituals and preferences. I am much worse when anxious and get very nervy about dust and dirt and untidiness in general. I know I dont have OCD though. I have an anxiety type thing.

I hope your son can find a way to manage his condition and eventually he will recover completely. It must be very difficult for you to see him so distressed.

Re asthma, exercise-induced asthma is a genuine illness and can be experienced by people who are otherwise fit and who also do not suffer from asthma at other times (but you have to discount factors such as pollution, which can also trigger an attack, and, of course, exercise-induced asthma can presumably happen in individuals who suffer from asthma at other times). Believe it or not, many fit sportspeople, such as Paula Radcliffe, suffer from asthma! Exercise can be a trigger because of increased sensitivity to changes in air temperature and humidity when working at high intensity. I have asthma which is exacerbated when I have a cold or hay fever, eat or drink foods with sulphites in them and sometimes when exercising, for example. I'm not unfit at all and participate in quite a lot of non-competitive sporting events, but you have to know when not to do that and manage asthma carefully because working at high intensity if your lungs are struggling can put an undue strain on the heart. Obviously this can have fatal consequences.

If someone always feels like this when exercising and has unmanaged asthma then of course that's going to put them off exercise and getting fitter even more, thus leading to a vicious circle which leaves them even less fit. That's why it's a good idea to consult a doctor when starting an exercise programme and that's why you should encourage your friends who say they think they have asthma but haven't been diagnosed by a doctor to get themselves properly checked over.

Fair enough Mitmoo - never thought of it like that, and am happy to be corrected. Something just leaves a bad taste in my mouth - it is seen as a good thing to be a "bit OCD", in a way it isn't seen as a good thing to have "a bit of heart disease" or "slight dementia". I have no problems with people talking about it / normalising it (and DB "really" does have it??) but think it trivialises a disease to claim you hae it when you don't. Forexample someone going to straighten a picture in a meeting room and then "oh dear there's my OCD coming out again". Well no, and if peopel in general think OCD relates to haing your carpets hoovered and pictures straight then they won't actually see it as a "disease".

Does that make any sense? I suppose what I am trying to say is that people seem to parade it as a charming little quirk (also demonstrating what high standards they possess).

Stealth I can see exactly where you are coming from and I would have shared your views only for the fact that in my area we were lucky for them to be trailing treating the children and educating the family at the same time in separate sessions.

The first thing they did was to make the children feel that they weren't so out of step with the rest of the world, to help to reduce the anxiety, they also taught the parents and family how to not buy into the rituals. So if the compulsive side of it was to reassure them they weren't going to be sick how to remove that reassurance. It sounded cruel to most of us at the time but we were in good hands but we had to learn that the reassurance wasn't working as they still needed it 100 200 odd times in a day.

I really don't mind the I'm a bit OCDers even though they don't really know what OCD is and how bad it can be. I can't really object given the first weeks homework from CBT. Just thought I'd point out the positives even though they were unintended.

Can I ask about migraines- does anyone else get toothache with them? I've only ever had 2 or 3, but each time every single tooth in my head has become screamingly sensitive, so much that air hurts them. Particularly the right side. I have to lay with my head on a cold table, my eyes shut, and press on the right side of my mouth as hard as I can to get any form of relief. Just can't read anywhere that it may be a symptom.

Hi BreakOut - I do get that too, but I've been told that is down to my sinus problems - teeth & sinuses share the same nerves according to my ENT specialist

The other possibility if the actual headache is VERY severe is "cluster migraine" that often comes with sinus symptoms, but the headache with that is also known as "suicide headache" as it is very severe - I have a diagnosis of that too, but thankfully cluster headaches don't happen frequently, which is part of the diagnosis criteria apparently

if the headache gets worse on bending/hanging you head down, then it is very likely sinus related - doesn't have to come with the expected stuffy/runny nose.

Hmmm, very strange- never had any problems with my sinuses before. I wonder if it can be to do with nerves? The light seems to affect my teeth, as daft as it sounds, so maybe the migraine is just making all my nerves tender? As I say, thankfully only happened a couple of times- I really feel for all you sufferers who have regular migraines, I can't imagine living life like that.

My 4 year old told the school he was allergic to cheese, because he saw that the boy with the dairy allergy got to have gummies at snack time instead of cheese and crackers. I didn't find out for a whole year about his supposed allergy, not until I sent him in on his snack day with a cheese and grape platter and the teacher acted surprised... cheeky bugger.

I would say, though, that you can have been diagnosed with conditions and not get the same terrible symptoms others have.

I have actually considered suicide when having a particularly bad one, I also get weird waking dreams with mine and once thought I was having all my teeth pulled out.

They happen 3 days after I ovulate, some months it is a mild headache, some months I get a 'warning' aura ahead of time and some months they hit me like a sledgehammer.

I pay very careful attention to my chart even when not TTC. Pregnancy and breastfeedint is bliss because it suppresses the migraines.

I can still function though, mostly because there ie no choice when you have kids live a long way from family and have a husband who travels a lot.

So while the OP might think if you can function it isn't a real migraine I believe she is quite wrong.