To think we are becoming a country of hypochondriacs?

[YellowTulips25]

Firstly, let me preface this by saying that I entirely sympathise with people who have to live with serious long-term medical conditions. I don't wish to downplay illness or disabilities - visible or hidden - at all.

However, does anyone else feel like we're rapidly becoming a country of hypochondriacs, where an increasing number of people let seemingly minor health issues dominate their life?

For example, an article on the BBC this week features a woman who talks about having 'chronic pain, migraines and travel sickness' as reasons why it's impossible for her to work in an office. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9x0819417o

I think most of us suffer from aches and pains and headaches from time to time? What'd happen if we all started using this excuse?

And I know plenty of friends who always seem to have some ailment or other troubling them, whether it's being in pain, being tired, having a cough or cold, etc etc. It seems almost as if constantly being ill is part of their personality, a badge of honour?

I know I'll probably get flamed for this, but surely I can't be the only one to feel like rolling my eyes at some people's lack of resilience?

Op I’m very lucky to be in my 40s with no real issues except a bit of asthma that just means I shouldn’t get carried away. I rarely get sick but when I do I’m a ‘woe is me’ nightmare! More man flu than the worst man!!! I can’t imagine my life being all about aches and pains and trying to manage an invisible illness when people secretly judge me. How does it honestly really impact you? People on disability are hardly loaded- they’re not rich from it!

We could if the billionaires stopped hoarding wealth and shared a bit more. But sure, it’s disabled and chronically ill people who are the issue.

Judging by the huge number of health anxiety posts on Mumsnet - yanbu!

The thing is that none of us live in other bodies so how can we make judgements?

I have chronic issues (going on 27 years now so I think that may qualify as chronic?) but I do push myself every day because I have no choice, I hate living with my health issues but there is no other option but to learn to live with them. I wouldn't comment on anyone else's health issues because I don't walk in their shoes.

And as others have pointed out, the difference between a migraine and 'we all get headaches from time to time', is the difference between chalk and cheese. My normal headaches don't stop me but my aura migraines leave me with limited vision, complete confusion, numb hands and sometimes I can't even recall my own name, I have no choice but to lay down when I have these.

I don't know about "nation of hypochondriacs".
An illness in some cases seems almost like a coping strategy, switch off for a while and not worry about the outside world.
I don't have sympathies with the young generation, mainly because I wasn't taught that - nobody had sympathy with us (45 yo, former Communist country), however, I understand the pressures on these people.
Wouldn't want to be young and "look for my place in society" ever again myself.
The ill health is a sign life is not good in general, too much pressure, social media, shit food, expectations...and as a wise PP said, the young were sacrificed to the old during the dreaded lockdowns.
Wish I had an answer for a better life, rather than just shutting the door to most people and scaremongering news!
Edited to say - this all creates a massive lack of motivation.
😕

My rule of thumb is that if I can get up, get washed and dressed, and keep down a cup of tea, I am well enough for work.

I have two wedged vertebrae, severe osteoporosis (six beaks in six years), take 112.5 mcg of levothyroxine due to hypo arising from Graves. Fortunately I have little pain but suspect that's due to regular pilates and being mindful about lifting. If I have paun, I take the drugs

I have had five days off work in the last five years. The ability to work from home has been a great help. I had a chest infection before Xmas for which I needed ABs. Working from home for two days limited a sickness absence to one day.

I still pull a 50/55 hour week. At 64, I'm not sure I could still without parking at work and wfh a couple of days a week.

Our diet is good and I have always been active without doing sport.

On the whole I tend to agree with the OP.

My darling grandad did exactly the same thing back in the 80's

Some bright spark gave him one-and within the hour,he had everything from acne to green parrot disease

Thank god he died before the Internet came along because if he'd learnt to Google symptoms,he would have driven himself insane-he was bad enough as it was

He was the type of person that if there was a food scare,he would never,ever eat that food again

He refused to eat eggs and beef til the day he died

Part of the problem is the Internet,self diagnosing ourselves,not helping ourselves to stay healthy but expecting the nhs/work etc to take accountability

Is it any wonder when our national health service is so incompetent?

My mil was told she had IBS (for a full year) when in fact she had a small bowel tumour which killed her.

My 4 year old niece had a brain tumour, that was an ear infection according to her GP.

My own 30 year experience with dreadful gynae issues was 'just one of those things some women experience' according to my gynae of 13 years. Well those issues have actually turned out to be deep endometriosis.

We hear these stories all the time. It's no wonder people are worried about their health woes especially when they become long standing and no medical professionals will take them seriously.

I have zero disabilities or illnesses, as it happens. I am pretty damn healthy. I havent missed a day of work in years.
But I can recognise that others aren't as lucky.

Thanks. I remember the GP who referred me saying oh you'll be back after you've done the course like everyone else complaining it doesn't work and looking for more painkillers. I asked him if he had actually looked at my medical record because he would see I have never been prescribed pain medication in my life I refuse it everytime it's offered as I don't like taking meds for no reason. The course was the best thing I ever did it gave me my life back taught me how to work through my condition and most of all accept it. I might not be able to do everything I used to do but I've learnt that I can do most things just in a different way to how I used to and still be able to enjoy it. Some of the others on the course had already walked in with a this isn't going to work attitude and so it didn't work for them.

10 36 am on Mumsnet. Hands up, who is skiving today?

I have chronic pain and chronic migraines. Lots of people have long term illnesses from covid. I wouldn't be able to work at all if I couldn't work from home. I'm disappointed in this attitude honestly, it just shows how people still refuse to accommodate people with disabilities and carry on labelling us as fakers.

I've also not been back to a dr for over 9 yrs other than my normal NHS health check I get invited to attend.

On the flip side of that..had it not been for the internet and me self diagnosing and insisting on a referral I’d be dead. I had a huge soft tissue sarcoma that my GP insisted was a lipoma. I losT my leg at the hip and had to have 6 months of chemo and radiation but I’m alive.

This kind of posting needs to be seen in the context of what is happening in the US.

Affordable healthcare for the poor and middle classes cancelled. Basic communications around food product recalls cancelled - exposing people with allergies to unnecessary risk. Infectious disease surveillance cancelled - the biggest epidemic of tuberculosis happening in the US right now and alarmed doctors trying to spread the word.

All because millionaires and billionaires want to pay a little less tax.

There’s a narrative that tries to say that people are just malingering and are not worth saving. Yes take personal responsibility for your health - if you can afford it, stop buying junk food, exercise, look after yourself. But we need the infrastructure to support public health including a functioning NHS - do not fall for false narratives like this thread trying to paint a picture that the UK are a bunch of hypochondriacs. It simply isn’t supported by fact.

Self employed wasting time waiting for 30 min epoxy glue to dry 😉

Dr Google and UP food has a lot to answer for.
It is becoming harder and harder for GPs to filter out the genuinely ill from the worried well.
I see more and more people who have self diagnosed from the internet, you are drawn into a conversation only to find out they have no formal diagnosis.

But that's part of the problem, isn't it? The system works really well in an emergency - if you've ever had the misfortune to be admitted or to be accompanying someone who is having a heart attack, "red phone" trauma, etc you see world-class emergency care. And of course people should be aware of the symptoms of stroke, heart attack, sepsis, anaphylaxis, etc in the community so they can act quickly and get help. The problem is it's not joined up. So rather than every child learning coherent, situation based first aid and every adult being able to access a first aid course, we get campaigns about key issues without providing any holistic knowledge. So people panic and assume the worst rather than making a calm, training-based assessment.

Personally I think every child who is capable of understanding should do some sort of first aid course as part of citizenship education -starting in reception with how to call 999 and building up from there to more advanced topics as they get older. And every adult should be able to access a free first aid at work course, with the entitlement to 2 paid days off work to access the course. Every pregnant parent/couple should also access a paediatric course on the same terms.

I strongly believe that a huge proportion of the chronically ill community are undiagnosed neurodivergent adults who have a hyperfixation on bodily symptoms. They most likely have sensory or MH issues which distort or magnify symptoms and possible autoimmune disorders that are comorbid with ND.

Virtually all the people who make a big deal over having conditions like long-covid, ME, POTS, fibromyalgia & co have extremely similar mannerisms and appearances. Just like the woman from the article. It's too much of a coincidence that all these conditions randomly strike a small subset of people who look and talk the same way. It's more likely they have personality traits that make them more susceptible to chronic health issues, hypochondria or psychosomatic symptoms.

I agree, it's as though those who enjoy good health see it as some kind of badge of honour which they can use to trump anyone with health issues.

And I don't like the way health anxiety is mocked on here. It's a mental health issue which is as valid as a physical one.

If you work in HR you will come across people who have ‘flu’ frequently’ they clearly don’t. It’s a shorthand for a lot of people for ‘waking up feeling a bit crap’ and then they are back in the next day absolutely fine.

1. An over abundance of ultra processed foods in our food chain, manufactured by business who do not care abot the health impact and allowed by governments who need the tax money more than they need a healthy population (presumably).
2. A chronic lack of prioritisation on getting good, plentiful sleep. e.g businesses that want 24/7 on call or long days or that ask relatively juinor/low paid roles to shoulder far more stress than they used to etc.
3. Living through a pandemic with the all the longer term impacts on health that caused (mental health, physical heath etc).
4. A health care system on its knees that just does not have the time or money to get ahead of the game and help people with health issues before they build to a level so bad it disrupts and ruins their lives

I am lucky enough to experience good heath - and almost always have. But even I can see how the modern world is making everyone very unwell indeed.

Obviously some people go off sick when they aren’t really but that’s not what I’m talking about. The point is that flu does not have to be severe to be flu. It’s a tiresome myth that it does and I wish that people would stop perpetuating it.

People are eating the wrong food, which causes obesity, diabetes and other illnesses. The UK eats more ultra-processed foods than anywhere else in Europe. Mental health services have been practically non-existent for decades. We've just had a pandemic and now thousands or probably hundreds of thousands of people have long covid, and mental health has become even worse as a result of the pandemic. governments over decades have underfunded the NHS, so doctors do not have the resources to treat people within a reasonable time frame or even at all, so people get sicker while they are waiting. It's not surprising we're in a mess.

The government and the media really don't help. The media catastrophise everything the NHS lecture and infantalise us. I've just had yet another letter from some department making me yet another appointment for the COVID jab.

We buy an over the counter remedy that's worked for years. Some university does a study on rats and the remedy is withdrawn. Big pharma wants us swallowing their new improved patented medicine.

When we watched USA TV on holiday the adverts for drugs were relentless, ditto treatments.