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?

Perhaps if vast swathes of the population are finding work so overwhelming that their doctors are signing them off with stress, we need to look at the work culture in our country. Starting with managers who think they can dismiss medical diagnoses with no clinical knowledge and make blind judgements about the lives of people who work for them. Assuming you're a manager and not just a busy-body colleague.

No - I think we are sicker as a nation, which may well be self-inflicted but doesn't mean the consequences of our poor choices aren't real ill-heath

Oh look! Another vile, ableist post on Mumsnet. Yes, those of us with chronic pain are all weak hypochondriacs and you superior, strong people can lord over us with your excellent health. Until you get hit by a bus.

Sorry tagged wrong post x

YABU

She is working! Regardless of where she is, she is still holding down a job.

Some need to examine why they have an issue with people wfh vs in an office when we have evidence that many jobs do not require people commuting to an office 5 days a week.

People complain about the amount of traffic on their commutes but also want to complain about people wfh.

You want people to come to work but they rightly shouldn’t come to work with a cold or more and passing it to others which if they can wfh, they can likely still do bits of work there and not passing it to people on their commute or into the office.

Poor diet, people are lazy, yet I have seen few posters mention stress as a big factor and most of this.

You can eat well, be active, but stress will bring you down.

My friend isn't disabled though, she's a hypochondriac who likes to moan.
No idea why you felt the need to explain all about your appointments etc., it's not relevant and I'm not interested.

If she genuinely has health anxiety that's a serious mental illness

Source?

Also, to add to my mindset post above and to agree with this one.... I also think that life is just generally quite hard for a lot of people, and at least a bit harder for most people, than it was 10 years or more ago. And so as a result, resilience suffers somewhat.

When you're tired, and sufferign from headaches (for example) and it's all getting you down, perhaps in the past at least you weren't also dealing with trying to support children in schools that are simply bulging at the seams and so they're not necessarily getting the same level of support at school; or perhaps you had more money so when you felt like that you could take the evening off, order in a takeaway or take yourself off for a massage; perhaps you weren't constantly worried about losing your job or feeling obligated to work way over your contracted hours....

The reality is that quality of life has gone downhill over the last 10-20 years and I suspect that also impacts how people cope with many things.

One of the main problems is people insist on antibiotics for every little thing! I have one friend who takes her kids to the GP every time they have a sniffle. They are constantly on antibiotics for one thing or another. The problem is that antibiotics reduce your immunity and deprive your gut of good bacteria so it becomes a vicious cycle.

My exh and his mum are classic hypochondriacs.

I remember vividly when I had a complicated miscarriage which involved 3 hospital stays and surgery, my now ex mil texted my then dh saying that I "just had to get on with it". The first time I saw her after that she went on and on about how she had a cold and was most upset that the doctor wouldn't give her antibiotics.

My exh is also now at the GP for every little thing. When we were together I'd manage to steer him away from it but now it's constant. He went to the GP recently because his leg was bleeding and it turns out he knocked a skin tag

Meanwhile my colleague in her 60s is on the waiting list for a double heart bypass yet never moans about anything and somehow still manages to work full time.

Thanks @GoldOrca . Actually I’m off work with a flare up, so not great. I can walk about 20m before I feel ill. Hope you’re ok.

I've read the OP. Do you realise what impact threads like these have on disabled people with chronic conditions? We're hated enough as it is, simply for existing, without these constant inflammatory posts that lead to even more hate. Disabled people are the most vulnerable people in society. Ask yourself why people hate them so much, instead of telling me to read something I've already read.

Where is your source that this isn't the case? Mumsnet isn't a forum where every post needs to be properly cited with peer referenced journals. If you disagree with what has been written then put forward evidence to disprove it.

Stop trying to shut down discussion under the guise of ableism.

I am on the Board of a company so yes I guess you could say I'm a manager (slightly senior to Management but let's not split hairs 😉)

We are one of the most relaxed and easy going companies I have ever known. Nobody is expected to work outside of their set hours, we are very flexible on appointments / days off etc. We don't have "targets" or deadlines. It's a casual workplace, lots of benefits and everyone gets on.

But the people I am referring to already have these "conditions" when they come to work for us (as I said in my post, they have to complete a medical questionnaire when they start). So it's absolutely nothing to do with working here.

I would say most workplaces are far more chilled out and flexible now than they ever have been.

My - and many other peoples - grandparents who used to work in the coal mines and in factories for 12-14 hours a day with barely a break would be turning in their graves at the reasons that people being signed off for "stress" these days.

Migraines aren't headaches.

I literally cannot see when I have a migraine so would be dangerous for me to travel to a job. I also vomit, occasionally faint. I've ended up being rushed to hospital because I thought I was having a stroke as my face went numb, another common symptom of migraines.

The only way I can get through one is lying down in a pitch black room in silence until it passes.

How would I be expected to get through a day in an office with that? I'm 'lucky' that I only experience migraines once every couple of months but some people have them regularly.

Chronic pain is also not just aches and pains. It can be unbearable and nonpain relief touches it. Again, my symptoms of chronic pain are no where near as bad as some people, but I would struggle to get to an office when I'm having a flare up.

Covid did a number on me. Before that I was fit and healthy and while I have always been self employed, I could have worked no problem out of the home. Now, I wouldn't be able to.

She’s right though. The OP talks about having sympathy for people with genuine issues yet makes light of a woman who suffers from chronic migraines and tries to compare them to the usual occasional headaches that most people now and again.

If she has sympathy for people with genuine issues then why is she singling out a woman with chronic migraines which are very real and debilitating?

Likewise people making light of people with anxiety. It’s very real and can be utterly debilitating. I’ve literally been unable to speak when it happens and walked in front of cars not knowing what I was doing because I was so overwhelmed.

George Bernard Shaw once said that he never read a medical dictionary in case he died of a misprint. Wise words.

I would love to see your research on this, please.

What mannerisms do all people with Pots, Fibro and ME have?

What is similar about their appearances?

How do they talk the same?

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.

"Virtually all"? How many people with these conditions do you know?

What do you mean by similar appearance? You say that you think people with these conditions are nearly all undiagnosed ND, but what does that have to do with appearance?

My migraines mimic strokes . I get aura , then my vision splits so everything looks double and up and down, flashes of lights, then I can't talk proparly and can't text either and have to sit in a dark room whilst feeling sick . Migraine ain't just headaches for some people .

Tough one for me. I do think there is a lack of resilience. I have epilepsy which probably impacts my mental health more than the physical side but I crack on. I worry about 'break dancing' with an audience more than anything. I've not had any time off work other than the odd day or so, in 20 years.

However, I'm currently off work with, what would appear on the face of it, to be a broken finger 🤣. I've had tonnes of complications, metal plates inserted, extreme pain, zombified with pain killers, 2 surgeries and an infection in my bone. Without going into dramatic, detail my colleagues just think I have a broken little finger and will probably be calling me fit to burn!

With this in mind, I don't want to downplay anyone's illness!

If someone claims something, they should be able to back it up.

How is me asking for a source, for further research and discussion, shutting down a discussion? It's quite the opposite. What do you mean by "Under the guise of ableism"?

Why don't you want disabled people to speak?