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Hypercondriac?

Hi all,
been looking here for the last year and have finally joined on this sleepless night ahead. Endoscopy tomorrow again,looks like I'm having another Crohns relapse. diagnosed 3 years ago, but have had undiagnosed issues for years, just by chance that a doctor 3 years ago listened to my symptoms and referred me to a specialist instead of fobbing me off!

imuran and pred and some unrelated drugs as well.

Does anyone else here feel like a hypercondriac? sometimes i worry that i am overly sensitive to my body and the natural changes that it has coz i am so concerned with "how well i am" and not letting any of the negs affect my day to day life too much.

i spend so much time thinking,worrying, getting checkups and bloodwork done,clutching my stomach and trying to breat through it, that i worry that my negative focus may make me more sick.

any thoughts?

btw has anyone with Crohns ever gotten Tinea Nigra? I've gotten it twice now from capsicum and just woken up in the morning with a dark patch on my hand.woke up this morning with it and it seems oddly times since I'm stressed about the endoscopy tomorrow and stomach feels like crap. cant find any info that shows a link between crohns and fungal infections and all I can think is that it's due to imuran.

Any thoughts?
 
Hi,

I think a hypercondriac would be someone who thinks they're ill when they're not, or someone who is ill but who feels they are far worse than they actually are. When you're dealing with symptoms and going through tests, it's natural to have your illness on your mind a lot of the time. However, it's also good to make sure that the illness isn't taking over your life and thoughts completely - are there times when you can stop thinking about and maybe do some activity to take your mind of it?

It's about balance, I guess, and keeping your concerns about your illness in proportion to how sick you are. I don't think you can make yourself more sick by thinking negatively about it, but if you think about it too much you may perceive it to be worse. Are you more concerned about your health right now than you have been previously, and if so, is that because you're feeling worse now or because you have a test coming up?

Good luck with the endoscopy.
 

afidz

Super Moderator
Welcome to the forum!
I think its natural for us to be sensitive to the way our bodies feel . We know what this disease can do and want to prevent it from doing its worse to the best of our abilities. However, its important not to stress to much about it making things worse. How long have you been taking prednisone and imuran? Do you feel like these meds are controlling your disease?
As far as the fungal infection I'm going to have to get back to you on that, I'm on my phone right now and its not that easy to research things on it :p
Is there any specific issue you are worried about right now that someone can shine some light on? There are so many members on here someone has gone through the same thing and is willing to help!
 

SarahBear

Moderator
Location
Charleston,
Hi, welcome to the forum!

I definitely understand your concerns - but I don't think you're a hypochondriac! I feel the same way sometimes. It's hard not to when even doctors don't always take you seriously. I think that's really the root of the problem - for me, anyway.

I don't think that watching out for your health in the ways you described would be a negative focus at all. You're doing what you need to do to get yourself feeling better - that's a positive. If you're worried about it, try to shift your focus a little from, "I feel bad," to, "I will feel better."

I hope things go well for you!
 
I agree that we all are sensitive to our body changes. I thought I was being a little bit of a hypercondriac one night. Went to the ER because I was having a hard time swallowing and my neck hurt. They started running test and the pain started easing up. They came in later and admitted me because I'd had a heart attack. I thought it was all in my head and almost didn't go to the ER. 3 blocked arteries and 2 stents later and I was back to normal.
 
Welcome to the forum. We're glad you decided to join us. There are great informative subforums on prednisone and imuran. Check them out, have a look around and hopefully you will find useful info.
A wonderful side effect of steroids is hair growth. Don't think it discriminates on that one. If you've been on it long term, it could be adding to your issues. Do hope you get answers soon and all goes well with your tests. It's great that you listen to your body- my moto, better safe than sorry! Best wishes. -hugs-
 
So to answer the questions and give more information. Pred for about 3 yrs. Lowest pred dose with pushing my body into a relapse has been 8mg.so entered the imuran to save the day and eventually allow me to get down to about 5mg pred. Imuran increases cancer risk, crohn's increases cancer risk and my family history has a very high risk of breast cancer so haven't been so positive about the imuran.
Anyway all went well today. I felt like a skinny mini with a normal stomach that wasn't bloated and sore! Yay! Turned out that I wasn't being a hypercondriac as my crohn's is back with a vengeance, moderate inflammation in same area as previous, the transiveral colon. So all my meds are going straight up again now and I can't put on any weight. I need to loose the weight I already have on me. Not looking forward to any of this.
I hate the lack of understanding from others, my partner told me I should exercise when I said it would be great if my body always looked like this (no bloating just prior to my endoscopy). No idea!
My main concerns at the moment are the following. Weight gain, bloating and pain, tinea nigra, hot flushes like im going thru menopause.
So what am I gonna do? I need to find out natural foods etc that will help with bloating (I think peppermint tea but really need some ideas)
I'm going to count my calories and keep a food diary so i can pretend I'm eating ok when I am not AND it will also allow me to track if some foods are making me worse.
Any ideas from the more experienced folks out there? :)
 
Ginger is great for nausea, peppermint also calms the tummy, chamomile tea another option for tummy comfort; primrose oil is best naturally for hot flashes, black cohosh works too but can aggravate cancer risk.
So sorry your inflammation back. Bummer, but you will succeed! Have faith in you.
There is an app- docs diet diary for phones which is nice/useful since it goes everywhere with you. There is also an app called-GI monitor which is awesome for documenting bm's, blood, consistency, food, pain etc...that might be beneficial too. Possibly help identify triggers.
Best of luck, hope you get feeling better soon. -hugs-
 
Thankyou. I'm looking up that app know for diet,pain etc as I think it will assist me in trying to find triggers. at the moment all i was using was a calorie counter app but this will be much better.
Started drinking Peppermint tea once a day to go with all the cups of green tea i am always drinking. I will see if this helps with the bloating over the next few weeks.
 
I went through a phase like that, wondering if I'm just being overly sensitive about my health, but you have to realize that having this condition does make you less healthy than other people. It's easy to forget what being 'well' feels like and sometimes you start to think everyone feels some level of discomfort and you're just unable to cope as well but it's absolutely not true, remember to cut yourself some slack because you're suffering something that most people have the luxury of never having to experience.

As to symptom management I have found ZERO solutions to relieve symptoms, for me, and this might not be everyone's case, my only option is to avoid trigger foods. If I eat a trigger food the only option is vomiting it up. Common solutions never did a thing for me.

A lot of people have success with apple cider vinegar. Get some organic ACV and baking soda and follow some of this:
TED'S REMEDIES
07/04/2006: Ted from Bangkok, Thailand: "There is an ACV remedy and then there is Ted's ACV remedy. The ACV remedy is what has been traditionally done to drink it directly. Now I have always recommended the use of the second one, which requires that you add baking soda to the ACV to neutralize the acid to just 7.0 or close to it before drinking, otherwise the acidity will bring on dentin sensitivity and cause erosion of the enamel. A minimum pH on ACV of 6.0 and above should stop enamel erosion, in case you like somewhat of a "sour" ACV tastes, ideally it should be closer to 7.0

You might wonder whether therapeutic effectiveness of the second one might be as effective as the original one. It should be at least as effective if not more effective than an original formula for two reasons:

1. If you take the original ACV remedy (2 TBS in a glass of water), the body is going to neutralize it anyway using the available bicarbonates the body stores have. If not, you get a burning tongue or skin of the tongue become lose or tears up, if the body don't have sufficient bicarbonates. It takes AT LEAST A week to get a bicarbonate level to optimum provided you take bicarbonates everyday. I am of course assuming that in this instance, you don't have sufficient bicarbonate levels.

2. The newer ACV remedy I have always recommended (AKA Ted's ACV recipe) is to ADD baking soda until most of the acid is neutralized near 7.0. Chemically it is not changed, the malic becomes a malate when baking soda has neutralized, but then the body is going to convert to THAT anyway. What YOUR body wants is that the pH is at an ideal theoretical pH 7.35, which is equivalent to the pH of your blood.

So for me an ideal food, whether we talk about ACV or any other food should GENERALLY be slightly alkaline. If you don't do it for your body the body will change to an alkaline anyway, provided that your body is FIT to do that! So it is best not to assume that your body is FIT and it is best to assume the worst and just add the baking soda as a precaution.

Making it alkaline will give you the extra benefit of more oxygen in your body and greater buffers the body need so you should in fact feel better with the newer formula. In fact, athletes takes pure baking soda to relieve them of muscular pain from long physical endurance. Thinking along this makes it easier to use this newer formula as well as protect against enamel erosion.

Many people have misinterpreted the event where a body becomes alkaline in event of a person becomes sick to be a "bad thing". However, this is HOW a body kills off invading bacteria and viruses by raising up the alkalinity level. So in fact alkalinity is actually needed. When an immune system is suppressed or destroyed (from surgery or chemical toxins), the body will raise its alkalinity level much more frequently than a healthy person. What a potentially sick person needs to do is to give sufficient buffers for alkalinity using baking soda, but also regenerate the body's immune system (the thymus) with supplementation of secretogues, such as L-glutamine, melatonin, and iodine from seaweed and kelp."

EC: Please read all the feedback we have received on this combination remedy, including side effects."
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/acvinegar.html#TED

If it gives you gas use less baking soda, using no baking soda is also an option.

I tried this when I was very ill with an ulcer and had to stop, but now that I'm much healthier I've been doing it once a day, I mix it with fruit juice so it doesn't taste as bad, watering it down is key.

But once again I haven't found any solution that works as good as eliminating trigger foods.
 
I think you're just defining the word "hypochondriac" incorrectly. I think it may not be what you're really trying to say.

Yes, you most certainly can make yourself sick by worrying and obsessing, and that's because it creates stress and anxiety, which releases harmful chemicals in your body that suppress the immune system, which can worsen, and even create medical conditions.

For example, I personally am terrified of heights. My fear is so extreme that when I rode to the top of the Sears Tower (in a rather foolish attempt to just "get over it") with one look over the edge, I experienced severe vertigo. My head started spinning, and I fell to floor and started vomiting. I was sick to my stomach for days afterwards. Physical manifestation of my mental fear.

But I often have to travel for work, have to get planes, and anti-anxiety meds are counterproductive on me--the way I see it, if the plane goes down, I'm going to need full possession of my mental facilities to survive.

So I developed "coping mechanisms", mental exercises in which I force myself to focus on something other than the reality of being trapped in a tin can, tens of thousands of feet in the air.

I use crossword puzzles. Buying a book right before I get on the plane, and then starting to working them the second I sit down, completing as many puzzles as possible before they make me get off the plane. I time myself, challenging myself to "beat" my last time, and keep complete logs of my progress.

It's like playing computer solitaire. You get so lost in the game, that you don't even realize how much time has passed--and are hardly conscious of anything else.

Works so well on me, that I bought an iPad for my elderly mom, who used to call me all the time all stressed out and upset over continuously waiting on her doctor and on test results. Now instead of complaining that she had to spend yet another 2 hours waiting in her doctor's office, she calls all excited, because during that 2 hours, she made it to the 35th level of "Angry Birds!" Yaah!

We're all different, and different things work on different people. Some find relief from stress through meditation, painting, refinishing furniture, playing their favorite music, or getting involved in volunteer activities--taking the focus off themselves by concentrating instead in helping others.

My suggestion is to experiment until you find what works best for you.
 
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