My son is six-years-old now; he is growing tall and straight like a weed. He sucked on his forefinger as a toddler instead of his thumb, but never on one of those cute pacifiers I got as a gift for him when he was born. I was fairly disappointed as a mother with my first baby that he didn’t take to them. I do, however, believe it was because he didn’t take to the pacifier that he began trying to speak at an earlier age.
Pacifiers in babies are great. It keeps them quiet and busy; babies need that sucking motion to keep them calm and feeling secure. So’s rejection from lack of research and outright ignorance to the communities of chronically ill patients. It keeps us (yes, I am one of those chronically ill people) from crying loudly and demanding selfish attention from our loved ones and caretakers.
Or do they? I am quite often labeled as a ‘Hypochondriac’ and told in the same breath that my symptoms are ‘all in my head’, even though I don’t suffer from Hypochondria and face Fibromyalgia as a daily challenge instead. For the sake of the uneducated, I will define the differences between the present label of ‘Fibromyalgia’ and ‘Hypochondria’.
Fibromyalgia and Hypochondria: The Differences and Similarities
- Fibromyalgia patients can already convey what the symptoms are and the severity of the symptoms present in their bodies. Hypochondriacs are worried about getting a disease. Fibromyalgia patients wonder what is wrong with them, Hypochondriacs worry about what may happen to them.
- Hypochondriacs often misinterpret minor health problems or normal body functions as symptoms of a serious disease; whereas Fibromyalgia patients understand they will battle with minor health problems or abnormal body functions for the rest of their lives. Hypochondriacs misinterpret; Fibromyalgia patients go through stages of acceptance.
- Hypochondriacs may even “shop around” for a doctor who will agree that he or she has a serious illness. Fibromyalgia patients would settle for a doctor that knew what Fibromyalgia even was.
- Hypochondria usually reveals itself in a person who has recently experienced a loss or stressful event. Fibromyalgia can as well; but it can also randomly reveal itself in people who are leading seemingly normal lives without loss or abnormal amounts of stress.
- Hypochondriacs are overly concerned about a specific organ or body system, such as the heart or the digestive system. The person’s symptoms or area of concern might shift or change. Fibromyalgia patients are concerned about managing many symptoms overall and more concerned about pain issues vs. a specific part of the body; the area of concern will not shift or change because the concern is for the entire body.
- A doctor’s reassurance does not calm the Hypochondriac’s fears; he or she believes the doctor is wrong or made a mistake. A Fibromyalgia patient struggles to accept the outcome of the doctor’s visit and looks for ways to solve the challenge of symptom management. Hypochondriacs challenge the doctor’s determination, whereas Fibromyalgia patients accept the determination and look for more answers to solve the challenge.
- The Hypochondriac’s concern about illness interferes with his or her work, family, and social life. The Fibromyalgia patient’s symptoms’ impact interferes with his or her work, family and social life, not the actual concern about the condition.
- Neither Hypochondria or Fibromyalgia are diseases; Hypochondria is a somatoform disorder. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome and has comorbid conditions.
- A person with Hypochondria is at risk for repeated episodes of symptoms. A patient of Fibromyalgia, if managing symptoms correctly for the individual specifications via physician instruction, is only at risk of the body changing naturally (due to age or allergies for example) and needing to have reassessment in the managing of the symptoms.
- Providing the Hypochondriac patient with an understanding and supportive environment might help decrease the severity of the symptoms and help him or her better cope with the disorder. Providing the same to a Fibromyalgia patient doesn’t decrease the severity of the symptoms any more, or any less, but it does help him or her cope better with the syndrome.
For the sake of finding something similar between them, I surmise that ‘Fibro’ and ‘Hypo’ rhyme, there is no way to prevent either condition and that both Fibromyalgia and Hypochondria generally produce high medical bills for both types of patients.
So, I suppose, in a sick sort of sense, yes; Hypochondriacs need pacifiers. They need the attention they crave to assuage their fears until the fears are treated with medical and supportive therapies to lesson or remove the severity of fear. Hypochondria, in my opinion, is a serious condition that does need treatment when a patient suffers from it. Fear can be a massively infective stress impression on a body and most of us know what stress can physically and mentally do to a human being in terms of severity or capacity. These patients can be ‘weaned’ off their pacifiers, however.
Can Fibromyalgia patients be weaned off their pacifiers, too? No weaning necessary! We, as ‘toddlers’ and like my son as he grew, didn’t feel the need for pacifiers to begin with. We don’t need to cry for attention for selfish wants, we skipped straight to speaking out for awareness, educating the general public and even uplifting each other with education so that we, together, can hope for a cure. In fact, most of us have type A personalities that led to great ambitions in our work careers, home life and social lives. In most Fibromyalgia patients, you will find that ambition has evolved to care and concern for fellow Fibromyalgia patients and the well-being of these new allies in life; especially in community support groups nationwide and online social networks. To me, that doesn’t sound like the selfish wailing of an infant in the way that the general public so quickly declares us individually to be when labeling those with Fibromyalgia as Hypochondriacs.
Does it still sound like that way to you?
Source for Hypochondria information: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/hypochondriasis or for more on Fibromyalgia and Hypochondria: http://fibromyalgia-facts-fictions.com/FM-is-not-Hypochondria.html
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