Do you know people who are ALWAYS sick?

[bawkbawkbawk]

Pain and emotion both register in the limbic area of the brain. This is why antidepressants sometimes help lessen pain symptoms and are prescribed "off-brand" for that purpose.

I think the overlap leads to a lot of misunderstandings. People in pain are more likely to be depressed; depressed people are more sensitive to pain.

This doesn't mean that the pain is "all in your head".

In general, we have varying levels of the ability to sympathize with others' problems/afflictions due to our own upbringing. The ability to empathize seems to be even less common. If you've never experienced pain of the type someone else is describing, it's very easy to dismiss it.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

If I throw up, I have to go to bed.. It makes me so upset, takes all my energy, makes me feel horrible. I have even passed out while throwing up... Nakes my arms, shoulders, chest hurt... I have been like this since I was a child..

 

[Decaffeinated Mommy]

I can't let this one pass about throwing up (yes, I know, I am on the verge of gross miss-use and gargantuan TMI) I am highly allergic to most antibiotics-pennicillian almost killed me, sulfur makes me break out(but that one I can live with, literally) but erythromyicen (sp?) made me trow up and dry heave for FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT off of one pill. I told the dr I'd rather keep the strep throat.

 

[Rosalind]

There are two kinds of honestly always sick that annoy the you-know-what out of me:

1. Self-created illness. I had a friend (ex-friend, after she stole some of my husband's post-surgery pills) who was always sick. Combination of clinical depression, borderline personality disorder, prescription drug abuse, and back, joint & sleeping problems due to morbid obesity. Oh, and she was epileptic, too--it ran in her family. However, her brother was sensible about controlling his epilepsy and was perfectly functional and normal. She wasn't, and preferred to take painkillers to her own anti-seizure meds, so she had seizures quite often. This woman had literally never eaten a green vegetable in her life. She ate coffee, soda, bacon cheeseburgers and chicken quesadillas three meals per day. She would come over to my house and I'd serve roasted chicken with a green salad and sweet potato casserole, and she would eat about two bites of the chicken, then go out for McDonald's as soon as she could leave politely. Yet she swore up and down that 400 lbs. was her natural, normal weight and that even though she complained at least once an hour about joint pain and back pain and being out of breath after walking only two blocks, it had nothing at all to do with being 250 lbs. overweight, lack of exercise or her diet. Yeah, sure.

2. Lack of common sense illness. This is my mother: She works 12+ hour days, 5-6 days per week. She eats take-out and restaurant food. She doesn't sleep in a proper bed, she mostly falls asleep on her couch. The only reason she owns a warm coat is because I bought her one and yell at her if she doesn't wear it in winter--so she wears it when she visits me in winter. She won't wear it at home. She refuses to wear hats no matter how bad the weather, as they might muss her hair. She wears the most un-sensible shoes ever, and has every foot problem you can imagine after wearing high heels for 70 years. Socks? I don't think she owns any, despite living in northern New Jersey, where it gets plenty cold. Her apartment is hermetically sealed against fresh air. She hasn't seen a doctor since her last facelift a few years ago, and never gets flu shots. And when she gets a cold (as she manages to get some sort of cold or flu or bronchitis about six times per year), instead of taking a few sick days, going home to rest and drink hot drinks and keep her nasty contagion to herself, she goes around with a bagful of Kleenex and sneezes on everyone and keeps working 12 hour days. Then everyone else gets sick, and she has the nerve to get mad at them for taking sick days! For the disease she spread to them!

I don't get it. People complain about the evil Big Pharma taking all their money, but won't do the simplest things that would keep their money in their pocket, plus give them longer and healthier lives. Eat green veggies, whole grain bread, fresh fruit, pasture-raised grass-finished eggs and meat. Lay off the fat and sugar. Drink water, milk if you can, and less caffeine. Exercise, even if it's just walking the dog a couple of miles daily. When it's cold out, wrap up warm. Wash your hands often and keep your germs to yourself when you're sick. Turn off the teevee, it's bad for your brain. Read a book or do a project like knitting or quilting, those things have been shown to be good for preserving brain cells as you age. I managed to do all that stuff when I was impoverished and in college, with only $16,000/year between both me and DH.

 

[Scoop]

I was best friends with a hypochondriac in school. When I realized she was using made up medical conditions to get welfare we were no longer friends. We've not spoken in over 20 years and I'm better off for it.

 

[me&thegals]

Quote:
How absolutely true! Maybe that's one good thing about pain and illness--the ability it gives a person to empathize with others going through it.

 

[monarc23]

my brother and his wife.... they are always going to the doctors or the ER for the most dumbest things. THey over annalize everything and my brother will call and talk to me and act like he's dying (depressed because this or that isnt right)...and he's always fine and still alive....

now, my mom has Lupus, and many MANY ailments connected with this. She is truely in pain, and truely sick most of the time... her outward appearance is NORMAL so many people think she's lying. Yet her having a serious eppisode atleast once a year (so far) where we almost lose her to this or that is very evident so is the limping, swollen joints,, and rashes. Some people truely are sick and are suffering alone or atleast they feel like it.

 

[ashsleigh]

so my girlfriend is always sick nd i ve e somuch... but im so over it. it really scaRES ME. i take care of her all the time... it's just so bizarre that she is sick and then when somone comes over to the house shes fine and laughing and haveing a great time. but, the minute they leave she's at it again. i don"t say anything cuz i know if i do i will snap. so i close my mouth and bare with it. what should i do to deal with this???? i would take her to the doctors but, she wont go. i feel like shes always faking it

 

[EweSheep]

Is she a roommate? Or a significant other?

 

[dewey]

It must be that I am either waaaay too laid-back, or comfortably numb

, because it doesn't really bother me at all when people talk about their aches and pains, even if some people make them up to get attention. Most days 24/7 are physically bad days for me because of so much fallout from cancer though and I rarely speak of my aches and pains. When I stepped on a big ol' nail, though, I surely did come here for sympathy.