Am I a hypercondriac?

paula · Silver Member Joined: 05 Sep 2001 Posts: 238

Hi, I'm 49 years old and I have frequent headaches that won’t leave me alone. I went to my doctor a dozen times but he says it’s nothing and that he can't find any cause for my headaches. But the headaches just wouldn’t stop so I kept on coming. Once he said I was too worried about my health, that I'm fine and that I'm hyprecondriac. Could my headaches be something really serious and what does the word hypercondriac really mean and why is it used in the context of a patient who’s worrying too much about his health?

lanese · Newbie Joined: 21 Apr 2005 Posts: 14

Well first of all most people misspell the word “hypochondriac”, or mishear it as hypercondriac, which basically doesn’t mean anything. I will try to explain what the word hypochondriac means, because I suppose we both think of the same term. The word hypochondriac is an adjective used in medicine and human anatomy to mark the area of upper abdomen which is positioned laterally just underneath the lower edge of the thoracic cage (rib cage), on both right and left sides. It corresponds on the right to the kidneys, liver and gull bladder, and on the left side stomach and the left kidney can be found in that area. The term itself is used in the context of hypersensitive patient because in the past most people with “fake” diseases sensed the pain in hypochondriac areas of the abdomen. The term is first used early in the 18-th century and it has been used to mark patients that are convinced that they are ill although there are no objective symptoms of any disease, no matter where the reported symptoms are. I can't judge whether your doctor is right about your headaches or not, but if you don’t feel confident in your doctor’s judgment or diagnosis he gave you maybe it’s the best that you change your doctor and ask for a second opinion about the matter.

Guest · Guest

go to a diffrent doctor.

Am I a hypercondriac?

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