If you didn’t already know, a hypochondriac is a person who is extremely anxious about his or her health. Of course it comes in various levels of crazy, but as annoying as it seems to the people around them (who have hear their constant assumptions of illness), imagine what it’s like to spend your life with those fears.
Now you may or may not be aware of it, but you know someone who is suffering from hypochondria. From a girl who keeps her constant worries about her health to herself, here’s a peek into the thoughts of a human going through life really contemplating the fact that "You Only Live Once."
You will not know someone is a closet hypochondriac unless they decide you are worthy of that information. They aren’t flaunting the way their stomachache leads to a ruptured internal organ in their minds in a matter of seconds. Unless you are really close to them and they share their daily concerns with you, you aren't going to understand the way life is a struggle to survive for them. The real fight of being a hypochondriac is the fact you are aware of it. You try to talk yourself down from thinking you are dying before giving up and getting opinions about whether it’s time to call 911 or not.
They have written their will. More like they have written numerous wills. Worry over that slight headache being a brain tumor instead of a slight disturbance due to hay fever leads one to ponder about what will happen to all of his or her stuff once they finally kick the bucket. Funeral arrangements have also been adequately thought through. When that headache leaves, they probably don’t even remember where they left that old list of ideas about where their belongings would end up. However, you can bet a new one will be made the following month when their paper-cut seems to look like it got infected.
Learning what hypochondriac means has changed their life forever. Hearing about other’s symptoms for different diseases or watching TV and learning that headaches can be a sign of something more have always led to the feeling that they might have that exact problem, too. After hearing what a hypochondriac was, they decided they were cursed by that as well and, if anything, they have more thoughts about their health now. It’s a never-ending cycle.
Worry over health carries onto worrying in general. They aren’t just worried about their health, and they don't just go around chugging fifths of alcohol, getting in fights, and not caring about the world around them. Everything can effect their health, and you can bet that they know it.
When they experience their first hangover, they actually fear for their lives (no sarcasm in play here). It’s a new experience, and no matter how many times people tell them it is a very normal occurrence, their minds go straight to the worse case scenario. They believe their liver and kidneys are shutting shown, that they have post-alcohol poisoning pain, or that, unfortunately, they are allergic to alcohol and are waiting for their airways to close down.
It’s never just a cold. Unless you are a doctor and have fully assessed them, you do not know for sure that it’s just a cold, just the flu, or just some other mundane sort of body issue. Without full knowledge of the condition currently ailing them, it will never be just a simple cold to someone with hypochondriasis. Perhaps it’s liver failure, a lung infection, or symptoms of something worse.
If they are doing some rebellious activity, know that it is a lot harder for them to break past their own mental worry than the average person. Climbing that tree may be hard for someone who is afraid of heights, but for a hypochondriac, it can easily be seen as a way to get a splinter infection – leading to an amputation, a ruptured organ from impact with the ground, or just plain death. If they are out there living their lives, yes, they will be that nervous and sometimes pessimistic person in the group, but at least they are out there doing it.
