Talk Cancer » Cancer Symptoms » People who LIKE to be sick
People who LIKE to be sick
Question:
Some people only go to doctors when they are sick. Likewise, they only think about health, hence lurk and post on MHA, when it is failing. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Something I’ve noticed on MHA is a huge number of posts to the tune of "Condition X…does anyone HAVE it" or "I deal with Condition Y EVERY day of my miserable life", etc. It seems that there is a growing number of people in this country who canoot be separated from their "illnesses". They run their entire life based on their diagnosed sickness, reading books on it, joining newsgroups to discuss it, joing support groups to meet others with it, etc etc. It seems to me that a lot of people actually LIKE having a disease of some type because it gives them an identity and a sense of uniqueness. These are people that probably wouldn’t get better no matter what we would try. Anyway, I’m just rambling, I suppose. Happy Holidays! Steve A.D.I.O.
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Something I’ve noticed on MHA is a huge number of posts to the tune of "Condition X…does anyone HAVE it" or "I deal with Condition Y EVERY day of my miserable life", etc. It seems that there is a growing number of people in this country who canoot be separated from their "illnesses". They run their entire life based on their diagnosed sickness, reading books on it, joining newsgroups to discuss it, joing support groups to meet others with it, etc etc. It seems to me that a lot of people actually LIKE having a disease of some type because it gives them an identity and a sense of uniqueness. These are people that probably wouldn’t get better no matter what we would try. Anyway, I’m just rambling, I suppose. Happy Holidays! Steve A.D.I.O. Boyoboyo, Steve. For once you and I are in total agreement on something. There is booming culture of hypochondria in the developed world, and millions of people seem to derive their personal sense of identity from the claim that 1) they are sick with something mysterious, inscrutable, and unrecognized by science and 2) that they are being systematically oppressed as a consequence of these "illnesses." There’s a film called "The Road to Wellville" (based on the novel by T. Coraghesan Boyle) which brilliantly captures the similar ethos of 19th century America, when millions were swept up in the belief that they were living ina "toxic" environment and that their bowels were impure and the source of a great epidemic of "auto-intoxication." The film also brilliantly parodies the great industry of quack medicine and colonic irrigation clinics which arose to exploit this paranoid wave of hypochondria. I can’t recommend it enough, whatever side of the debate you are on. All these rich people convinced that they are dying from eating meat and from having impacted bowels going to Dr.Kellogg’s colonic spa for five enemas a day and enough quack medicine to make the internet seem like a science project by comparison. AF Soooo…. If you are not in that level, what are you doing in this newsgroup. It is well for people in perfect health criticise the ones that do not feel so lucky?? Please get a life. Hold it! In all sincerity, I mean no disrespect to people who are sick. And I am not "in perfect health" (very few people are). But this is not a disease-based group either — there are plenty of those out there (including my favorite, alt.support.sinusitis!). This is a forum for the discussion of the science, philosophy, and politics behind the "alternative" medicine movement. In fact, in my humble opinion, part of the source of so much conflict in this group derives from a misunderstanding about this point. Steve Agocs really nailed something important in his post beginning this thread. Many people use this group to discuss specific alternative treatments for their specific conditions, or to engage in mutual support dialogue, or to politicize their own particular disease/identity. Since I am anti-censorship, I don’t *oppose* these posts, or people who use the group in this way. But the group is actually specifically chartered as a group to discuss alternative medicine at a more general and abstract level, in terms of science, politics, ethics, philosophy, etc. It is not chartered as a bulletin board for multi-level marketers, nor as a group only for people who believe conventional scientific medicine is a conspiracy, and certainly not as a place where sufferers from particular diseases should come for informed advice and support from fellow-sufferers. So when those folks come here and post discussions on their own diseases and causes (whether candida, lyme, parasitosis, cancer, etc.) they must expect the possibility that their posts may provide fodder for more general and philosophical discussions of the broader issues, and not take offense so quickly at others who are not sympathetic enough (or who don’t make sympathy or advice the point of their replies). The specific problem here, IMHO, is that many people suffering from one of the more controversial "diseases" and "syndromes" out there (especially ‘candida overgrowth," "Chronic Fatigue," and variations on "auto-intoxication" and "parasitosis") is that these people are often inclined to view the skepticism of mainstream medicine toward their "diseases" (which are in every case "real" diseases, but which most doctors doubt are nearly as widespread or as misunderstood as the sufferers believe) as a political issue. Since "alternative" medicine has been not only "sympathetic" toward these conditions and the people who suffer from them, but in most cases can be seen as an industry which has profited immensely *precisely* from the dissemination of widespread misinformation, panic, and hypochondria, the stage is set for people who have (or believe they have) these conditions to view the very acknowledgement of their suffering as a politicized issue. So if some of us — myself included — are of the belief that a vast majority of people who believe they "suffer" from these particular "conditions" are in fact either not really sick or sick with something else, usually something much more banal, and typically involving some component of anxiety and depression conducive to somatized symptoms — we become political enemies who can be trashed for failing to be symapthetic enough to the "suffering" of these people, as if we were simply heartless, cruel folks making fun of the sick. This is patently unfair and untrue. Neither I nor anyone else can tell whether someone posting to a usenet newsgroup ‘actually" has CFS, impacted bowels, parasitosis, etc. But I can be fairly certain, and am entitled to the belief in any case, that a vast majority of people who claim these conditions are in fact mistakenly diagnosed (or usually self-diagnosed with the help of internet quacks). Since the issues discussed here by some of us are general as well as (or instead of) personal, and specific, the condition of any specific poster (which in any case is inscrutable to any of us who are not MDs doing a direct examination) is irrelevant to the general discussion. You may very well have intestinal parasites coming out in your stool, for example. Millions of people around the world do. But very few Americans actually do. And whether you do or don’t, if I take the occasion of your post to discuss the "epdidemic" of "delusional parasitosis" which I believe is gripping the bowels and brains of Americans, you have no reason to take offense. If, in addition, someone posts about their "condition" which they then justify with factually incorrect statements ("most of us carry around 50 pounds of fecal matter in our bowels," for example) that poster has just made their post fair game for an *abstract* discussion of the mistaken beliefs of the thousands of Americans who fall prey to the colonic irrigation hysteria and its attendant quack medical practices. The internet, in other owrds, is a public forum. And within that public forum, there are settings which are more "personalistic" and "supportive" than this newsgroup is formally chartered to be. But this group exists for the general discussion of issues related to the subject of "alternative" medicine, and not as a support group for people who are (or believe they are) sick. This should not be misunderstood to mean I don’t hope people with particular conditions and causes will actually find helpful advice and support here, as they surely can and often do. But that’s not the only reason some of us come here. I am interested in alternative medicine as a cultural, political, and scientific subject, like many other people here. For that set of interests, it doesn’t matter whether I am now or have ever been either sick with a designer disease du jour (or any other disease), nor whether I actually subscribe to the orthodox beliefs of the majority of posters who support their own particular versions of "alternative" medicine. When and if I know something about a particular disease or condition (and I happen to know a lot about sinus disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and some other conditions from heavy duty personal experience) I am — as long-timers here will attest — often inspired to post with supportive and specifically tailored advice, as are many others here. I would guess I have posted as much specific material, esp. scientific literature citations, on CFS, for example, as any poster on this group, because I went through a harrowing experience of being misdiagnosed with CFS a few years ago, immersed myself in the science and politics of the disease, and was shocked and distressed to discover that there was much less of substance there than the casual observer might think. Does that answer your question? I do hope it clarifies my interest in participating in some of the conversations here, and of course, i speak only for myself. Best wishes and happy holidays AF
I was right. This is mental diahrea.I did not have the time to finish read your hold it post. But Since no one knows what prompts anyone to ask "this so & so Symptom, disease,etc" does any body have it?" ,i do not think people like to be sick, criticism of those people is not scientific or philosofical discussion. Leave alone the simpathy. And get a time occupying positive job. I know mankind … read more »
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Something I’ve noticed on MHA is a huge number of posts to the tune of "Condition X…does anyone HAVE it" or "I deal with Condition Y EVERY day of my miserable life", etc. It seems that there is a growing number of people in this country who canoot be separated from their "illnesses". They run their entire life based on their diagnosed sickness, reading books on it, joining newsgroups to discuss it, joing support groups to meet others with it, etc etc. It seems to me that a lot of people actually LIKE having a disease of some type because it gives them an identity and a sense of uniqueness. These are people that probably wouldn’t get better no matter what we would try. Anyway, I’m just rambling, I suppose. Happy Holidays! Steve A.D.I.O. Boyoboyo, Steve. For once you and I are in total agreement on something. There is booming culture of hypochondria in the developed world, and millions of people seem to derive their personal sense of identity from the claim that 1) they are sick with something mysterious, inscrutable, and unrecognized by science and 2) that they are being systematically oppressed as a consequence of these "illnesses." There’s a film called "The Road to Wellville" (based on the novel by T. Coraghesan Boyle) which brilliantly captures the similar ethos of 19th century America, when millions were swept up in the belief that they were living ina "toxic" environment and that their bowels were impure and the source of a great epidemic of "auto-intoxication." The film also brilliantly parodies the great industry of quack medicine and colonic irrigation clinics which arose to exploit this paranoid wave of hypochondria. I can’t recommend it enough, whatever side of the debate you are on. All these rich people convinced that they are dying from eating meat and from having impacted bowels going to Dr.Kellogg’s colonic spa for five enemas a day and enough quack medicine to make the internet seem like a science project by comparison. AF
Soooo…. If you are not in that level, what are you doing in this newsgroup. It is well for people in perfect health criticise the ones that do not feel so lucky?? Please get a life.
Response:
Something I’ve noticed on MHA is a huge number of posts to the tune of "Condition X…does anyone HAVE it" or "I deal with Condition Y EVERY day of my miserable life", etc. It seems that there is a growing number of people in this country who canoot be separated from their "illnesses". They run their entire life based on their diagnosed sickness, reading books on it, joining newsgroups to discuss it, joing support groups to meet others with it, etc etc. It seems to me that a lot of people actually LIKE having a disease of some type because it gives them an identity and a sense of uniqueness. These are people that probably wouldn’t get better no matter what we would try. Anyway, I’m just rambling, I suppose. Happy Holidays! Steve A.D.I.O.