What's happening to my body?

November 12, 2005 3:32 PM

For as long as I can remember, I've had an odd physical reaction to things that disgust me. My feet and hands ache, and I lose fine motor control - I can't make my hands do what I want them to do. They just hang there, dead, until the feeling passes. This reaction is strongly tied to disgust - other strong emotions such as joy, anger or sadness don't have the same effect on me. When I asked my GP about this, he just shrugged. He said that he'd never heard of this before, but that our bodies sometimes act in strange ways and that I shouldn't be too worried about it. Does anyone know what this is about? Is there a name for it? What does it mean???
posted by freshwater_pr0n to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

In the late 1800s, they'd probably call it neurasthenia, the "nerves" of the idle and decadent rich.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 3:43 PM on November 12, 2005

It has been suggested that disgust is an evolutionarily selected behavior to avoid infection by pathogens. It sounds like this behavior is quite strong with you.

I'm not sure if these behaviors can be modified - I know that people constantly exposed to cadavers/&c can become inured to it. Some responses to phobias can result in paralysis...

Perhaps instead of your family doctor that you consult with a psychologist/psychiatrist/therapist?
posted by PurplePorpoise at 3:43 PM on November 12, 2005

Response by poster: The funny thing is that I have a much stronger stomach than most, especially after having worked at a vet clinic.

And PP, I have asked a psychiatrist about it, and he said the same thing - I don't know what it is, but it's probably physical and nothing to worry about.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 3:47 PM on November 12, 2005

Hmmm. Maybe you could write to Oliver Sacks or one of his colleagues. This actually sounds like more of an issue for a neurologist researcher, not a psychiatrist. Perhaps a psychiatrist would ask, "Is this reaction inhibiting your life in any way?" and, if the answer is no, not investigate further. While someone interested in neurology and research would feel compelled to investigate OR would have come across something related in another case.
posted by jeanmari at 4:09 PM on November 12, 2005

Not an answer per se, but this article is a fairly comprehensive piece on disgust. It did mention that a excessive disgust reaction may be genetic.
posted by forforf at 7:11 PM on November 12, 2005

Is it catalepsy? It sort of sounds like what used to happen to my friend when she would laugh really hard. She was later diagnosed with narcolepsy, and this was one of the symptoms which aided her diagnosis.
posted by unknowncommand at 8:29 PM on November 12, 2005

Response by poster: Definitely not catalepsy. I get floppy, not rigid, and while speaking is more difficult during an attack, I can still do it.
posted by freshwater_pr0n at 9:21 PM on November 12, 2005

Sounds like some kind of conversion reaction to me. Conversion reactions aren't very well understood. The link is to a wikipedia article on conversion disorder; I don't think you meet the criteria for it being a 'disorder,' actually, but you won't find much else to read about it.

Because it has a specific trigger and because you have some insight that it is not anything to worry about, I think that it is in fact benign and you should not worry about it further.
posted by ikkyu2 at 7:49 PM on November 13, 2005