Is this hypochondria?

December 23, 2005 12:02 PM

I have a friend who constantly medicates herself with OTC medications/remedies as a source of comfort. Is this hypochondria?

My friend's desk is littered with cough syrups, lozenges, "herbal remedy" teas, vapor inhalers, heating pads, ibuprofen. Sometimes she will admit she's not actually sick; other times she insists she really is sick even if she doesn't show any outward symptoms. The only ongoing "illness" she's been diagnosed with, AFIAK, is allergies.

She doesn't seem to do any of this for attention (from friends, coworkers or medical personnel), apparently one of the major indicators of hypochondria. In fact, she's only been to the doctor once in the past year. It really just seems to make her feel better to pretend to be sick. Then again, there's no concrete way I could prove she's only pretending.

Is she a hypochondriac? Is there another term for all this self-medication?

posted by aebaxter to Health & Fitness (12 answers total)

"Future liver recipient?"

Seriously, my mother-in-law killed her liver with decades of patent medicines. (She's Japanese, so it's possible the things she took weren't as innocuous as what our FDA will allow to be sold OTC, but still...) Now she has to eat carefully controlled, tiny portions of horrifically bland food, and the lack of liver function is still wreaking havoc on her brain. Not a pleasant way to go.

If you don't need it, don't take it.
posted by spacewrench at 12:12 PM on December 23, 2005

Is there another term for all this self-medication?

Yes. Addiction.

This is the first respectable link to come up on a google search on "addiction to over the counter medicines". Many people become dependant on the sedating effects of things like Tylenol PM, or cough medicine. Your friend may well be one of them.
posted by jokeefe at 12:21 PM on December 23, 2005

I wouldn't pretend to diagnose, but you said her "desk" which put an office image in my head and caused me to remember that when I was working a stressful office job my desk too was littered with OTC drugs.

I had constant sinus headaches either from whatever was being recycled in the stale office air or from an increase in stress or some combination. I was constantly trying to feel, well, just better.

Now that I do all my work from home and on a very relaxed and self-indulged schedule, I rely less and less on OTC drugs to make me feel better. Either because I can open my windows, turn on air purifiers, take a nap, or all of the above.

A possibility.
posted by birdie birdington at 12:52 PM on December 23, 2005

Given the array of drugs she seems to be on she sounds more hypochondriacal than drug-abusing. But OTC cough syrup, with either dextromethorphan and/or pseudoephedrine, can be a horrendous addiction.
posted by docpops at 1:10 PM on December 23, 2005

i would say addiction too, if she's a good friend try to help her by step-by-step exchanging all real meds for "natural" stuff
posted by suni at 1:51 PM on December 23, 2005

meh, "natural" is bullshit when it comes to safety. kava root and a host of other things can cause the same liver damage, dependencies, and other problems that any non-natural goods may cause. just give her some teas to occupy her time and apparent slight case of OCD.
posted by kcm at 3:23 PM on December 23, 2005

Here's a concrete example: echinacea may boost the immune system, but if you take it for longer than two weeks on, two weeks off (or similar), it will likely actually cause immune depression. Interactions between herbs and other natural products is also a crapshoot.
posted by kcm at 3:25 PM on December 23, 2005

Heard a great anecdotal definition of hypochondria the other day. Imagine you go to the doctor and he/she tells you everything is fine. Do you feel relieved? You're normal. Do you feel anxious that you didn't communicate with the doctor, that they're not "getting" you, that there's something wrong with the diagnosis? You're a hypchondriac.
posted by frogan at 4:30 PM on December 23, 2005

lol, natural medicine meaning green tea or mint-filled chocolate squares .. i've never seen kava root in real life (but it is an mf doom track on herbs 4/5/6 :D)
posted by suni at 4:37 PM on December 23, 2005

Buy said friend a book on non-medication relief of symptoms (things like using humidifiers, taking breaks from looking at the computer screen for ten minutes every hour or two, etc...) as a holiday gift. :)
posted by IndigoRain at 7:43 PM on December 23, 2005

On the other hand, if she has bad allergies she really may be suffering on a regular basis (I wonder if "admits she's not really sick" could have meant "I don't have a virus -- it's just my usual allergies.") An allergy-sufferer can be in a lot of discomfort without showing outward symptoms.

But this wouldn't explain the cough syrup.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 7:07 AM on December 24, 2005

Not knowing your friend it's hard to say. However, I would like to second zed_lopez, and say that my allergies make me feel like crap. Every day. All year long. Never gets better. If it weren't for OTC and perscription drugs, I wouldn't be able to function, no kidding.

Might I suggest that your friend's problem is understanding and communicating about her health/discomfort? Just a thought.

BTW, I sometimes take cough medicine because the stuff draining down my throat from my sinuses triggers my cough reflex. Occasionally this is bad enough to warrant a cough suppressant.
posted by shifafa at 12:16 AM on December 25, 2005