Posted by JenStar on July 24, 2004, at 12:49:15
In reply to Re: somatoform disorder(s), posted by fires on July 23, 2004, at 11:32:32
Fires,
I was reading up on somatoform disorder on the web. Reading about it made me mad. Most of the articles seemed to insinuate that any unidentifiable problem a person might suffer MUST be 'all in the head' even if the patient wasn't 'deliberately' causing sypmtoms. It reminded me of how I feel sometimes when I have real symptoms/real problems and the doctor acts kind of patronizing and assumes I'm just exaggerating (b/c of my past history of hypochondria.)You're right - many REAL conditions were thought to be stress-related or all in the head until we learned more, like ulcers caused by bacteria (not stress). I've read articles too that stated some people have much higher pain thresholds than others; folks who complain of chronic pain might NOT be somatoform sufferers, they might have real pain that is just more severe to their body even if a physician can't identify the cause.
Bodies are complicated, and although doctors like to think we know everything, we really don't.
Anyway, I'm sorry if you're been falsely diagonsed, esp. if they hid the diagnosis from you. That's horrible. I would be so mad and frustrated.
How are you feeling these days? Any luck with a new doctor?
Also, I really don NOT post under any other names. This is just me, JenStar!
JenStar
It does seem that doctors and scientists need to partition everything into a little box. If this, then that; if a, then b. If not a, then --- must be all in the head!
> I don't think you attacked me in the near past with ad hominem messages, so I will repond.
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> >>What sets somatoform apart (there are a number of different sub-types, but you don't further specify) is that following a series of diagnostic tests and assessments, no underlying disease state can be found.<<
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> You so eloquently stated above the problem with Somatoform: It assumes that there are tests and assessments currently available for all disorders/diseases. That's an incorrect assumption!!
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> Stomach and duodenal ulcers were once considered to be of "psychosomatic" etiology, but along came "better" science, and a bacteria was demonstrated to be the cause of ulcers. So all the ulcer victims were suddenly no longer victims of their own psyches.
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> Perhaps you aren't too familiar with the medical field, so I will give you another example of how one can test/be assessed neg. for a med. problem yet still have one/it.
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> My sister (ECG tech) has told me many stories of people who have come into the ER with MI symptoms, only to test negative for MI. Then they die of a massive MI on the way home.
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> Thank you
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poster:JenStar
thread:366835
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040723/msgs/369969.html