Hypochondriac: You Might Be An American Suffering From A Disease You Don't Have

By R. Siva Kumar

If you find hundreds of things wrong about your health every day, then rest assured that you are what thousands in the United States are even without suffering any illness - a hypochondriac!

Being a hypochondriac means that you do have a dreaded disease. You have a condition of worry. You are highly worried that something is wrong with you. And you demand health care, and also put yourself through a number of tests that you simply do not need! You might be "worried well." That is, half your time is spent obsessing over your health, while the other half is spent in and out of doctors' offices.

Almost 12 percent of hypochondriac adults in the United States think that they are suffering from some food allergies, even if they are not. One to two percent of the total adult population in your country has some allergies, according to Mail Online. How do you know that you are included in that list?

New research by the British Journal of General Practice on Tuesday studied 143 subjects. Researchers gave their patients a questionnaire through which they asked questions about illnesses such as hay fever, or allergies, or allergy symptoms in them or their family members. Most patients confirmed the test results. However, real tests showed that these hypochondriacs did not suffer from any illnesses.

The researchers found that almost 87.5% of examinees gave negative responses, which were non-atopic, or showing negative skin tests. Hence, many hypochondriac patients believe that they have allergies and go through unnecessary tests, which wastes a lot of time and resources of the NHS as well as their own.

Many Americans spend thousands of dollars to check out their health. They do end up finding either that they were given inaccurate diagnoses or take tests that they do not require only because they are overwhelmed with information that they are going through a certain phase or condition, according to Medical Daily. It concludes that Americans are becoming hypochondriac, according to Medical Daily. Perhaps the very health system itself convinces patients that they are sick, even if they are not.