As much as I hate to admit it, I may be a bit of a hypochondriac. It’s either that or I am the world’s sickest person. All it takes is someone mentioning a disease and I feel myself coming down with the symptoms. I have led myself to believe that I’ve had numerous brain tumors, some type of spleen disorder, carbon monoxide poisoning, water on my brain, diabetes, West Nile Virus, a shattered elbow and the Bird Flu.

In my defense, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been to see the doctor in the last three years. I might add that they were all for legitimate reason; i.e., vertigo, pneumonia, passing out and hitting my head.

Even though I rarely visit the doctor, I still feel like making an appointment for blood work and CT scans every time I watch DiscoveryHealth. Last night was an exception.

We watched a special on the notorious surgeon John Ronald Brown. One of the patients he operated on suffered from Body integrity identity disorder. Such a disorder causes a person to become fixated with the idea of having a healthy limb removed, usually their leg. Those afflicted may also have an unnatural obsession with other amputees. The medical experts on the show stated that most of the time, the only cure is amputation.

So let’s say you have this disorder. You suffer for who knows how long and finally decide that the only cure is having your leg removed. If you’re lucky enough to find a surgeon crazy enough to chop your leg off, congratulations- you’re cured! The good news is you are no longer obsessed with amputees or, for that matter, being an amputee yourself. The bad news- you’re an amputee who is no longer obsessed with missing limbs.


I think this is one ailment that even the hypochondriac in me can resist.