In your heeeeeeaaad
In your heea-ea-eaa-ead

I don't think I've ever had psychosomatic diarrhea.

Thanks Subby, for reminding me that I feel like crap today.

I thought symptoms like that are part of the immune response. You get a fever (raise your body temperature) to make chemical reactions happen faster so your immune system can act more rapidly. You get more tired so you stay in bed and devote more of your energy to fighting the flu. If you just get rid of all the symptoms then you are basically making yourself less effective at getting over it.

Right? I'm obviously not a doctor but that was my take on it

Dehydration is not in your head. I tend to think if people replaced electrolytes and fluids, their symptoms would be reduced.

/Of course, sponge baths from hot nurses don't hurt.

Sooo...in other words, your brain responds to what your body is telling it.

Radiolab covered this very well

/think about it, what is fear?
//it's all in how your body feels, not what you logically believe

drink water and get some rest. eat an orange. you'll be fine

Hmmm... your body is being attacked by a foreign organism and is throwing its resources at removing it, which can be exhausting for a biological system. But yeah, it's all in your mind.

NikolaiFarkoff: In your heeeeeeaaad
In your heea-ea-eaa-ead

fark you, now I've got bad singing stuck in my head.

NikolaiFarkoff: In your heeeeeeaaad
In your heea-ea-eaa-ead

Zombie, zombie, zombie

Psychosomatic Diarrhea will be my new band's name.

Pure awesome.

And so to test this theory, we'll give you typhoid fever.

Remember, if the symptoms of your illness eventually lead to death, it was all just in your mind.

Sasquach: Sooo...in other words, your brain responds to what your body is telling it.

Radiolab covered this very well

/think about it, what is fear?
...
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. ...

When I think I feel like arse, it's because I do, in fact, feel like arse.

Great news for people suffering from hypochondria!

Ya, whoever wrote this must not have had h1n1, cause i was out for a week. In perfectly fine spirits for the most part, but just too exhausted and achy to move anything but my thumbs.

/or perhaps it's because of the serious gaming that i wasn't miserable.

spray it snot so!

busy chillin': Great news for people suffering from hypochondria!

Oh, that was awesome. I haven't laughed like that for awhile.

RadiantAerynSun: NikolaiFarkoff: In your heeeeeeaaad
In your heea-ea-eaa-ead

Zombie, zombie, zombie

That is some weapons grade awesome, right there.

If it were all in my head, I wouldn't be feeling this shiatty right now.

/Has flu at work

From TFA:The results were compared to volunteers who were just injected with a placebo - essentially just salty water, with no flu-like side effects.

I'm trying to think of a crude joke to utilize the phrase salty liquid and hot meat injector, but I have flu like symptoms and am unable to concentrate sufficiently.

So money was spent researching what we already know? Awesome.

Yes, people who can't afford to get sick rarely do. It's not that they're immune to infection, it's that they're too busy thinking about other things to dwell on the symptoms of their illness - it's like the difference between running for exercise and running from a bear.

Is this where I post about how I was sick with the flu for a month? A MONTH. That was not in my head!

/I was sick for a month.

cryinoutloud: Is this where I post about how I was sick with the flu for a month? A MONTH. That was not in my head!

/I was sick for a month.

is this where I chime in with a similar yet totally one upsman happening?

/cool story bro

// one upsman? what? ....

URAPNIS: When I think I feel like arse, it's because I do, in fact, feel like arse.

So you're saying flu doesn't alter your sexual urges?

nttawwt

Gussie Fink-Nottle: URAPNIS: When I think I feel like arse, it's because I do, in fact, feel like arse.

So you're saying flu doesn't alter your sexual urges?

nttawwt

You're not sexually attracted to vomit? What's wrong with you?

SnakeLee: I thought symptoms like that are part of the immune response. You get a fever (raise your body temperature) to make chemical reactions happen faster so your immune system can act more rapidly. You get more tired so you stay in bed and devote more of your energy to fighting the flu. If you just get rid of all the symptoms then you are basically making yourself less effective at getting over it. Right? I'm obviously not a doctor but that was my take on it

Evolutionary biology and medicine are not the same thing, and although the former helps to understand the latter, AFAIK it's not required or a whole lot more doctors would know what the fark they're doing.

EVERYTHING is "in the mind"; making a point of it is a fallacy. The negative effects of the flu seem to be a good thing to get rid of until you actually read case studies of people who feel no pain. They die young, from massive infections due to self-mutilation. As children they'll casually chew their own tongues into hamburger, and that's among the milder things that happen. When your own body makes you feel like crap, it's trying to tell you something. The trick is finding the appropriate response to that signal.

The fever isn't to make chemical reactions faster; it's to slow them down. It's a crude "scorched earth" tactic to make the body an unpleasant environment for pathogens adapted to normal human body temperature, typically to buy enough time for a more sophisticated response. Malaise isn't a natural result of the body expending more energy to fighting the flu so much as a disincentive to keep you from pissing away the energy you have. In the wild, heavy exertion can lead to sweating and thus hypothermia, and in a "survival of the fittest" scenario you'll be at a disadvantage against other competitors. It's an unreasonable expectation in a modern world, but malaise is the body hedging against the chance you won't be able to find any food for yourself until the flu's licked.

"In contrast to the volunteers injected with the typhoid vaccine, the placebo volunteers did not display the same level of activity in the subgenual cingulate."


So.... Those who had body aches and fevers and whatnot also felt drained. Those who felt just fine physically did not feel drained.

Wow.

I guess I'm missing the huge discovery here. Are they surprised that the flu does not actually CAUSE one to feel mentally miserable?

Big shock... If you are experiencing crappy things in your life, you will feel crappy emotionally. But also... All illnesses do not make me feel equally drained. So I do think some of it has to be an actual part of the illness.

Anyway, I'm no scientist, but this study seems like a big waste of time. Physical pain and suffering affects how we feel emotionally. We knew that before this study. Are we supposed to think there's something abnormal about that? Or are these people just trying to get deadbeat sick people to keep coming to work by giving them happy pills?

I might add TFA distinguishes between miserable physical symptoms and misery. The research focuses on the psychological effects, like depression.

All that said, I'm not sure that's a good idea either. I'm not inclined to take happy pills when I'm soaked in sweat from a 102F fever; I expect to feel like crap. The solution to the psychological effects is restoration of health.

TFA: In other words, no matter what the type of infection or illness, the psychological feelings we experience are largely the same - meaning it is unlikely to be related to the infection itself.

Or, gee, maybe there's a global "I feel like crap" psychological response to any systemic infection? Ever consider that, wise guys?

dragonchild

..malaise...

Is that good on asparagus?

*facepalm*

busy chillin': Is that good on asparagus?

I dunno; you tell me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaise

ecmoRandomNumbers: I don't think I've ever had psychosomatic diarrhea.

...while simultaneously puking into a trash can and suffering from either cold sweats or chills at any given moment.

/been a rough year

cryinoutloud: Is this where I post about how I was sick with the flu for a month? A MONTH. That was not in my head!

/I was sick for a month.


So how long were you sick for? One time I was sick with the flu, and there was even a couple other times...true story.

dragonchild

yeah...it was a horrible attempt at humor 'cus malaise reminded me of hollandaise...

The doctor told me it wouldn't bleed so much if I just kept my finger out of there.

Friskitty: You're not sexually attracted to vomit? What's wrong with you?

Are you kidding? I'm a man, I get man colds (pops).

busy chillin': it was a horrible attempt at humor 'cus malaise reminded me of hollandaise...

The facepalm threw me off. Don't facepalm your own jokes.

dragonchild
busy chillin': it was a horrible attempt at humor 'cus malaise reminded me of hollandaise...

The facepalm threw me off. Don't facepalm your own jokes.


Hahaha...yeah...but after I typed I literally facepalmed because I knew it was terrible...so I added it.

dragonchild: Don't facepalm your own jokes.

Causes blindness.

dragonchild: Evolutionary biology and medicine are not the same thing, and although the former helps to understand the latter, AFAIK it's not required or a whole lot more doctors would know what the fark they're doing.

EVERYTHING is "in the mind"; making a point of it is a fallacy. The negative effects of the flu seem to be a good thing to get rid of until you actually read case studies of people who feel no pain. They die young, from massive infections due to self-mutilation. As children they'll casually chew their own tongues into hamburger, and that's among the milder things that happen. When your own body makes you feel like crap, it's trying to tell you something. The trick is finding the appropriate response to that signal.

The fever isn't to make chemical reactions faster; it's to slow them down. It's a crude "scorched earth" tactic to make the body an unpleasant environment for pathogens adapted to normal human body temperature, typically to buy enough time for a more sophisticated response. Malaise isn't a natural result of the body expending more energy to fighting the flu so much as a disincentive to keep you from pissing away the energy you have. In the wild, heavy exertion can lead to sweating and thus hypothermia, and in a "survival of the fittest" scenario you'll be at a disadvantage against other competitors. It's an unreasonable expectation in a modern world, but malaise is the body hedging against the chance you won't be able to find any food for yourself until the flu's licked.

Much better put than my half assed attempt

My norovirus and I would raise two middle fingers at this study if I only had the strength...

SnakeLee: I thought symptoms like that are part of the immune response. You get a fever (raise your body temperature) to make chemical reactions happen faster so your immune system can act more rapidly. You get more tired so you stay in bed and devote more of your energy to fighting the flu. If you just get rid of all the symptoms then you are basically making yourself less effective at getting over it.

Right? I'm obviously not a doctor but that was my take on it

I'm no doctor either, but I am a psychologist... Despite that, here's my opinion:

The body gets tired and less hungry because it's saving energy to fight off the infection. Digestion takes up over 60% of your bodies energy. So not eating means you can spend that energy on other things (like war). You're tired for much the same reason; you're body's redirecting energy to where it's needed.

A fever is caused when the body cannot properly cope with the virus. It has a backup plan, much like an EMP against a computer. Viruses cannot survive in hot conditions; they die. So you're body takes itself to an otherwise unhealthy temperature in an effort to annihilate the intruders on a global scale.

At least that's what I've been led to believe...

I guess I just have a sensitive subgenual cingulate. What can be done about that?

Larger Than Marge: I guess I just have a sensitive subgenual cingulate. What can be done about that?

Here's a bone saw and a scalpel.. be careful when using a mirror to cut into your brain. (objects in a mirror often appear larger than they really are)

Makes sense. My mother always complained that the "dampness" on rainy days "got into her bones" and made her "rheumatism", "catarrh" or "lumbago" act up. (don't you just LOVE those old disease names"??)

Our Doctor tried telling her this was nonsense, that the human body is 96% water and bones aren't those dry things you see in the skeleton in his office, and that the dark, miserable weather is probably adversely affecting her mood and lowering her pain threshold, but she wouldn't have any of it.

The SubGenual Must Have Slack!