Call me crazy

So you know how when you start to feel a little sick, you jump online and try to diagnose what you have? You know, list your symptoms on WebMD and recognize that you could maybe have a cold or maybe cancer or possibly the swine flu? I'm actually good at self dianosis. Who isn't in this day and age, right? Er, right? Well, anyway, now that I read a lot of cases about people with disabilities for work, this propensity for self diagnosis has taken a somewhat interesting turn. Reading about other people's various symptoms, suddenly, I start to wonder: is that a pain in my side? OMG, could it be . . . ?

Last week, I was absolutely convinced that I had carpal tunnel. I swear, my wrists actually started to hurt whenever I typed (so I made sure to interrupt my usual work activities with a lot of websurfing just to relieve my wrists a bit, of course). This week, I have the vague suspicion that I might have multiple sclerosis (along with the carpal tunnel). The weird pain in my left leg that I've had for months must be an episode, there's no other way to explain it. And there is that random lower back pain that I get off and on. And then before I know it, I'm thinking about my future life with MS. Would I have kids? What would I do if I needed a wheel chair or had problems speaking?

G is no help. When I mention my MS fear, he says, "So how do they diagnose that?" I tell him, "An MRI." His response: "Maybe you can ask for one when you have your check up this week."

And then I think he might have asked me what they give you for it. At which point, I had to launch into a lengthy explanation of how MS is a debilitating disease with no known cures, that its characterized by lesions in the brain and spinal cord, and pretty much if I have it, both our lives will suck forever. And I mean forever forever, since people with MS typically have normal life spans, just not as nice as every one's else life. I don't know, I'm not convinced that G demonstrated the appropriate level of concern even at that point. I have this vague feeling he might have fallen asleep mid-explanation. Dude, we're talking about a serious neurological condition here!

My boss tells me that they're keeping the fibromyalgia cases away from me.

I'm wondering how people can do this job and not become a hypochondriac.