How Do You Know If You Are Just Exaggerating Your Symptoms?

[emartins]

Hi

New to the forum. A question I've been asking myself lately is how do I know if my symptoms **** as much as I think they do or if I'm just sulking and exaggerating my symptoms. Does anyone else have this question.
I don't want to push myself too much and risk making everything worse, but I also don't want to spend all day on the couch if I don't need to.

[sue1234]

Of course everyone has different ways of subjectifying symptoms, but most of us have true, objective symptoms. Blood pressure changes when changing body positions, for example. I personally get low blood sugar, and I can check when I get subjective symptoms, and find that the objective measurement can verify that.

Now, there are also times we feel awful with absolutely no change in objective measurements, but it is still valid. I tend to think there are minute things going on that, if EVERYTHING could be measured at once, something would show, such as oxygen level changes, electrolyte imbalance, etc. Of course, this won't ever happen that we get tested at the exact moment things are horrendous(naturally!).

I hope I answered your question. What I mean to say is, I don't think we are really exaggerating how bad we feel at any given time(some are not so bad). I think ALL of us would go out and live life the day we felt a lot better or more "normal".

[corina]

Hi emartins, welcome to the forum! I like to push myself but after about 14 years or so I've learned that I can't push too hard or I'll have to pay big time. Like Sue I don't think we are exaggerating, who wouldn't want to live a healthy life?

[gjensen]

Concerning objective/subjective impairment. I agree. There is a lot that we do not know, or have the ability to quantify.

Concerning the possible exaggeration of our symptoms. I do as much as this darned illness will let me do. Sometimes I go too far. I do not have to pull back, it puts me back.

Like Corina said, I would love to be healthy again. I would love to have just a week of what I was. If I could have that one week, it would be the best week of my life.

It is certainly possible for us to get in a rut. We should be mindful of that. Still we should be realistic with our expectations. We should always push to do what we can, even when it could be uncomfortable. We also need to be careful about going too far. Too far is a different place for each of us.

It is also helpful to keep in mind that we are not all the same. Some have challenges that others do not.

I believe that this could be a helpful subject to bring up. If we are honest with ourselves, and keep trying, we would know.

I wish that I was exaggerating my symptoms.

[Libby]

I kind of know what you mean. I grew up in a family where weakness wasn't really tolerated, so I learned to push through everything, including POTS - at least, before I knew I had POTS. Once I found out that it wasn't laziness that made me want to lie down, I started to give myself permission to actually do it.

But, because I had lived so long just dealing with the symptoms, I know that in all honesty, most times I don't NEED to lie down. I was still conscious on the tilt when my BP dropped to 70/20 - it takes a lot to incapacitate me, haha. A couple times a month I'll ignore my symptoms, be really wrong, and end up having my vision white out or nearly throwing up. But those are the only times I don't feel a little like I'm exaggerating.

That's probably more of a psychological issue than actual exaggeration LOL. But I do understand how you feel.

[emartins]

Libby, I've always been thought of as the "lazy" (ADHD and POTS will do that....but I can be lazy sometimes ?) kid so I was often scolded for that. I think that's why I'm so concerned about making sure it is really that I can't stand up and not that I just don't want to. So similar issue coming from the other end of the spectrum.

[blueskies]

Its a very good question and at age 58 I am still asking it a lot of the time. My good sense tells me I am doing as much as I can do, but some days I wonder. My not so good sense will see me having to remain lying down, except for my frequent trips to the toilet to pee, and i'll be thinking, "surely this can't be real?" That, despite my diagnoses.

I think it's left over frim a childhood where illness was seen as weakness. And the years when I was told this 'was all in my head.' With the flushing etc.. I can look in bloody good health at times, at first glance, and people can reject that I have an illness 'because I look so well.' Sometimes I push too far, and it isn't me that stops, it's POTS etc that pulls me back as gjensen has noted.

Chronic illnesses arent very well tolerated in our society. And as we are part of that society it is only normal that we have difficulty tolerating it in ourselves. Hence, our recurring disbelief, perhaps.

At the moment I do know that no healthy person would feel as bad as I do after just one day on prednislone and a dental proceedure. I also know that no doctor is going to prescribe prednisone to a healthy person, that would be madness.

blue

[Bigskyfam]

I went from type a to type p I guess in one fell swoop... It's been hard on my fam but they see my struggles more so than my coworkers... That's my rough patch. One thing ive found is... Much credit to my hubby is to TRY. I've found I haven't missed out on as much as what I thought I would've. I tried meds didn't work, I tried cardiac rehab.. Got me upright. I went to see a specialist on a 12 hr trip 1 way. When I could barely go to the next town over. If I try and it doesn't go well I regroup... I stopped the med, I've left a few functions early and some I never made at all. TRY

[emartins]

That's great advice. If you can't its okay, but don't just assume you can't.