Can psychological obsessions represent themselves as physical manifestations?

Question

Hello, here me out, I'd like to hear your opinion on this. Lets say we take a guy, lets call him Bob. Bob is going through a lot of stress in his life, so he decides to hit the bottle. He drinks wine excessively but decides to drink some hard liquor.

Bob tries a certain liquor for the first time, lets just say, gin. He has an allergic reaction, and Bob gets short of breath, he panics in his intoxicated state, but goes to bed. Bob has no previous health conditions or problems.

Bob wakes up feeling short of breath still, and experiences globus hystericus (throat irritation/lump). He goes from doctor to doctor for months and no one can figure it out. He tries pill after pill, test after test, even sedatives.

Bob frantically searches online for a solution, has nervous breakdowns, and develops more symptoms. He experiences difficulty swallowing, he experiences burping, bloating, and gas, he experiences heat that radiates to the back of his neck, and shoulders. Bob starts getting heart palpitations and dizziness after meals. He gets unexplained sore throats when he lies down. The latter symptoms came on a month into his problem.

His GI doctors tell him there is nothing wrong, he has had an endoscopy. His ENT tells him there is nothing in his throat/windpipe/trachea, he has had a laryngoscopy. He has had almost every test possible, everything is negative. He's trialed all kinds of pills, nothing works.

Is it possible that bob is creating his own symptoms? Is it possible his symptoms are psychological manifestations even if he stops thinking about them and still experiences them? If the medical community (and naturopathic/traditional medicine community) cannot cure Bob, what should be his course of action?

Thanks

Answer 1

yes i think this probably happens all the time. you hear about stress causing spots and teeth grinding and stuff, so i dont see why this could not also be happening

Answer 2

I'm 95% sure Bob's having panic attacks which were triggered by that first allergic reaction. I basically am Bob, except replace gin with weed that I tried once and had a dysphoric reaction to. It tapped into the propensity I already had for panic attacks and now I'm full of anxiety. I even went to the ENT. What I recommend for Bob is an excellent psychologist who's well experienced in treating anxiety, yoga classes to relax the body, and a good diet void of caffeine and other stimulants. Once Bob realizes that his body is setting off a false alarm, his issues will subside a great deal.

Just because it's likely anxiety doesn't mean it's all in your head, at least in the way people think it is. I mean, if you get your hand stuck in a lawnmower blade, the pain that you feel isn't in your hand - it's your brains interpretation of the signals sent by the hand. The heat, palpitations, choking, and all of the other feelings Bob's having are real, they're just false alarms. They can't hurt him, but he really is experiencing them, so he can't convince himself of this without therapy.

My psychologist taught me a breathing technique that has me calm enough to go 3 hours away to college. Before I saw him, I had trouble drivng 20 minutes to his office. I wasn't a big believer in therapists, either. I used to be a big "do it yourself" person until I hit rock bottom (sobbing in doctor's offices, not leaving the house, requesting lots of bloodwork and MRIs) and saw that I needed help. Bob should have his sugar and thyroid checked, however, as his issues seem to worsen around mealtimes.

Answer 3

Wow, that's seems like an awful lot to go through for just one drink of gin. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the gin in the first place. Maybe it was just the start of anxiety.

Did they say Bob was allergic to gin?

I guess there is a chance that Bob has gotten worse due to mentally stressing over this.

I would go the other route, trying to get help with the panic attacks and the stress. Changing the settings in Bobs life that cause stress might help with this.

I wish Bob all the best for his recovery.

Take care

Answer 4

Bob is manifesting his reality, and it's not merely psychological in nature. If traditional medicine isn't working, Bob should find a good spiritual practitioner/healer. It doesn't matter if Bob believes or not. If Bob is open to receiving help and healing, Bob will get it.  

Answer 5

Certainly. Just because the DSM1V has come with about 383 new categories doesn't mean that hypochondriasis no longer exists. Or Munchausens syndrome. It's extremely difficult to make a diagnosis over the internet. "Bob" should make his next doctor's appointment with a psychiatrist.

Answer 6

hypochondriasis...he needs to see a psychologist.  I have seen many people who go from doctor to doctor, who prescribe more and more pills, causing other symptoms.  His problem is psychological, and yes psychological thoughts can manifest themselves into "false medical problems".  (psychologist/professor)

Answer 7

Thats an interesting question, id like to see the answers people give to this.

Thing is, I think their are just SO many possibilities that can be causing this here. Perhaps Bob really DOES has something strange going on. Perhaps Bob is just causing his own pain. Perhaps Bobs obsessive thinking about this is causing him to get little sleep and eat unhealthy causing him to gain other problems that wouldnt have been there before if he just slept and ate right. Or maybe Bob is having reactions to the massive amounts of pills (chemicals) he is putting into his body.

Thats just my take on it :P