Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Self Diagnosing

I do a lot of self diagnosing. I feel it goes with the job. I'm a biomedical researcher. So, if there's a problem, I research it. If my mom has a question I get an email. Same with my sister. In fairness I typically just ask Google and then decide on the most logical of Google's feedback.

My doctors hate me. Once, I had a rash on my arms. It was in the tell tale circle pattern of ringworm but I still looked up definitive ways to tell. And then I did a skin scraping and shoved my arms under UV lights. Yep! Ringworm! On the upside, I always know what's wrong with me. On the downside, I can't write prescriptions. This is where my doctor comes in. I tell her what I have. In reply to her quizzical look I explain how I came to my conclusion. I then reply to the unasked question, "I'm in research and have access to a lot of information." And I walk out with my script in 10min! This is basically how I decided I have insertional tendinitis. 

Until yesterday when scanning Pinterest (I'm CLE Runner) I was only a slightly overweight soon to be single obsessive compulsive introverted researcher with a running/triathlon/crossfit fetish and cat owner. I am now a slightly overweight soon to be single obsessive compulsive introverted
researcher with a running/triathlon/crossfit fetish and cat owner who suffers from misophonia. Me, not the cat.

Misophonia is the hatred of sound. It is a neurological disorder in which negative experiences are triggered by specific sounds. For instance, remember THIS guy? What a lot of people don't know is that I inwardly cringe when people eat. When I go to eat lunch I will literally turn around and eat 30 mins later if certain people are in there. During the summer the lunch area is over run by students but I will go to a different floor just so I don't have to listen to them talking, eating or typing. If I can hear you chew I will give you dirty looks. Don't get me started on breathing! Yesterday, there was a woman that came in after to me to eat. She repetitively scraped her bowl, took a bite and then scraped again. Seriously, if looks could kill. I am not to the point where some people are who suffer from this. I can bare it out for a few minutes. Depending on the sound I can be anywhere from a level 3 to a 5.

In reading wiki on this, of people suffering from tinnitus, ringing of the ears (me), 60% also suffer from misophonia. In a small study of Misophonia patients 52% also were OC. WOW!!

This is probably why I'm single. I like silence. Without sniffles. Or snorts. Or chewing. Or breathing. 

1 comment:

Running Meg said...

Oh man that has to suck. I hate certain sounds for sure but never to that level. Holy crap it must be intense.
If you scrape your fork on your teeth, though, I will stab you.