Your Kid's a Hypochondriac?

Your Kid's a Hypochondriac?

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin is one, too.

If your kid always thinks she's sick, you're not alone. "I'm a hypochondriac," 12-year-old Abigail Breslin told Los Angeles magazine. "I'm not allowed to watch medical TV shows. [Once], I was worried that I was going to step on glass, so I wore shoes even in my bed...I thought I had bird flu, so for a long time I wouldn't go near any birds."
And, as she filmed Nim's Island in Australia, the New York Post reports she feared she'd been bitten by a poisonous spider. "My best friend on the set was the medic," Breslin says.

Pediatrician and momlogic contributor Dr. Cara Natterson says, "Being a true hypochondriac, to the point that it limits how you live your life, is fairly uncommon at any age. But hypochondriacal thoughts--like being worried that you could catch a cold when hugging someone hello or getting nervous that a new cream will make you itch--are not uncommon at all. Parents should take their child's concerns seriously, but as soon as it is clear that an issue is not real, reassurance is best. If you mock or punish your child for having these thoughts, it doesn't stop the thoughts, but only stops your child from telling you. Remember the boy who cried wolf? Eventually, if something really is wrong, a parent doesn't want to miss it."

Is your kid a hypochondriac?

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I tell ya what. Mah kids make n’ eat dem mud pies. Jus’ fo flaver, dey go n get the dog swirly n’ mix it in. dey turn out jus’ fine. ya’ll city folk always be complainin’ bout your sicknesses! mah kids neva been sick cuz ma dun let dem hang round your squeaky clean little childurn.

- Joseph Dirt

Posted 12/04/08 02:55 PM

Sometimes I think I have contracted superaids from all the unprotected anal with my boyfriend Rogue. If it might actually be true, am I still a hypochondriac?

- StriderTB

Posted 12/04/08 02:57 PM

More annoying: Hypochondriac or Germaphobe?

- Herpes McGee

Posted 12/04/08 03:01 PM

mmm. superAIDS.

- om nom nom

Posted 12/04/08 04:53 PM

I vote germophobe. Hypochondriacs are irritating, but there’s nothing worse than making big deals for no reason(I’m looking at YOU, germophobes!) just because you’re bored.

- The sane one

Posted 03/26/09 01:24 PM

i think both are very annoying, especially since i have to deal with both daily. my best friend is a hypochondriac and my mom is a germophobe. my mom has to clean EVERYTHING and my friends is always complaining that she thinks she’s sick………………… but i guess hypochondriacs are more annoying to me………

- Tobi

Posted 03/26/09 04:34 PM