Stomachace? Ooof.

My personal psychosomatic symptom of choice is this very specific combination of mild heartburn and heart palpitations. In general, I get this feeling whenever I feel guilty, that I have made a big mistake, let someone down, etc.

Unfortunately, I get the exact same symptoms from sudafed or two much caffeine. This results in me having a sudden moments where I have no idea what it is I feel so guilty about, and then I realize I just had too much strong iced tea.

That's sort of humorous (when it isn't happening to oneself, of course). Guilt? Or Tea?

Your symptoms reminded Snarky of a brief period of spastic esophagus she had a few years ago. Very weird. Sort of like getting verklempt, but more painful and tearless. It felt like a hot ball of emotion lodging just above her breast bone.

I could hardly read through your entry without manifesting symptoms. I am sometimes too much of an empath and then I'm also enough of a hypochondriac to think up my own. Weirdly, I have fewer symptoms when I'm busy and stressed out than when I'm not busy and/or stressed. It's like my idle mind will start thinking up things that are wrong with me. Or if I get really happy, I start to think I'm about to die, because I can't live and be happy. So then I do something to make myself really miserable and then at least I'm not a hypochondriac any more. What a kook I am! I do believe (and now picture in your mind Lucy from "Peanuts" sitting below her "Psychiatrist is in" sign) that a lot of my weirdness comes from being around two terminally ill grandparents a lot when I was around 2 to 4 years old. My mother seemed to think that little kids wouldn't get what was going on, and hoo boy, was she ever wrong!

I do believe (and now picture in your mind Lucy from "Peanuts" sitting below her "Psychiatrist is in" sign) that a lot of my weirdness comes from being around two terminally ill grandparents a lot when I was around 2 to 4 years old. My mother seemed to think that little kids wouldn't get what was going on, and hoo boy, was she ever wrong!

:plunks a nickel in your tin:

Yipes! Snarky's health stuff (besides the glaring periods of rampant psychosomatic weirdness) is generally unaffected by her mental state. But her brain can really drag her through the exhaustive mental chess game of oneupmanship that her mother's upbringing methodology of "spare the crushing guilt trip, spoil the child" fostered. It's a wonder Snarky can function socially at all what with the constant assessing of "the score" with everyone in her life.

While she didn't have terminally ill grandparents (so far all of their deaths have been shockingly sudden) she did get to witness (and unfortunately be a part of) bizarre money games (up to and including near fisticuffs over the bill for meals, jumping out of moving vehicles to pay for parking, and stuffing money in the grandchildrens' clothing for the parents to find later). Doesn't sound all that bad until you realize the "I'll get even with you" mentality spread far beyond monetary scorekeeping for Snarky.

Parents are flawed, myopic people too.