Well Enough Alone: A Cultural History of My Hypochondria

by Jennifer Traig

Traces the author's personal struggles with hypochondria as well as the condition's history and broader cultural context, in an account that describes current misunderstandings about hypochondria, the non-threatening health challenges that fed her paranoid self-diagnoses of more dire illnesses, and her efforts to embrace a healthier outlook. 40,000 first printing.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Humor, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Psychology, Medical

257 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2008

About the author

Jennifer Traig is a frequent contributor to McSweeney's and The Forward. She is the author of a series of young adult books and a humor book, JUDAIKITSCH. She has a Ph.D. in literature and lives in San Francisco.

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jennifer Traig just makes me laugh. I loved her other book (Devil in the Details) too, mostly because she was 1. hilarious, and 2. totally crazy, just like me! This book is about her hypochondria. I am not a total hypochondriac, but just like in her last book, I found myself identifying with her in lots more crazy ways than I originally thought I would.

For example, she talks about wanting to be the sick kid so that you can be the center of attention. While I never faked being sick, I thought of two childhood incidents where I imagined how cool it would to be injured/chronically ill.

1.I read a Judy Bloom book where a girl had MS and wore a brace to straighten her back. I secretly thought that sounded so cool and exotic. I was at the pediatrician about a year later, and he checked my spine. He mentioned that it looked slightly crooked and we should keep an eye on it. I said outwardly, “Oh, no. Is something wrong? I don’t want to like, end up wearing a brace or something.” Secretly, inwardly, I thought, “That’d be so cool if I got to wear a brace!!” For the record, my spine was fine and it was never mentioned again.

2.In third grade I was in love with a boy named Tyler. He was so dreamy in his Spiderman tennis shoes. I had a fantasy. It may sound odd, but it’s totally 100%, I swear on my life, true. It goes like this: Someone comes onto the school playground with a gun and I get shot in the foot. I forget why, but probably because I was heroic. I am sitting on the concrete with a bleeding foot, waiting for the ambulance to come. Tyler rushes to my side (instead of a teacher, I guess), concerned for my welfare. He asked in a worried tone, “Are you okay? Does it hurt?” I reply in a very witty fashion, “Well, it ain’t no hangnail!” I remember thinking to myself, “What is a hangnail? I should find out for sure before I use that clever line in real life.”

I do not suffer from hypochondria under normal circumstances. However, my circumstances now (I am 6 months pregnant) negate that statement. I suffer from one small hypochondriatic (I probably made up that word) symptom – unless I feel the baby moving RIGHT NOW, I am pretty sure she is dead in there. The awful thing is, I’m not one to feel too attached to my fat stomach. I really don’t think much of the kid until he/she comes out. So instead of feeling horrified that my child is dead, I get bugged that I gained twenty pounds for nothing.

Case in point – I went for my twenty week ultrasound a bit back. This is the big one, where they check all the baby’s organs and measure your cervix and tell you the gender. You may find out you’re having twins, your baby has two heads, or something else equally disturbing. They always tell you to come with a full bladder (so that when they push on your abdomen for 45 minutes, you can be extra uncomfortable). I thought I remembered that the full bladder made it easier for my organs to be pushed up and out of the way of the ultrasound wand’s view into my womb. I sat down on the ultrasound table, the lady lubed up my fatty stomach, and spent about 30 seconds peering into my insides. Then she said, “Hop up, and go ahead and go across the hall and use the bathroom.” She seemed cheerful enough, but all business. I hopped up, trying to act like everything was okay, despite it being strange that she didn’t need my bladder full for the other 45 minutes of the appointment. As I peed, I couldn’t help but come to the obvious conclusion: my baby is dead. She peeked, and saw it was dead. She sent me to the bathroom so that she could tell my husband first privately, and have him prepared to break the news to me that I had gained twenty pounds for nothing.

I peed and washed my hands as fast as I could, just to get the bad news over with. I walked back in the room, and my husband gave me a little half smile greeting, which I thought was totally inappropriate for having just received news of our unborn daughter’s death. And the ultrasound lady! She was on the PHONE! How rude. But then it turned out no one was dead. In fact, the lady was just nice and only needed my bladder full to photograph my cervix, and so she took the picture she needed and then sent me to pee.

I thought of a very possible case of hypochondria involving myself and breastfeeding, but probably mentioning my cervix in the last paragraph was enough personal info for one book review. Anyways, now in addition to being sick, I will always have to worry about whether I really AM sick, or if I just think I am sick. I’ll never know.

[Susan Bazzett-Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book- 3/4 memoir and 1/4 random medical nonfiction, Well Enough Alone is about a young woman plagued with minor hypochondria and anxiety, as well as some genuine health issues and how she deals (or doesn't) deal with them. Her voice is conversational and wry, and she is unafraid to laugh at herself, which makes parts of the book funny (the tooth fairy/dental problems chapter was amusing). Three stars.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read her earlier memoir, Devil in the Details, about her scrupulosity during her early teen years, a form a OCD that manifests itself in religious fervor, I knew to expect a little analysis, some funny stories, and a lot of personal memoir.

Well Enough Alone presents stories about her own life and about her hypochondria that she contextualizes mainly by heading each chapter with a disturbing vintage illustration of obscure skin disorders. Ichthyosis aka Fish-Skin Disease, anyone? She also has done some research about hypochondria as a disease and pines for the days when it was a fashionable illness. Traig makes some interesting links using illness as a metaphor and works over the idea that with some illnesses, we somehow "brought it on ourselves" or that the asshole who gets hemorrhoids somehow got what he deserved.

Whatever you do, do not skip the Appendix. This mystery organ/book section holds important content, too. Like handy phrases for the hypochondriac translated into several foreign languages ("I'd like to schedule a colonoscopy"), an index of horrible diseases you may already have, and hypochondriac haiku (Heart, mysterious. What secrets lurk inside it? Fatty deposits.).

[Hayley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title is a misnomer: I thought I was going to read about the history of hypochondria and the author’s own struggles with it. However, this is merely a 272-paged manifesto of complaints. Triag starts strong, and then appears to have intentionally added to her word count to flesh out what really should be a short story. Despite her various ailments, she remains unsympathetic. Her diction when referring to those around her is insulting. Triag shows herself acting horridly to her friends, her sister, herself.
She does, however, use humor well in order to make details of gruesome diseases seem lively and even entertaining.
It is clear that the character of Jennifer Triag is damaged, but she doesn’t explore how her various disorders (both real and imagined) affects her personality – she writes about her behavior and ailments as if they were entirely separate. She is so unlikable that when she tacks on a happy ending, I do not cheer for her.
I think that a narrator can be unreliable, but to be unlikable is another issue. If within 272 pages, I do not feel at least some sort of connection to the person telling me their story, that is the fault of the writer.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't let only 3 stars fool you. This make made me laugh like I haven't in a long time. It's about a pathetic, life-long hypochondriac. Traig may have a lousy life but she sure can write! Her book reminded me of David Sedaris' essays — very funny in a weird way. So, if you can get past that a lot of her health issues seem to be related to her bad eating habits and that she just doesn't seem to take care of herself on a regular basis, you can laugh along with her. I made the mistake of taking this book to read while I waited on my mother-in-law when she was having day surgery. Giggling uncontrollably in a waiting room full of hungry patients scheduled for colonoscopies can get you in big trouble!

[tracy.anne8 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't even finish the book. I only made it less than half way in before I stopped reading it because I couldn't handle reading any more of her tangents that had nothing to do with her being a hypochondriac. I read the book for that reason, not to read for more than 10 pages about how horrible she was at teaching a class in college during graduate school. What does that even have to do with being a hypochondriac. I couldn't read any more so I just quite after that point. From the part that I did read, not even half of it was about her condition at all. If you are looking to read about hypochondriac, don't read this book because it will barely cover it at all.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I flew through this book in less than a week, but it was excellent. I would recommend reading her first memoir, "Devil in the Details", first, but I don't believe it is absolutely necessary. Jenny Traig successfully details the ups and downs of life as a hypochondriac while leaving you in fits of laughter. I especially love the bonus material at the back of the book, such as Hypochondria Haikus and horoscopes. Might not be the best reading material for those with weak stomachs, but otherwise, it's fantastic.

[Karenclifford61 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hillarious! Since I can't give this book to every person that has experienced a bout of hypochrondria, the next best thing I can do is to recommend to EVERYONE as a great dose of humor. After all, how many of us have discovered a cancerous lesion only to find it disappears with soap and water? Even the appendix is filled with material to keep you grinning long after you've identified your next potential disease. Hard to put down because it feels so good to chuckle - especially with no one around!

[Alex Templeton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. I loved Traig's last memoir, "Devil in the Details" about growing up with obsessive-compulsive disorder. I didn't see how a good two-thirds of this book seemed to be about Traig's hypochondria; it seemed more "here's what I feel like writing about today".

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disliked the way this author sometimes made statements about hypochondriacs that were based on her own experiences without acknowledging that those experiences may not be universal. I also felt that this author had *such* a humorous take on her own hypochondria that the actual difficulties of hypochondria were caricaturized and flattened. Chapters also veered off course from the book’s topic in a way that didn’t seem to be serving the narrative. Overall, this was disappointing.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found out about this book from one of those BUY!MORE!STUFF! emails I get from Amazon almost daily. When I saw the title I thought Amazon was making some rude assumptions about my approaching spinsterhood, possibly based on the unusually high number of Joan Crawford movies I have purchased over the years. But then I saw the author, realized that Amazon had actually made a good recommendation in this case, and found the book at the library. Take that, Amazon. It's the least you deserve for the "Carnie Wilson, Unstapled" recommendation.

This book is not uproariously funny, but it is humorous, especially if you have read Devil in the Details and have some familiarity with her family and the details of her OCD. Overall, I thought her earlier book was better (possibly in part because I liked the smarmy reader on the audio version), but this was a fun, quick read. The bits about the history of hypochondria were very interesting, though I suspect they were not rigorously fact-checked. Traig implies that Florence Nightingale hopped into bed at age 37 and stayed there until she died at age 90. She may have been a hypochondriac (not sure that was ever proven), and she was bedridden at times, but she also did a lot of great work during those years. So read this book for fun, but don't use it as a reference for a research paper.

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny did hypochondria as much brilliant justice as OCD. Except she forgot scleraderma - you know, the disease which slowly turns you completely to stone, inside-out, and completely deforms your face in the process? I saw a TV movie about Bob Saget’s sister who had it and was convinced I had it all through freshman year of college when I developed hand tingling by conversion.
Other than that, the book was pretty much perfect, down to the obsession with ALS – another TV movie obsession which has caused me to join my local ALS charity chapter and attend incredibly expensive celebrity fundraisers for Project ALS in NYC. When people ask what has created such a committed fervor to the cause, surely a lost loved one? I just shrug and mumble about how I am sure that this is the disease which will slowly kill me.
Most of all, I love that Jennifer's writing is so incredibly thoughtful and flows seemlessly, even between chapters. Each sentence includes so many well thoughtover entendres and wordplays that are never simplistic or silly. I laughed out loud so many times, especially at the "Fables for Hypochondriacs" in the Appendix. Ha - she said Appendix, as in thinking you must have yours removed immediately because that pain muct be appendicitis!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fast read, and pretty entertaining (especially if you've ever had some hypochondriacal tendencies...). Traig has a pretty good sense of humor about it all. I enjoyed having a bit of historical background on the disorder and hearing some facts about how it's changed over time. I did feel like at times I was a little annoyed with her self-perception. I wondered if she was paining a lesser than pretty picture of herself vs reality, but who knows. We all exaggerate our stories.

On a side note, I have an MA in literature and totally loved her chapter about going to grad school for literature. It very closely resembled my experience there, especially with all the talk of deconstruction and not knowing how to properly teach a class. I got a good kick out of that.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author of this book, a lifelong hypochondriac, writes an entire compendium about her medical concerns and suffering without becoming tedious. When the second grade teacher asks the class to draw a picture of the scariest thing they can imagine, Jennifer Traig drew an aneurysm. Jennifer is the daughter of a physician and has medical knowledge at an early age, which contributes to her hypochondry. This was a fun read for me - as a nurse, I can remember being sure that I had every possible disease ever mentioned in our medical classwork. If you have a medical interest/background, read this; if you are squeamish, do not. Not laugh-out-loud-funny, but certainly entertaining.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A hilarious account of Traig's struggle with hypochondria. Although the problems of a hypochondriac are serious, Traig's account shows the humor in almost every debacle. Strung alongside her various tales is a history of a hypochondria, along with gruesome drawings of various conditions. Traig's story is also uplifting and riddled with a very serious story. Her own, very real illnesses help her manage her serious hypochondria. The books only fault is that it sometimes seems to lack a plot and its direction and narrative are not always clear.
Read this book alone for the hilarious hypochondria haikus and horoscopes at the end of the book.

[Kayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I completely forgot that i read this book a couple months ago. I checked it out because i thought i would really be able to relate to it... but it ended up being more about her years as a grad student than her hypochondria. boring! also, i wanted to know more about hypochondria in GENERAL throughout the years, not just this one lady's hypo. it was much more of a memoir than a cultural history, which was a bit disappointing. however, it made me realize how boring i must be when i start to go off about the new disease i must have. so that was worthwhile...

[KL Dilley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another library find, this time a much better day. Acupuncture school has given me a touch of the hypochondria, it's impossible when listening about disease all day to not in moments of boredom know for sure that I am going to be stricken down. In my case though it may be running piglet qi or phlegm fire. A whole different book really. This book reads quick and neatly ties together memoir, history and some merck fun facts. Sure she digresses, but what good hypochondriac doesn't? I'm also really liking the cover art.

[Jasmine Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just picked this book up. I was first caught by the cover design (really cute), but when I read the synopsis and a few of the pages I was intrigued by the writing. Who would have thought that hypochondira could be funny. Admittedly, we sometimes laugh at those who pver examine every single mole or spot, and snicker when they think that a simple cough is a sign of lung cancer. But never out loud. So I like how Jennifer Traig give humor to this topic while adding a surprisingly interesting history of hypochondria. So far, so good... Hope that it will keep up this way

[Jocelynne Broderick · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG! I'm only like 4 chapters in and this lady cracks me up! Every night when I read it I laugh so hard and then giggle and laugh some more.

Ok, so I finished this book and it is an absolute riot! Perhaps because I worked at a medical insurance company. All I know is that I laughed hard and a lot, good belly laughs at her descriptions of not just medical issues, but herself in those situations.

This is one talented author!

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as her earlier book, Devil in the Details. It seemed more self-conscious... sometimes the extended similies between her hypochondria and life seems a little over-extended, a bit of a stretch. Excema and her relationshpi with her sister? Based on the descriptions in her earlier book, and on the inevitable complexity of family relationships, theirs is not as simple as that chapter makes it seem. It makes the work seem less authentic. Great, appropriate cover though!

[Zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually laughed out loud while reading this book -- on the treadmill, in a crowded gym.

As a card-carrying hypochondriac since a very early age, this is the book I have been waiting for my whole life. Who knew there was an actual history of hypochondria?! Or maybe I'm simply impressed that Jennifer Traig took the time to research it. I'm too busy with the autoimmune disorder du jour...

[W · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Jennifer Traig's other book "Devil in the Details," and now this, I'm pretty sure she's my long-lost twin sister. In fact, the similarities between us are so astonishing that I'm not entirely convinced that she is not me. I am so much of a hypochondriac that, even though Traig kept me in stitches (not literally) with her hilarious writing, she also kept me running to the Internet between every chapter to see if I had the disease she had just mentioned.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting, quick read. While she has a great sense of humor about the things she goes through, I felt that a lot of the book was just some random facts about her life that didn't particularly have to do with her hypochondria. Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it did make me laugh out loud a few times.

[Scott Toland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. This was a good book for a plane trip with multiple lay overs. I got a few chuckles out of it and it was an easy read (I probably shouldn't have read it right after a David Sedaris book.) Since I have self diagnosed myself as being mildly OCD, I liked seeing what happens at the far end of the spectrum.

[Susan Manziano · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with many writers of memoirs, Traig sacrifices the truth in order to weave a tale. In this case, she unquestionably leaves the reader laughing out loud in places, but it reads more like farce than non-fiction. Had this been a longer read, I would have put it down. A little went long enough in this graphically icky book.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just as wonderful as Devil in the Details. I loved it. I laughed out loud so many times, but also it helped me identify and understand some of my "issues." When I finished it, I immediately started it again. I can't express how great it is.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Damn! Another book I'm bummed to have finished. Traig is pretty funny. I'm looking forward to reading her other memoir, on her obsessive compulsive disorder. The chapters on Traig's essential tremors (and her time as a grad student teaching freshman comp) and IBS are particularly good.

[Jeanne Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book rambles along the way offering obscure knowledge about hypochondria. She sometimes offers more information than I wanted to know in her stories, but overall it was humorous and I learned some new things.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, this is absolutely delightful (and more than worth the $1 I got it for at the boookstore). Great overview of the history of the term (for a psych geek like me), clever prose, and funny allusions. I'm loving this one and finding it hard to get back to work when I'd rather be reading it.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laughed out loud. Like David Sedaris, if DS was an obsessive-compulsive (oh wait, he IS!) -- okay, if DS worked in a medical office and came from a family of doctors. So funny.