Cause of my retching?

[cjemc]

This rare psychological disorder is characterized by a seemingly endless list of physical complaints that do not seem to have a medical cause. Individuals suffering from somatoform or somatization disorder usually have a long medical history with various trips to physicians and specialists.
However, upon medical examination, the symptoms cannot be explained by an actual illness or physical injury. The following criteria have to be met for a diagnosis of somatization disorder:


A history of somatic symptoms before the age of 30 and which have extended over many years
Pain in at least four different sites on the body (such as backache, joint pain or chest pain)
Two gastrointestinal problems other than pain such as vomiting or diarrhea
One sexual symptom such as low libido or erectile dysfunction
One pseudo-neurological symptom similar to those seen in conversion disorder such as fainting, blindness, or paralysis.

People with somatization disorder are often not as concerned about what the symptoms may mean, but are rather troubled by the symptoms themselves. Unlike those with hypochondriasis, who are afraid of having an illness and jump into immediate action as a symptom arises, those with Somatization disorder do not greatly fear being ill, but find that the symptoms are troublesome and tiring in everyday life.

What do you guys reckon? :shrug:

[Fishmanpa]

Hey Cal... been a while... based on your absence, am I to assume you've been doing better?

The cause of your retching depends on whether you've been continuing as you have in the past self medicating with alcohol and not getting professional help.

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

I'm not sure where you are getting that criteria from but that's not what it says in the WHO ICD-10 that the NHS use. F45 is the group of disorders, then there are several to differentiate between.

Here is the full section:



F45 Somatoform disorders
The main feature is repeated presentation of physical symptoms together with persistent requests for medical investigations, in spite of repeated negative findings and reassurances by doctors that the symptoms have no physical basis. If any physical disorders are present, they do not explain the nature and extent of the symptoms or the distress and preoccupation of the patient.
Excl.:
dissociative disorders (F44.-)
hair-plucking (F98.4)
lalling (F80.0)
lisping (F80.8)
nail-biting (F98.8)
psychological or behavioural factors associated with disorders or diseases classified elsewhere (F54)
sexual dysfunction, not caused by organic disorder or disease (F52.-)
thumb-sucking (F98.8)
tic disorders (in childhood and adolescence) (F95.-)
Tourette syndrome (F95.2)
trichotillomania (F63.3)

F45.0 Somatization disorder
The main features are multiple, recurrent and frequently changing physical symptoms of at least two years duration. Most patients have a long and complicated history of contact with both primary and specialist medical care services, during which many negative investigations or fruitless exploratory operations may have been carried out. Symptoms may be referred to any part or system of the body. The course of the disorder is chronic and fluctuating, and is often associated with disruption of social, interpersonal, and family behaviour. Short-lived (less than two years) and less striking symptom patterns should be classified under undifferentiated somatoform disorder (F45.1).
Briquet disorder
Multiple psychosomatic disorder
Excl.:
malingering [conscious simulation] (Z76.5)

F45.1 Undifferentiated somatoform disorder
When somatoform complaints are multiple, varying and persistent, but the complete and typical clinical picture of somatization disorder is not fulfilled, the diagnosis of undifferentiated somatoform disorder should be considered.
Undifferentiated psychosomatic disorder

F45.2 Hypochondriacal disorder
The essential feature is a persistent preoccupation with the possibility of having one or more serious and progressive physical disorders. Patients manifest persistent somatic complaints or a persistent preoccupation with their physical appearance. Normal or commonplace sensations and appearances are often interpreted by patients as abnormal and distressing, and attention is usually focused upon only one or two organs or systems of the body. Marked depression and anxiety are often present, and may justify additional diagnoses.
Body dysmorphic disorder
Dysmorphophobia (nondelusional)
Hypochondriacal neurosis
Hypochondriasis
Nosophobia
Excl.:
delusional dysmorphophobia (F22.8)
fixed delusions about bodily functions or shape (F22.-)

F45.3 Somatoform autonomic dysfunction
Symptoms are presented by the patient as if they were due to a physical disorder of a system or organ that is largely or completely under autonomic innervation and control, i.e. the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, respiratory and urogenital systems. The symptoms are usually of two types, neither of which indicates a physical disorder of the organ or system concerned. First, there are complaints based upon objective signs of autonomic arousal, such as palpitations, sweating, flushing, tremor, and expression of fear and distress about the possibility of a physical disorder. Second, there are subjective complaints of a nonspecific or changing nature such as fleeting aches and pains, sensations of burning, heaviness, tightness, and feelings of being bloated or distended, which are referred by the patient to a specific organ or system.
Cardiac neurosis
Da Costa syndrome
Gastric neurosis
Neurocirculatory asthenia
Psychogenic forms of:
aerophagy
cough
diarrhoea
dyspepsia
dysuria
flatulence
hiccough
hyperventilation
increased frequency of micturition
irritable bowel syndrome
pylorospasm
Excl.:
psychological and behavioural factors associated with disorders or diseases classified elsewhere (F54)

F45.4 Persistent somatoform pain disorder
The predominant complaint is of persistent, severe, and distressing pain, which cannot be explained fully by a physiological process or a physical disorder, and which occurs in association with emotional conflict or psychosocial problems that are sufficient to allow the conclusion that they are the main causative influences. The result is usually a marked increase in support and attention, either personal or medical. Pain presumed to be of psychogenic origin occurring during the course of depressive disorders or schizophrenia should not be included here.
Psychalgia
Psychogenic:
backache
headache
Somatoform pain disorder
Excl.:
backache NOS (M54.9)
pain:
NOS (R52.9)
acute (R52.0)
chronic (R52.2)
intractable (R52.1)
tension headache (G44.2)

F45.8 Other somatoform disorders
Any other disorders of sensation, function and behaviour, not due to physical disorders, which are not mediated through the autonomic nervous system, which are limited to specific systems or parts of the body, and which are closely associated in time with stressful events or problems.
Psychogenic:
dysmenorrhoea
dysphagia, including "globus hystericus"
pruritus
torticollis
Teeth-grinding

F45.9 Somatoform disorder, unspecified
Psychosomatic disorder NOS