We had the good fortune of reconnecting with some friends that we hadn’t seen in 11 years. They invited us over for Sunday dinner. It was nice to catch up. Before we got there, William was dealing with some social anxiety, but since we knew these friends were very down-to-earth and straight-forward, I tried to refrain Bill from fretting.
During the course of the meal, and relaying the past events of our 11 year absence, our friend said, “Bill- you were always sick!”
This got me thinking about life with Bill during our early married years. And I do recall him always being sick or injured. Then I remembered part of his (many) psych evaluations. It explained about somatization. If you’ve ever heard the term “psycho-somatic” –then you can figure it out.
The definition:: Somatization is a term that describes the expression of psychological or mental difficulties through physical symptoms. Somatization takes a number of forms, ranging from preoccupation with potential or genuine but mild physical problems to the development of actual physical pain, discomfort, or dysfunction. Somatization appears to be fairly common, and a somatoform disorder diagnosis is not warranted unless symptoms cause significant distress or disability. –Taken from the Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders.
With Asperger’s and Autism, it is very difficult to figure out what you are feeling, and even harder to express your feelings and emotions. I think because of this, Bill internalizes everything and all of that energy is trapped inside of him, causing him to be sick all of the time: headaches/migraines, severe stomach problems, appetite poor, sleep disturbances, a constant sinus cold, aches and pains-here and there, and depression.
Those are my deep thoughts for the day.
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