Thoughts on illness.

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One of the blogs I visit brought up an interesting notion regarding illness. There was some suggestion that a debate about whether or not a particular illness was more of a spectrum or whether the medical community had made a mistake by turning a diagnosis into a spectrum issue rather than keeping it as a set diagnosis. My mind wanders. I posted a comment, as I said, but it did not generate a single response. Perhaps that blog is more for professionals, so my comment might seem childish, uniformed, or not interesting. I understand that. But I would be curious about what others think.

My idea was that, probably, most diagnoses are spectrum based. The worst cases may not allow a very functional life, even with treatment if that is at all available. My situation, for example, leaves me quite crippled at times. Every treatment I have tried has failed, and I have tried sincerely and many regimens. On the other side of the spectrum are people who lead very normal lives, yet have little ticks that are seen as much as who they are more than as illness. I think this is more than reasonable to take as a given rather than debate as a possibility. Only when one crosses some threshold wherein the sufferer becomes unable to effectively live there life, most commonly, is a diagnosis given and treatment(s) considered.

My suggestion, which could be considered off topic(?), was that beyond accepting the spectrum theory, another theory could also come into play. A persons actions or environment could adjust their place on the spectrum drastically. The disease specifically being discussed was autism. Much of that, given the rest of the discussion and given thought seed, brought to mind 'geek genes' as I called them.

What I noted in engineering school was that those who did extremely well (not all but many), whether they started out that way or not, became more geekish. People scoring A's, and even B's sometimes, as a regular thing tended to become very focused, they seemed to become non-social (rather than anti-social), and they began having little personality ticks that become more noticeable over time. There were other things that brought autism to mind, when I saw it generally outlined at the blog. And, these traits tended to 'worsen' over time. I even saw a person or two who went over that line and needed to quit school for a bit, perhaps forever, I will never know.

I suppose what I am asking is, can we, by our habits, our forced actions, and other things, deepen our illnesses, perhaps even develop them out of thin air? Even seemingly healthy actions, such as working out, learning, and certain social activities (I tend to talk till the cows come home), can they become party to furthering an illness? My guess is that they can and do contribute or even produce illness.

As a side note, I think one of my problems in school, though perhaps not the only one, was my rejection of the changes necessary to make it in school, and the stresses that brought with it. That and my general rejection in the absolute belief that absolutely nothing should be believed in except what was being taught both on and off topic, allowing for an indoctrination into what I consider amorality and immorality, along with the stresses that brought. It was too much weight to have to lift, fighting to do well in tough classes while at least feeling the need to fight off an assault on all I believe and hold dear outside of academics. Talk about a beat down.

Just curious.