u/Responsible-Air-4940

Age: 21 | Sex: Female | Height: 162 cm | Weight: 58 kg | Duration: Since childhood/as long as I can remember | Medical conditions: None known | Psychiatric diagnoses: None | Medications: None | Recreational drugs: None | Smoking: Non-smoker

I've experienced a consistent physical response when exposed to people who are seriously ill or physically deteriorated. Triggers include seeing someone who is extremely underweight, has cancer, appears severely ill, or is dying.

When exposed to these situations, I can suddenly develop general weakness, nausea, dizziness/lightheadedness, sweating, a racing heart, and a feeling that I may faint. The symptoms usually begin shortly after the trigger and last approximately 15 minutes.

This can happen from real-life situations as well as movies or TV shows, videos, pictures, or reading about someone's illness. I usually feel completely normal before the exposure.

I don't particularly fear catching the illness and I don't usually have the thought that I will become sick myself. The response feels automatic and seems to be triggered by seeing or thinking about another person's illness or physical condition.

I've experienced this since childhood and it appears specifically related to exposure to severe illness or physical suffering.

From a mental-health perspective, could this type of response be related to anxiety, an automatic stress response, disgust sensitivity, emotional processing, or another psychological mechanism? How would a therapist or psychiatrist typically assess a reaction like this?

I've had this reaction since childhood and I'm trying to understand what might be behind it.

Whenever I see someone who is extremely skinny, has cancer, is dying, or looks seriously ill, I can suddenly feel weak, nauseous, dizzy/lightheaded, sweaty, and sometimes like I'm going to faint. My heart can also start racing.

It can happen in real life, but also while watching a movie or TV show, seeing a video or picture, or even reading about someone being seriously ill.

I can feel completely normal before seeing or hearing about it, and then the physical symptoms start shortly afterward. They usually last around 15 minutes.

I'm not really afraid of catching the illness, and I don't usually think that I'm going to get sick myself. It feels like an automatic physical reaction to seeing someone suffering.

I've had this for as long as I can remember. I'm wondering if this could be related to anxiety, a strong emotional reaction, or something else. Has anyone experienced something similar or know what might cause this kind of reaction?

21F, 162 cm, 58 kg, non-smoker, no medications, no recreational drug use, no known medical conditions. Duration: since childhood/as long as I can remember.

I've had a strange physical reaction for as long as I can remember. When I see or hear about someone who is seriously ill or physically deteriorated, I can suddenly become weak, nauseous, dizzy/lightheaded, sweaty, and feel like I might faint. My heart can also start racing.

Some examples of triggers are seeing someone who is extremely underweight, has cancer, is dying, or looks severely ill. However, it doesn't have to be a real person. The same reaction can happen from a movie or TV show, a video or picture, or even reading about someone's illness.

The symptoms usually start shortly after the trigger and last around 15 minutes. Before seeing or hearing about it, I can feel completely normal.

What's confusing to me is that I don't feel afraid of catching the illness, and I'm not usually thinking that I will become sick myself. The reaction seems to happen automatically when I'm exposed to the person's condition.

I've had this since childhood and it seems specifically linked to seeing or thinking about severe illness or physical suffering.

I'm wondering what could cause this physiologically. Could this be a vasovagal response, or could another autonomic nervous system response cause these symptoms? How would a doctor distinguish that from an anxiety response, and would this pattern be something worth getting evaluated?

This might sound weird but whenever I see someone who is extremely sick, really skinny, has cancer, is dying, etc, my body starts feeling weird too. I can suddenly feel weak, nauseous, uncomfortable, or just generally sick even though I was completely fine before.

It can happen from watching a movie/show, seeing a video, or even just reading about someone being seriously ill. It's not really that I'm scared of catching anything from them. It's more like seeing someone in that condition makes my body react physically.

Does anyone else experience this? Is there a name for it or is it just some kind of anxiety/emotional reaction?