https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Fulldecentexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-25T21:21:37ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1097:_A_Hypochondriac%27s_Nightmare&diff=1100171097: A Hypochondriac's Nightmare2016-01-26T15:34:08Z<p>Fulldecent: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1097<br />
| date = August 20, 2012<br />
| title = A Hypochondriac's Nightmare<br />
| image = a_hypochondriacs_nightmare.png<br />
| titletext = BUT WHAT IF I REASSURE MYSELF WITH A JOKE AND THEN DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE RASH AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE DEATH MITES AND I COULD HAVE CAUGHT IT<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Hypochondriac}}s are people who worry obsessively about their health, often looking up symptoms on the Internet and convincing themselves that they have some deadly disease. The situation depicted in this comic is described as a "hypochondriac's nightmare" because [[Cueball]], expecting that the rash on his arm was some mysterious undiagnosed disease, spent several hours on {{w|WebMD}} (an online health symptom reference) looking up symptoms, yet ends up dying by slipping on a banana and getting sucked into an airplane engine. Thus he regrets wasting so much time on an ultimately fruitless task rather than something more productive to survival, such as, say, watching out for banana peels lying in front of jet engines.<br />
<br />
The title text (in ALL CAPS thus shouting in despair) adds another level of hypochondriasm. [[Randall]] drew this particular joke to soothe his fears and reassure himself that the rash is nothing. But what if that reassurance just makes him not check out the rash, and then it turns out the rash is caused by (nonexistent) "death {{w|mite}}s" and ultimately kills him when he could have prevented it?<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball at an airport slips on a banana peel and gets sucked into a nearby jet engine.]<br />
:Cueball (thinking): Seriously!? '''''This''''' is what gets me? I wasted so many hours on WebMD worrying about the rash on my arm!<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*When originally published, "Hypochondriac" was misspelled as "Hypochrondiac".<br />
*ICD-10 code for this situation is V9733xA <ref>http://fulldecent.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-medical-bill-theres-code-for-that.html</ref><br />
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{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>Fulldecenthttps://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1097:_A_Hypochondriac%27s_Nightmare&diff=1100161097: A Hypochondriac's Nightmare2016-01-26T15:33:33Z<p>Fulldecent: Add correct ICD-10 code</p>
<hr />
<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 1097<br />
| date = August 20, 2012<br />
| title = A Hypochondriac's Nightmare<br />
| image = a_hypochondriacs_nightmare.png<br />
| titletext = BUT WHAT IF I REASSURE MYSELF WITH A JOKE AND THEN DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE RASH AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE DEATH MITES AND I COULD HAVE CAUGHT IT<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{w|Hypochondriac}}s are people who worry obsessively about their health, often looking up symptoms on the Internet and convincing themselves that they have some deadly disease. The situation depicted in this comic is described as a "hypochondriac's nightmare" because [[Cueball]], expecting that the rash on his arm was some mysterious undiagnosed disease, spent several hours on {{w|WebMD}} (an online health symptom reference) looking up symptoms, yet ends up dying by slipping on a banana and getting sucked into an airplane engine. Thus he regrets wasting so much time on an ultimately fruitless task rather than something more productive to survival, such as, say, watching out for banana peels lying in front of jet engines.<br />
<br />
The title text (in ALL CAPS thus shouting in despair) adds another level of hypochondriasm. [[Randall]] drew this particular joke to soothe his fears and reassure himself that the rash is nothing. But what if that reassurance just makes him not check out the rash, and then it turns out the rash is caused by (nonexistent) "death {{w|mite}}s" and ultimately kills him when he could have prevented it?<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:[Cueball at an airport slips on a banana peel and gets sucked into a nearby jet engine.]<br />
:Cueball (thinking): Seriously!? '''''This''''' is what gets me? I wasted so many hours on WebMD worrying about the rash on my arm!<br />
<br />
==Trivia==<br />
*When originally published, "Hypochondriac" was misspelled as "Hypochrondiac".<br />
*ICD-10 code for this situation is V9733xD <ref>http://fulldecent.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-medical-bill-theres-code-for-that.html</ref><br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]</div>Fulldecent