House

I love the show House, which is broadcast Tuesday nights on Fox. For a person that doesn't log much time in front of the television, I try not to miss an episode (though strangely I've missed the last few weeks for one reason or another). I happened to catch it once last year mid-season, and have been hooked ever since. I've also recommended the show to family and friends who've all found themselves instantly hooked as well.

The best way I've found to describe this show is that it's a medical mystery: part CSI and part ER. Each new episode focuses on some odd malady that other doctors, thus far, have been unable to explain. The lead character, Gregory House, is a brilliant doctor with a keen ability to suss out the root cause of the illness over the course of an episode. He uses mostly unconventional, and sometimes borderline unethical, methods, making him simultaneously well-respected and loathed among his patients and peers. On his team are three fairly young doctors who bring their own specialties, personalities and opinions of House. The characters on the show are interesting and well-developed, and the actors do an excellent job, especially Hugh Laurie who plays House.

So, this is all great information if I were doing a pitch commercial for the show, but where I am going with this, you may be asking yourself. Here's the thing: invariably whilst or shortly after watching House, the self-diagnosing wheels in my brain start turning and suddenly I begin wondering if I too may have the mystery malady featured on the latest episode. This is crazy, I know, and I'm not a hypochondriac, really, but the illnesses on the show and their various symptoms are just vague enough to make you want to connect some imaginary dots. An odd ache or pain, a weird headache, a moment of dizziness or fatigue or nausea or upset stomach all suddenly become possible symptoms and cause for concern. And actually, I have no idea if the conditions on the show are even based in fact--maybe my MD friend can help with this? Oh, who am I kidding; she's too busy saving real lives to be watching this silly show or reading this silly blog!

Since I've never lost (much) sleep or plan on discontinuing watching the show, I've just come to accept this ridiculous temporary hypochondria as the side-effect of a great TV show. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) tonight the baseball finals disrupted the scheduled episode of House, so I narrowly escaped crossing #317 off my list: diagnose myself with disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (I found this on the House site! hehe), or some equally bizarre illness.