co-morbidity?

[Jaypax]

Hi,im stil trying to suss this site out,i hope i have asked this in the correct forum.My question is..what is co-morbidity?i have been looking through letters from various consultants to my gp which i have been cc'd in.In a couple it says there may be an element of co morbid factors in my presentation.I have looked it up,wiki says there are 5 or 6 definitions,which is not helpful.My mental health worker didnt have an answer!(i reckon i know more than her).Ok so this is not the place to discus self harm or suicide.Cheers for looking.Jay

[Marchhare]

Hello Jaypax, I used to have this written on my medical files years ago and as far as I understand its one or more conditions existing in one person at the same time. I don't think its anything to worry about but I can understand it is worrying but don't worry
take care
m

[CBTish]

Yes, it means symptoms of a secondary condition. If the co-morbid symptoms are not specified, you can usually assume it means co-morbid depression because that's the most common, but it might just mean "complicated". Co-morbid symptoms usually go away all by themselves when the primary condition is treated, but occasionally they need separate treatment.

[calypso]

it is as the others say. I have hypertension and diabetes, so neither are co morbid, unless one is making the other worse. So if my diabetes is unstable then the hypertension becomes co-morbid, as it also then becomes unstable. So it is not just having two or more diagnoses, it is when one exacerbates the other and both get worse as a result. Does that make sense?