Community Munchausen's by Internet (Malingerers, Munchies, Spoonies, etc) - Feigning Illnesses for Attention

[lolcow yoghurt]

Was in the er once years ago and saw a guy come in on crutches, dude had the scariest case of mrsa I'd ever seen on somebody who was still ambulatory. I couldn't believe he was up and moving. He was this paper grey color all over, his face was drawn, and one of his legs looked hollowed out inside. The smell was awful (I was there for a stomach thing and even tho I try my hardest not to hurt people's feelings when it's something they can't help, it started up another round of vomiting; if you've ever smelled putrefaction and had that physical reaction), you could see bone and parts of it were black black black. You couldn't stop me from finding somebody to chop off a limb that infected, fuck saving it at that point. MRSA doesn't fuck around

Imagine the insane loneliness and inability to function as a person, to be so pathologically attention whorey that you fuck with that

How does this even happen? Why hasn't he done anything until then? Tbh, if I got something that big, I would be terrified to go to the er.

 

[son of jurassic bark]

How does this even happen? Why hasn't he done anything until then? Tbh, if I got something that big, I would be terrified to go to the er.

He should've been inpatient, but that's just me, a non-medically trained person, pointing and making the soyjak face at an open wound in the emergency room. He might've checked himself out of another hospital and got a ride to the one I was at, but he didn't come in an ambulance and was wearing street clothes.

Man, take care of yourselves, guys

 

[mooserangerofthenorth]

Hasn’t Page had MRSA like 27 times at this point? She’s been a superbug incubator for years now, hard to know which one will finally get her for good.

I am suprised a new super resistant strain hasn't gotten her yet. Last line antibiotics exist for the pure reason we have been none stop pumping everone full of antibiotics since after WW2. Vanco resistant doesn't even scare me anymore due to how common it is. But seeing a plate grow despite heavy duty antibiotics does.

Oh, and prions (shout out to Victoria and kuru awareness)

 

[Dnein]

Mhm. How much more blatant can a lie be than it being etched into your face.

When your'e on enough excess steroids to establish planetary orbit, and it's still not enough! Why stop at Cushingoid? Need. More. CORTISOL!

Meanwhile if she stops her addiction to exogenous 'roids and her adrenal glands would implode, might the closest she'd ever come to insufficiency or actual illness.

 

[eternal dog mongler]

How does this even happen? Why hasn't he done anything until then? Tbh, if I got something that big, I would be terrified to go to the er.

That's the wonderful dichotomy of the emergency department. Some patients come in for complete bullshit and others come in on death's door.

I saw a patient's tit fall off once. Yeah you maybe should have got that looked at a couple months ago. (It was stage IV breast cancer.)

 

[stuffandthings]

Not claiming to be an expert here, but my Mother was diagnosed with MS something like 20 years ago

Short version: stairs would be impossible, those heels absolutely not she would fall—especially combined with those stairs. A service dog instead of a cane? Bending over that far or looking downward would be a big no. Those sounds she’s making is trying to mimic some of the autonomous dysfunction that occurs with the esophagus

Just one of the munchiest munchies to ever munch a munch, despite how MS can and does vary between people and how it changes over time

If I remember right, MS is basically an autoimmune attacking of nerves, it can cause small characteristic lesions in the brain and spinal cord that can be seen with scans. So the symptoms of real MS can be pretty variable depending on where in your brain its attacking, kind of like a stroke.

There is also progressive MS where your body just falls apart until you die, and more chronic less severe MS.

Of course, all of this makes it ripe fodder for munchies to latch onto. It has everything they want: a menu of symptoms to pick from ala carte, vague full body symptoms, and the potential to get worse then get better, and the ability to get a diagnosis from self reported symptoms in some cases.

 

[Thomas Eugene Paris]

That's the wonderful dichotomy of the emergency department. Some patients come in for complete bullshit and others come in on death's door.

I saw a patient's tit fall off once. Yeah you maybe should have got that looked at a couple months ago. (It was stage IV breast cancer.)

Fungating breast tumors are so sad. The delay in seeking treatment is often a shame issue; the patient clearly knows there is something badly wrong but doesn't seek treatment because of the horrifying nature of such a condition. These tumors look and smell absolutely disgusting, which makes people wary of seeking medical attention. They also usually affect older women, who were likely socialized to treat their bodies as something to be hidden even when healthy. Having a legitimately repulsive condition is shameful and embarrassing.

It's sort of a denial thing, too, like "maybe if I just ignore this it's not as terrible as it looks and will go away on its own", even if on an intellectual level the patient understands that it is a serious problem requiring professional care. Sometimes when a person has a disfiguring condition, it's almost as though their body becomes foreign to them, like it's no longer theirs. I think that contributes to the apparent lack of urgency in seeking treatment, too - it sort of feels like it's happening to someone else.

Additionally, once the tumor is fungating, the person is imminently terminal and I think on an unconscious level they accept that they're dying and don't feel an urgent need for medical help despite the very obvious gravity of their physical condition. There is a phenomenon called la belle indifference which is fairly common in patients with conversion disorder/"functional neurological disorder" and refers to these patients' lack of psychological distress proportional to the severity of their physical symptoms. Like I said, it is associated with conversion disorder, but I personally think it happens in cases of severe injury or terminal illness, too. It's like the lizard brain is trying to minimize the patient's agony because there's no point to it anyway. It's how you get people calmly walking into the ER with their leg rotting off or a tumor eating through their chest.

Anyway, I digress.

 

[A tree]

Fungating breast tumors are so sad. The delay in seeking treatment is often a shame issue; the patient clearly knows there is something badly wrong but doesn't seek treatment because of the horrifying nature of such a condition. These tumors look and smell absolutely disgusting, which makes people wary of seeking medical attention. These tumors usually affect older women, who were likely socialized to treat their bodies as something to be hidden even when healthy. Having a legitimately repulsive condition is shameful and embarrassing.

It's sort of a denial thing, too, like "maybe if I just ignore this it's not as terrible as it looks and will go away on its own", even if on an intellectual level the patient understands that it is a serious problem requiring professional care. Sometimes when a person has a disfiguring condition, it's almost as though their body becomes foreign to them, like it's no longer theirs. I think that contributes to the apparent lack of urgency in seeking treatment, too - it sort of feels like it's happening to someone else.

Additionally, once the tumor is fungating, the person is imminently terminal and I think on an unconscious level they accept that they're dying and don't feel an urgent need for medical help despite the very obvious gravity of their physical condition. There is a phenomenon called la belle indifference which is fairly common in patients with conversion disorder/"functional neurological disorder" and refers to these patients' lack of psychological distress proportional to the severity of their physical symptoms. Like I said, it is associated with conversion disorder, but I personally think it happens in cases of severe injury or terminal illness, too. It's like the lizard brain is trying to minimize the patient's agony because there's no point to it anyway. It's how you get people calmly walking into the ER with their leg rotting off or a tumor eating through their chest.

Anyway, I digress.

Also junkies. Those madlads can have a great big hole in their leg and just be going about their business.

 

[Protozoangod]

Of course, all of this makes it ripe fodder for munchies to latch onto. It has everything they want: a menu of symptoms to pick from ala carte, vague full body symptoms, and the potential to get worse then get better, and the ability to get a diagnosis from self reported symptoms in some cases.

The only problem is, MS has definitive testing that can readily establish whether or not you have it. You can’t fake the results of an EMG.

 

[SmeltItDeltIt]

Fungating breast tumors are so sad. The delay in seeking treatment is often a shame issue; the patient clearly knows there is something badly wrong but doesn't seek treatment because of the horrifying nature of such a condition. These tumors look and smell absolutely disgusting, which makes people wary of seeking medical attention. These tumors usually affect older women, who were likely socialized to treat their bodies as something to be hidden even when healthy. Having a legitimately repulsive condition is shameful and embarrassing.

It's sort of a denial thing, too, like "maybe if I just ignore this it's not as terrible as it looks and will go away on its own", even if on an intellectual level the patient understands that it is a serious problem requiring professional care. Sometimes when a person has a disfiguring condition, it's almost as though their body becomes foreign to them, like it's no longer theirs. I think that contributes to the apparent lack of urgency in seeking treatment, too - it sort of feels like it's happening to someone else.

Additionally, once the tumor is fungating, the person is imminently terminal and I think on an unconscious level they accept that they're dying and don't feel an urgent need for medical help despite the very obvious gravity of their physical condition. There is a phenomenon called la belle indifference which is fairly common in patients with conversion disorder/"functional neurological disorder" and refers to these patients' lack of psychological distress proportional to the severity of their physical symptoms. Like I said, it is associated with conversion disorder, but I personally think it happens in cases of severe injury or terminal illness, too. It's like the lizard brain is trying to minimize the patient's agony because there's no point to it anyway. It's how you get people calmly walking into the ER with their leg rotting off or a tumor eating through their chest.

Anyway, I digress.

I have a pretty strong stomach for gore but DAMN don’t Google that shit unless you need to induce vomiting.
@Thomas Eugene Paris you have introduced us to some of the gnarliest of human misery, bravo! (Also omg I’m sorry if you’ve seen this in person)

 

[Otterly]

Last line antibiotics exist for the pure reason we have been none stop pumping everone full of antibiotics since after WW2.

It’s not really human usage in the west that drives resistance so much as third world handing them out like candy, but the real driver is agricultural usage. IMO it’s getting to the point in the UK where they don’t give antibiotics enough for some things - leaving kids with ear infection ruins for weeks ‘in case it clears up’ just leads to more issues that it helps. Anyway.
I’ve said this in here before but when they invented/discovered the colistin antibiotics they were Supposed to be absolute last resort, human use only, for people at deaths door with multi drug resistant infections. Only to be used in certain ways etc.
A year later they found china using it in Industrial pig farming,
That’s the massive driver of resistance- large scale agricultural usage in filthy conditions. It allows bacteria to swim in a glorious soup of filth and hosts and swap plasmids like a big old bacterial orgy.

 

[A Detachable Penis]

MS patients are also very susceptible to scams because of the nature of the disease. It tends to flare up and down repeatedly with slowly accumulated damage over time. The person will try some quack snake oil shit during a flare, then the inflammation tends to go down and they improve, coinciding with the 'treatment' until the next flare up (which in less severe forms, can be months or even years away).

 

[son of jurassic bark]

I'm a non-med dumdum but would phages be an option for Feeb's doctors? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6396822/

I've heard v little about them being used in the english-speaking world, but I guess there are some circles using them as an alternative to the usual antibiotics

 

[Otterly]

I'm a non-med dumdum but would phages be an option for Feeb's doctors? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6396822/

I've heard v little about them being used in the english-speaking world, but I guess there are some circles using them as an alternative to the usual antibiotics

It’s not something that has really been used in the west much. The Russians did a lot of the work on it. I know there’s somewhere that does as well (eliava centre in Georgia.) you need to use the exact type of phage for each infection - each phage only attacks one specific strain. It it would be possible in theory but it’s something g that’s not really caught on in practice. I wonder if there would be issues with mass release of endotoxin as well if you had a serious infection
It’s an interesting subject for sure. Maybe someone here knows more about it?

 

[Thomas Eugene Paris]

I was actually reading something unrelated and learned that phages are being investigated for use in patients with antibiotic-resistant infections secondary to cystic fibrosis. People with CF have abnormally thick, sticky mucus, which accumulates in their lungs, airways, and sinuses. Bacteria and molds LOVE to live in it, and because it's so sticky, it's all but impossible for these patients to remove it by coughing or doing sinus rinses. The mucus also protects the bacteria from the effects of antibiotics by promoting the formation of biofilms, which are basically just layers of bacterial colonies that are almost impossible to eradicate. Most CF patients become "colonized" with bacteria within the first decade of life, and the species they culture usually follow a predictable pattern based on age. Early in life, patients may culture bacteria that are susceptible to antibiotics, but as they age, they become colonized by the big bad species like Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia complex. These chronic, largely untreatable infections damage the lungs even more and are a major contributor to morbidity and mortality in people with CF. Many of the "drug of last resort" antibiotics have absolutely horrible or even life-threatening side effects.

Currently, phages are only available at a handful of CF centers in the United States through an FDA program called Emergency Use Authorization, which basically means you need to be dying from a drug-resistant infection before you're allowed to try phage treatment. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is funding a Phase Ib/IIa clinical trial of phage therapy in CF patients with multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Pseudomonas is a particularly nasty bacterium and is one of the most common species cultured from the sputum of CF patients in their second and third decades of life.

I know very little about cystic fibrosis, but there's a Farmer who has professional experience. Not sure if he or she is still around, but if so, please chime in and I hope I didn't make an ass of myself.

 

[NoReturn]

Mhm. How much more blatant can a lie be than it being etched into your face.

When your'e on enough excess steroids to establish planetary orbit, and it's still not enough! Why stop at Cushingoid? Need. More. CORTISOL!

Meanwhile if she stops her addiction to exogenous 'roids and her adrenal glands would implode, might the closest she'd ever come to insufficiency or actual illness.

View attachment 3357849

Why would anyone want more cortisol? I don't read this thread a lot and my understanding of cortisol (and adrenaline) in illness is more related to (medical-) anxiety and panic disorders.

 

[Thomas Eugene Paris]

Why would anyone want more cortisol? I don't read this thread a lot and my understanding of cortisol (and adrenaline) in illness is more related to (medical-) anxiety and panic disorders.

Victoria's sperging about MOAR CORTISOL reminds me of Hunter S. Thompson writing about adrenochrome.

 

[NoReturn]

Victoria's sperging about MOAR CORTISOL reminds me of Hunter S. Thompson writing about adrenochrome.

"Pure adrenochrome is deep violet."
Woah, metal.

 

[BelUwUga]

Chelsea is retiring from munching, sort of. I wonder what prompted this. Maybe doctors saying she's just *too complex*
View attachment 3312528

I wasn't expecting this to turn out as well as it did:

Usually this thread kills my appetite but now I really want some PEZ...

 

[mooserangerofthenorth]

It’s not really human usage in the west that drives resistance so much as third world handing them out like candy, but the real driver is agricultural usage. IMO it’s getting to the point in the UK where they don’t give antibiotics enough for some things - leaving kids with ear infection ruins for weeks ‘in case it clears up’ just leads to more issues that it helps. Anyway.
I’ve said this in here before but when they invented/discovered the colistin antibiotics they were Supposed to be absolute last resort, human use only, for people at deaths door with multi drug resistant infections. Only to be used in certain ways etc.
A year later they found china using it in Industrial pig farming,
That’s the massive driver of resistance- large scale agricultural usage in filthy conditions. It allows bacteria to swim in a glorious soup of filth and hosts and swap plasmids like a big old bacterial orgy.

I just wrote a rough draft on antibiotic resistance and was FLOORED at how much it does. Its actually interesting to see how much in a decade we have throttled ourselves into our current health state. But I degress because I can write pages about it.