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

[Ice Cherry]

The book also explores a bit of the story around Jess Ainscough who promoted Gerson Therapy as a cure for her cancer. She refused treatment and died 7 years later, and also convinced her mother to not get treated when she was diagnosed with treatable breast cancer, and she also died. There’s not as much out there on her which is a shame as I would like to read more.

Jess is like the inverse of a munchie, I found out about her a while ago and she's stuck with me for being fascinating. (Except I can never remember her name so I end up caveman-googling "australian influencer arm cancer"...) This blog, The View From The Hills, did several contemporary posts on her worsening condition + promotion of Gerson therapy and it looks like at least once more since that apple cider vinegar show came out.

 

[Elderly beef taco]

I've been getting a weird amount of EDS "awareness" shit on tiktok recently. Apparently, sleeping with 1 knee up means you have it. Amazing.

Next time i see a video worth laughing at I'll grab it, most have been "this common, no meaning thing is totally a symptom".

 

[eat your greens]

I think Erin Patterson / the Australian mushroom poisoning situation was mentioned in this thread. She was found guilty of murder x 3, attempted murder x 1.

I mostly feel sorry for her children (9 & 14) and obviously the extended family affected by this. Big question: was it worth it for the attention, Erin?

 

[fitty tucker]

Crazy woman Molly Gordon / @shaboom who was barred from returning to the hospital system where she abused doctors has finally gone to the big hospital system in the sky.

Documentation of her shenanigans in Vicky Markoff's thread.

she ded, pls give money

 

[Not_a_Doctor]

Jess is like the inverse of a munchie, I found out about her a while ago and she's stuck with me for being fascinating.

She’s was a wellness faker, rather than an illness faker! I agree, she is fascinating. I’d found the blog series you linked to already but thank you for sharing. David Gorski has a few posts about her on Respectful Insolence.

@eat your greens I saw! ABC have apparently already bought the rights to the story and are going to be making a show about it.

@fitty tucker I always think of faking as a young woman’s game…I know, how ageist of me. I guess I’m optimistic that they will grow out of it, but then again, I look at folks like Dani who will clearly be at it until she goes to the hospital bed in the sky…

 

[Trapper]

In other news, I finished The Woman Who Fooled the World and it was an excellent read - highly recommend. It explored the honeycomb of lies that Belle Gibson sold to the world, but also looked at the people that enabled her, and failed to do their due diligence.

The most heart-breaking and rage inducing chapters were where the authors juxtapose Belle’s fiction with real stories of women who were living what she was pretending to survive and it is brutal. I mean, we all know cancer is just fucked, but I didn’t really know much about the specifics of brain cancer, the dire prognoses and the lack of treatment. All of these snowflake illness actors have a special place in hell waiting for them for comparing the self-imposed inconveniences of pretending to be sick to what someone dealing with metastatic cancer is going through.

The book also explores a bit of the story around Jess Ainscough who promoted Gerson Therapy as a cure for her cancer. She refused treatment and died 7 years later, and also convinced her mother to not get treated when she was diagnosed with treatable breast cancer, and she also died. There’s not as much out there on her which is a shame as I would like to read more.

The book sounds interesting, there was a documentary on her named “Instagram’s Worst Con Artist”, worth a watch but doesn’t go into a lot of detail.

Between her and the mushroom nutter, what’s going on with Australia?

 

[KeekLeFreaktheSneak]

Well it seems like our Resident Dirt ball Princess finally got the pussy port yanked.


​

 

[Polychromos]

Well it seems like our Resident Dirt ball Princess finally got the pussy port yanked.


View attachment 7614916​

My ESL self wanted to make fun about "bacteremia", but apparently it just means "bacteria in your blood". With her hygiene situation, I'm honestly more surprised whenever she doesn't have bacteria in her blood.

 

[Aunt Carol]

got the pussy port yanked.

For future reference, it's "purulent."

My ESL self wanted to make fun about "bacteremia", but apparently it just means "bacteria in your blood".

 

[KeekLeFreaktheSneak]

For future reference, it's "purulent."

I meant pussy as in its located near her slop shop. That being said, you are correct and I appreciate the tip (and the entertaining link)


She is now known, hence forth as the "Purulent Pussy Port Princess"

 

[Flourishing Pinecone ❧]

Well it seems like our Resident Dirt ball Princess finally got the pussy port yanked

it's all fun and games until you get endocarditis and need a new valve. god, I pity the poor Cardiothoracic team that may need to deal with her she would be a nightmare and would absolutely fuck around with her sternal wound.

 

[Not_a_Doctor]

The book sounds interesting, there was a documentary on her named “Instagram’s Worst Con Artist”, worth a watch but doesn’t go into a lot of detail.

Between her and the mushroom nutter, what’s going on with Australia?

Thanks for the tip, I’ll check it out.

And what can I say, we’re the lucky country Gotta watch out for drop bears, cancer scammers, river sharks, poisoned mushrooms.

Spoiler: Thought on Australian Malingering

It’s actually pretty hard to malinger in Australia IMO for numerous reasons:

• They don’t fuck about with coddling MCAS and gastroparesis fakers - multiple diagnostic tests are common and thorough for most conditions. GPs and specialists rely on evidence based guidelines and objective tests.
• Treatment is pretty multidisciplinary for a lot of complex and chronic disease and psych evaluation is not uncommon before being given a port or a feeding tube to ensure you are ready to cope.
• Tools like the Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomology (SIMS) and MMPI-2 can be used in psych assessments to detect any deception.
• There’s not much financial incentive to larp disability either as disability aid is extremely hard to get. There are rigorous application and review and regular re-evaluation.
• If you do get a port, you almost always have to get it accessed in a clinic and they only allow home access via health at home nurses which are limited to TPN users and such.
• Specialists have long waiting lists, even in the private system, and are allowed to reject you as a patient before even seeing you (e.g., you might get referred to a functional gastroenterologist who reviews your file and determines it is likely IBD, so can reject you and recommend you seek an IBD specialist)
• Integrated health records make it hard to present inconsistent histories across different providers as all can access a patient’s full history.

I’m sure actual health care providers could list more evidenced reasons why the Aussie health system is hard to game, and it may be different in other states. I’m only speaking from what I’ve seen in my own state.

 

[Equus quagga]

Zeebs/Christi Mercer is munching a neurodivergence! Because collecting diseases and disorders wasn't enough she's decided she is no longer one of those boring neurotypical people.

Dyscalculia is a learning difference that causes individuals to make computational and numeric errors in simple math. The stereotypical signs are conveniently listed in Zebra's photo of her "suspected dyscalculia".

Luckily, it is easy to spot the fake because her examples are a WebMD search of "hos symptonm discalculia." While these reflect the surface level explanation of the learning difference, it completely misses any of the subtle and lesser known impacts. I won't be sharing them here since she's acknowledged she reads this page and I'm not in the business of giving fakers helpful hints.

It also stands out that there is no material benefit to a dyscalculia diagnosis for a 45+ year adult besides internet clout. There is no disability check for dyscalculia, just the ritual embarassment of being pulled out of your elementary classroom to do "special math". Dyscalculia requires overlapping assesments to diagnose which includes input from the child's math teachers. An adult seeking this diagnosis would have to foot the bill for extensive neuropsych testing AND figure out some way to demonstrate a long standing inability to make calculations without error. Being out of practice with complex math is not dyscalculia,. Making occassional math errors or transposing numbers from time to time is not dyscalculia. Doctors will also rule out cognitive decline due to factors like alcoholism (check!), drug use (check!), mental health conditions (check!), and chronic illness (check!).

But sure Christi, convince yourself and the guillable idiots you call followers that getting your numbers mixed up is definitely a rare neurodivergence and not your brain turned to soup from the ketamine addiction and raging personality disorder.

Maybe she'll waste her disability backpay on $5,000 neuropsych and math assessments just to prove her "suspected dyscalculia" is a "proper diagnosis".


Every time I look at this photo I can't help but picture some overgrown teen trying to convince the internet she's so *quirky* and *bad at math* tee hee hee

 

[Wish a nigga would]

I think she might just be plain old stupid.

 

[Randomrando]

getting a trach done

Do it!! You 1000% need it!!! Give your muscles a break so they can rest and get strong!!

 

[Equus quagga]

I FELT SOO ASHAMED and felt gross knowing that there are other subjects on here that are faking these things for clout or attention. I feel ashamed to have a condition that others dream of having.

I feel shame or guilt for given people on here like my wife had faked these things for a very long time

oh and you might be thinking to yourself (why didn't you have any of this on during the wedding) well i did not wanan take away from rose side i wanted her to feel special

Rose baby, is that you?

 

[screemsfromthedeath]

Rose baby, is that you?

no its not rose its me her husband

 

[Shocked and Horrified]

so im not sure where else to post this

This was your best idea?

 

[screemsfromthedeath]

This was your best idea?

I figured you guys would understand how I feel with people faking this shit also given im being upfront with you guys on this and providing supporting documents

 

[Equus quagga]

im being upfront with you guys on this and providing supporting documents

the only supporting documents i want to see are proof that Rose and her nasty fetishes kicked the bucket