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

[Otterly]

Slight tangent, but humans can sometimes do this too. Here’s a woman who can smell Parkinson’s: http://archive.is/1RrKu

You can often smell when people are ill. They get a distinct smell - part of it is ketones but there’s something else there too. You hear a lot of women who say they can smell when their kids are coming down with something. I certainly can.

C. Diff infection has a very distinctive smell as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if this ability isn’t super rare.

 

[cuddle striker]

Slight tangent, but humans can sometimes do this too. Here’s a woman who can smell Parkinson’s: http://archive.li/1RrKu

You can often smell when people are ill. They get a distinct smell - part of it is ketones but there’s something else there too. You hear a lot of women who say they can smell when their kids are coming down with something. I certainly can.

C. Diff infection has a very distinctive smell as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if this ability isn’t super rare.

well, c diff smells like rotten hay, upper GI bleeds smell like bloat cadavers mixed with shit, and you can smell trich as rotten fish from a mile away. a lot of infections have really distinct scents.

human bodily fluids are the same- you can smell bile, feces, urine and cerebrospinal fluid very distinctly. hell, white matter/brain has its own scent, distinct from the fluid around it.

it's the sweat and breath changes that the smaller service dogs are smelling- the task they perform is to alert the user that a seizure or blood sugar change is coming, in time to do something about it (test glucose, take medication, lie down, etc)

some of them also perform the unfortunately necessary task of preventing people from putting things into a seizing person's mouth.

 

[eternal dog mongler]

Robots that can smell infections are going to be the hot new tech in the healthcare industry. I think Korea's working on them.

It'll be useful because many old people end up going to the great skilled nursing facility in the sky because they get a raging UTI from urinary catheterization and none of the RNs catch it in time.

 

[neverendingmidi]

there are dogs that can detect sugar drops/highs, oncoming seizures, and cancer. the seizure detector and blood sugar dogs are usually small, and carried so that they can smell the person's breath or skin. they can be medical service dogs.

all other service dogs will be bigger breeds.

all of them will be totally under their user's control and calm, they won't be interested in anyone but the person using them.

spoonies love to buy vests and patches and papers and shit and never bother to actually train the dog to focus. actual service dogs usually have a harness or vest, sometimes unlabeled. they won't legally have to show you any papers and they may tell you to just call the cops if you don't like it, there's a huge fine for kicking out a real service dog.

any dog that's not focused on the user is likely not a real sd, despite any and all decoration proclaiming it as such.

Oh the lady I knew didn't call him a service dog. She would go to agility competitions and having an extra dog along who'd help remind her to check her levels when she was busy doing runs was just nice for her.

 

[cuddle striker]

Robots that can smell infections are going to be the hot new tech in the healthcare industry. I think Korea's working on them.

It'll be useful because many old people end up going to the great skilled nursing facility in the sky because they get a raging UTI from urinary catheterization and none of the RNs catch it in time.

the RNs know. because old ladies go batshit crazy when they get a UTI. and there's a scent.

many old people who should have been out of their misery a decade earlier have their UTI "missed".

I wish these spoonies would start saying they had more infections. some bacteria in the mix would be a nice break from the ed/pots/fibro/etc.

 

[StasisOne]

Nothing too surprising on Morgan lately. She is getting her J-tube put back in. Now she travels in a wheelchair and got a neck brace because she can't hold her head up anymore. Got evaluated for a thyroid nodule, but it sounds like that Dr was questioning her medical history, so "it was a waste of time".

 

[HereForTheLaughs]

Nothing too surprising on Morgan lately. She is getting her J-tube put back in. Now she travels in a wheelchair and got a neck brace because she can't hold her head up anymore. Got evaluated for a thyroid nodule, but it sounds like that Dr was questioning her medical history, so "it was a waste of time".

Funny, her head didn’t seem to fall off in any of her pics ?

 

[Otterly]

I went down the spoonie wormhole on Instagram the other day and loads of them have neck braces. What’s that all about?

 

[Fattyroad]

I went down the spoonie wormhole on Instagram the other day and loads of them have neck braces. What’s that all about?

Someone found an online store that sells them I guess.

 

[Yutyrannus]

I found a chunky munchie. Claimed in a FB group to drive 800 miles to see a doctor. Feeding tube, vogmask, service dog, and all. Claims MCAD. Maybe claims EDS? Still rides horses, though.

The "I Stand For The Flag/I Kneel At e Cross" overlay on one of her pictures is funny as hell.

https://m.facebook.com/rachel.kietzerow.3?fref=nf / http://archive.li/z84vz

Also in this post claiming to need oxygen tanks?

 

[neverendingmidi]

I went down the spoonie wormhole on Instagram the other day and loads of them have neck braces. What’s that all about?

It's nice and visible for selfies.

For me I just assume someone wearing one was in a car accident.

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

Nothing too surprising on Morgan lately. She is getting her J-tube put back in. Now she travels in a wheelchair and got a neck brace because she can't hold her head up anymore. Got evaluated for a thyroid nodule, but it sounds like that Dr was questioning her medical history, so "it was a waste of time".

Lol, the dreaded munchie noodle neck. Guess no one told Morgan neck braces aren’t for holding your noggin up but for holding your neck still.

 

[The Un-Clit]

fibro can be a very nasty physical symptom of real depression. having depression sounds mundane to a lot of people because they don't realize how shit it actually is, it's a serious mental illness that has physical symptoms.

opiates have been shown in clinical trials to treat depression, so really, a lot of these addicts are self-medicating with pain pills. they do work. they're just not good for you in the long run/addictive.

I'm glad she's better.

Dude you just SO nailed it on the head in so many ways.

I don't want to reveal my powerlevel too much, but yes opiates work like fucking magic on someone I know who is so severely depressed and in constant pain that they are borderline bedridden. The day they finally ask someone else I know who is on methadone maintainance for a tiny amount when the pain is severe, for a full 36 hours after that person is up and alert, doing the neglected housework, praising "how much better they feel, they are no longer spinning their wheels mentally, they can think about what's bothering then without wangsting over and over again that stuff's a miracle, shame it's addictive, I can never take a crap for a week after this so please dont ever let me ask for any ever again" etc.....and after those 36hours or so, it's back in bed 18hours a day moaning and groaning. 2 months later when it gets bad enough....repeat.

The person I know who is on the methadone maintainance long term (they get take-home doses for 6 days a week, 1 dose witnessed at pharmacy) initially got onto the pain pills to combat depression and anger related to home and work life, and it kept this person from murdering their spouse until the inevitable divorce and still able to work, but the downside was long-term addiction which thankfully was treated with methadone instead of cold turkey detox and an eventual turn to street narcotics, but they admit they are likely gonna be on methadone for the rest of their days.

 

[Otterly]

Some anti inflammatories have antidepressants effects as well. I can well believe that fibro is sometimes the physical manifestation of depression.

Neck braces give you a terrible double chin in selfies

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

Dude you just SO nailed it on the head in so many ways.

I don't want to reveal my powerlevel too much, but yes opiates work like fucking magic on someone I know who is so severely depressed and in constant pain that they are borderline bedridden. The day they finally ask someone else I know who is on methadone maintainance for a tiny amount when the pain is severe, for a full 36 hours after that person is up and alert, doing the neglected housework, praising "how much better they feel, they are no longer spinning their wheels mentally, they can think about what's bothering then without wangsting over and over again that stuff's a miracle, shame it's addictive, I can never take a crap for a week after this so please dont ever let me ask for any ever again" etc.....and after those 36hours or so, it's back in bed 18hours a day moaning and groaning. 2 months later when it gets bad enough....repeat.

The person I know who is on the methadone maintainance long term (they get take-home doses for 6 days a week, 1 dose witnessed at pharmacy) initially got onto the pain pills to combat depression and anger related to home and work life, and it kept this person from murdering their spouse until the inevitable divorce and still able to work, but the downside was long-term addiction which thankfully was treated with methadone instead of cold turkey detox and an eventual turn to street narcotics, but they admit they are likely gonna be on methadone for the rest of their days.

It’s called being high, it does wonders for the mood, hence the reason is called “high.” I used to laugh at all the stories of housewives getting Vicodin for some small procedure or minor injury and then going home and joyously cleaning the house for four hours and being SO happy doing it.

Not only do opiates elevate the mood they also dull pain. Different opiates affect different receptors but there’s a big misconception about opiates making you sleepy or tired, most people who take a small dose of most opiates will have high energy, be productive and feel great. Unfortunately once you get addicted all those good things are negated by the physical dependence.

It’s not just depressed people, almost everyone feels awesome on opiates - it’s why so many ppl get addicted. (The only exception is people who get terribly nauseous after taking opiates, which apparently takes all the fun out of it.)

There’s a reason Marx called religion the opiate of the masses. Opiates make you feel better about life. If you’re already depressed then the difference it even more noticeable.

 

[The Un-Clit]

It’s called being high, it does wonders for the mood, hence the reason is called “high.” I used to laugh at all the stories of housewives getting Vicodin for some small procedure or minor injury and then going home and joyously cleaning the house for four hours and being SO happy doing it.

Not only do opiates elevate the mood they also dull pain. Different opiates affect different receptors but there’s a big misconception about opiates making you sleepy or tired, most people who take a small dose of most opiates will have high energy, be productive and feel great. Unfortunately once you get addicted all those good things are negated by the physical dependence.

It’s not just depressed people, almost everyone feels awesome on opiates - it’s why so many ppl get addicted. (The only exception is people who get terribly nauseous after taking opiates, which apparently takes all the fun out of it.)

There’s a reason Marx called religion the opiate of the masses. Opiates make you feel better about life. If you’re already depressed then the difference it even more noticeable.

That's mostly true, except the opiate in question here is methadone. It is perscribed for addiction control because it does NOT cause a high (except in the most opiate naive and tiny even then) yet fills and blocks the opiate receptors in the brain so that it prevents other opiates like heroin or oxycodone from filling those receptors and giving you a high.

This person was also given a TINY amount of methadone, 3-5mg out of the perscribed person's 80mg/day ration, and it was extremely effective, so there's a bit more to it then just getting high. It REALLY settled down and balanced their emotional state rather then causing euphoria.

 

[vanilla_pepsi_head]

That's mostly true, except the opiate in question here is methadone. It is perscribed for addiction control because it does NOT cause a high (except in the most opiate naive and tiny even then) yet fills and blocks the opiate receptors in the brain so that it prevents other opiates like heroin or oxycodone from filling those receptors and giving you a high.

This person was also given a TINY amount of methadone, 3-5mg out of the perscribed person's 80mg/day ration, and it was extremely effective, so there's a bit more to it then just getting high. It REALLY settled down and balanced their emotional state rather then causing euphoria.

Sounds more like regular old placebo effect tbh.

 

[seizure-san]

Out of curiosity (and my own pet interest in pharmacology) I did a quick Google search for any info on the use of opioids in treating depression and there was a new combo drug put up for approval late last year consisting of buprenorphine (an opioid) and a novel product called samidorphin. The drugs are combined to balance out which receptors are affected in order to maximize positive effects and minimize negative, so it's not just about getting high. Dunno if it ever went anywhere though, still an interesting idea! And possible proof of concept, yeah?It's still probably not a good idea because of that whole addiction thing though, although there's that ketamine -based med out now that kicks the shit out of depression!

/drug sperging

 

[MirnaMinkoff]

That's mostly true, except the opiate in question here is methadone. It is perscribed for addiction control because it does NOT cause a high (except in the most opiate naive and tiny even then) yet fills and blocks the opiate receptors in the brain so that it prevents other opiates like heroin or oxycodone from filling those receptors and giving you a high.

This person was also given a TINY amount of methadone, 3-5mg out of the perscribed person's 80mg/day ration, and it was extremely effective, so there's a bit more to it then just getting high. It REALLY settled down and balanced their emotional state rather then causing euphoria.

Methadone gets you high, it might not be the same euphoric stupor high as heroin but it’s still a good buzz. If you are opiate naive 5-10 mg will make you feel fucking awesome. For non-addicts / opiate naive ppl 5 and 10 mg methadone pills are the standard daily dose.

Spoiler

5 mg and 10 mg methadone pills are actually what’s manufactured for use by doctors when it’s prescribed for non-addiction purposes. Methadone is used as a long-acting pain killer for certain chronic pain conditions.

It’s why your friend jumped out of bed and got shit done. They’d do the same if you gave them some Vicodin /loritabs. If any opiate naive person took 80 mg of methadone it would kill them, hell 40 mg would kill most people that don’t have any opiate tolerance.

 

[cuddle striker]

Methadone gets you high, it might not be the same euphoric stupor high as heroin but it’s still a good buzz. If you are opiate naive 5-10 mg will make you feel fucking awesome. For non-addicts / opiate naive ppl 5 and 10 mg methadone pills are the standard daily dose.

Spoiler

5 mg and 10 mg methadone pills are actually what’s manufactured for use by doctors when it’s prescribed for non-addiction purposes. Methadone is used as a long-acting pain killer for certain chronic pain conditions.

It’s why your friend jumped out of bed and got shit done. They’d do the same if you gave them some Vicodin /loritabs. If any opiate naive person took 80 mg of methadone it would kill them, hell 40 mg would kill most people that don’t have any opiate tolerance.

keep in mind that depression causes physical pain and lethargy as well as mental pain- someone with a broken leg won't get as high from an opiate, as it's working more on the pain level than at the excess receptors.

it's a lot to get into, but opiates do work for depression. disassociatives work as well, for a limited time, then need to be done all over pagain (they function almost like low level ECT)


of course our munchies never have anything as boring as pain old depression, though.