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

AE is very real, as is PANS and PANDAS. AE is rare, but PANS/,PANDAS is not. It is estimated that 1 in 200 kids has it. What about it makes you feel that it isn't real? This girl is having seizures, which are pretty hard to fake. 🤷



Here's a fun one for you guys.
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This shit gives me flashbacks to the Gypsy Rose case. Super brave and outspoken mother seeks national attention by carting her deathly ill daughter in front of cameras to talk about her rare mysterious illness, which nobody knows how to treat. She claims the daughter has Autoimmune Encephalitis and PANDAS, and that she has become an expert in doctor shopping traveled all over the country seeking out treatment.

She openly admits that she has advocated for her daughter to get chemotherapy for her mystery illness based on her personal super-mom-research-skills. She also says that Gracie has been given Ativan and Morphine for her super rare and inexplicable symptoms, which the evil doctors refuse to acknowledge.

Of course, mom has a Facebook page. The daughter has been given Make-A-Wish privileges, she rides around in a wheelchair, has a shaved head, and...seriously, she even fucking looks like Gypsy Rose Blanchard looked back then. She is 11 or 12 in these photos.
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Mom also talks a lot about her munchie endeavors on her own personal FB page. She's written three articles about it for some horrible boomer website called "Scary Mommy."
  1. How Autoimmune Encephalitis Changed My Daughter
  2. I Won't Let My Daughter's Rare Illness Hold Her Back
  3. PANDAS Has Taken My Daughter From Me
Here are some choice quotes from the 3rd story.


Might have to draft up a thread on this one. Poor kid.
 
AE is very real, as is PANS and PANDAS. AE is rare, but PANS/,PANDAS is not. It is estimated that 1 in 200 kids has it. What about it makes you feel that it isn't real? This girl is having seizures, which are pretty hard to fake. 🤷

Psychosomatic seizures are very much a thing. And they happen to be super popular with the munchie crowd. Anyone remember Just Breathe Nicole? She loved her fake seizures (and her fake vomiting disorder that still kept her pudgy).
 
Most of these diseases are real. That doesn't mean some people won't try to use that to fuel their mental illness, especially if there is a lot of media around it at the time. Back in this thread, there was a AE faker, morgan, though she didn't do a very convincing job.

Speaking of Morgan, she continues to struggle with where to go now with her life. Hopefully this will be a turning point for good and not worse like AJ.
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Just some random "I'm up in the middle of the night" thoughts. The world "malingering" in the title. Did you know "malingering" is a symptom of PTSD? Is some proportion of the munchie population acting out on trauma and therefore perhaps has hope.....if you treat the cause the symptoms goes, right??

Second thought, and possibly related, I know someone who as a child was looked after well materially/financially, but their parents were not present. One might say neglectful both of emotional and practical needs (left for long periods too young, absorbed into the "adult" world far too early as it was easier in social situations, serious injuries ignored for days). This child was diagnosed with asthma, wore corrective lenses, had sensitivities to a list of foods as long as your arm.

Until.

They got therapy in their early twenties, recognised the shittines of their upbringing, found self worth somewhere other than attanetion from mom and dad and is no longer asthmatic, after a thorough eye exam has 20/20 vision and can eat any damn thing they want (lucky cunt).

Is this a subset of Munchhausen? The kid consciously or unconsciously faked symptoms to appear ill to (as they admit now) garner attention from parent who were ignoring them?
 
Just some random "I'm up in the middle of the night" thoughts. The world "malingering" in the title. Did you know "malingering" is a symptom of PTSD? Is some proportion of the munchie population acting out on trauma and therefore perhaps has hope.....if you treat the cause the symptoms goes, right??

Second thought, and possibly related, I know someone who as a child was looked after well materially/financially, but their parents were not present. One might say neglectful both of emotional and practical needs (left for long periods too young, absorbed into the "adult" world far too early as it was easier in social situations, serious injuries ignored for days). This child was diagnosed with asthma, wore corrective lenses, had sensitivities to a list of foods as long as your arm.

Until.

They got therapy in their early twenties, recognised the shittines of their upbringing, found self worth somewhere other than attanetion from mom and dad and is no longer asthmatic, after a thorough eye exam has 20/20 vision and can eat any damn thing they want (lucky cunt).

Is this a subset of Munchhausen? The kid consciously or unconsciously faked symptoms to appear ill to (as they admit now) garner attention from parent who were ignoring them?
They're called somatic disorders and are very real; it's possible that the symptoms were actual reactions brought on by emotions and they only realized it after dealing with those emotions. A lot of maladaptive behaviors that originate in childhood carry on into adulthood until a person is able to examine them critically, but it doesn't mean they're life-long liars or anything.
 
OHHH BOY! Just as I thought /r/IllnessFakers couldn’t get anymore cuddleboxish, they’ve now

A. Said that they don’t think chronically jaquie was lying about being sick

And B. They’ve banned the topic of someone because their “mental health is declining” and they asked a simple question of “does anyone else ever get tingling in their body when they lean on it”

yes, no shit “ren” or whatever your name is - if you cut circulation off by leaning on a body part, you’re gonna get fucking pins & needles!!!
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I don’t get it. They claim they’re not here to “nitpick” people, yet continually divulge everyone’s every move when they’re mentioned on there, then try to take the moral high ground & act all high and mighty & slag off kiwi farms.

At least we don’t show fake sympathy ....
 
OHHH BOY! Just as I thought /r/IllnessFakers couldn’t get anymore cuddleboxish, they’ve now

A. Said that they don’t think chronically jaquie was lying about being sick

And B. They’ve banned the topic of someone because their “mental health is declining” and they asked a simple question of “does anyone else ever get tingling in their body when they lean on it”

yes, no shit “ren” or whatever your name is - if you cut circulation off by leaning on a body part, you’re gonna get fucking pins & needles!!! View attachment 742499

I don’t get it. They claim they’re not here to “nitpick” people, yet continually divulge everyone’s every move when they’re mentioned on there, then try to take the moral high ground & act all high and mighty & slag off kiwi farms.

At least we don’t show fake sympathy ....

About 50-70% of Reddit/IF posters are munchies themselves. They get on there to shit talk munchies getting more attention than they are because "XXX isn't really sick like ME." The amount of people who post on there just to talk about how their EDS/Fibro/Chronic Lyme is totes real unlike that faker the threads is about is hilarious.

I feel sorry for the actual medical pros and staff that post there because they are just swimming among jealous munchies.
 
Wanna trigger the entire subreddit? Bring up the teddy bear sign. Being told their insistence on bringing a teddy with them to every tiny medical procedure despite being 35 is predictive of psychogenic symptoms and personality disorders makes the entire sub REEEEEEEEEEE at once about how SOME WOMEN JUST BRING TEDDIES FOR COMFORT OKAY HOSPITALS ARE VERY SCARY AND SOME OF US NEED A TEDDY TO GET US THROUGH OUR VERY SCARY PROCEDURES.

It's beautiful.
 
About 50-70% of Reddit/IF posters are munchies themselves. They get on there to shit talk munchies getting more attention than they are because "XXX isn't really sick like ME." The amount of people who post on there just to talk about how their EDS/Fibro/Chronic Lyme is totes real unlike that faker the threads is about is hilarious.

I feel sorry for the actual medical pros and staff that post there because they are just swimming among jealous munchies.
Their position on chronic lyme is lulzy, it was like, "yes many fakers claim chronic lyme and most cases of chronic lyme aren't real, see this article on science based medicine. HOWEVER some of OUR fakers have actual, rare REAL chronic lyme, with the exact symptoms, only much more serious because it's for real and they're our gals."
 
Wanna trigger the entire subreddit? Bring up the teddy bear sign. Being told their insistence on bringing a teddy with them to every tiny medical procedure despite being 35 is predictive of psychogenic symptoms and personality disorders makes the entire sub REEEEEEEEEEE at once about how SOME WOMEN JUST BRING TEDDIES FOR COMFORT OKAY HOSPITALS ARE VERY SCARY AND SOME OF US NEED A TEDDY TO GET US THROUGH OUR VERY SCARY PROCEDURES.

It's beautiful.

It's not really that unusual to see pts bring stuffed animals with them. Surgery is fucking scary for many people. If you're bringing your stuffed animals into routine care and having me talk to them then, eh...I don't think that's normal but I've done it.

One dude asked me to get him a stuffed cow so I had some bored worker from dietary steal one from the gift shop for him (because we sell plushies there and no, I was never billed for it) and he woke up after the op with it and was incredibly happy. Whatever works.
 
It's not really that unusual to see pts bring stuffed animals with them. Surgery is fucking scary for many people. If you're bringing your stuffed animals into routine care and having me talk to them then, eh...I don't think that's normal but I've done it.

One dude asked me to get him a stuffed cow so I had some bored worker from dietary steal one from the gift shop for him (because we sell plushies there and no, I was never billed for it) and he woke up after the op with it and was incredibly happy. Whatever works.
Yeah any hospital gift shop I have seen has been stuffed with plushies, it's something a lot of people I guess "regress" to when they are sick and stressed. Heck my grandpa kept a stuffed dog we gave him after his heart surgery. This may be yet another thing that the munchies have ruined for the normal people, by association.
 
Wanna trigger the entire subreddit? Bring up the teddy bear sign. Being told their insistence on bringing a teddy with them to every tiny medical procedure despite being 35 is predictive of psychogenic symptoms and personality disorders makes the entire sub REEEEEEEEEEE at once about how SOME WOMEN JUST BRING TEDDIES FOR COMFORT OKAY HOSPITALS ARE VERY SCARY AND SOME OF US NEED A TEDDY TO GET US THROUGH OUR VERY SCARY PROCEDURES.

It's beautiful.

I can honestly say, I’ve noticed that.

The other thing that triggers the hell out of them is when you mention service dogs laying on feeding tubes / ports & when you mention.

As for the “stuffed animals” - I’ve noticed that if you mention the amount of germs & how unhygienic some of the stuffed animals look, and you mention they’re a cesspool breeding ground for all things bad, they get extremely defensive.

Their position on chronic lyme is lulzy, it was like, "yes many fakers claim chronic lyme and most cases of chronic lyme aren't real, see this article on science based medicine. HOWEVER some of OUR fakers have actual, rare REAL chronic lyme, with the exact symptoms, only much more serious because it's for real and they're our gals."

Their stance on two illnesses is really fucking annoying. 50% of doctors don’t believe fibromyalgia exists, and as for “chronic Lyme” ... how the hell do these people contract chronic Lyme, without ever having Lyme in the first place? They’ve never been bit by a tick etc, but they claim Lyme.

The fibromyalgia thing bothers me, I honestly think it’s

1. A code word for drug seeker / munchaussens in the medical community (I’ve heard that off a few doctor / medical professional friends of mine)

And

2. A way for doctors to get people to fuck off when there’s nothing wrong with them and they keep coming back complaining about nothing.
 
The fibromyalgia thing bothers me, I honestly think it’s

1. A code word for drug seeker / munchaussens in the medical community (I’ve heard that off a few doctor / medical professional friends of mine)

And

2. A way for doctors to get people to fuck off when there’s nothing wrong with them and they keep coming back complaining about nothing.

Also, a manifestation of depression that doctors don't want to deal with. Possibly because patients are more receptive to physical illness then mental illness.
 
tell them they have depression and these are the physical effects of it and they stomp out the door. say "fibro' and they just might, might take an SSRI.
There is also fibro diagnosis seeking behaviour, in the UK at least. It can qualify you for Personal Independence Payment which is basically the tugboat of all tugboats. You're talking priority accessible housing (gratis obvs), a car (a nice one too, google "motability"), income supplemented by PIP payments etc as there is a minimum income guaruntee for the long term sick/.disabled, which fibro counts as. This can be for LIFE.

It is the illness of choice for the benefits chancer in the UK.

I do also however know someone with it and she suffers greatly. It's not me btw! The opinion of some is that while yes, many are as described, a physical manifestation of depression, swinging the lead etc new research that is perhaps a little less prejudiced leans towards treating it as an inflammatory problem. Those that really have it.....have a real problem. And in my opinion are being fucked over by a bunch of money grabbing drug seeking lazy arse piss takers.

edited because marijuana

edit 2 cos I was bored I went on the motability site - you can get a brand new audi A1, free all inclusive insurance (2 driver), no money to pay, free servicing and road side assistance if you have fibro that restricts your mobility. obvs there's a lot of munchie there but i bet there's a whole lot of " i'd like a free audi plz"
 
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I don't think fibromyalgia is one, unified thing. I think it's a big dumping grounds for all kinds of things that lots of different people don't want to deal with directly. Yeah drug seekers and attention seekers get dumped there, but also people who are legit miserable with something that is hard to figure out and with the medical system being as pressed as it is, no one has time to get to the bottom of it so they just kind of lump it in there. Could be depression, could be some other neuro or rheum disorder that has slipped under the radar, could be a lot of things. And I suspect PT makes bank from referrals for that kind of mystery pain, so there's a lack of motivation for anyone to get to the bottom of it, as it's pretty much working as intended for everyone involved.
 
Wanna trigger the entire subreddit? Bring up the teddy bear sign. Being told their insistence on bringing a teddy with them to every tiny medical procedure despite being 35 is predictive of psychogenic symptoms and personality disorders makes the entire sub REEEEEEEEEEE at once about how SOME WOMEN JUST BRING TEDDIES FOR COMFORT OKAY HOSPITALS ARE VERY SCARY AND SOME OF US NEED A TEDDY TO GET US THROUGH OUR VERY SCARY PROCEDURES.

It's beautiful.
While I LOVE that study and want to high-five that research team, "We conclude that patient possession of toy stuffed animals in the EMU is not a reliable sign of PNES."
 
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