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

[TismFarmer]

do you think they regret it at the end? Isn't it the end goal to be Really Sick so even if it's painful it's psychologically satisfying?

I think they feel regret at an individual incident level, they deliberately introduce bacteria into their line and 'accidentally' get sepsis and it's BAD this time, excruciating pain and permanent effects instead of a week in bed feeling bad but not hideous and loads of the good drugs.
But, I think that feeling regret about their wasted life and what could have been different, is not very likely. To feel that way would entail taking a step back and evaluating when and why this started and how much of their own and others lives have been destroyed. They would have to admit, even just inside their own head, that this was all their doing, every step of the way and then actually sit and let themselves feel the negative emotions that such an admittance would bring up.
This is FAR too difficult for our munchies, especially the young ones. It's much much easier (and gets them gifts and attention) to blame Fate, defective genes, or some terrible, invisible illness for ruining their lives and forcing them to live as Poor Pitiful Warriors (the totally-really-real illness ones can guilt trip their parents even more because the years and tears and mileage and money that they spent trying to find out what was wrong with their daughter is now years of illness and agony during which they didn't do nearly enough to get her more of the good drugs a diagnosis)
These girls have never had to endure anything negative in their lives, Mommy and Daddy have always fixed everything so they don't suffer any kind of pain, physical or emotional, no matter how minor, and as far as they believe, they always will...

 

[Tragon Dirtle]

I think they feel regret at an individual incident level, they deliberately introduce bacteria into their line and 'accidentally' get sepsis and it's BAD this time, excruciating pain and permanent effects instead of a week in bed feeling bad but not hideous and loads of the good drugs.
But, I think that feeling regret about their wasted life and what could have been different, is not very likely. To feel that way would entail taking a step back and evaluating when and why this started and how much of their own and others lives have been destroyed. They would have to admit, even just inside their own head, that this was all their doing, every step of the way and then actually sit and let themselves feel the negative emotions that such an admittance would bring up.
This is FAR too difficult for our munchies, especially the young ones. It's much much easier (and gets them gifts and attention) to blame Fate, defective genes, or some terrible, invisible illness for ruining their lives and forcing them to live as Poor Pitiful Warriors (the totally-really-real illness ones can guilt trip their parents even more because the years and tears and mileage and money that they spent trying to find out what was wrong with their daughter is now years of illness and agony during which they didn't do nearly enough to get her more of the good drugs a diagnosis)
These girls have never had to endure anything negative in their lives, Mommy and Daddy have always fixed everything so they don't suffer any kind of pain, physical or emotional, no matter how minor, and as far as they believe, they always will...

When I think of them as a weird variation of drug addict, the kind that won't risk getting kicked out onto the street for stealing, it does make sense, but having known enough addicts there is usually some trauma in the background somewhere that caused them to seek escapism in the first place. I can believe that they've maintained an uncomplicated set up for a long time, but I don't know that I can believe that they've never had anything fuck them up. I don't think a non-fucked-up person would do any of this.

On the other hand I've never met one of those rich drug-addict-because-they're-bored types, so maybe it would become clear to me if I did.

 

[Endangered Species List]

I’m probably overthinking it, but tf does she mean “in the back of [her] throat”? How far back? Is she creating a seal like some kind of unreleased oral stop? A voiceless palatal fricative? And where is the tip of her tongue during this? Is she saying her tongue can hit the back of her throat while still having enough length to articulate any front consonants? No air, but still somehow voiced?
Any phonologists/SLPs here that can help me figure this out? Or am I just uber retarded and giving too much stock to a munchie’s word lol

Spoiler: Interesting resource

While looking into it more, I found this article about speech therapy for kids with trachs.
Gives nice diagrams:

Spoiler: Breathing with a trach

Spoiler: + speaking valve

Spoiler: Ramble about leak speech

Leak speech is a communication option she could be using (doesn’t need a speaking valve and works with a cuff like she has), but she specifically goes out of her way to mention how she uses her tongue to prevent leaking which means it wouldn’t be possible to speak… of course, that’s if she’s telling the truth about her ~sooper speshal tongue positioning~ that somehow has never been heard of in the history of trach patients, because she definitely doesn’t have a strong enough respiratory system to afford to let the air leak guys! That’s why she uses her tongue so it doesn’t leak even when the cuff is deflated! And so having an inflated, non-leaking cuff shouldn’t affect her speaking ability… right??? Because she doesn’t need that leaking airflow to speak RIGHT?

When a patient is on mechanical ventilation, leak speech can occur on both inspiration and expiration. Since speech may be clearer when the ventilator delivers a breath on inspiration, individuals are frequently taught to speak when the ventilator delivers a breath. However, this is the opposite of normal breathing and speech patterns and may result in dysphonia. Another limitation of leak speech is that speech is often breathy and weak since airflow takes the path of least resistance, often back through the tracheostomy tube instead of through the vocal folds and upper airway.

I just thought that might explain why we don’t see the pauses between utterances like we’d expect to with a trach patient. That plus the fact she has a much stronger respiratory system that she claims, it’d make sense for her to sound barely afflicted vocally aside from some breathiness. It’s just crazy to think she’d go out of the way to lie about using leak speech of all things, but in the wise words of Hanlon’s Razor: “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” So I’m going to assume she just had no idea how she was actually producing sound and misattributed it to her tongue lol

Sorry if any of this info was already addressed in the post! And wonderful timeline as always Mrs. Kate Farms Shill ma’am (or sir). Your posts are the reason I joined the farms

 

[SNU]

No, I get that, what I don't get is why they want to be in the hospital and not at home. They can take their toys home, and you would think having friends and family dote on you trumps having nurses do their job. They can't fake symptoms as much while on a shit ton of monitors either. Plus the cost! This shtick only works for late teens failure to launch who are still on daddy's insurance. I just can't wrap my head around wanting to be cared for so bad you'll give up the freedom to be a midnight snacking gremlin.

A lot of them have friends for show. It's exhausting being around these people. Their friends are nice and polite to them. They put on a preformative friendship around them but avoid them as much as possible because it sucks to be around them. Once they have a realization that this person only wants to be the center of attention and only ever talks about their conditions the friends try to slowly ghost. Keep things friendly but withdraw slowly over time.

I don't know if you've ever had a friend who was a chore to be friends with but that's pretty much it. They are nice enough and haven't done anything too bad to warrant telling them to fuck off but interacting with them is a chore. Like a friend who always contacts you to "hang out" then when you show up they keep asking for favors. Or friends who ask for small favors but when you show up to help them they're like "oh while you're here i need help with this much bigger favor". Eventually you just try to avoid them because every time you see them they ambush you with tasks they need help with.

So I imagine a lot of their friends are friends in name only after a certain point. Hospital workers are paid to care for them and it's difficult to impossible to ghost a patient unless they break a rule in a very obvious way.

Also you get social media attention from hospital visits but significantly less from bed rest at home

 

[Point and Laugh]

Some of it may also be that mindset that nearly everyone has when they’re a teen / early 20’s. Nothing really bad will happen and you’ll always be able to bounce back.

 

[MadDisaster]

I also wonder if any of these girls ever manage some genuine self-reflection on what they've done to themselves. Eventually, their brain has matured somewhat, and might understand consequences of actions, but the sheer mental illness they've induced seems to cut it off completely.

It makes me curious about recovered munchies, and what they might reveal. You kind of want to see someone "expose" the online illness community, even though that's just as unlikely to happen.

 

[blue gopher snakes]

Also you get social media attention from hospital visits but significantly less from bed rest at home

This is a big component.

The thing to remember is that many of the munchies start smaller than what we would bothered to document or archive. Maybe they drag out a cold longer than would have been expected. If they get a bump or a bruise, they make an international incident out of it. Maybe they got their tonsils or appendix removed at an early age, and you start noticing that the story becomes more dramatic every time they retell it. Eventually people get bored and move on. But if they go to the HOSPITAL! That’s scary! It’s legitimate! 9/10 doctors agree that they are definitely really sick and not at all faking! And the attention ramps way back up again. It becomes a way to legitimize their munching when their families and caregivers are catching on.

 

[vanilla_pepsi_head]

When I think of them as a weird variation of drug addict, the kind that won't risk getting kicked out onto the street for stealing, it does make sense, but having known enough addicts there is usually some trauma in the background somewhere that caused them to seek escapism in the first place. I can believe that they've maintained an uncomplicated set up for a long time, but I don't know that I can believe that they've never had anything fuck them up. I don't think a non-fucked-up person would do any of this.

On the other hand I've never met one of those rich drug-addict-because-they're-bored types, so maybe it would become clear to me if I did.

I think the drugs often do become a secondary motive, but for the munchies who actually engage in self harm (as opposed to the type who mostly get as far as they do via doctor shopping, good old fashioned bullshitting, and sheer theatrics) I think the real addiction is to bringing themselves as close to the brink as possible until extreme medical intervention drags them back. It's kind of similar to the people you might call "adrenaline junkies" who instead enjoy the thrill seeking aspect of extreme sports or dangerous stunts like BASE jumping. Opinions are probably all over the map about the utility of putting yourself in pointless mortal danger for fun and attention from normies, but I think we can agree on extreme Munchausens being one of the most utterly meritless, parasitic, and pointlessly destructive ways for people like this to get their jollies. It's a pathology that I can only see existing if someone is predisposed to compulsive and rapidly escalating addictive behavior, natural thrill seeking, profound entitlement, and inability to tolerate not being the center of attention.

 

[Flaming_Barghast]

Since she is specifically getting yeast in the wound, could she be putting bakers yeast or fluids from her vag in the wound? Or do you have yeast in feces too?

You would think, but these girls are mentally ill. I really believe they can't resist; the same way failed males act out violence on others, failed females tend to act out violence on themselves.

I feel like us calling people failed fe/males doesn't really help with the troon out problem.

 

[Aunt Carol]

Since she is specifically getting yeast in the wound, could she be putting bakers yeast or fluids from her vag in the wound?

She has fungemia via the central lines, -emia meaning presence in blood (to quote a different flightless bird). It was detected long after the bacterial infections/colonizations were, and after she was no longer having a good time.

Yeast abounds so she could have rubbed her hubs anywhere warm and damp on her body, but it's much more likely that this started naturally, at least as naturally as anything when you're on chronic steroids, nasty antibiotics, hanging out in an ICU for months and swapping out central lines like you're trying on shoes.

 

[Flaming_Barghast]

She has fungemia via the central lines, -emia meaning presence in blood (to quote a different flightless bird). It was detected long after the bacterial infections/colonizations were, and after she was no longer having a good time.

Yeast abounds so she could have rubbed her hubs anywhere warm and damp on her body, but it's much more likely that this started naturally, at least as naturally as anything when you're on chronic steroids, nasty antibiotics, hanging out in an ICU for months and swapping out central lines like you're trying on shoes.

Yay fellow Chubby Emu fan!

And fair. Also is it true plastic attracts bacteria/fungus? Why wouldn't the material be made of something else, or coated in a thin layer of pliable metal like aluminum?

 

[SNU]

Since she is specifically getting yeast in the wound, could she be putting bakers yeast or fluids from her vag in the wound? Or do you have yeast in feces too?

Yeast is everywhere. Culturing yeast for baking and brewing wasn't always a thing. You could just rely on wild yeast contaminating it and go from there. Wild yeast is more of a generalist and digests random things into things that taste bad so although it does the job there's a reason specialist yeast was created. But yeah yeast is everywhere

Yay fellow Chubby Emu fan!

And fair. Also is it true plastic attracts bacteria/fungus? Why wouldn't the material be made of something else, or coated in a thin layer of pliable metal like aluminum?

They'll live on any surface. I'm pretty sure it doesn't attract it any more than other surfaces. Metal has many problems. The body can react to most metals and it doesn't like them. titanium, pure gold, steel coated with non bioactive stuff seem to last ages in the body.

Even if you can guarantee the body won't react, most metals work harden. The more they bend the more britle they become. They just end up snapping. Spring steel works to a point but even that will break if it bends outside its normal range. It also holds a lot of tension in it and tries to always go back to its resting state which could put pressure on things and kill the tissue.

Anything going through the skin is a losing battle. You can prolong it by keeping it clean and replacing disposable parts frequently but ideally you want to minimize the time you have something going from the outside into your body. The risk keeps getting higher the longer its in and eventually it will get infected. All you can do is only use it when necessary and try to keep it in for as short a time as necessary. All tubes eventually fail or get infected. That's why in a lot of these stories the doctor is always anxiously trying to remove it and not have to put a new one in

 

[Aunt Carol]

And fair. Also is it true plastic attracts bacteria/fungus? Why wouldn't the material be made of something else, or coated in a thin layer of pliable metal like aluminum?

It's more that flexible plastic allows biofilms, not that it attracts them. Here's a simplified drawing of a PICC in situ:


so as you can see, veins and flesh are too squishy and delicate, and arms are too mobile and wiggly, to use anything but the softest plastic.

With a PICC in place, the usual restrictions are on getting it wet/compromising the dressing, lifting over 10lbs, and repetitive arm movements. You don't have to put the arm in a sling and baby it, but if I kept losing lines over and over, I probably wouldn't be doing much dancing and arm waving.

It's not just the needleless access hubs that can allow contaminants into the body; a PICC can stay in place for a long time, so the dressing has to be monitored to make sure it's still protecting the place where the catheter goes into the body. Water can damage it, and even sweating makes adhesive less effective. Dressing changes are usually done at least weekly by home health (or in the infusion center) to keep from accidentally tugging on the line and reduce the chance of infection from poor technique.

 

[Adjustable Autism]

I assume she's getting all these superbugs by pulling out her lines and fucking with them? You'd think she'd stop once she started muching too close to the sun and getting actually sick.

My theory is she started with intentionally fucking with her lines (someone here mentioned ripping her line out and possibly damaging them with her teeth). @Aunt Carol' s theory with the first bout of sepsis being due to poor hygiene combined with dumb teenageritis sounds plausible as well. The proverbial first fix.

Antibiotics are hard on organs and i do believe her colon and maybe some other organs are just broken from years of abuse. If there is a leak it might be partially resposible.

Why all the anemia? Was she bleeding herself? Basic bitch heavy periods? Lying about the whole thing? I get that she’s anemic now what with all the infections and inflammation, but early on?

This is something I noticed as well. A mysterious disease that is causing extreme blood loss and even infusions are not helping?
I do think she fucked with it in one way or another, because this concerning vanishing blood disease got pretty much dropped once the trach saga and the human biolab project took off.

Ngl, this was a disturbing read. Maybe it is just me, but Tricia struck me as extra ruthless, even compared to the other munchies who died from their antics like Cheyanne.

 

[Flaming_Barghast]

It's more that flexible plastic allows biofilms, not that it attracts them. Here's a simplified drawing of a PICC in situ:

View attachment 5868070
so as you can see, veins and flesh are too squishy and delicate, and arms are too mobile and wiggly, to use anything but the softest plastic.

With a PICC in place, the usual restrictions are on getting it wet/compromising the dressing, lifting over 10lbs, and repetitive arm movements. You don't have to put the arm in a sling and baby it, but if I kept losing lines over and over, I probably wouldn't be doing much dancing and arm waving.

Oh okay, thanks for the explaination! Sorry if my question was spectacularly retarded lol

 

[Aunt Carol]

Oh okay, thanks for the explaination! Sorry if my question was spectacularly retarded lol

We are each of us retarded in our own special way. When the Tranch thread was in full swing, I personally learned a lot from other posters about guns, animal husbandry, guns, propane heaters, guns and erosion/soil conservation.

I don't know if you're familiar with biofilms, but this is an extremely quick outline of the concept. The bacteria form a living film in her central lines just like plaque grows on teeth or the pink slime grows in a cat's water fountain, stronger and more tenacious than they'd be on their own. And now they're building up layers of vegetation on her heart valves as well.

 

[Flaming_Barghast]

We are each of us retarded in our own special way. When the Tranch thread was in full swing, I personally learned a lot from other posters about guns, animal husbandry, guns, propane heaters, guns and erosion/soil conservation.

I don't know if you're familiar with biofilms, but this is an extremely quick outline of the concept. The bacteria form a living film in her central lines just like plaque grows on teeth or the pink slime grows in a cat's water fountain, stronger and more tenacious than they'd be on their own. And now they're building up layers of vegetation on her heart valves as well.

I knew about biofilms on bacteria individually but didn't realize it could also become a scummy slime thing, that's fuckin neat/horrifying!

 

[Lolzalolol2324]

Lol, I always heard you guys were Terrible Mean Cyberbullies but it turns out you’re just autistic af about these munchies? I’m so glad— I learned about Munchausen, got my autism in a tizzy about Munchausens, learned that illnessfakers is just a bunch of people trying to pretend like they aren’t blogging about their own Munchausens, and am grateful ya’ll are doing the lord’s work and documenting the munchies instead of talking about yourselves.

I am mostly here to lurk but needed to make an account because I have to know… do they have a way to dispose of Tricia after she finally dies that will actually ensure she doesn’t release her bioweapon yeast and bacteria into the wider world?

Please tell me there is a way to protect public health from the ghosts of Tricia’s incredibly bad decisions?

I am also curious what her various healthcare workers have to go through when they interact with her and her hell fluids? Do they have to follow a special protocol? I imagine they have to rely on really good PPE when the bacteria are resistant to every antibiotic we have?

Jfc I’d thought about all the resources these munchies were wasting and hated them for that that. But it wasn’t until I read about Tricia and Paige that I realized what a public health menace they are also.

 

[Kate Farms Shill]

Lol, I always heard you guys were Terrible Mean Cyberbullies but it turns out you’re just autistic af about these munchies?

Look, the general consensus on me outside this forum is I am both a great researcher and a terrible cyberbully and I intend to keep it that way.

...because it makes me laugh really hard when they act offended by the content I provide while giving away that they still read it.

 

[LonesomeDud]

I feel like us calling people failed fe/males doesn't really help with the troon out problem.

I mean, no, it doesn't help, but it's still true.