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Münchausen Syndrome


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#1 BelaLugosisDad

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Posted 29 August 2014 - 12:46 PM

Just had to write this......

 

Dear Mum,

 

As per your suggestion I did Google “hospital hopping”.

 

I think there are two possibilities you can evaluate.

 

The first is that I am hospital hopping, based upon the opinion of my family, none of whom holds anything remotely similar to a medical qualification.

 

The second is that I have a very nasty treatment resistant neurological disorder caused by protracted discontinuation syndrome of neuroleptic medicine supported by 2 consultant psychiatrists, 3 consultant neurologists, 1 consultant internist, the director of medicine of a hospital, my GP in the UK and GP in Spain.

 

When I left the first hospital in Granada in May, his main concern was that I would turn to alcohol or illegal drugs as his experience was this often happened with patients suffering from severe chronic pain. Since then I have been trying to find a medical or holistic solution to my illness.

 

The fact that I have even paid for a man to gaffer tape magnets to my head would be funny were it not so tragically desperate.

 

When in hospital at BUPA’s flagship hospital in Madrid, I asked the neurologist for a referral to a psychiatrist as I had to know for myself whether there was a psychiatric component to my distress. He was over the opinion that there was not and I asked him for a referral to a psychologist.to learn coping strategies for pain. He agreed this was a good idea.

 

The offer remains that I invite any member of my family to personally speak to any one of the doctors who are treating me. They don’t even need to meet me.

 

Additionally, the medical inspector of the province of Granada does not personally call a pharmacy to authorise them to dispense opioid painkillers where he is in any doubt that there may be a psychological component to a patient's need for Class A drugs.

 

Even simpler, we can apply a common sense test. Before my admission to hospital in August of last year I was earning 20,000 euros a month with my expenses paying for me to stay in the most luxurious hotels in world between flying air planes. Why on earth would I seek to choose 3 further months in hospital and a year counting every last penny  as opposed to doing pretty much whatever I wanted?

 

I love you dearly, I am very ill, let’s move forward.

 

Ax

 

#2 DoneWithCrap

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Posted 29 August 2014 - 01:29 PM

I'm sorry you have been through so much to find relief from your chronic pain. 

A supportive family is very helpful during times of illness but if your family doesn't believe you, then you came to the right place. We may not know each other personally but we understand that this is real. You are not a Munchausen Syndrome patient or a drug seeker, you are a chronic pain patient which has been additionally injured by the treatment for your pain. 

 

We believe you and will support you in your journey to a better quality life. We are family now!  :)


#3 BelaLugosisDad

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Posted 29 August 2014 - 02:18 PM

 

We believe you and will support you in your journey to a better quality life. We are family now!  :)

 

The reality is you are the only family I have. I quite like you all.

 

Ax


#4 fishinghat

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Posted 29 August 2014 - 04:07 PM

Together we make it through. One day at a time.


#5 FiveNotions

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Posted 30 August 2014 - 05:17 PM

Back in the day, when I was still a lawyer but had left the "Bigs" in DC to go to the very minor minors ... a Legal Services office in the heartland of the poorest part of Florida (I was testing out whether it was just DC and lobbyist law firms I hated, or the practice of law in its entirety" .... I had the unfortunate luck of the draw to end up representing a woman who really did have Munchausen Syndrome ... with the "extra dandy added feature" of "Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy" .... meaning she did the same thing to her children that she herself did ....

She conned our case selection officer at Legal Services into accepting her as our client to help her to try to get her kids back from child protection services .... once we found out we dropped her like a hot potato

Sometimes she and the children would all be in different hospitals at the same time ... once, she pulled off a real coup ... arranged for herself and the kids to be in the same hospital ... that time she was caught in one of the kid's rooms late at night ... slipping him the meds that were making him sick ......
 
... It was a nightmare ....
 
I know Munchausen's up close and personal, BLD, and trust me, you ain't got it.

#6 DoneWithCrap

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Posted 31 August 2014 - 08:38 PM

I have never seen a real case of Munchausen's. Only what I have read in books. Johnathon Kellerman's The Devil's Waltz was very disturbing case of Munchausen"s by proxy. 

Scares the crap out of me to think that someone could be that sick.

 

I admit I have wondered if I could have some form of "psychological Munchausen's" on a subconscious level because I have such a wide array of symptoms which no doctor I have seen thus far can explain. But if it is subconscious, then it is not Munchausen's and I'm certainly not causing these symptoms on purpose nor am I making it up. It is very real


#7 FiveNotions

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Posted 31 August 2014 - 09:26 PM

Yep, Renee ... and you're working too hard on the healing part to qualify :)


#8 thismoment

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 06:14 AM

Munchausen Syndrome renamed Factitious Disorder.

 

Somatic Symptom Disorder and other disorders are in a new category in the DSM-5 called Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders. This category includes Factitious Disorder, formerly called Munchausen Syndrome.

 

Somatic Symptom Disorder is a mental disorder that presents physical symptoms that imply or suggest a physical illness or injury. Causes of the illness are not readily apparent to physicians.

 

 

soma, n. from Neo-Latin; ancient Greek, meaning "body" (as distinct from mind).

DSM-5: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2013).


#9 DoneWithCrap

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 06:27 AM

Thank you FN and TM. You are on top of things posted here. I can always count on both of you to keep me positive. I appreciate you and this forum very much

#10 thismoment

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 06:36 AM

Hi Renee

 

You're up early; me too. I awoke in the middle of the night due to the subtle (yet unmistakable) rising of the anxiety alarm clock. I'm typing it off.


#11 DoneWithCrap

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 07:39 AM

Good morning TM I'm usually up early and awake late. I did get Benzo to sleep beside me last night for a change. So I did get a good 7 hour sleep.
I'm sorry to hear you are feeling some anxiety but typing it off is a great way to ease it for you and your presence helps others like me with our anxiety. I'm the only morning person in my house. The hubby and kids will be appearing around noon. I enjoy my quiet mornings. It gives me a chance to assess how my day might go before I have demands for my time.

I hope you can have a peaceful day

#12 FiveNotions

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 11:12 AM

I gotta' get me a copy of the DSM V for "throne room reading" .... :P


#13 thismoment

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 12:48 PM

I gotta' get me a copy of the DSM V for "throne room reading" .... :P

 

It's the latest and best self-promoting text the pharmaceutical companies have ever authored! The toilet library is where it belongs.


#14 FiveNotions

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 12:52 PM

TM, any chance the paper it's printed on is suitable quality for tearing out pages for wiping use, like the old phone books and Sears Roebuck catalogs in outhouses?

#15 thismoment

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 06:53 PM

FN

Too funny! Perhaps I will contact the publisher of the DSM and suggest they perforate the pages at the margin so they may be easily ripped out and put to good use in the outhouse.

#16 DoneWithCrap

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Posted 01 September 2014 - 06:54 PM

Lol ha ha ha ha

#17 BelaLugosisDad

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Posted 03 September 2014 - 04:41 PM

Guys, before you get too excited, remember it will be that shiny, slimy paper one gets it public lavatories.

#18 brzghoff

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Posted 03 September 2014 - 05:03 PM

Guys, before you get too excited, remember it will be that shiny, slimy paper one gets it public lavatories.

 

but thats the perfect paper for cutting out letters that psychopaths use for text when sending cops clues through the postal service.


#19 FiveNotions

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Posted 03 September 2014 - 09:09 PM

HAHAHAHAHAH ....gasp ... hahahahaha ... snort ... hehehehe ... :lol:

 

Brzghoff, for some reason that just totally cracks me up. (Actually a great idea, a new hobby for me to focus on, instead of the anxiety!  :P)


#20 DoneWithCrap

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Posted 03 September 2014 - 11:22 PM

LOL I love the irony of your suggested use of the DSM V

Did I mention that my daughter asked for a copy last Christmas? lol She didn't get one. Our copy of the DSM IV which my oldest daughter felt the need to underline, highlight, dog ear and write her own notes on the margins, will have to do for now.


#21 thismoment

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Posted 04 September 2014 - 12:35 AM

ReneeRJ

 

The DSM is some of Big Pharma's best work.


#22 DoneWithCrap

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Posted 04 September 2014 - 12:45 AM

I can see that now.
My youngest daughter wants to be a psychitrist. I really hope she changes her mind. She is too empathetic and she is a worrier. She has seen what drugs can do to a person both prescribed and recreational. She has taken psych meds in the past and hated how they made her feel. When she was taking Paxil she would only take it on school days and not the weekends. I can imagine how she must have felt cycling in and out of withdrawal. No wonder she didn't like how it made her feel.
She said she wants to be a psychitrist now so that she can help get people off SSRI and SNRI's.
We will have to wait and see what she decides in a couple years. She is in 10th grade now

#23 thismoment

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Posted 04 September 2014 - 04:20 AM

ReneeRJ

"My youngest daughter wants to be a psychiatrist."

I think that's a fabulous goal.

#24 BelaLugosisDad

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Posted 05 September 2014 - 03:34 PM

100% of the authors of DSM 4 and 5 have performed work on behalf of the drug industry.

#25 thismoment

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Posted 05 September 2014 - 06:17 PM

BLD

 

"100% of the authors of DSM 4 and 5 have performed work on behalf of the drug industry."

 

Yes indeed, and many of the psychiatric authors of the DSM are funded by Big Pharma as they write the text. A gross conflict of interests.





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