# Munchausen Syndrome, Purposely Making Yourself Sick - Know Anyone Suffering?



## SeaBreeze

Quote:

Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff

Munchausen (MOON-chow-zun) syndrome is a serious mental disorder in which someone with a deep need for attention pretends to be sick or gets sick or injured on purpose. People with Munchausen syndrome may make up symptoms, push for risky operations, or try to rig laboratory test results to try to win sympathy and concern. 

Munchausen syndrome belongs to a group of conditions, called factitious disorders, that are either made up or self-inflicted. Factitious disorders can be psychological or physical. Munchausen syndrome refers to the most severe and chronic physical form of factitious disorder. 

Munchausen syndrome is a mysterious and hard to treat disorder. However, medical help is critical for preventing serious injury and even death caused by the self-harm typical of Munchausen syndrome.


I had heard of Munchausen Syndrome before, but today I saw a woman who was suffering with it on the Dr. Phil show. She would mix a bacterial cocktail to inject into her body so she would become sick enough to go to the hospital for medical care.

She would take a Q-tip and wipe in around the sink faucets, around the toilet bowl rim, etc. and let the bacteria grow. She said just the smell of opening the bottle was enough to knock someone out.

She would take a hypodermic needle and inject this fecal bacteria into her skin, usually in her stomach where there was a lot of fat...she was also obese. Soon she would be rushed to the doctor or hospital.

When she had a hysterectomy, she injected this mixture into her wound to make herself sick. She wanted the attention, and the care she received when she was ill, either from the doctors or from her family. 

Her husband said that they went bankrupt twice, just due to excessive hospital bills. This woman went on the show because she was ashamed and wanted help.

I didn't watch the whole show, but they had another woman on with Munchausen Syndrome, only she did it just because she enjoyed seeing the doctors and nurses panic in taking care of her. She was so good at faking seizures, that they had put her into a medically induced coma once as a treatment.

Here's the link to today's show. It seems to me that this is one step above a Hypochondriac...as they don't just imagine they are sick, but they make sure they are really sick. Do you know of any people who suffer with this condition??
http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/2082


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## Warrigal

To me it is unfathomable but nevertheless real, like anorexia.
It can only exist in an advanced civilisation because in a village it would quickly result in death.


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## SifuPhil

I caught a minute of that surfing the channels today but didn't watch the whole thing.

I've never known a true Munchausen patient, but I _have_ known what I call "high-end self-inducers". These can be bulimics as an example, people that binge-eat and then force themselves to vomit. To my way of thinking (although probably not to the APA's) that's approaching Munchausen Syndrome.


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## Jillaroo

_There are parents who give their children things to make them ill, i fail to understand why they do it maybe for the attention , either way it's shocking to purposely make your child ill_


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## WhatInThe

The companion of a senior family member is always complaining they  can't get out bed and is always so much pain(had the same ailments their entire life). Supposedly doesn't get up until between 12 on a good day. "Says" they can't sleep. Has openly stated they want a fuss made in her final days. 

She wants a pity party at her death bed-I kid you not. Ironically if she has something to do, some where go, some one to meet she gets up at will and before 10AM. Several other people have answered the phone where she thought it was someone else talking like she had the flu for a month then when she finds out it's someone else it's Oh hi perfectly normal. 

She tries to manipulate the people that will give her attention. She's complains about doctors attitudes all the time especially those won't sympathize with or give her pain medication prescriptions. She is also a member of the smartest in the room crowd-pffttt. Things, including conversations must go her way although a "conversation"  is letting her pump about 100 words for 10 or so you might get in.


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## Falcon

Folks do a lot of strange things to get attention.  Just look around you and you'll see.


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## Mrs. Robinson

Jillaroo said:


> _There are parents who give their children things to make them ill, i fail to understand why they do it maybe for the attention , either way it's shocking to purposely make your child ill_



That is actually called Munchausen by Proxy Jillaroo. I read a book years ago about a woman who lived about 2 hours from me that was giving her baby formula that she was adding great amounts of salt to in order to make her sick. The baby had had several hospitalizations before they finally figured out what was going on.

I was actually just looking up the definition of Munchuesen Syndrome yesterday as there is this woman on another board I am on who always has these health scares (lumps in her breasts(always benign)questionable Paps(everything always checks out OK)back problems that "may" need surgery (never do)etc.,etc.etc. Knows everything there is to know about any and all diseases. And any time someone on the boards gets seriously ill,she is right there,taking over as their "spokesperson". I was wondering if this was actually a disorder but I don`t know. I guess I wonder because her sister is currently ill with breast cancer and from what I see on FB,her sister and her sister`s partner just want her to "butt out". I really think this is some kind of a disorder but I have no idea what it would be.


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## WhatInThe

This Munchuesen  Syndrome is nothing but an attention grabber. A pathetic and sick one but basically an attention grabber for a drama queen or king.

Some are saying the parents of that girl in Boston Childrens that the state won't give custody back have Munchuesens. The girl hasn't gotten better a year out of the parents custody.


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## Capt Lightning

Hang on a mo, WhatInThe......There are people who are attention grabbers and who always want to be the centre of the universe - they're called "celebrities".

Munchausen syndrome is different in that the sufferers will go to extreme lengths, such as making themselves ill or pretending to have serious illnesses in order to gain that attention.  In Munchausen by Proxy, the sufferer will try to gain attention through claiming someone else , often one of their children, is ill.

My wife workd in an infant school and  told me of one parent she knew who was always seeking attention and sympathy and taking her child to the doctor - making quite outrageous claims about the state of her child's health.   I don't think it true Munchausen, but she was centainly in need of some help.


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## WhatInThe

Capt Lightning said:


> ...
> 
> 
> My wife workd in an infant school and  told me of one parent she knew who was always seeking attention and sympathy and taking her child to the doctor - making quite outrageous claims about the state of her child's health.   I don't think it true Munchausen, but she was centainly in need of some help.



An exaggerator who wants a pity party. Two problems there-lying and narcissism-it's all about them. "Focus on me"


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## SeaBreeze

This mother who just killed her son with salt was alleged to have Munchausen by Proxy.  What happened to the days where a child felt protected in the care of their parents, nowadays they are so often abused, up to death...so sad.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/02/lacey-spears-guilty_n_6786034.html


"The motive is bizarre, the motive is scary, but it exists," Assistant District Attorney Patricia Murphy said in closing arguments Thursday. "She apparently craved the attention of her family, her friends, her co-workers and most particularly the medical profession."

She suggested that Spears, 27, eventually killed the boy because she feared he would start telling people she was making him ill. Her actions were "nothing short of torture," she said.

Several doctors testified that there was no medical explanation for the spike in Garnett's sodium levels that led to his death.

But defense lawyer Stephen Riebling said there was no "direct evidence" of a crime and drew out from witnesses that Spears seemed devastated by her son's death. He said the hospital video was edited to eliminate tender scenes between mother and son, including one where Spears puts two pairs of socks on Garnett.
"If she's planning on killing him, why does she care whether his feet are cold?" he asked the jury.

He also said the hospital was negligent and dehydrated the boy — an assertion Murphy called "just ridiculous."

The evidence included two feeding bags found in Spears' apartment that were heavily tainted with salt, including one that Spears asked a friend to hide. One bag had the equivalent of 69 McDonald's salt packets in it, a forensic toxicologist testified."


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## Debby

I heard about your example SeaBreeze.  What a sad, sad thing and that poor little boy.........little children shouldn't suffer like that.


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## jujube

My grandfather was a tremendous hypochondriac.  He would get up, read the obits (and back then, they usually mentioned what the person had died of).  Since he knew almost everyone in town, this was of great interest to him.  He'd pick the "disease du jour" and manufacture the symptoms.  Somebody died of a heart attack yesterday?  He'd have chest pains today.  Cancer?  He had a pain in his side and he was sure it was a tumor.  Stroke?  Oy, how my head hurts!   Luckily, he didn't actually *make* himself sick.  He had a doctor who would humor him and put him in the hospital for tests.  That was the high point of the month....to be accompanied with much gloom and doom as to the possible results, which, of course, were always fine.


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## Meanderer

Lying and narcissism are everywhere, and in most cases do not lead to Munchausen Syndrome. The cause could be a neurological one.  They differ from the hypochondriac, who really believes he is sick.  http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro04/web2/shamdounia.html


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## Catraoine

I have 'worked' with a couple of women ( it rarely happens in men) and although yes it is done for attention which I accept makes people angry and less empathetic , but when you discover what prompts these actions and where they came from, it shows that the actions are irrepressible for many reasons. I do have to say that with the two women that came to me for help , I never found 'them' in any text book. Armchair Phycologists and Psychiatrists and such are the bane of my profession and I certainly don't follow rule books.


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## SeaBreeze

Does anyone here know someone who makes up illnesses that they don't have for attention, either from the doctors or family and friends? It must be very stressful for the whole family.  Another example of a man with Munchausen Syndrome on the Dr. Phil show here.  



> Carl, a former firefighter EMT, says he can’t seem to pick up the  pieces after a tragic car accident 20 years ago that left one of his  daughters dead and the other three heartbroken.
> 
> His oldest daughter, Melody, wrote into the show claiming her father has  “extreme Munchausen.” She says he recently told the family that he had  four heart attacks in four days and his liver is dead from liver cancer.
> 
> His youngest daughter, Hilary, says she is running ragged helping him  the most with his ailments. Meanwhile, Heather, his middle daughter,  says she has already put up some serious boundaries with her father.  Carl’s sister, Teri, says she has also felt the fallout of Carl’s  medical mayhem and she’s very concerned about her nieces.
> 
> The family  comes together to confront Carl and to see if they all can return to  good health again.


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