#munchausen

Anon from Tumblr has Munchausen Syndrome

Also im feeling hypochondria about munchausens rn lol

yeah u can, lots of ppl do actually, including us. not 2 make a bad joke but its just more cost effective in this economy yk?

-encounter

That sounds like an astounding experience. I'm glad to hear that you're getting the care you need, Encounter. I didn't know that about hEDS needing specialized stitches and such. That's very interesting.

-💠⚜️ (don’t ask why I’m back lol)

Fleur, welcome back! We missed you!

I wouldn't say that it's awful to do? Who are you hurting here? It's a blog, your blog. I really don't think there's anything harmful about pretending to have an illness on your own blog. You're not advocating for anyone else's harm. You're not harrassing other people.

You're just being yourself, but with an illness.

I used to fake things as a kid until about 13 or so and since then I am actually the opposite. I have OCD so I get intrusive thoughts about people thinking I have munchausen’s, which leads me to actually downplay things sometimes. But aside from that, I actually do still have the desire to fake injuries/illnesses and have people worry about me, so much, but I cannot bring myself to go through with it (for the best, I know). Anyway, obviously not asking if I have it, you don’t know me, but do you know if it’s based on desire to fake things or actually faking them? Thank you! You’re awesome for running this blog, btw!

That's a really nuanced question because it calls into question whether or not a diagnosis is reliant on the outward expression of external symptoms regardless of a person's interiority. Personally if you ask me, I would say that the act of faking inherently involves a desire which would be achieved through this method of coping. However. Having that desire doesn't inherently mean that you act on it. Does that make sense?

Given that, I'm of the opinion that as long as the desire is there, that counts for something. Mental illness doesn't just go away because you stopped expressing visible symptoms and behaviors. The illness is in your head and so if you're still having those urges and desires, not acting on them doesn't just make them go away and ergo treating them like they don't exist isn't exactly conducive to healing. We should be treating the source, don't you think?

Like, for example, I don't typically outright fake things these days but that doesn't mean the rot went away. I just don't act on it much. That doesn't mean the Munchausen went away, although I would say you could argue that it's improved because the urge isn't so overwhelming that I can't stop myself from acting on it?

I don't really like the tendency for psychological conditions to rely so heavily on outward expression that others can see and have to deal with. It kind of writes off our own internal experiences as... irrelevant, let's say. That doesn't sit right with me.

At most, I would say it falls in line with other invisible disabilities, which are more difficult to treat and diagnose on account they are just that, invisible.

in other news, weve started using a screen reader sometimes! we have general bad eyesight and we’ve been getting a visual aura recently that isn’t really going away. in a few years we could actually need a white cane.

this is kinda sucky, but also somewhat of a win! munchies itched!!!

-🛸👽

Fuck yeah get those munchie points, Invader! 🎉

Those things that help with accessibility are so nice because of how visible they are. Being actually useful for actual conditions you have is just icing on the cake to me.