Munchausen's syndrome

[Yaffle]

Has anyone else come across this?  I'm not sure if my uBPDgf is showing signs of it.  I've only read up briefly on it so am not entirely clear on the full workings of it.

She tells me she is currently suffering from all sorts of illnesses but she only really mentions them (so it seems to me) when she's feeling bad.  I don't really know what she's been diagnosed with and what she hasn't. 

Firstly there's anaemia, she's told me she's been diagnosed with this and she's taking iron tablets but they are shop bought ones.  I'd have thought with severe anaemia the doctor would have prescribed a specific and may be stronger variety.  She's also quite sporadic with taking her tablets.

Secondly, she suffers from dizziness and other related issues to do with her balance.  The symptoms of this seem to change whenever she reads anything new about it rather than her saying she's got a symptom then looking it up.   Again these symptoms only get mentioned when she's feeling bad or if I'm off to do something.

The one thing she hasn't done is gone to hospital or the doctors much with these illnesses.  She's been a few times for other things though.  She often won't go to the doctors because she thinks they're laughing at her for making things up.

During pregnancy all her symptoms arrived by the book.  She started being sick with morning sickness on the actual day her books said it could start and she stopped being sick when her books said morning sickness should stop.

Other things she does is to make out that her life is tougher than anyone else's.  Getting the kids ready is really hard and she'll break the process of this down into minute detail saying things like I have to put there coats on then I have to put there shoes on then I still have to put their glasses on where as I'd just say 'I got the kids ready for school'.

At work, she used to have two positions in the same office where she worked for 14 hours a week and would often say 'It's ok for you your full time and have only got one job to do whereas I have two jobs to do'

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[Ms.Perfect]

with her pregnancy it could be USUALLY how it says in the book.

Her iron level also could drop because of the pregnancies, and she need to take extra iron with supplement.

Over other things I can not tell.

But these two more then believable.

[Yaffle]

To be fair, its not really an issue I'm overly worried about as long as it doesn't escalate although her woe is me attitude can get a little tiresome at time.  I'm just interested to hear if anyone else has come across it. 

With the morning sickness she read 'usually happens between weeks a and b' and she literally started being sick on the first day of week a and stopped on the last day of week b. She was genuinely being sick too but that sort of thing happened throughout both pregnancies. 

As for the anaemia, that started years after her first pregnancy and she's told me its really bad but she never goes to get it checked.  I'm sure she was anaemic at some point and may still suffer from low iron levels at times but I'm just not convinced its as bad as she makes out.

On a lighter note we were walking to a country show one day and she 'dislocated' her hip but a minute later was walking normally again and spent the rest of the day happily walking round the show ground!

[Chilibean13]

I'm not sure that I notice anything out of the ordinary to suggest Munchausen, but I can see a pattern of either being hypersensitive or highly dramatic, both of which can be a result of BPD.  She may have some hypochondriac tendencies, but don't we all?

Everything I have ever read about anemia is that the main treatment is OTC iron supplements taken 1-3 times per day. If the anemia gets too bad a person can begin to show petechiae, which are tiny blood spots on the skin. If the anemia gets this severe most likely the person will need a blood transfusion.

Personally I wouldn't make too big a deal of it. It doesn't seem like it is hurting anything at this time, but if she starts going to the doctor obsessively or you think she is purposely making herself dangerously sick then you may want to investigate the idea of Munchausen further. And even worse if you see Munchausen by proxy (where she makes the children out to be sick) then you definitely want to intervene.

[Yaffle]

Thank you, as you say its not too much of an issue at the moment.  The kids bit I'd not really thought of but I will keep an on that