Doctors' time is far too valuable to be wasted. Still, not everyone respects it. Every now and then, whether it's for attention, prescription drugs, or skipping class, people attempt to fake a condition. Only it's not easy to trick someone who's spent years in medical school and even longer treating patients.
So when Reddit user Palmfranz asked doctors to describe the biggest manipulators they met at work, more than 2,000 replies came in. Scroll down to read some of the craziest stories and decide for yourself if any of them actually stood a chance of succeeding. As for the case files? Diagnosis: "Nice try."
#1
I have allergies to most plants and animals (foods by extension) around me, but for years this went undiagnosed because my mother was so certain I was faking it.
I would feel a great deal of pain after eating a normal meal at school and be sent to the nurse because I was in too much pain to concentrate. For a long time, the nurse also thought I was faking it, but she must have picked up on it at some point because she began taking me seriously.
This pattern persisted with my mother accusing me of faking it and blaming my internal body heat (I regularly wear sweaters regardless of temperature) on my "sick" stomach.
Just after starting high school, the constant trauma to my digestive tract began to take its toll. I would occasionally have to spit up blood (I have blisters in my esophagus due to the allergic reactions which was discovered years earlier when I was projectile vomiting blood one day, but that's another story). I would constantly feel week, be extremely pale, and constantly need to sleep for long periods while my body recovered.
Went to a gastroenterologist, and I am indescribably greatful to that man. After a lot of tests and scopings, he came to the conclusion that my digestive tract was just covered in blisters constantly bleeding, making me sick, and costing a lot of energy to keep up repairs on the daily basis because I wasn't digesting most compounds in my food and instead just damaging the lining on various organs.
Mom was very supportive after that. I have so much gratitude for that man. He saved my life and make special trips to his clinic on his days off whenever I was having severe problems. He gave me his personal supply of diet replacement shake/powder because my insurance wouldnt pay for it. The man did everything in his power to keep me alive. I have never met a more selfless person in my life.
I would feel a great deal of pain after eating a normal meal at school and be sent to the nurse because I was in too much pain to concentrate. For a long time, the nurse also thought I was faking it, but she must have picked up on it at some point because she began taking me seriously.
This pattern persisted with my mother accusing me of faking it and blaming my internal body heat (I regularly wear sweaters regardless of temperature) on my "sick" stomach.
Just after starting high school, the constant trauma to my digestive tract began to take its toll. I would occasionally have to spit up blood (I have blisters in my esophagus due to the allergic reactions which was discovered years earlier when I was projectile vomiting blood one day, but that's another story). I would constantly feel week, be extremely pale, and constantly need to sleep for long periods while my body recovered.
Went to a gastroenterologist, and I am indescribably greatful to that man. After a lot of tests and scopings, he came to the conclusion that my digestive tract was just covered in blisters constantly bleeding, making me sick, and costing a lot of energy to keep up repairs on the daily basis because I wasn't digesting most compounds in my food and instead just damaging the lining on various organs.
Mom was very supportive after that. I have so much gratitude for that man. He saved my life and make special trips to his clinic on his days off whenever I was having severe problems. He gave me his personal supply of diet replacement shake/powder because my insurance wouldnt pay for it. The man did everything in his power to keep me alive. I have never met a more selfless person in my life.
94points
#2
(Obligatory) not a doctor, but my favorite story from one of these threads said that this lady came in looking for painkillers, saying she was having seizures. The doctor essentially said "you're fine, you're not having any seizures, go home."
This lady flops on the ground and starts writhing around, pretending to have a seizure, before she eventually stops, going "unconscious." The doctor says to the nurse in the room, "She's not actually having a seizure, if she were she would have lost control of her bladder." Right on cue... this lady pisses herself.
This lady flops on the ground and starts writhing around, pretending to have a seizure, before she eventually stops, going "unconscious." The doctor says to the nurse in the room, "She's not actually having a seizure, if she were she would have lost control of her bladder." Right on cue... this lady pisses herself.
51points
#3
Had a teen patient who was transferred from an outside hospital to the academic center where I was an intern (first year doctor, newly minted from medical school). Claimed no sensation below the waist, no motor control, lost all of her hair a week or so after the illness came on, and had "bubbles" that would swell up and then stool would appear in her urine. Neurology had seen her and they couldn't get reflexes on exam so figured something must be seriously wrong.
Okay, I think - perhaps she has a fast growing malignancy that has grown into her spinal cord, and maybe there's a fistula due to that, and she had alopecia areata totalis as a result. As an intern, it was my job to look through all of the outside records, of which there was a good amount - think War and Peace.
Edit: I wondered if she had cancer that was growing into her spinal cord and cutting off the signals to her legs. Sometimes cancer will cause abnormal connections (fistula) between organs that should not have them, like the bowel and bladder. Alopecia areata totalis is a condition where a lot of scalp hair falls out after a serious illness.
I'm flipping through the records, and looking at the imaging that was done, hoping there would be an MRI of her spine - yes, there it is ... and it's normal. CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis ... normal. Labs ... normal. A bunch of ... normal. Nothing but normal.
Now, when you see someone with real illness that's causing them to have things like paraplegia (loss of sensation and muscle control usually in the legs), and stool in the urine, you expect to see at least some abnormalities, like anemia, elevated inflammatory markers, and the imaging should be highly abnormal. I'm getting the flavor of deceit here.
Urology came by, and I watched as they did a methlyene blue test, where they instilled a special dye in her bladder, and put white gauze in her v****a and a**s with the idea that if there were an abnormal connection, the gauze would be colored by the dye. The test was negative, but she sure felt the catheter go in her bladder. She couldn't help but move her legs. Mom was super disappointed about the results.
Edit: a catheter is placed in the bladder and it is filled with a strongly colored dye that if you look at it wrong will stain your clothes. If there is an abnormal connection betwixt the bowel and bladder or the v****a and bladder any gauze will stain, confirming the presence of said abnormal connection.
Next came the spinal tap, which I was to perform with supervision. Mother was positively gleeful about doing the test, patient less so. I haven't seen that reaction before about that test, and it rings alarm bells. Fluid comes out clear, sent off to lab.
I happen to be on call that night, and I'm called to the room by the nurse. The patient has a catheter in her bladder, and now there's a small bit of fecal matter in the tubing. The patient looks at me triumphantly, and says "see, I told you it happens." For those who don't know, the catheter has a female end to which you attach another tube that's connected to a collection bag. So there's a watertight male-female connection, and I break that open, and there's stool smeared on the male end - but urine doesn't flow there. And I note two dirty brown smears across her gown.
Now I'm an intern, which means I'm kinda the lowest guy on the totem pole when it comes to decision making. It's also my 3rd week, so I've got very little in the way of confidence. I know now that she's faking her illnesses. But I'm not really in a spot where I can up and accuse her and her mom of that. And doctors really do not like to accuse patients of feigning illness, because what if you're wrong?
My attending is of no help. We do two (!) MRI's of her brain and spinal cord. We do a CT of her chest, abdomen, and pelvis. We send heavy metals, 24 hour urine, and even end up doing an EGD and colonoscopy because she was "spitting up blood". This goes on for days and days, and meanwhile when she sleeps, her legs move - everyone can see that. But the attending forges on, not addressing the g*****n elephant in the room, that her reported symptoms are not consistent with any finding at all. We even did somatosensory evoked potentials, which is normal, which means you d**n well can feel your legs despite reports to the contrary.
Edit: we did a boatload of special tests looking for every illness under the sun.
All this testing just further cements the idea in the mother's mind and the patient's mind that "there must be something wrong, you just haven't found the right test". Oddly, however, there's little concern on the mother's part or the patient's part about these rather drastic limitations. There's a great deal of happiness when I announce that we're going to do another lab, or imaging study, or procedure - mostly on the mother's part. But the teen is going along with it too.
Finally, we reach the end of our testing. The attending has me call for a Psychiatry consult (which should have been done from the get-go). The family explodes, because the message now is "it's all in your head (which it is of course)". I get the unfortunate duty of discharging her, informing the family that CPS has been called, and weekly counseling is required, etc. I get called names, the hospital is called names, there's yelling, and I'm standing there in my 4th week of internship with no backup dealing with a situation for which there is no training. Awful, and I don't forgive my attending for any of it. The case was mishandled from the beginning and saddling me with that burden was just a ducking of responsibility.
I was angry at the patient and her mother for putting the patient through everything, and putting me through it as well (I was told to document everything I saw carefully). I was angry because I knew they were faking it, but could not confront them (I had been instructed not to). I was angry because I wanted an answer as to WHY, because it really didn't make sense to me.
Fast forward several months, and I'm called by an out of state area code. It's a resident from another program, who confirms who I am, and tells me that thanks to my documentation, they were able to surreptitiously record this patient.
They'd gone to another academic hospital, with the same symptoms. In the interim, the mother and daughter produced a VHS tape that clearly showed stool coming out of her urethra. Essentially they took p**p and injected it via a catheter into her bladder to buttress this claim of "bubbles". Some astute social worker figured out that they must have been at some other hospital, and obtained records, which included my notes.
So, the resident says, of course the patient would move her legs normally when not being watched. She would disconnect her IV from the pump, suck blood out of the vein, and then claim she was vomiting blood. She would pick out her hairs and say they were falling out on their own. You get the picture.
They confronted her and her mother, and the mother immediately lost custody, and the patient was placed in a psychiatric ward. Past that point I don't know what happened, but I sure wish I could have been there for the confrontation which included video evidence.
So, basically Munchausen by proxy along with Munchausen, and possibly folie a deux (though they knew they were manufacturing illness). Awful all the way around, and no winners.
Okay, I think - perhaps she has a fast growing malignancy that has grown into her spinal cord, and maybe there's a fistula due to that, and she had alopecia areata totalis as a result. As an intern, it was my job to look through all of the outside records, of which there was a good amount - think War and Peace.
Edit: I wondered if she had cancer that was growing into her spinal cord and cutting off the signals to her legs. Sometimes cancer will cause abnormal connections (fistula) between organs that should not have them, like the bowel and bladder. Alopecia areata totalis is a condition where a lot of scalp hair falls out after a serious illness.
I'm flipping through the records, and looking at the imaging that was done, hoping there would be an MRI of her spine - yes, there it is ... and it's normal. CT scan of her abdomen and pelvis ... normal. Labs ... normal. A bunch of ... normal. Nothing but normal.
Now, when you see someone with real illness that's causing them to have things like paraplegia (loss of sensation and muscle control usually in the legs), and stool in the urine, you expect to see at least some abnormalities, like anemia, elevated inflammatory markers, and the imaging should be highly abnormal. I'm getting the flavor of deceit here.
Urology came by, and I watched as they did a methlyene blue test, where they instilled a special dye in her bladder, and put white gauze in her v****a and a**s with the idea that if there were an abnormal connection, the gauze would be colored by the dye. The test was negative, but she sure felt the catheter go in her bladder. She couldn't help but move her legs. Mom was super disappointed about the results.
Edit: a catheter is placed in the bladder and it is filled with a strongly colored dye that if you look at it wrong will stain your clothes. If there is an abnormal connection betwixt the bowel and bladder or the v****a and bladder any gauze will stain, confirming the presence of said abnormal connection.
Next came the spinal tap, which I was to perform with supervision. Mother was positively gleeful about doing the test, patient less so. I haven't seen that reaction before about that test, and it rings alarm bells. Fluid comes out clear, sent off to lab.
I happen to be on call that night, and I'm called to the room by the nurse. The patient has a catheter in her bladder, and now there's a small bit of fecal matter in the tubing. The patient looks at me triumphantly, and says "see, I told you it happens." For those who don't know, the catheter has a female end to which you attach another tube that's connected to a collection bag. So there's a watertight male-female connection, and I break that open, and there's stool smeared on the male end - but urine doesn't flow there. And I note two dirty brown smears across her gown.
Now I'm an intern, which means I'm kinda the lowest guy on the totem pole when it comes to decision making. It's also my 3rd week, so I've got very little in the way of confidence. I know now that she's faking her illnesses. But I'm not really in a spot where I can up and accuse her and her mom of that. And doctors really do not like to accuse patients of feigning illness, because what if you're wrong?
My attending is of no help. We do two (!) MRI's of her brain and spinal cord. We do a CT of her chest, abdomen, and pelvis. We send heavy metals, 24 hour urine, and even end up doing an EGD and colonoscopy because she was "spitting up blood". This goes on for days and days, and meanwhile when she sleeps, her legs move - everyone can see that. But the attending forges on, not addressing the g*****n elephant in the room, that her reported symptoms are not consistent with any finding at all. We even did somatosensory evoked potentials, which is normal, which means you d**n well can feel your legs despite reports to the contrary.
Edit: we did a boatload of special tests looking for every illness under the sun.
All this testing just further cements the idea in the mother's mind and the patient's mind that "there must be something wrong, you just haven't found the right test". Oddly, however, there's little concern on the mother's part or the patient's part about these rather drastic limitations. There's a great deal of happiness when I announce that we're going to do another lab, or imaging study, or procedure - mostly on the mother's part. But the teen is going along with it too.
Finally, we reach the end of our testing. The attending has me call for a Psychiatry consult (which should have been done from the get-go). The family explodes, because the message now is "it's all in your head (which it is of course)". I get the unfortunate duty of discharging her, informing the family that CPS has been called, and weekly counseling is required, etc. I get called names, the hospital is called names, there's yelling, and I'm standing there in my 4th week of internship with no backup dealing with a situation for which there is no training. Awful, and I don't forgive my attending for any of it. The case was mishandled from the beginning and saddling me with that burden was just a ducking of responsibility.
I was angry at the patient and her mother for putting the patient through everything, and putting me through it as well (I was told to document everything I saw carefully). I was angry because I knew they were faking it, but could not confront them (I had been instructed not to). I was angry because I wanted an answer as to WHY, because it really didn't make sense to me.
Fast forward several months, and I'm called by an out of state area code. It's a resident from another program, who confirms who I am, and tells me that thanks to my documentation, they were able to surreptitiously record this patient.
They'd gone to another academic hospital, with the same symptoms. In the interim, the mother and daughter produced a VHS tape that clearly showed stool coming out of her urethra. Essentially they took p**p and injected it via a catheter into her bladder to buttress this claim of "bubbles". Some astute social worker figured out that they must have been at some other hospital, and obtained records, which included my notes.
So, the resident says, of course the patient would move her legs normally when not being watched. She would disconnect her IV from the pump, suck blood out of the vein, and then claim she was vomiting blood. She would pick out her hairs and say they were falling out on their own. You get the picture.
They confronted her and her mother, and the mother immediately lost custody, and the patient was placed in a psychiatric ward. Past that point I don't know what happened, but I sure wish I could have been there for the confrontation which included video evidence.
So, basically Munchausen by proxy along with Munchausen, and possibly folie a deux (though they knew they were manufacturing illness). Awful all the way around, and no winners.
51points
#4
I was a paramedic and picked up a so-called unconscious patient. He passed the sternal rub and the n****e twist test and when I tried the hand drop to the face test his hand hit ground above his head. I told his family that something wasn't right because when I dropped his hand an unconscious patient would hold their hand up in the air. I repeated the test and sure enough he He held his hand in the air. Because of local policy I did have to transport him to the local emergency room. Just before we went into the back of the emergency room with him lying flat on the litter I told my partner "hey let's check on one more time and make sure he's still unconscious." I took his hand and extended it straight up into the air and shaped a bird with his fingers. We walked to the back with his arm straight in the air flipping a bird at the entire emergency department. When I came out of the room a trauma physician ask me what the hell was going on. I told him I was shocked that he didn't recognize an unconscious patient when he saw one. He laughed and told me to get the hell out of his emergency room.
50points
#5
Not doctor but (accused) faker.
Woke up one day with a weird spotty rash all up my chest and shoulder, had a massive headache and joints hurt. I was still freshly graduated from uni so I remembered the old meningitis test with the glass, did it but couldn't really see of rash went away. Boyfriend called non emergency NHS line (this was like 10 years ago) and they instantly sent an ambulance. I spent the day in hospital being prodded and poked, including a lumbar puncture. Turned out my body is weird and reacted to a 'normal' virus. Was sent home and told to sleep for a few days and I'll be fine.
At home I knew right away something was wrong, every time I stood up my head exploded, I've never in my life experienced that pain (albeit not given birth nor ever broken a bone). I soldiered on for 2 days but it got to the point where I was crawling along the floor because even a slight angle hurt so much. Me being stupidly British I didn't want to go to A&E again so, being Sunday, I went to an out of hours doctor. At the time we didn't have a car so got a taxi. I had to hold back the screams of pain during the 15 minute journey. Finally got to the doctors, I went and lay on the floor right away sobbing hysterically because I genuinely thought I was going to d*e. The most pompous, theatrically 'posh British doctor' saw me and he told me to stop being so dramatic, there was nothing wrong with me and he wasn't going to sign me off work. He told my boyfriend I was probably a d**g user too (okay sure, I'd not showered in like 4 days and was wearing a jogging suit because I couldn't bare to wear anything else... But still). He sent us home after a long lecture about how people our age (early 20s) didn't know what real pain was (?!) and that we just wanted something for nothing.
After another day in pain we called an ambulance, turned out they had mucked up the lumbar puncture and spinal fluid had been leaking out my neck. The pressure was so low they were surprised I was conscious. Ended up getting a cool type of blood surgery that night (they took blood from my arm and put it in my neck, a natural plaster apparently!) and sent me home with a sick note for a month off work and a month of codeine.
Woke up one day with a weird spotty rash all up my chest and shoulder, had a massive headache and joints hurt. I was still freshly graduated from uni so I remembered the old meningitis test with the glass, did it but couldn't really see of rash went away. Boyfriend called non emergency NHS line (this was like 10 years ago) and they instantly sent an ambulance. I spent the day in hospital being prodded and poked, including a lumbar puncture. Turned out my body is weird and reacted to a 'normal' virus. Was sent home and told to sleep for a few days and I'll be fine.
At home I knew right away something was wrong, every time I stood up my head exploded, I've never in my life experienced that pain (albeit not given birth nor ever broken a bone). I soldiered on for 2 days but it got to the point where I was crawling along the floor because even a slight angle hurt so much. Me being stupidly British I didn't want to go to A&E again so, being Sunday, I went to an out of hours doctor. At the time we didn't have a car so got a taxi. I had to hold back the screams of pain during the 15 minute journey. Finally got to the doctors, I went and lay on the floor right away sobbing hysterically because I genuinely thought I was going to d*e. The most pompous, theatrically 'posh British doctor' saw me and he told me to stop being so dramatic, there was nothing wrong with me and he wasn't going to sign me off work. He told my boyfriend I was probably a d**g user too (okay sure, I'd not showered in like 4 days and was wearing a jogging suit because I couldn't bare to wear anything else... But still). He sent us home after a long lecture about how people our age (early 20s) didn't know what real pain was (?!) and that we just wanted something for nothing.
After another day in pain we called an ambulance, turned out they had mucked up the lumbar puncture and spinal fluid had been leaking out my neck. The pressure was so low they were surprised I was conscious. Ended up getting a cool type of blood surgery that night (they took blood from my arm and put it in my neck, a natural plaster apparently!) and sent me home with a sick note for a month off work and a month of codeine.
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44points
#6
This was about 10 years ago when I was a Pediatrics resident. I had a patient from a juvenile detention center admitted for sudden inability to walk or stand. He started peeing brown and it was found he had rhabdomyolysis (severe skeletal muscle breakdown) that was threatening to shut down his kidneys. He had no idea how this happened and claimed he woke up and suddenly couldn't use his legs.
The second night of his admission his mom and sister came to visit. His mom left, but his sister stayed the night in his room. The next morning, I go to his room on rounds to discover this dude boning his "sister" in his hospital bed. Keep in mind this is a Children's Hospital with butterflies on the walls and little kids being pulled in wagons by their parents down the hallways.
Needless to say, all hell broke loose and the truth came out. This "sister" was actually his girlfriend who was implicated in his weapons and d**g charges and who he was forbidden by the court to have contact with. The cops came and dragged her away while she screamed and cussed us all out. Stunned parents of other patients looked on in horror.
The guy's rhabdo eventually cleared and he didn't need to go on dialysis. He started to regain strength in his legs. Before discharge, he finally admitted what triggered the muscle breakdown and his leg weakness- he did 1000 leg squats. All to get released from juvie and see his girlfriend.
I presented the case at morning report the next day and called it " The Sore Shank Redemption".
The second night of his admission his mom and sister came to visit. His mom left, but his sister stayed the night in his room. The next morning, I go to his room on rounds to discover this dude boning his "sister" in his hospital bed. Keep in mind this is a Children's Hospital with butterflies on the walls and little kids being pulled in wagons by their parents down the hallways.
Needless to say, all hell broke loose and the truth came out. This "sister" was actually his girlfriend who was implicated in his weapons and d**g charges and who he was forbidden by the court to have contact with. The cops came and dragged her away while she screamed and cussed us all out. Stunned parents of other patients looked on in horror.
The guy's rhabdo eventually cleared and he didn't need to go on dialysis. He started to regain strength in his legs. Before discharge, he finally admitted what triggered the muscle breakdown and his leg weakness- he did 1000 leg squats. All to get released from juvie and see his girlfriend.
I presented the case at morning report the next day and called it " The Sore Shank Redemption".
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43points
#7
Not a doctor, but relevant.
My professor was a Paramedic for many years, and people fake a lot of illnesses. Sometimes for d***s and sometimes for attention.
It turns out, it’s really hard to act like you’re unconscious, there is a lot of ways to tell. For example, unless they have practiced, they won’t hit themselves. So if you hold their hand above their face and let go, they will move their hand out of the way of their face.
So, many years ago my professor arrived on a scene where someone “had”a seizure and was “unconscious” in a busy market. He goes and checks the patient and he had good breathing and circulation. My professor was suspicious about he situation because of his years of experience. He lifts his hand and drops it. Sure enough, his hand misses his face and lands above his head. At this point, my professor knows he’s not really unconscious.
My professor leans down and whispers in his ear,
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is we will put you on oxygen and you will wake up, he hard way is we will do CPR and put 3,000 volts of electricity through your heart and it will hurt and you will wake up.”
Simple to say, he woke up with oxygen and walked it off. A miracle!
My professor was a Paramedic for many years, and people fake a lot of illnesses. Sometimes for d***s and sometimes for attention.
It turns out, it’s really hard to act like you’re unconscious, there is a lot of ways to tell. For example, unless they have practiced, they won’t hit themselves. So if you hold their hand above their face and let go, they will move their hand out of the way of their face.
So, many years ago my professor arrived on a scene where someone “had”a seizure and was “unconscious” in a busy market. He goes and checks the patient and he had good breathing and circulation. My professor was suspicious about he situation because of his years of experience. He lifts his hand and drops it. Sure enough, his hand misses his face and lands above his head. At this point, my professor knows he’s not really unconscious.
My professor leans down and whispers in his ear,
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is we will put you on oxygen and you will wake up, he hard way is we will do CPR and put 3,000 volts of electricity through your heart and it will hurt and you will wake up.”
Simple to say, he woke up with oxygen and walked it off. A miracle!
38points
#8
Lady was in a minor rear-end collision and claimed that she was unable to see ever since the accident. Not just claiming that her vision was blurry, she was claiming no light perception. Safe to say we were a little suspicious based on the mechanism and initial imaging. Called neuro-ophthalmology in to prove she was full of it. You can’t just say, “Patient full of s**t” in a medical record unless they’re there for constipation, but Ophtho was able to write a beautiful not that said just that, without directly saying it.
37points
#9
I felt like a faker back in March. I had an abcess on my jaw that I had gone to an urgent care for and gotten two fairly strong antibiotics. Two days later I got in bed after no change in the abcess and started shivering violently like i had a fever so I had my wife take me to the er thinking the infection was maybe spreading.
I told the nurse what was up and they took my temperature which ended up being completely normal. The nurses mood changed and I had a feeling that she thought I was in there looking for pills.
They took me to a room and luckily the dr recognised my symptoms as an allergic reaction to bactrum, one of the antibiotics I was on. He drained the abcess and prescribed me a milder antibiotic and some Vicodin for my troubles.
I told my mom what had happened the next day and she then informed me that I've been allergic to bactrum since I was young. For some reason it wasn't in my records.
I told the nurse what was up and they took my temperature which ended up being completely normal. The nurses mood changed and I had a feeling that she thought I was in there looking for pills.
They took me to a room and luckily the dr recognised my symptoms as an allergic reaction to bactrum, one of the antibiotics I was on. He drained the abcess and prescribed me a milder antibiotic and some Vicodin for my troubles.
I told my mom what had happened the next day and she then informed me that I've been allergic to bactrum since I was young. For some reason it wasn't in my records.
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37points
#10
Actually the reverse happened to me. I had the swine flu and went to the doctors a few years ago. He basically called me a liar and said I just wanted to get out of school. Immediately afterward I threw up all over him and the room.
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36points
#11
We had a lady come in hysterical after a car accident. At first, we were convinced she had a complete spinal cord injury at the mid thoracic level. (We checked her reflexes, rectal tone, pinprick in the feet, etc.) We got a CT scan.
Normal.
We had no explanation as to why she seemed to be paralyzed from the chest down.
Then she sat right up and vomited. And then immediately went limp again.
We admitted her. Within a day she had fully recovered.
I believe she was subconsciously terrified of being paralyzed and so her mind invented it. I don't believe she was intentionally faking it. After awhile, it just faded away and she was normal again.
One of the weirdest things I've ever witnessed firsthand.
Normal.
We had no explanation as to why she seemed to be paralyzed from the chest down.
Then she sat right up and vomited. And then immediately went limp again.
We admitted her. Within a day she had fully recovered.
I believe she was subconsciously terrified of being paralyzed and so her mind invented it. I don't believe she was intentionally faking it. After awhile, it just faded away and she was normal again.
One of the weirdest things I've ever witnessed firsthand.
35points
#12
"Ugh, I'm in so much pain, but boy does that ibuprofen make my stomach upset. Do you have anything else you could give me that's... different?"
"Mam, I'm a physical therapist, I can't prescribe medications"
This conversation took place while she was nearly nodding off and slurring during therapy, obviously from opiates. Lots of faking takes place to try to score more d***s.
"Mam, I'm a physical therapist, I can't prescribe medications"
This conversation took place while she was nearly nodding off and slurring during therapy, obviously from opiates. Lots of faking takes place to try to score more d***s.
31points
#13
Not a doctor but a student. In high school i had to go to a suspension center for bad kids for a few weeks. The instructor once freaked out at a kid about opening a sprite at lunch. Apparently she was allergic to lemons. She then made a point to let every new student know that she was allergic (many students came and went). One day a kid in the class brought a fake plastic lemon, went to the bathroom and rolled it in front of her on his way out. She proceeded to flop on the ground convulsing and "choking" until someone picked it up and said it's a fake.
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30points
#14
Had a patient about 2 years ago. Woman in her late 40s, had a good job, kids in university, divorced. She had insane uncontrollable asthma. No matter what we prescribed, she was having attacks, even wound up in ITU a few times. Went through everything we could think of with the team. Started doing really niche research. Brought her into the hospital as an in-patient to run more tests, etc.
The plan was to see her body's reaction to a steroid. We would take a blood sample before, give the medicine, take another sample, give her more, take another sample, etc.
The first tests showed NO reaction to the steroid. It's something we haven't seen before, nothing in the literature....
Then I see her throwing her garbage away into a large, communal garbage. Odd, nurses + healthcare support workers + ward cleaners are quite good with this. I don't know why I go to investigate, but I do.
Saw a tiny puddle of pink liquid at the bottom of her trash. Her steroids. She was drinking it in front of the nurses, then spitting it out into another solid (as in, not see-through) cup, and throwing that cup away.
I know it sounds obvious, but this woman was super normal and educated and just not someone who I pegged to be literally making herself unwell for attention. And by unwell, I mean to the point of putting her life at risk. Then I realized her kid took a semester off school to come home and look after her because she had such severe asthma attacks so often.
The plan was to see her body's reaction to a steroid. We would take a blood sample before, give the medicine, take another sample, give her more, take another sample, etc.
The first tests showed NO reaction to the steroid. It's something we haven't seen before, nothing in the literature....
Then I see her throwing her garbage away into a large, communal garbage. Odd, nurses + healthcare support workers + ward cleaners are quite good with this. I don't know why I go to investigate, but I do.
Saw a tiny puddle of pink liquid at the bottom of her trash. Her steroids. She was drinking it in front of the nurses, then spitting it out into another solid (as in, not see-through) cup, and throwing that cup away.
I know it sounds obvious, but this woman was super normal and educated and just not someone who I pegged to be literally making herself unwell for attention. And by unwell, I mean to the point of putting her life at risk. Then I realized her kid took a semester off school to come home and look after her because she had such severe asthma attacks so often.
29points
#15
Paramedic: my favorite is the Cinncinati Stroke Scale. This is where you describe this new diagnostic test coming out that indicates the severity of the stroke. The way you preform this rest is by explaining it to your partner as you go. First you grab the wrist "unconscious" seizure patient. Then tell your partner a grade 1 seizure is when you hold up 1 arm over the patients body, and if it freezes in place it's a grade 1. Repeat on each of the extremities up to a "grade 4". My record is both arms and a leg, in the air like a d**d cartoon horse as I pushed him into the ER.
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27points
#16
Obligatory not a doctor... I stubbed my toe on a bannister when I was maybe 9-10 years old. After hobbling around for a week complaining literally all the time while my mum thought I was faking, my dad finally gave in and took me to the hospital. Turns out I pushed all the bones in my foot backwards and was on crutches for 2 months. Take that mum!
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26points
#17
I’m an Obstetrician and have had numerous women come to Labor and Delivery, sometimes by ambulance, huffing and puffing all the while screaming” I have to lush” and they are NOT pregnant. This is a severe mental disorder called pseudociesis.
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26points
#18
Not a doctor but a buddy of mine had a crazy ex. When he ended it with her she said she was pregnant. Knowing she was a little crazy he wasn't buying it. She sent him a "positive" pregnancy test. Just out of curiosity we googled positive pregnancy tests and clicked images. It was like the third image. So knowing she was full of s**t he just stopped responding but that didn't settle well with her. The next day she went on to send him a very gory, disgusting tale of her having a miscarriage. She was basically describing a horrific, ER worthy medical debacle that somehow she was dealing with all on her own in her room and still having the where with all to type out every single detail. The last text just simply said, "I think it's d**d..."
Don't know about any baby but the relationship most definitely was.
Don't know about any baby but the relationship most definitely was.
24points
#19
I hurt my wrist playing football. No swelling and I could move it but I knew something was wrong. Went to the hospital, they wouldn't even give me paracetamol. Doctor clearly thought I was faking/exaggerating but did an xray which he said was fine, it's just a sprain and to keep it moving.
10 days after leaving the hospital, they phoned me to say they'd reviewed my xray and I actually had a few small breaks in my wrist and I needed to go back immediately to get a cast.
10 days after leaving the hospital, they phoned me to say they'd reviewed my xray and I actually had a few small breaks in my wrist and I needed to go back immediately to get a cast.
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23points
#20
A man lived next door to my parents for many years, over a decade. He had been claiming liability from his employer, a mining company, for a back injury which he claimed total disability arising from. My parents hardly saw him, but they worked for the same company so knew his story. His yard went unmaintained for many years and my parents noticed him out in the yard one day cleaning up all the rubbish that had accumulated, mowing the lawns etc. Not long after that he simply vanished - they never saw him again but apparently the insurance provider had been monitoring him on and off for years, and the one day he decided to clean up his yard an investigator had been parked outside his house observing for just such behavior. A few pictures later and the dude's life got very ugly very quickly.
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22points