DD a hypochondriac?

[mum71]

My DD (11) always has something wrong with her, a sore finger, a bad neck, etc. For the last 3 months she's complained of a painful ankle. I've dismissed it because she seems fine until she has to walk to school (if one of us can't give her a lift) and lately she's started saying that she's "gone over" on her ankle during PE and has had to drop out.

I took her to our GP today who said that he couldn't see anything wrong but we should ring the hospital for an x-ray.

I think she's faking. She had no problem going ice skating the other day. Anyone know any crafty techniques to extract the truth?

But the boot may have supported her ankle due to the height of the boot top

I often go over on my ankle, even when just walking on even ground. It is horrible (I am cringing just thinking of it). I never wear heels unless I truly need to, and then they are very small.

well, I have no idea f your d is faking but I have a dd who is, I am convinced, a hypochondriac-in-training

she constantly has bad knees, sore ankles, banging headaches, swollen tonsils, a bad cold, a sore throat blah blah blah

I just stop listening to her now...one day she really will cry wolf

funnily enough, all these ailments seem to spring up on the days I am working (she is 14, so could potentially stay off school on her own...not that I let her...)

she has made me out to be a fool several times eg. said she couldn't see the blackboard at school...took her for an eyetest, she has 20/20 vision , not to mention the futile visits to GP and A+E

before anyone thinks I am missing s serious illness here...she is fit as a fiddle

just very, very lazy, looks for excuses to duck out of things and is somewhat of an attention seeker

arrh, I feel better now

she is alovely girl, and I love her to bits, but she is a trial

has that helped you at all OP ? Anyway, I feel better for getting that off my chest

Ok, so I'm going to be the person who says it might (might) be real...
I have this condition, among others. You don't need to be terribly hypermobile to have it. One of the first signs, when I was your dd's age, was constant joint pain with no apparent cause (it's extremely unlikely that the damage will show up on an x-ray) and injuries from seemingly trivial causes that then took months to heal. People did think I was faking it, including doctors.

Without more information (maybe you'll come back and tell us she has also tried to get out of school for broken fingernails and minor colds), but actually what you report sounds quite convincing - she has consistently reported the bad ankle for 3 months (normal for BJHS people) - and if she's lying, wouldn't she be more likely to give it up and move on to persistant headaches or something else more dramatic when she realises the ankle pain sn't working?

Also, the ankle seems fine until she has to walk to school (so she's not actually trying to get out of school, just the walking) - again consistant. I used to have terribly painful knees, but they mostly only hurt when I was doing ballet (not very advanced), and, as things got worse, as I walked.

Ankle pain is also classic for this condition, as the muscles in the arch of the foot aren't strong enough to support the person's weight, putting stress on the ankle and later on the knees and hips.

Finally, the other examples you give of her complaints are also joint pain - unless you just picked those at random from a long list of unrelated complaints.

It's worth remembering that, if she does have this condition, she's unlikely to be consistently in pain the whole time - at least not at her age. Also, it can only be diagnosed by a specialist - x-rays won't show anything, and most GPs/physios know little or nothing about it. Some people have it for decades before getting diagnosed (my father), or never get a diagnosis at all (my grandfather).

If she's been complaining of the bad ankle for this long, maybe you should push for a referral to a rheumatologist, if possible even to one of the 4 clinics in the country for BJHS/EDS (Glasgow, Leeds, Great Ormond Street and UCH in London).

Does anyone else in the family have recurrent joint pain?
Would you say she is generally untruthful?

I have two dcs with the condition mentioned by Vigilante and it is very difficult to cope with as they can be absolutely fine one moment and in severe pain the next.

And absolutely nothing shows up on X-ray (this was the stage where it was suggested that maybe dd's clearly psychosomatic pains had been caused by sexual abuse ).

It is diagnosed via the Brighton test www.hypermobility.org/diagnosis.php; you can even do a simple run-through of this yourself. (Note that recent research has shown that only a few joints can be affected.)

Agree that ankle pain at this age is quite suggestive.

Thank you so much for your replies.

Vigilante and Cory, thank you for the links and for all your information.

Joint pain isn't in our family but you did get me thinking about my first cousin who was a premiership football player until he had a problem with the bones in his feet and had to give it up.

I probably picked the wrong examples because she does worry about other things too. Yesterday she wanted me to check out a freckle on her arm.

I wouldn't say that she is untruthful I just think she exaggerates. My DS was very ill a few years ago, I have wondered if she's doing it for attention.

xx

If someone in the family has had a serious illness, it could be that she is slightly traumatised and/or feels the need for attention.