Please or to access all these features

Mental health

Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you have medical concerns, please seek medical attention.

Münchausen’s syndrome (not proxy) or just health anxiety?

1 reply

Deleteditem · 14/03/2023 13:46

I have a brother who is 45 and has a bit of a sad history. He is almost certainly autistic and while he is high functioning in a way, he also falls into that funny space between able to function and not really.

His health problems are numerous and ongoing and I can honestly say I don’t know anyone else who has so much involvement with medical professionals. He has been in and out of hospital a lot, is constantly seeing his GP, constantly on the phone to 111, permanently seems to have flu, vomiting and so on. A lot of it is put on (will claim to be in bed with flu but then recover when offered a takeaway!) but other health problems are more serious.

He is addicted to narcotics and has been for many years, has been diagnosed with crohns , has various problems with other medications and abuse of them. He seems to thrive on medical settings and diagnosing others - you can’t mention a headache without him trying to shove pills at you.

The latest is a cancer scare. I don’t want to sound awful but it’s all so high drama and I do think he genuinely believes he’s ill. but could it indicate munchausens? The worry is he’s studying a medical course!

OP posts:
Getting2me · 14/03/2023 15:56

I dont know if im glad hes on the course, maybe that will give him a lot of insight

New posts on this thread. Refresh page