Worried about close friend- Munchausen

[Justhearforadvice2023]

Is there anyone on here with some medical expertise regarding optic nerve damage?
One of my close friends is constantly having suspected medical issues that never materialise. I am worried that she is struggling mentally but don’t know how to help her.
Her latest problem is a damaged optic nerve. She is having a brain scan as a result which apparently will be very thorough and she will need to be sedated. From what I’ve read this will be an MRI- she had a “head to toe” MRI back in August supposedly which confirmed she didn’t have Alzheimer’s or bone cancer but arthritis. Would an MRI highlight a brain tumour?
I feel terrible saying this but the frequency of these serious illnesses that don’t materialise (and aren’t related to each other) are making me distrust her.

Not a medical person but I have had at least a dozen MRIs on my brain never been sedated, can't think why you need to be sedated. I have claustraphobia so just wear an eye mask. My original MRI was forman optic nerve problem which was a presenting sympton of MS. Prior to this I had a few strange issues that turned out to be related to the MS, so possibly that?

I had one for suspected MS because of optic nerve problems. I do know of people needing sedation for one reason or another for an MRI.

Could it be that your friend is lacking a diagnosis, rather than has mental health problems? She might genuinely have the symptons, but it not be clear what it is. (I was lucky and didn't have MS as it turned out, just a combination of other less serious things. It doesn't mean I didn't have the symptoms though.)

Are you sure she doesn’t have health anxiety and genuinely thinks she’s sick rather than Munchausen’s?

I think with Münchausen’s syndrome the person fakes their entire illness or pretends their symptoms are worse and sometimes takes harmful substances to make themselves sick for attention

Doctor's don’t like to sedate you unless you have a real fear.

I just had a 1 1/2 hour mri recently without sedation and just closed my eyes. It consisted of three parts - head, neck and eyes and included a contrast. It was also to check a problem in my eyes.

My consultant said they checked everything - tumour, cancer, stroke etc, so it is pretty thorough (all fine in my case).

It’s fine to realise that she’s not who you thought she was, and to be the listening and sympathetic ear all the time. Friendships should be two way, and sometimes friendships like this are one sided.

I've had umpteen MRIs over the years for recurring optic neuritis. The first time I lost my sight entirely (for only a couple of weeks) and they did the MRI to check for a tumour in the brain as losing/disturbance of senses can be one of the first indicators of a brain tumour. Apparently.

A very wise doctor once said to me our medical text books for his specialism didn't exist 50 years ago because his specialism didn't exist, now they are thick.

A few years back there was a program called medical detectives on BBC. 3 years of misdiagnosis, told it was mental health and it took 10 doctors round a table to work out eventually it was endrometriosis, I'd worked it out in the first five minutes of the program but thought I must be wrong because no trained doctor would miss something that obvious... for three years. And yet they had, on the program it wasn't even their first choice.

What we understand about brain function and sensory integration is minimal especially as the discipline is still in is infancy. I've seen doctors in a range of disciplines miss diagnosis time and time again, usually out of arrogance and failing to listen to the patient themselves.

In the end it doesn't matter. Help and support should be offered freely, and never more than you can afford (emotionally, physically or financially) to give. That is a part of what friendship is about. It isn't up to you to judge her. If you don't trust her, Can you really say you are friends anymore?