We’ve all faked being sick at least once, whether for school or work. And if done right, getting away with it without raising suspicion is almost a guarantee.
However, faking an illness with a medical professional is a different scenario, and a foolish one to be in, at that. However, that didn’t stop these individuals from engaging in such behavior, as evidenced by this Reddit thread from a while back.
From feigning seizures to using a prop pebble to claim a kidney stone affliction, these stories may just make you shake your head in utter disbelief.
#1
I'm an audiologist, and it's fairly common to have people fake a hearing loss. With adults, it's commonly for worker's compensation/benefits. Children do it for attention or to get out of school for a day.
They are fairly easy to spot...patients will come in, conversing with me very normally, but the audiogram will show a profound hearing loss. We all have our tricks to get them to slip - I like to lower my mic volume to a normal range and mention that they dropped something when they're in the booth, they instinctively reach for it, forgetting that they shouldn't have heard it because of their "loss." We can also do an auditory brainstem response, bypassing the need for patient responses. A Stenger Test can identify those fakers that only have a "hearing loss" in one ear.
My favorite is when testing kids that are clearly faking, part of the test requires me to have them repeat words. So I present them at a normal volume and the kids are REEEAAALLLYY straining to hear them, then I slip in funny words like "buttcrack" and watch to see them smile because they clearly heard it.
tl/dr: don't fake your hearing test, it's super easy to catch you.
They are fairly easy to spot...patients will come in, conversing with me very normally, but the audiogram will show a profound hearing loss. We all have our tricks to get them to slip - I like to lower my mic volume to a normal range and mention that they dropped something when they're in the booth, they instinctively reach for it, forgetting that they shouldn't have heard it because of their "loss." We can also do an auditory brainstem response, bypassing the need for patient responses. A Stenger Test can identify those fakers that only have a "hearing loss" in one ear.
My favorite is when testing kids that are clearly faking, part of the test requires me to have them repeat words. So I present them at a normal volume and the kids are REEEAAALLLYY straining to hear them, then I slip in funny words like "buttcrack" and watch to see them smile because they clearly heard it.
tl/dr: don't fake your hearing test, it's super easy to catch you.
41points
#2
My mom's an ER nurse and she said once some crazy lady came in and complained hat she had the whooping cough. And whenever she coughed she followed it with a loud "woooOOOP!".
34points
#3
I'll tell you the opposite side of many of these experiences.
When I was 23, my lung collapsed. Probably the most painful thing that had happened to me aside from broken bones and such. Went the hospital in an ambulance, and and you the time I got there I wasn't in pain anymore. I was terrified they would think I was faking it, but thankfully the chest X-ray revealed that my lung had completed its collapse, and I guess it just hurts when it's coming apart from the chest wall. I didn't have surgery but I was on suction, attached to the wall with a tube inserted in my chest for several days, over the thanksgiving holiday. Standard hospital, you're left alone mostly unless you ring your bell and then they come visit you.
The second day I rang my bell because I was in a bit of discomfort. No on came. Rang it again. And again. And again. Nothing.
Picked up the phone, got an outside line, called the hospital and asked for the nurses station on my floor. Got through to them and explained my plight. Apparently my buzzer was broken, they came down so apologetic and had a new bed delivered and transferred me to it.
Point is, first time I was in huge pain and then it was suddenly gone and I was in fear theyrd think I was faking it. And second time, due to mechanical failure i got ignored.
And it gets better. Six months later, that lung collapsed again. I knew what the pain from before felt like, so I was like "hey, my lungs collapsing I think". It was midnight, my friend took me to the hospital, they took X-rays and then told me not to worry and discharged me. I was like "I'm in a lot of pain here" and they were like "nonsense, there's nothing wrong".
Next morning i wake up short of breathe and the phones ringing. It's the hospital. The doctor was reviewing the previous nights X-rays and apparently the tech or nurse whoever looked at it missed that my lung had in fact collapsed. So he was demanding my address so they could send an ambulance to fetch me. That time I had the surgery to staple the lung in place, no more collapses ever since. :)
Point is. Sometimes the pros are wrong. Not wrong, but the overlook things. Human error, and worry about lawsuits I guess. And we patients can be just as nervous presenting pain to doctors because we're afraid the docs will think we're faking.
When I was 23, my lung collapsed. Probably the most painful thing that had happened to me aside from broken bones and such. Went the hospital in an ambulance, and and you the time I got there I wasn't in pain anymore. I was terrified they would think I was faking it, but thankfully the chest X-ray revealed that my lung had completed its collapse, and I guess it just hurts when it's coming apart from the chest wall. I didn't have surgery but I was on suction, attached to the wall with a tube inserted in my chest for several days, over the thanksgiving holiday. Standard hospital, you're left alone mostly unless you ring your bell and then they come visit you.
The second day I rang my bell because I was in a bit of discomfort. No on came. Rang it again. And again. And again. Nothing.
Picked up the phone, got an outside line, called the hospital and asked for the nurses station on my floor. Got through to them and explained my plight. Apparently my buzzer was broken, they came down so apologetic and had a new bed delivered and transferred me to it.
Point is, first time I was in huge pain and then it was suddenly gone and I was in fear theyrd think I was faking it. And second time, due to mechanical failure i got ignored.
And it gets better. Six months later, that lung collapsed again. I knew what the pain from before felt like, so I was like "hey, my lungs collapsing I think". It was midnight, my friend took me to the hospital, they took X-rays and then told me not to worry and discharged me. I was like "I'm in a lot of pain here" and they were like "nonsense, there's nothing wrong".
Next morning i wake up short of breathe and the phones ringing. It's the hospital. The doctor was reviewing the previous nights X-rays and apparently the tech or nurse whoever looked at it missed that my lung had in fact collapsed. So he was demanding my address so they could send an ambulance to fetch me. That time I had the surgery to staple the lung in place, no more collapses ever since. :)
Point is. Sometimes the pros are wrong. Not wrong, but the overlook things. Human error, and worry about lawsuits I guess. And we patients can be just as nervous presenting pain to doctors because we're afraid the docs will think we're faking.
32points
#4
Paramedic here - I have three stories that come to mind.
Story #1 - We get called to a local Waffle House for a seizure. We walk in to find a man lying on the floor, not moving, but breathing. We start talking to the waitress, asking what had happened. While talking to her, we occasionally look down at the patient, and find him with one eye barely open, watching us; when he sees us looking at him, he closes his eye. This happens a few times. Then the cops show up and find out what's going on. One of the officers asks the waitress, "Did he (patient) eat here?" "Yes, he did." "How much is his bill?" "Fourteen dollars." At this point, the officers roll the patient over and find his wallet; the guy has a $20 bill in it. One of the officers takes out the $20, gives it to the waitress, and tells her, "Keep the change." You could see the anger in the patient's face when he realizes he's not getting out of paying his bill. He ended up faking a seizure on the way to the hospital (I'm not about to explain how I know it was fake, because I'm not going to give anyone ANY info on how to fake a seizure).
Story #2 - We get called to a fall in the women's bathroom at Wal-Mart. We walk in, and the manager is FREAKING OUT. We go into the bathroom to find a white female face up on the floor - I'm guessing she weighs at least 350 lbs; there were two friends of hers standing in there with her. I ask her what happened; she says she slipped on a puddle and fell, hurting her back. I look all over the bathroom floor; there's NO water on the floor. I ask the manager AND the patient's friends - "Do you see water on the floor?" They all said, "No." I then tell the patient, "There's no water on the floor, ma'am." She says, "I'm lying on top of it." We're going to have to roll her to her side in order to get a backboard under her and pick her up; I explain that to her. As we roll her to her side, I check her back for any obvious injuries; I then check her clothing AND the floor she was lying on - nothing was wet. I have the manager (who was grinning from ear to ear at this point) and the patient's friends look - "Do you see water on the floor? Are her clothes wet?" They all said, "No." We then roll the patient onto the board, pick her up, and place her on a stretcher. At this point, I tell the patient, "I'm going to be writing up paperwork for this call and your treatment. Part of what is going to be written up is the fact that you said you slipped on a wet floor, and that no water was found either on the floor or soaked into your clothing. This is standard; I have to write up what I'm told in addition to what I see. What you need to understand is this - if you happen to decide to take Wal-Mart to court, they can request a copy of my run report, and it's going to show what you said and what I found. They can also summon me to testify, and if they do, I'm going to tell them what you told me and what I saw, the manager saw, and what your friends saw. That being said, do you want to keep dragging this out and go to the hospital, or do you want to just get up from my stretcher and be done with it?" She chose to get up and leave.
Story #3 - We get called to a 13 year old having a first-time seizure. We get on scene, and the entire family is freaking out, except for the father. I walk into the room where the kid was - OBVIOUS FAKER. I turn to dad and have him go outside into the hallway, I tell him the boy is faking, and I ask if anything unusual happened today. The father tells me he found marijuana in the kid's room, and he was getting on to him about it when the kid started "seizing." I reassured the father that his son was NOT seizing, and he asked if we could take him to the hospital "just to be safe." I said no problem. We pick the kid up and put him on the stretcher, and as we head outside to the ambulance, he exhibits more behavior that shows he's faking. Inside the ambulance, I tell the kid that I know he's faking and ask him to stop, but he keeps on. The hospital we take him to doesn't have board-certified Emergency Department physicians; they use General Practice and Internal Medicine physicians (a LOT of smaller hospitals do this). I bring the kid in and give a patient report to the internal medicine doc and the RN, and I say the kid is "faking his seizure activity." The doctor had a problem with that - "You can't possibly tell that he's faking." I assure him that, yes, the kid is faking. I explain the situation that led up to him faking, and that I could prove it. The doctor says, "I'd like to see that." The RN knows EXACTLY what's going on and what I wanted to do; he's all for it! So I say to the kid, "Bob (I don't remember his name), we need a urine sample from you, and we need you to wake up to do it. If you don't wake up, we're going to shove a tube into your private part, run it all the way into your bladder, and take a urine sample from you. Please, just wake up and give us a sample." Nothing from the kid. "Okay, Bob, if you don't wake up in 10 seconds, we're going to start prepping you to get the tube shoved in. Ten, nine, eight, FIVEFOURTHREETWOONE!" His eyes opened wide as saucers before he realized we caught him. He then closed his eyes, started blinking, looked around the room, and said, "What happened?" The RN was laughing, and the doc was a little mad.
Story #1 - We get called to a local Waffle House for a seizure. We walk in to find a man lying on the floor, not moving, but breathing. We start talking to the waitress, asking what had happened. While talking to her, we occasionally look down at the patient, and find him with one eye barely open, watching us; when he sees us looking at him, he closes his eye. This happens a few times. Then the cops show up and find out what's going on. One of the officers asks the waitress, "Did he (patient) eat here?" "Yes, he did." "How much is his bill?" "Fourteen dollars." At this point, the officers roll the patient over and find his wallet; the guy has a $20 bill in it. One of the officers takes out the $20, gives it to the waitress, and tells her, "Keep the change." You could see the anger in the patient's face when he realizes he's not getting out of paying his bill. He ended up faking a seizure on the way to the hospital (I'm not about to explain how I know it was fake, because I'm not going to give anyone ANY info on how to fake a seizure).
Story #2 - We get called to a fall in the women's bathroom at Wal-Mart. We walk in, and the manager is FREAKING OUT. We go into the bathroom to find a white female face up on the floor - I'm guessing she weighs at least 350 lbs; there were two friends of hers standing in there with her. I ask her what happened; she says she slipped on a puddle and fell, hurting her back. I look all over the bathroom floor; there's NO water on the floor. I ask the manager AND the patient's friends - "Do you see water on the floor?" They all said, "No." I then tell the patient, "There's no water on the floor, ma'am." She says, "I'm lying on top of it." We're going to have to roll her to her side in order to get a backboard under her and pick her up; I explain that to her. As we roll her to her side, I check her back for any obvious injuries; I then check her clothing AND the floor she was lying on - nothing was wet. I have the manager (who was grinning from ear to ear at this point) and the patient's friends look - "Do you see water on the floor? Are her clothes wet?" They all said, "No." We then roll the patient onto the board, pick her up, and place her on a stretcher. At this point, I tell the patient, "I'm going to be writing up paperwork for this call and your treatment. Part of what is going to be written up is the fact that you said you slipped on a wet floor, and that no water was found either on the floor or soaked into your clothing. This is standard; I have to write up what I'm told in addition to what I see. What you need to understand is this - if you happen to decide to take Wal-Mart to court, they can request a copy of my run report, and it's going to show what you said and what I found. They can also summon me to testify, and if they do, I'm going to tell them what you told me and what I saw, the manager saw, and what your friends saw. That being said, do you want to keep dragging this out and go to the hospital, or do you want to just get up from my stretcher and be done with it?" She chose to get up and leave.
Story #3 - We get called to a 13 year old having a first-time seizure. We get on scene, and the entire family is freaking out, except for the father. I walk into the room where the kid was - OBVIOUS FAKER. I turn to dad and have him go outside into the hallway, I tell him the boy is faking, and I ask if anything unusual happened today. The father tells me he found marijuana in the kid's room, and he was getting on to him about it when the kid started "seizing." I reassured the father that his son was NOT seizing, and he asked if we could take him to the hospital "just to be safe." I said no problem. We pick the kid up and put him on the stretcher, and as we head outside to the ambulance, he exhibits more behavior that shows he's faking. Inside the ambulance, I tell the kid that I know he's faking and ask him to stop, but he keeps on. The hospital we take him to doesn't have board-certified Emergency Department physicians; they use General Practice and Internal Medicine physicians (a LOT of smaller hospitals do this). I bring the kid in and give a patient report to the internal medicine doc and the RN, and I say the kid is "faking his seizure activity." The doctor had a problem with that - "You can't possibly tell that he's faking." I assure him that, yes, the kid is faking. I explain the situation that led up to him faking, and that I could prove it. The doctor says, "I'd like to see that." The RN knows EXACTLY what's going on and what I wanted to do; he's all for it! So I say to the kid, "Bob (I don't remember his name), we need a urine sample from you, and we need you to wake up to do it. If you don't wake up, we're going to shove a tube into your private part, run it all the way into your bladder, and take a urine sample from you. Please, just wake up and give us a sample." Nothing from the kid. "Okay, Bob, if you don't wake up in 10 seconds, we're going to start prepping you to get the tube shoved in. Ten, nine, eight, FIVEFOURTHREETWOONE!" His eyes opened wide as saucers before he realized we caught him. He then closed his eyes, started blinking, looked around the room, and said, "What happened?" The RN was laughing, and the doc was a little mad.
31points
#5
My mother (who is a doctor) likes to tell the story of when I was about five and was claiming I was sick, she asked me if my eyelashes hurt and I said yes.
29points
#6
Not a doctor, but my mom said my brother came to her one morning saying he was sick and asked her to feel his head (this was how she decided if we had a fever and were therefor aloud to stay home) my mom told him sternly to get ready for school. He didn't realize that he'd had grate marks on his forehead from pressing it against the heater.
28points
#7
Get called for an unconscious intox's at a bar. Get her out to the ambulance, she shouts "I'M HAVING A SEIZURE" and starts waving her arms around. I tell her "people who have seizures generally don't announce it first."
Her response?
"You're being very judgemental, I was getting ready in case I had a seizure."
......gotta stretch, I guess.
Her response?
"You're being very judgemental, I was getting ready in case I had a seizure."
......gotta stretch, I guess.
27points
#8
There are some fun ones in psych.
The patient went into her room and, in a very obvious stage-voice (just loud enough for us to hear her in the main area), started saying random, unconnected sentences/phrases. Then she immediately came out, walked straight up to us and asked, "How do I know if the voices are real?" She would act perfectly normal when she thought we weren't looking, but as soon as we walked loudly up to her door she'd start "talking to herself" again. Yeah, no. That's not how psychosis works lol. Good try though.
Also there was the girl who "strangled" herself unconscious. There was no pressure whatsoever on her throat/neck. The doctor quietly snuck up to her, then smacked his hands together in a single giant clap. She jumped.
And another patient who had "seizures". She lay in bed, twitching, when I called her for lunch. I said all right, but if you lie there for too long you're going to be stuck with the vegetarian option. The seizures magically stopped.
The patient went into her room and, in a very obvious stage-voice (just loud enough for us to hear her in the main area), started saying random, unconnected sentences/phrases. Then she immediately came out, walked straight up to us and asked, "How do I know if the voices are real?" She would act perfectly normal when she thought we weren't looking, but as soon as we walked loudly up to her door she'd start "talking to herself" again. Yeah, no. That's not how psychosis works lol. Good try though.
Also there was the girl who "strangled" herself unconscious. There was no pressure whatsoever on her throat/neck. The doctor quietly snuck up to her, then smacked his hands together in a single giant clap. She jumped.
And another patient who had "seizures". She lay in bed, twitching, when I called her for lunch. I said all right, but if you lie there for too long you're going to be stuck with the vegetarian option. The seizures magically stopped.
27points
#9
This isn't quite the same, but I once had a bunch of people thinking I was faking being in really bad stomach pain when I was in high school. Talked to Dr. A who asked me all these questions, kept saying I was too stoic. He called in Dr. B who was like "well, to check your appendix we have to stick our finger up your butt...so if you're lying speak up now."
Heard them conferring outside that I just wanted the day off school, chuckling to each other and stuff. Said my mom was just babying me and what not. Which, isn't/wasn't really my mom's style. They came back in and were like "well, we have to dye your insides and to do that you have to eat this nasty banana flavored stuff then we put you in a machine and it's really unpleasant." I was just like yeah whatever all I know is I'm in a lot of pain and want it to stop.
So, they give me the nasty banana flavored stuff and I vomit it out. They're like oh, well we have to give you more and you have to keep it down. I was like dude, I didn't throw up because it tasted bad I'm feeling a lot worse. The guy is being all condescending and leaves to get more nasty flavored dye, and as he comes back in the room I'm laying on the floor throwing up exorcist style basically feeling like I'm having a seizure or something. My appendix burst as those dickholes were retrieving more of the nasty liquid.
Anyway, my mom still goes to the same doctor. So, whenever I'm in town and it coincides with a visit to said doctor, I like to go with and remind him of the time he almost let me die because I was too stoic to be nearing an appendix burst. Still makes him pretty uncomfortable to talk about.
Heard them conferring outside that I just wanted the day off school, chuckling to each other and stuff. Said my mom was just babying me and what not. Which, isn't/wasn't really my mom's style. They came back in and were like "well, we have to dye your insides and to do that you have to eat this nasty banana flavored stuff then we put you in a machine and it's really unpleasant." I was just like yeah whatever all I know is I'm in a lot of pain and want it to stop.
So, they give me the nasty banana flavored stuff and I vomit it out. They're like oh, well we have to give you more and you have to keep it down. I was like dude, I didn't throw up because it tasted bad I'm feeling a lot worse. The guy is being all condescending and leaves to get more nasty flavored dye, and as he comes back in the room I'm laying on the floor throwing up exorcist style basically feeling like I'm having a seizure or something. My appendix burst as those dickholes were retrieving more of the nasty liquid.
Anyway, my mom still goes to the same doctor. So, whenever I'm in town and it coincides with a visit to said doctor, I like to go with and remind him of the time he almost let me die because I was too stoic to be nearing an appendix burst. Still makes him pretty uncomfortable to talk about.
27points
#10
My wife did her residency at a county hospital in a mid west city. On really cold night, they would usually get a few homeless people in the ER with "chest pains", basically just using it as a nice place to get a meal and stay warm for a bit.
26points
#11
ER nurse here. Not a faking it story, but this is my all-time favorite story of patient stupidity. I had a female patient in her twenties come in accompanied by her boyfriend with complaints of abdominal pain. One of the first questions we ask women of child-bearing age is if there is any chance they could be pregnant. This girl said there's no way she could be pregnant. I asked her if she was sexually active. She said yes. When I asked if she used birth control she said "well, I used to but they made me fat so I gave them to him to take." Turns out this girl had been giving her boyfriend her birth control pills to take and sure enough- she was pregnant!
26points
#12
Paramedic here.
Gentleman called 911 from a restaurant claiming he had a migraine and was unable to see properly. He was literally 2 blocks from a hospital.
I've had migraines, I'm sympathetic. On the way to the call I was planning my treatment plan so he would be more comfortable during the wait in the emerg.
He was waiting outside, in full sunlight, waving at us. Thanked us politely for coming "to his rescue". Sat in the well lit ambulance, chatting up a storm, making inappropriate jokes, and laughing. Stating the whole time he has 10/10 pain from a migraine, and that only Percocet works to reduce the pain. He has them frequently, and wouldn't you know it, he's run out of his prescribed medication, and his doctor is on vacation.
The chef from the restaurant he called from came out and asked for his information. Our patient was "unable to pay his bill, due to the pain." He conveniently had no ID he could leave with the restaurant, and only had his debit card with him. He promised to come back, once he was feeling well enough to tap his PIN into the machine, but right now he couldn't. The chef knew 100% the guy was full of s**t, but couldn't do anything.
As someone who has had a vomiting, shaking, vision effecting, migraine in the past, he did nothing to convince *anyone* he was in actual discomfort. I actually would greatly prefer if he had said, "I ate a meal I can't afford, and I'm addicted to pain killers, can you please take me to the ER." Honesty would have gotten him better treatment from everyone involved.
Edit: We took him to the ER. He waited in the loud busy waiting room reading magazines. I'm from Canada, so his ambulance bill is mostly paid by the Ministry of Health. Physicians can sign a patient as "non essential" which would cause the patient to be charged for the whole cost. The MOH has no guidelines surrounding what is essential and what isn't, so the MD/Hospital opens themselves up to a lawsuit if someone decides to sue because the MD signed their ambulance trip as non-essential. So this rarely happens.
Add to that if the patient is receiving social services from the government or has no fixed address, they are charged nothing at all.
The studies have been done, Paramedics/EMTs in other countries can tell you, charging people does not reduce the frequency of illegitimate 911 use.
Gentleman called 911 from a restaurant claiming he had a migraine and was unable to see properly. He was literally 2 blocks from a hospital.
I've had migraines, I'm sympathetic. On the way to the call I was planning my treatment plan so he would be more comfortable during the wait in the emerg.
He was waiting outside, in full sunlight, waving at us. Thanked us politely for coming "to his rescue". Sat in the well lit ambulance, chatting up a storm, making inappropriate jokes, and laughing. Stating the whole time he has 10/10 pain from a migraine, and that only Percocet works to reduce the pain. He has them frequently, and wouldn't you know it, he's run out of his prescribed medication, and his doctor is on vacation.
The chef from the restaurant he called from came out and asked for his information. Our patient was "unable to pay his bill, due to the pain." He conveniently had no ID he could leave with the restaurant, and only had his debit card with him. He promised to come back, once he was feeling well enough to tap his PIN into the machine, but right now he couldn't. The chef knew 100% the guy was full of s**t, but couldn't do anything.
As someone who has had a vomiting, shaking, vision effecting, migraine in the past, he did nothing to convince *anyone* he was in actual discomfort. I actually would greatly prefer if he had said, "I ate a meal I can't afford, and I'm addicted to pain killers, can you please take me to the ER." Honesty would have gotten him better treatment from everyone involved.
Edit: We took him to the ER. He waited in the loud busy waiting room reading magazines. I'm from Canada, so his ambulance bill is mostly paid by the Ministry of Health. Physicians can sign a patient as "non essential" which would cause the patient to be charged for the whole cost. The MOH has no guidelines surrounding what is essential and what isn't, so the MD/Hospital opens themselves up to a lawsuit if someone decides to sue because the MD signed their ambulance trip as non-essential. So this rarely happens.
Add to that if the patient is receiving social services from the government or has no fixed address, they are charged nothing at all.
The studies have been done, Paramedics/EMTs in other countries can tell you, charging people does not reduce the frequency of illegitimate 911 use.
25points
#13
Husband is a Urologist. ER calls with a patient who is reportedly writhing in pain from kidney stones. Patient brought with him a stone he passed for analysis. Hubby walks in, sees one of the regular substance seekers, takes a look at the sample determines it's a pebble guy picked up in the parking lot.
25points
#14
A quick note of being on the other end.
I have Multiple Sclerosis but my original symptoms were non-typical so they sent me to Stanford to be evaluated.
It was very strange to see one Doctor turn to another and say that their diagnosis was that I was faking it.
All of my symptoms were numbness, itchiness or weird tension on my skin so I had no way to prove it.
Luckily one of my eyes had an enlarged optic nerve and when they did a test of my spinal fluid they found white blood cells in there.
But I think of that all the time. That Doctor was right, my symptoms were kind of crazy. I'm glad they found some real evidence.
By the way, doing great. Symptom free and taking a daily injection of Copaxone to keep it away.
I have Multiple Sclerosis but my original symptoms were non-typical so they sent me to Stanford to be evaluated.
It was very strange to see one Doctor turn to another and say that their diagnosis was that I was faking it.
All of my symptoms were numbness, itchiness or weird tension on my skin so I had no way to prove it.
Luckily one of my eyes had an enlarged optic nerve and when they did a test of my spinal fluid they found white blood cells in there.
But I think of that all the time. That Doctor was right, my symptoms were kind of crazy. I'm glad they found some real evidence.
By the way, doing great. Symptom free and taking a daily injection of Copaxone to keep it away.
25points
#15
When I was in first grade I told my school nurse that I wasn't feeling well and I thought I had a computer virus.
24points
#16
Not a doctor but I once had a friend who was always faking injuries to get attention. My favorite was he bumped his foot on a table and after screaming bloody m****r, he proceeded to limp on the wrong leg.
23points
#17
Not a Dr but I have a story. My son's Uncle was pretty much bed bound, to go to the toilet he had to use a walker and it would take him about 10 minutes to slowly get himself to the toilet at the back of the house, he had the whole family waiting on him hand and foot for years.
We were visiting once and my son a baby at the time fell asleep in the lounge, I didn't want to move him so I stayed behind reading a book while the rest of the family went out. The house was really quiet I heard Uncle get up and watched him march past me with no walker and no mobility issues, he certainly jumped a foot in the air when I said hi, his face was a picture!
We were visiting once and my son a baby at the time fell asleep in the lounge, I didn't want to move him so I stayed behind reading a book while the rest of the family went out. The house was really quiet I heard Uncle get up and watched him march past me with no walker and no mobility issues, he certainly jumped a foot in the air when I said hi, his face was a picture!
22points
#18
My partner at work is an Administrator with an ED Nursing background. She was called in to the ED one night last year to deal with a patient who was complaining of severe headaches and nosebleeds but was refusing to go for any kind of examination in favor of being admitted. They are pretty sure at this point that she is illegal substance seeking as she refused to even lie in the bed. My friend left the room and was standing a few feet outside the patient's glass bay talking with the Charge Nurse when she noticed the patient turn around and hunch over. She subtly stopped the conversation so they could observe.
The patient turned around with more blood on her nose and blood on her fingers from where she had been reaching into her underwear and smearing period blood all over her face to fake a nosebleed.
The patient turned around with more blood on her nose and blood on her fingers from where she had been reaching into her underwear and smearing period blood all over her face to fake a nosebleed.
21points
#19
My wife's a district nurse, she drives to peoples homes changing dressings, giving medications etc etc. Her job has her dealing with many people such as gang members and people on home detention, but the worst in her opinion, the people you never trust even a little bit are the methadone patients, according to her a lot of them will try anything to get a little bit more.
She had one not long ago that was being extremely talkative, almost like he didn't want her to leave the house. Then he started showing her every little lump and bump, wanting her to make sure they weren't infections or anything. Although he wasn't making her uncomfortable, she did think it was strange for him as he was normally very quiet and wanted the nurses gone asap.
When she got back to her car the back window had been smashed in but all that was missing was her sharps container and the lockbox the illegal substances were kept in. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on so she walks back to the house, looks in the front window and sees the methadone dude and another guy sitting on the couch trying to open her lockbox and emptying the sharps container on the floor.
She called the police at that point and despite knowing that some of the needles now on the floor were from an HIV+ patient she had earlier in the day she sat in the car until the PD arrived because you never ever get between a jerk and a fix.
She had one not long ago that was being extremely talkative, almost like he didn't want her to leave the house. Then he started showing her every little lump and bump, wanting her to make sure they weren't infections or anything. Although he wasn't making her uncomfortable, she did think it was strange for him as he was normally very quiet and wanted the nurses gone asap.
When she got back to her car the back window had been smashed in but all that was missing was her sharps container and the lockbox the illegal substances were kept in. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on so she walks back to the house, looks in the front window and sees the methadone dude and another guy sitting on the couch trying to open her lockbox and emptying the sharps container on the floor.
She called the police at that point and despite knowing that some of the needles now on the floor were from an HIV+ patient she had earlier in the day she sat in the car until the PD arrived because you never ever get between a jerk and a fix.
21points
#20
This JUST happened last week, strangely enough. I've been a nurse for 4 years now, and this is probably the worst I've seen it.
Young adult comes in with seizure-like activity. We're a neuroscience floor, so we get these a lot. Complains of severe abdominal pain related to her seizures, apparently. They run multiple CTs and MRIs that come back clean. We put her on a 24 hour VEEG machine (video EEG for those who don't know). She reportedly has 100s of seizures throughout the night, with full body convulsions, drooling, upper extremity contractions, and will not respond to verbal stimuli. Post ictal, she's not lethargic, just confused. Doesn't know her own name, the place that she's in, or what time it is, but the rest of her neuro assessment is benign. No bladder incontinence during, had perfect control of all limbs.
She screams for pain meds when she's not having seizures, but is for some reason refusing everything they offer her. Tylenol - nope. Percocet - makes her feel weird. Lidoderm patch for her abdomen - it gives her sores in her mouth. I guarantee if a doctor dropped the D word, she would have been all over that.
After 24 hours of being her, $1000s worth of tests being run all coming up negative, the doctors had no choice but to send her home. She become agitated and seizing again, while the doctor is basically explaining that she's faking it. He says, "I'll wait." She immediately stops.
Security had to escort he out, with me in tow, because I was too paranoid that she would throw herself on the floor before leaving and demand to be readmitted. They recommended an outpatient psych consult for her, which made her even angrier. Lord knows, maybe the seizures felt real to her, but she didn't need a special kind of help.
Young adult comes in with seizure-like activity. We're a neuroscience floor, so we get these a lot. Complains of severe abdominal pain related to her seizures, apparently. They run multiple CTs and MRIs that come back clean. We put her on a 24 hour VEEG machine (video EEG for those who don't know). She reportedly has 100s of seizures throughout the night, with full body convulsions, drooling, upper extremity contractions, and will not respond to verbal stimuli. Post ictal, she's not lethargic, just confused. Doesn't know her own name, the place that she's in, or what time it is, but the rest of her neuro assessment is benign. No bladder incontinence during, had perfect control of all limbs.
She screams for pain meds when she's not having seizures, but is for some reason refusing everything they offer her. Tylenol - nope. Percocet - makes her feel weird. Lidoderm patch for her abdomen - it gives her sores in her mouth. I guarantee if a doctor dropped the D word, she would have been all over that.
After 24 hours of being her, $1000s worth of tests being run all coming up negative, the doctors had no choice but to send her home. She become agitated and seizing again, while the doctor is basically explaining that she's faking it. He says, "I'll wait." She immediately stops.
Security had to escort he out, with me in tow, because I was too paranoid that she would throw herself on the floor before leaving and demand to be readmitted. They recommended an outpatient psych consult for her, which made her even angrier. Lord knows, maybe the seizures felt real to her, but she didn't need a special kind of help.
20points