Munchausen syndrome

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Hey everyone,

I have a good friend and he is convinced AS does not exist.
He claims all of us are victims of Munchausen syndrome.

according to him our social quirks and everything else attached are just side effects of years and years of doctors and parents and teachers etc. etc. etc. telling us we are sick and need help.

I don't know ... according to Wiki Munchausen syndrome means that we are making up all of this stuff in our heads and we are completely normal just have our own individual quirks...

Any opinions?

-Zane

Your friend's paranoid delusions sound potentially schizophrenic. Carefully ask him to see a mental health professional soon, he may need help soon.

That's the billionth time I've heard AS is a myth. No one outside of those with real psychology doctrines are really aware that this is very much real, not just stuff that's made up. It's not just ways of thinking either...more that it has to do with overactive stimuli in parts of the mind AND body. Sensory issues, for instance.

Yeah, of course SOME of us are going to act pretty normal despite having AS, but you need a trained professional for any diagnosis regarding a mental disorder. An average joe...no, make that many millions of average joes aren't going to do a better job explaining not because they aren't smart enough, but because it requires years of study and of course plenty of ability to offer unbiased explanations.

We shouldn't keep calling it Aspergers by any means, but it's good for now because we really don't have another name for the disorder that will raise questions.

No one ever told ME I was sick and needed help..., well, except my second grade teacher; they just told me I'm an A**hole.

Regards,

Munchausen know they are not ill. Typically they will go to a hospital and seek out special treatment, and attention. How is this remotely like AS?

Like someone said ASD isn't like being ill. It is a difference in the way we are wired.

You friend is not clued up.

I have in-laws who think the same thing. Just let it roll off your back. Some people insist on being
ignorant. Some people have no understanding of their own knowledge limitations. They have no
idea that they are unqualified to make such statements. Ignore it. It is stupid. People like that do
not take correction well, and will not be open to new ideas.

I've had several patients with Munchausens before... Trust me, they're not anything like Aspies. Typically, they tend to ask for actual physical treatment; pain meds, antibiotics, unnecessary surgeries/procedures, several diagnoses, ect. Munchausens tends to develop only with physical ailments and complaints, and consists of the person actually altering their body to induce symptoms (i.e. eating excessive amounts of sugar to influence blood chemistry, taking certain medications, self-inflicted bruises, ect.) and a lot of Munch patients tend to fabricate medical history. It's not just making up a disease and saying you have it, but actually altering yourself to make it appear you have a disease for medical attention.

Whenever I go to a doctor, esp. a neurologist, they tend to give me the raised eyebrow look when I list what I have:

Fibromyalgia
Asperger's
Polycystic ovarian syndrome
Insulin resistance

When they ask me "are you sure," I simply direct them towards my evaluations. I can't fake PCOS, and most people who do falsely claim they have fibromyalgia do it for pain medication; I don't take anything for it, nor do I receive treatment, I just let it be.

That's BS. True, we are all different, but AS is just one way of categorizing our differences, and we have too many differences to classify as mere "quirks".

I definitely don't think that AS is Munchausen...but at the same time, I think I developed a lot of my AS traits because I "learned" what typical AS people were like through research, observation, and other sources, and unconsciously felt that I had to meet that stereotype.

I don't think I'd have half the little quirks I do now if I'd never been diagnosed with AS.