🤝 Community Munchausen's by Internet (Malingerers, Munchies, Spoonies, etc) - Feigning Illnesses for Attention

[toilet_rainbow]

Spoiler: Minor 'spoilers'

Her milk ends up slowing down a lot, so I don't think she's a very good candidate for her own thread. Maybe if she picks it back up in the future.

Understandable. Looking forward to the final parts and any future updates. Maybe a masterpost of your timeline posts would be a good compromise?

Ace Winters, meanwhile, has been as prolific as ever. Is at over 119,500 tweets now



She has been extensively looking up the effects of weed on Long Covid. This is a long analysis she did of one study she found

Spoiler: long

In addition, she left a review in a Long Covid community database for an infused lotion (archive). Since it's also lengthy and lacks paragraph breaks, I will be posting her review in a text box with added breaks (to the best of my ability) for your convenience and eye health

Spoiler: text

Cannabis Topical Cream by Escape Artists brand, sold in dispensaries in Colorado​

Chronic Illnesses: Long COVID POTS ME/CFS Autoimmune Migraine
Symptoms Treated: Brain Fog - Moderate improvement - <24 hours Chronic Pain - Moderate improvement - <24 hours Cognitive Dysfunction - Moderate improvement - 1-7 days Post-Exertional Malaise - Moderate improvement - <24 hours Body Pain - Moderate improvement - <24 hours Low Appetite - Major improvement - <24 hours
Side Effects Experienced: Dry Mouth - <24 hours

I have POTS, possibly as a feature of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, from my covid infections. With my first infection, I developed Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis. I developed POTS with my second infection, but over time symptoms gradually worsened, and either that same infection, possible phantom asymptomatic infections, or infections when I was symptomatic but couldn't afford tests may have worsened it into MECFS. With my latest infection, I've developed chronic joint pain, possibly caused by autoimmune psoriatic arthritis. In bouts of the worst nerve pain, joint pain, and PEM I've ever had, cannabis, and specifically this multi-compound topical cream product, has pulled me back from the brink, shortened my flares to days instead of weeks, and alleviated acute symptoms for a period of between four and six hours.

Applying this cream to my joints twice or thrice daily, or more often throughout the day in tiny amounts, in combination with a strict regimen of pacing [for every day involving concentrated activity, defined as exceeding 100 bpm heartrate more than twice and/or leaving my home for more than 15 minutes, I take two days of strict bedrest], has elevated me from mostly bedbound to mostly housebound, although it is not enough to fully "cure" me.

Cannabis, and particularly this cream, has been my only medication besides my thyroid HRT and over the counter vitamins and supplements. Notably, several times I have been in a state of pain delerium, after long periods of up to two months unable to afford this cream, I was bedbound and completely unable to move from my untreated symptoms. Unable even to roll over in bed, then reaching a critical point of pain delirium and acute brainfog where I began to thrash around or get up and pace briefly before collapsing, making it worse, and this cream helped with that. From a variety of states, especially at its worst before I had significant brainfog remission from Novavax, a single application of this cream to the back of my neck, along the spine, and around the lymph nodes, almost immediately alleviated my worst symptoms within thirty minutes, especially brainfog, to the point of being able to sit up and hold coherent conversations, and within an hour from a less severe starting point, stand up with help from a carer and walk to another room, and sit in the presence of mild sound and light for quality time with my family.

It costs $40 for a 2oz jar at the lowest strength, and $90 for the highest strength. I first knew about the product when I did heavy manual labor as a package handler during the period of mask mandates, and I would use the lowest strength cream for my aches and pains from work. A single jar would last me a long time.

After I began to experience POTS symptoms, I stepped up to daily applications, and as my symptoms worsened further over time and I became unable to work, I have titered to the higher strength cream, and rationed it to three applications per day, measured out on the tip of a popsicle stick, a dab covering about half a centimeter down the stick, usually around three dabs per application dose. I put one dab directly on the back of my neck and down my back as far as I can spread it and split it between my lower back if there's enough, split the second between my knees, elbows, wrists, and ankles, and split the third one between the joints in my hands. With this rationing, I sometimes skip or only lightly apply to my lower back, and that allows me to sit up on the couch for most of the day to monitor my toddler, sometimes walk with a cane to retrieve a few items to eat from the kitchen, and if I hit the PEM wall, I go back to lay down in the baby-proofed bedroom until my Spouse returns from work.

In combination with other forms of cannabis, such as live-rosin edibles, and smokable flower, medicating from the inside and outside, I almost feel like a human being, and can stand for several minutes, long enough to roll my manual wheelchair down a flight of stairs and roll around, and sometimes even take my toddler to the park next door to our apartment on my very best of days. I think that the most notable affect is that taking this cream daily over a long period of time builds up a better baseline that lasts for a couple of weeks after the cream runs out, almost like a grace period where the less effective smokable cannabis is still somewhat effective before I buy some more. But when it completely runs out for longer periods of time, such as longer than two months, my baseline gradually deteriorates, and smokable weed only prolongs the downslope back to bedbound, and starting the cream again takes about a week to even start the process of seriously recovering capacity to get out of bed independently.

Details​

• DosageThree fingertip sized dabs, thrice per day
• SourceCannabis dispensaries in Colorado
• Last used<6mo ago

Encouraged as ever, she bought a new bong at the mall and did an "irresponsible" amount of dab when she got home

Spoiler: full photo

She calculated the bongs as an inconvenient yet necessary purchase along with her son's medical bills this week (about $500 total). Rent's already late!







After completing such arduous tasks as buying bongs, going to Lowe's, and paying medical bills, she now requires minimum 4-5 days of bedrest

 

[Greedy Fly]

The way out she assesses a medical emergency in the air. The flight attendant thanked her for helping deconstruct their stereotypes against deafblind medical students and the pilot shook her hand!

I know babby doctors can be gung-ho about showing off their newfound status but is it really believable that she'd be hauling her fancy stethoscope and oximeter in her carry-on? (Who am I kidding she probably wanted everyone to have to see her pull it out of her bag at the security scan).

 

[Institutes of Justinian]

I know babby doctors can be gung-ho about showing off their newfound status but is it really believable that she'd be hauling her fancy stethoscope and oximeter in her carry-on? (Who am I kidding she probably wanted everyone to have to see her pull it out of her bag at the security scan).

My guess is that she carries the oximeter for herself. No notes on the stethoscope in hand luggage other than it is probably an expensive hearing aid compatible one that'd be a pain to replace if it went missing. If she's as deaf as she says she is, there's no way she'd be able to function as a doctor without it.

 

[Tram Fan]

The way out she assesses a medical emergency in the air. The flight attendant thanked her for helping deconstruct their stereotypes against deafblind medical students and the pilot shook her hand!

So basically somebody felt weak but was fine otherwise and just needed to lay down for a while.

The way back is all the war in Iran's fault. She was forced to fly the wrong way around the world from Fiji to LA to London instead of her very favourite Singapore Airlines and it took 43 hours with NO oxygen charging and NO lounge to strap on her NIV. In Fiji she was left stranded in a corridor and had to Facetime her parents in the middle of the night for help seeing her way back. In LA everyone was rude to her and wouldn't help her properly but it is a myth and a misconception that deafblind people cannot solo travel completely independently and you are an ableist if you don't believe she can.

Ola is retarded she should know after 10 years of studying allegedly that if she needs the O2 mask and she doesn't use it for a few hours she's gonna faint get hypoxia whatever. Stupid question but can she even go on a plane with an oxygen tank?

She has been extensively looking up the effects of weed on Long Covid. This is a long analysis she did of one study she found

Thanks for Ace content
Agh yeah when she gets weed studies she stops having her mind fatigue or whatever bullshit and can actually produce a decent text. This is all probably bullshit though I'm no scientist. It's not just like you lack endo, so we give you the exo version and you're fixed. This treatment if it works works only if you listen to your fucking doctor. She's gonna smoke weed in random quantities which will probably ruin the beneficial effects if any.
adhd requires stimulants not weed

 

[Kittehclaws]

Alexandra reminds me of a self driving car versus a car from the 1980’s. The self driving car is pretty much useless if anything fails but the 1980’s vehicle can be maintained (within reason).

In other words: hope all those Bluetooth accessories never fail when she plays doctor.

 

[Lesbian Grandma]

She calculated the bongs as an inconvenient yet necessary purchase along with her son's medical bills this week (about $500 total). Rent's already late!

"The amount we had to spend on the bongs" as a reason for your car payment being late is so funny to me, completely unnecessary purchases outweighing your main mode of transportation. These people could not survive without government gibs

 

[Zemblan Physics]

”science doesn’t know what inflammation is”was a new one to me. Yeah, people throw the term around a lot in ways that are scientifically inaccurate (don’t get me started on inflammatory foods), but I’m pretty sure there’s consensus on what an actual inflammatory process is.

Ace is an idiot, is what I’m trying to say.

 

[I call shenanigans]

Stupid question but can she even go on a plane with an oxygen tank?

You can take a portable oxygen concentrator. The airline needs to be notified in advance, and the passenger needs a medical clearance.

 

[NoodleFucker3000]

Bongs?! She doesn't need one but MORE THAN ONE?! This is literally the dril tweet.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Bongs?! She doesn't need one but MORE THAN ONE?! This is literally the dril tweet.

One of the bongs is supposedly for her husband (who also almost bought a shitty mall katana), as well. Both of theirs were “broken,” and neither had a dab rig. So His and Her pothead set ups > car note and rent



That being said, would not be surprising if Ace has multiple. She owns so much drug paraphernalia and wants more storage options for them like that stealth cabinet, or this

 

[Snickermycin]

I know all munchies are attention seeking, but Alexandra is something else. Her smug superiority makes me MATI.

The thing with Alexandra is I don't doubt she can do some medical tasks - palpate an abdomen, type shit, maybe even listen to heart sounds with her fancy stethoscope.
The problem, the MAJOR problem, is she cannot competently do most tasks, even the common easy tasks. And most concerning is that she THINKS she can. She can't see the entirety of the patient (see blue lips from metres away??), read the monitor from the other side of the patient, see an ultrasound. She is a liability, both legally and to her colleagues.
But, again, she doesn't know her limitations.
One thing that is hilarious though is that she is "surprised" that her fellow doctor-colleagues aren't as accepting as she anticipated. I've never encountered someone that I have wanted to give a reality pinch on the arm more.

 

[Institutes of Justinian]

That being said, would not be surprising if Ace has multiple. She owns so much drug paraphernalia and wants more storage options for them like that stealth cabinet, or this

What the actual fuck is the point of this? The need for an ashtray seldom arises outside of scenarios where someone isn't already smoking. Horse has bolted if you're only starting to worry about something being smokeless when you're collecting the ashes. Say what you will about regular smokers but at least the ones who are concerned about second-hand smoke go outside to do it instead of screeching about how they've got some bullshit smoke-free device that lets them do it from the comfort of their own sofa.

Spoiler

Semi-related but I'm in the process of compiling some posts from various uk-based medical marijuana subreddits and Facebook groups. I don't give that much of a fuck about the patients who quietly use their prescription but there are an increasing number who get it and then immediately start lighting up in places they know it will be an issue such as public transport, safety-critical job sites and hospital wards to start shit and then cry discrimination. Think auditors but a million times more retarded. Personal favourite was a guy having a tantrum about being told he wasn't allowed to do it on a fucking plane, but the guy who wrote off his car off while high and kicked off about being arrested for failing a roadside test was a close second. Half of them are prescribed it for stupid reasons (ADHD) or have a condition/history where it should be contraindicated (psychotic disorders). Might not be worthy of an actual post but the entitlement is truly something to behold.

 

[The Hoh Rainforest]

One of the bongs is supposedly for her husband

She has already posted earlier that her husband is the owner of their firearm, and that she, as a regular user of marijuana, regularly posses and handles the firearm. She is toeing right up against the line in these posts of publicly confirming that her husband is also a marijuana user.

 

[GenociderSyo]

 

[It's Never Leprosy]

Oh god, Danae and her weird Mormon family crack me up, they're so benign. 'Welp, time to chase her around the room for a few before bed... '. They know she isn't sick, so they've decided it's okay for her to be crazy instead, and that seems to suit her just fine. It's kind of sweet in a fucked up way. At least she isn't obsessed with the random iatrogenia like some other ladies here (mobility aids aren't tubes, blessedly).

Alexandra's little plane stunt made me so mad my eyes rolled back in my head. Man, her first few days in clinic regardless of rotation are going to be like having a bucket of ice cold water thrown on her. If she were here I'd give it a month, since overloading residents to the point of unsafety is often the goal in the US, but I have no clue how willing to hold her hand her deanery is going to be. I do know her other jr docs are going to be pissed off if she isn't having to perform the same grueling hours they are.

 

[Jimmy Dean Bowl]

Alexandra is so obsessed with being "the UK's first deafblind doctor" she didn’t stop to think whether that's a good idea.

"Hey Alexandra, assess this patient. Does he have any signs of clubbing?"
"Erm, I can't see his nails"
"Fuck off"

 

[Tram Fan]

You can take a portable oxygen concentrator. The airline needs to be notified in advance, and the passenger needs a medical clearance.

Okay I thought it wouldn't work well on an airplane.

One of the bongs is supposedly for her husband (who also almost bought a shitty mall katana), as well. Both of theirs were “broken,” and neither had a dab rig. So His and Her pothead set ups > car note and rent

she needs fancy stuff to extinguish her fags? whaaaaaaaaaaaaat in Poland we just use ashtrays or small plants not me of course xd yeah ace is amazing I didn't know you could waste money on fancy ashtrays and let's be honest she gives 0 fucks about purifying air.

She has already posted earlier that her husband is the owner of their firearm, and that she, as a regular user of marijuana, regularly posses and handles the firearm. She is toeing right up against the line in these posts of publicly confirming that her husband is also a marijuana user.

let's hope that when an accident inevitably happens, the child will be with somebody else like aunt.

Alexandra is so obsessed with being "the UK's first deafblind doctor" she didn’t stop to think whether that's a good idea.

"Hey Alexandra, assess this patient. Does he have any signs of clubbing?"
"Erm, I can't see his nails"
"Fuck off"

This is a wider problem will all this positivity disability movement. We started off with legless mountaineers which was not needed but okay it didn't harm anyone, but we had to keep pushing boundaries. Accept your disability and have a job that is suitable for you. She could have been a brilliant programmer. She could have been making movies - she's hard of hearing so she would make loud movies which would be audible to us all.

 

[Reddit Refugee]

Spoiler

Semi-related but I'm in the process of compiling some posts from various uk-based medical marijuana subreddits and Facebook groups. I don't give that much of a fuck about the patients who quietly use their prescription but there are an increasing number who get it and then immediately start lighting up in places they know it will be an issue such as public transport, safety-critical job sites and hospital wards to start shit and then cry discrimination. Think auditors but a million times more retarded. Personal favourite was a guy having a tantrum about being told he wasn't allowed to do it on a fucking plane, but the guy who wrote off his car off while high and kicked off about being arrested for failing a roadside test was a close second. Half of them are prescribed it for stupid reasons (ADHD) or have a condition/history where it should be contraindicated (psychotic disorders). Might not be worthy of an actual post but the entitlement is truly something to behold.

I for one would be very keen to see what's going on here.

This is a wider problem will all this positivity disability movement. We started off with legless mountaineers which was not needed but okay it didn't harm anyone, but we had to keep pushing boundaries. Accept your disability and have a job that is suitable for you. She could have been a brilliant programmer. She could have been making movies - she's hard of hearing so she would make loud movies which would be audible to us all.

Alexandra is going to do untold harm for the disability movement, particularly in medicine, if she has not already. No medical school is ever going to take a chance on a student needing the additional support they've had to provide Alexandra over the last decade. Any sensory impaired medical students following in her footsteps would have their legacy tarnished by Alexandra. If she crashes and burns out especially. If she had been a visually impaired hearing impaired student who kept herself to herself and was honest about her abilities and struggles and knew how to collaborate with her university/employers to make things better she could have been a good example. But that wasn't enough and she had to fall into the sickstagram traps. I spent some time scrolling back on her instagram lately and the old posts very clearly show her slow descent into this madness and it's kinda sad (though a lot of the early stuff just before she started having media appearances is very intricate health food arrangements which make me think an eating disorder kicked this all off). It's her utter dishonesty about absolutely everything and anything that makes this such a problem. She can't keep a straight story on her visual loss, hearing, day-to-day conversations with random strangers, what she did on her holidays but really importantly she's vague, avoidant and even just straight up lies about the discrimination she faces.

 

[Flourishing Pinecone ❧]

but is it really believable that she'd be hauling her fancy stethoscope and oximeter in her carry-on?

Absolutely, the steth could easily be hundreds of pounds and if it's lost or damaged in transit she won't be getting a new one in a hurry.

She can't see the entirety of the patient

This is one of my big issues with her. She can't do what is colloquially known as the "end of the bed-ogram" - the first impression of what the patient looks like when you walk in.
Is the patient alert? What monitoring are they on? Is there a vomit bag next to the bed? Is the patient attending to their hygiene? How many stuffed zebra toys are in the bed?

Say you get asked to review Mr Smith who is getting a bit confused an agitated. You walk in, and he's taken his pyjama top off and has scratch marks on his belly, which is looking a bit big for his otherwise thin frame. His skin looks dry, and is a bit yellow. He's constantly scratching like he's quite itchy, and you think he might have a bit of a tremor. He seems a bit suspicious of you and mentions seeing bugs on the wall, which are not actually there.

This is the kind of patient that you could confidently call a senior to discuss and say "I don't have any bloods or imaging yet, but from the end of the bed-ogram he's looking pretty unwell and I'm worried he might be withdrawing from alcohol and/or in hepatic encephalopathy. Could you come have a look at them and give me some advice?"

 

[It's Never Leprosy]

Or she could go into research! Like the options for non-clincian stuff are multitude. Why wouldn't she want to do those things? Things she could actually accomplish! She could study SCNs and develop treatments...I just don't understand this utterly ego-driven 'I MUST BE A CLINICIAN'. Not uncommon in those with a god complex, I know, but it's still surprising to see someone be so bald faced about it like this.

In some ways that reddit thread was a relief. Her peers know she's full of shit, her instructors at 2 of the 3 medical schools she had to attend knew, her deanery and superiors will know very soon. It's just so fucked up - imagine thinking your 'dreams' are more important than patient safety. It's just gross.

Will she have an ethical fitness evaluation as part of her residency? Like does the UK do the Casper test?