Teen whose mother is making them sick

[Anonymous]

What is the best course of action for a teen-ager whose mother is contributing to their chronic illness, taking them to unnecessary dr's appointments, keeping them out of school, and using the child's illness to win attention? The teen is afraid to rock the boat for fear of repercussions. Are there helplines to call?

[Anonymous]

What is your relationship to this teen? How do you know?

[Anonymous]

Is there a counsellor at the school that you can inform?

[Anonymous]

CPS report?

[Anonymous]

I am looking for resources that a teen can access on their own, I am not directly involved. I am hoping people will list resources here so the teen can access this page on their own.

[Anonymous]

Contributing to the illness how?

[Anonymous]

Send the teen this, OP:

https://www.verywellmind.com/munchausen-by-proxy-5071840

[Anonymous]

Google Munchausen by Proxy, I think.

[Anonymous]

Good luck. My step-kids' mom has munchausens by proxy. CPS is about all you can do. We finally got it a bit under control by leaning in. The 137 pound 5'2" 17 year old had already been taken out of school for two months to go to daily anorexia clinic. We pushed hard to get her into residential. it made no sense at all but finally all the medications were controlled by one source and the kid wasn't being brainwashed constantly. It was incredibly helpful.

[Anonymous]

In what way is mom seeking/receiving attention?

Do not diagnose Munchausen’s when you cannot possibly know all the details of the child’s health issues.

If teen does not like seeing so many doctors, they should have a regular visit with primary care, and ask to speak with them privately. Hopefully long term PCP will have a good sense of whether mom is actually a problem or if teen simply wants to avoid medical tests, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good luck. My step-kids' mom has munchausens by proxy. CPS is about all you can do. We finally got it a bit under control by leaning in. The 137 pound 5'2" 17 year old had already been taken out of school for two months to go to daily anorexia clinic. We pushed hard to get her into residential. it made no sense at all but finally all the medications were controlled by one source and the kid wasn't being brainwashed constantly. It was incredibly helpful.

This makes no sense as if you were pushing for residential the child needed treatment and clearly more was going on.

[Anonymous]

My child
Was recently diagnosed with a lifelong illness. It is hard. The doctor told me you almost have a type of ptsd worrying about every symptom and scared the illness is getting worse. Is it possible this is what’s going on. Do you understand the illness and all that is going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Google Munchausen by Proxy, I think.

Medical social worker here - it is now referred to as Medical Child Abuse. Creating a case of it is INCREBIBLY challenging. It takes a lot of time, details, and documentation. Even medical experts are challenged in understanding the nuances of what is happening and putting all of the pieces together to create a complete puzzle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the best course of action for a teen-ager whose mother is contributing to their chronic illness, taking them to unnecessary dr's appointments, keeping them out of school, and using the child's illness to win attention? The teen is afraid to rock the boat for fear of repercussions. Are there helplines to call?

Tell her to talk to the doctors privately and explain what's going on

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google Munchausen by Proxy, I think.

Medical social worker here - it is now referred to as Medical Child Abuse. Creating a case of it is INCREBIBLY challenging. It takes a lot of time, details, and documentation. Even medical experts are challenged in understanding the nuances of what is happening and putting all of the pieces together to create a complete puzzle.

Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA)