Do you ever consider 'faking'?

[Micky82]

Hi

Just wondered if any of you guys ever think about exaggerating your symptoms to your GP to be taken more seriously.

The other night I was on a real skitz out about brain tumours. I felt I had all the symptoms and a visit to the opticians a couple of months back has heightened these fears.

Anyhow I was actually going to go to A&E and tell them that I had passed out to try and get examined properly. In the past I have considered telling my doc that I am coughing up blood to try and get an endoscopy or proper chest examination. I have only ever thought about these kind of things, never actually done them.

Am I a total freak or has anyone else had similar thoughts?

[patmac]

i think lots of people will of had these thoughts, if you really want to see the doctor then you (could) make the symtoms a little worse sounding than what they are as long as you dont lie!!!
what did the optician say? x

[Micky82]

I visited them as I was worried about one pupil being noticeably larger than the other. After examination he said he could see pressure behind that eye and immediately referred me to eye casualty. I went there and had numerous eye tests (though no neurological tests / scans) and was assured all was OK and they could not even see a difference in the size of my pupils.

I consulted my cousin who is an experienced optometrist and she said with the tests they do at the hospital the chances of them missing something are pretty much zero. I also had an appointment with her and she assured me she could see nothing.

This reassured me for a long time but it is always at the back of my mind - why was the optician so worried? Whenever I get the headaches / dizziness etc. my mind refers back to this. The pupil still gets bigger at certain times and this also still worries me a lot.

[patmac]

you have been really lucky you have had 3 different appointments, i think the optician does checks for glasses and if they see anything slightly different they refer you for a hospital appointment, why dont you share your concerns with your cousin again.
your headaches are prob caused by the stressing out!!

[scorpionwhispers]

My left pupil always looks slightly bigger, because the eye is weaker the pupil is larger to absorb more light to do the same job as the other one. I worried about a brain tumour and was aware that in some photos my pupil was large enough to look like I was on pills (ecstasy) - even though I obviously wasn't. It is exacerbated by tiredness and more noticeable in semi-light. Optician said that was the reason for the difference in pupil sizes.

Hope this helps x

[UFC_fan]

I had one pupil bigger than the other one at xmas, ironically it was when I was at A&E because my sight had gone blurry. I hadn't noticed it EVER but the doctor did so they gave me a CT scan. It was clear and I then saw the optician who referred me to the opthamologist, I did it privately so didn't have to wait long however by the time I did see him he couldn't see any difference in size!!!

I now notice that sometimes one is bigger but then sometimes they are about the same, I'n not too worried about it now and have noticed my daughter has it also, although hers is there all the time (she is getting looked at in a few weeks too).

I'm still convinced there's someething wrong with me Neurological wise, just not a brain tumour now, I worry about othe progressive diseases brought on by my speech being less fluent than normal.

Fun isn't it this HA stuff

[f4Gg0t_43]

Exaggeration is fine I guess, but don't make up symptoms. If you throw "coughing up blood" in there, they made start you on some medication for something you don't have, or it might make your doctor think you have something different then what you intended them to think you had.