lol your all kinda funny lately.... thinking i make stuff up it's not real etc. what is up with all of you??
Jen, am I being funny too? Please go back and read my posts to you (including the ones that got deleted by mods - I am NOT happy about that!).
The problem as I see it, is multiple - you post about problems, expressing them in extremely strong and emotional terms and, frankly, too negative at times. I stepped in at the beginning of this thread and tried to put in some perspective, because from what you described I felt that this school visit had a lot of good points, and to expect more at that moment was perhaps unrealistic. I DO think the school counsellor here did a great job. However, I do accept that I do not know your daughter. But then - the school counsellor can only work with her own knowledge base, and that clearly does not come from a point of personal knowledge of your daughter. How could it? SHe hasn't been to school this year, and SHOULD have had an IEP. Given all your efforts, your struggle to get an IEP for so long, it is criminal that there isn't one. By now I'd be calling in the media.
it is all very real, my life. from the hospitalizations, to the school issues to all of it. sorry it's unbelievable yet my life truly doesnt' allow me time to come in here and make stuff up... that would just be odd also. I would never think anyone would do that and that would probably have a name for itself in a form of a diagnosis lol.
Jena, there IS a name for it - Munchausen's by Internet. A variant on Factitious Disorder. Sadly, I have known a few people with some form of Factitious Disorder, and it can be very problematic. Interestingly, one obvious facet I recall from these people was the tendency to be VERY reactive, to attack at the slightest hint of scepticism. I remember my head reeling at times from the apparent unprovoked attacks, simply because I uttered the phrase "Wow! That's incredible!" meaning, "That is astonishing!" But it was taken as me not believing them when at that stage I had not 'wised up'. Your often hostile response at times (and I am sorry to have to mention it, you do this even with minimal to no provocation) sadly fits this. Of course it may be pure coincidence - if your life really is like this, it would make some people more inclined to be reactive and to feel paranoid.
Other hallmarks of Factitious Disorder include a sort of censorship of information; nobody may make contact with anybody else in the person's life. All knowledge about the condition in that person's life has to come via that person (or the person with Factitious Disorder). Information about the past is very tightly controlled - a problem with the Internet because we can always go back and check posts. We could go back years. This means that any lies told would be there to be cross-checked, if anyone had the time or inclination.
Another interesting hallmark of Factitious Disorder -
Incredible self-centredness, often hidden beneth a mask of heroism.The focus is often on 'people love me, people say I am doing so well, how much they admire me' which can rapidly and unpredictably swing to 'everybody is mean to me; I'm going to take my bat and ball and go home.' One woman I knew used to tell me that the specialist we shared loved her more than he loved me.
As I have said on this site, I am a writer. I am qualified to write medical articles and often do. I have just written an article on Factitious Disorder, if anyone is interested. I personally find the topic fascinating, thanks to my past deep experience with it, having had to work as a counsellor with people with this condition.
So in answer to your comment - sadly, there are people who do this, and perhaps that is one more reason why some people (not all) are reacting to what they perceive to be your apparent inconsistencies and reactivity.
Why should this matter? Because it is becoming increasingly apparent that when a Munchausen's by Internet person invades a support forum, it risks destroying that forum. Opinions are often polarised (despite your observations that EVERYONE is sceptical and 'being mean') and this can drive a permanent wedge between members, especially when this IS a soft place to land. In the real world as well, this sort of behaviour can and does destroy support networks. Again, I have seen this happen. I had to leave one network because I had become the focus of hostility for one woman I believe to have been a Munchausen's by proxy case. I never expressed my scepticism to anybody at all, but I'm sure she knew. Or was attacking before I could 'blow the whistle'. She began attacking the entire support network, I believed in her attempt to get at me. Sadly, my departure did not save the group. It still exists, but is a shadow of its former self. All the hard work I put in when I ran the group, has gone. Her single-minded hostility had to destroy, sadly.
One last thought for us all - yes, this is a soft place to land. But if you jump off the top of the Empire State Building, NOWHERE is a soft place to land! There has to be some common sense prevail.
And to the moderators - lock threads by all means, but PLEASE do not delete threads unless there is in them something totally offensive and inappropriate to the site. I do not see any of this discussion, or the previous one on Watercooler, as inappropriate. Because in there with some of the expressed scepticism, was some very useful and directed support and advice. I found the repeated request by Jena to remove the Watercooler thread, to be a concern and also indicative of a realisation of perhaps having said too much. As a writer, I know how often we reveal a lot about ourselves especially when we write from the heart and write impulsively. But it does often make the best reading!
So, Jena, whatever you decide to do, wherever you go, whether you stay or not - I wish the best for you and your family. A healthy, happy future. You can be a part of making this happen - it is what we all individually are trying to do for ourselves, and this site helps us support one another to do that.
Marg