by kellycoyote » Tue Dec 11, 2007 5:19 am
Moose...
You seem incredibly self aware of your illness, the people I know with Munch are not and create much havoc. You should commend yourself, you will be able to gain better mental health!
I go through similar frustrations with my Bipolar II Disorder. Uncaring, annoyed health professionals that think they know more about my illness than me, but they don't. They don't even really listen. Maybe they are curt and condescending because they don't want to solve it, or maybe because it bruises their egos or sense of control that they cannot solve it like a math problem. But some healthcare providers, almost always psychiatric, are a lot more respectful and kind. Sorry about your mom, though.
My mother is a pain in the arse too, I just tell myself that she grew up in a time when the mentally ill were sequestered away, shocked into organic brain disorder and were the stars of horror movies. Psychiatry is coming out of the dark ages, and hopefully, we will no longer be veiwed as people incapable of reason, logic, self-study and even veiwed as folks who can live normal lives, if they just took the time to find out what kind of "insulin" we needed to correct our imbalance...what a concept!
I too am studying to become a psych nurse but to be an advocate and not another oppressor! All because of the incredible compassion and understanding I have gained about just how much pain the mentally ill are in from what we have to go through!
One question, if you don't mind....If you feel syptoms, then aren't you experiencing hypochondria, an anxiety disorder, as oppossed to an attention seeking disorder like Munch, to gain the status of a patient for attention?
For example, one lady I know, may actually have a tummy ache, but then tells everyone she surely ahe has internal bleeding (not that she's afraid she might, but that she actually does), including her kids, all her family, and goes to the hospital with it, to find that nothing is wrong, again.
But, it's always stuff like this at the same time...when someone else is getting attention or she did something bad and is trying to make up for it with sympathy, versus someone who is obsessed with the [b]fea[/b]r that they are sick, versus hooked on the need for attention. So, what creates the distinction for you...do you feel the fear of illness itself, or the impetus to exaggerrate it for attention. Just to be clear, no judgement here, i'm just super curious for my own training.
thanks, and I hope you find wellness,
Kelly