Every doctor has experienced patients who create symptoms or exaggerate them mainly seeking attention. They hop from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital, producing thick charts, undergoing unnecessary admissions and even surgeries supposedly from a mental illness. This disorder has a name - Munchhausen's syndrome
Karl Frederic Munchhausen was a minor nobleman, a country gentleman with a large estate. He was born in 1720 and joined the Russian army and served there till 1750.
He returned to his home in Badenwerder. He has an extraordinary skill of story telling. He would tell terrific stories about his pole in wars and his other adventures mostly from his fertile imagination. Most of the events never happened or were greatly exaggerated. Rudlf Raspe in 1771 collected some of these cleverly put stories and published a book. He had to persue a series of lawsuits to protect his name.
The stories included some of these - An effect of storm in Ceylon; how he flogged a wolf( which had attacked him) till its skin turned inside out; Story of an extraordinary horse presented by Count Prozobossy with which he performs extraordinary feats and continues to do so even when the horse has been sevbered into 2 parts; A brass cannon travelling to the moon; building a bridge from Africa to Great Britain; How he sieged Seringapatam; His combat with Tippu Sultan and such other spooky tales
This condition differs from hypochondriasis and other somatoform disorders in that the patient does not intentionally produce the somatic symptoms. Emotional trauma during childhood or adolescence may be the contributing factors. In Arrhythmogenic Munchhausen, the arrhythmias are simulated. Munchhausen syndrome by proxy is a condition where the parent will ensure that the child will experience some medical affliction compelling the child to suffer the treatment and to spend a significant portion of the youth hospital hopping and doctor shopping. Some of them even undergo repeated surgeries simulating surgical illnesses.
In 1951, Richard Ashner published a paper in Lancet and titled it as Munchhausen's syndrome after this person. This was to give medical attention to this condition.
One has to suspect Munchhausen's syndrome when new symptoms keep cropping up every time a negative report comes. They are eager to undergo new tests, may have multiple surgical scars, history of visiting many doctors and many hospitals.
Baron Munchhausen became very famous. Books were written about him. Plays, and movies were made about his life. Illustrated comics were produced about his exploits. A puzzle/ hidden object game was produced which was named after him in 2012. In Russia, there is a club named "Munchhausen's grandchildren". Germany has arranged international tourism including the places visited by him. A museum was opened in his name where he had stayed with his wife. A commemorative coin was released by Latvian Central bank. In 1994 a main belt asteroid was named 14014 Munchhausen in honor of the Baron.
Karl Frederic Munchhausen was a minor nobleman, a country gentleman with a large estate. He was born in 1720 and joined the Russian army and served there till 1750.
He returned to his home in Badenwerder. He has an extraordinary skill of story telling. He would tell terrific stories about his pole in wars and his other adventures mostly from his fertile imagination. Most of the events never happened or were greatly exaggerated. Rudlf Raspe in 1771 collected some of these cleverly put stories and published a book. He had to persue a series of lawsuits to protect his name.
The stories included some of these - An effect of storm in Ceylon; how he flogged a wolf( which had attacked him) till its skin turned inside out; Story of an extraordinary horse presented by Count Prozobossy with which he performs extraordinary feats and continues to do so even when the horse has been sevbered into 2 parts; A brass cannon travelling to the moon; building a bridge from Africa to Great Britain; How he sieged Seringapatam; His combat with Tippu Sultan and such other spooky tales
This condition differs from hypochondriasis and other somatoform disorders in that the patient does not intentionally produce the somatic symptoms. Emotional trauma during childhood or adolescence may be the contributing factors. In Arrhythmogenic Munchhausen, the arrhythmias are simulated. Munchhausen syndrome by proxy is a condition where the parent will ensure that the child will experience some medical affliction compelling the child to suffer the treatment and to spend a significant portion of the youth hospital hopping and doctor shopping. Some of them even undergo repeated surgeries simulating surgical illnesses.
In 1951, Richard Ashner published a paper in Lancet and titled it as Munchhausen's syndrome after this person. This was to give medical attention to this condition.
One has to suspect Munchhausen's syndrome when new symptoms keep cropping up every time a negative report comes. They are eager to undergo new tests, may have multiple surgical scars, history of visiting many doctors and many hospitals.
Baron Munchhausen became very famous. Books were written about him. Plays, and movies were made about his life. Illustrated comics were produced about his exploits. A puzzle/ hidden object game was produced which was named after him in 2012. In Russia, there is a club named "Munchhausen's grandchildren". Germany has arranged international tourism including the places visited by him. A museum was opened in his name where he had stayed with his wife. A commemorative coin was released by Latvian Central bank. In 1994 a main belt asteroid was named 14014 Munchhausen in honor of the Baron.
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