Who hasn't faked an illness at least once in their life, to get out of going to a work, school or a party or gathering you just really didn't want to go to?
In such cases, a simple call or message saying you're sick will often suffice.
Other times, a doctor's note might be necessary to prove that you are in fact sick.
While needing medical proof of illness is enough for some people to wave the white flag, others are a bit more determined, and will give the performance of their lives to try to convince a doctor they are ailing.
Unfortunately for them, most doctors can detect a fraudulent invalid before even inserting a thermometer.
Redditor LushLover13 was curious to hear the tell tale signs of a fake illness or injury which doctors can spot in the blink of an eye, leading them to ask:
"Doctors of Reddit, what are the dead giveaway signs that someone is faking?"
Believe Them First
"Brief note foe all the student doctors out there."
"People can pass stroke field tests and still be having a stroke."
"I could do everything on the list while I had a clot in my brain, verified by CT and MRI."
"Except I couldn't stop vomiting."
"Good times."
"Be aware sometimes sh*t doesn't look like you think it should."-Justbecauseitcameup
"I went to emergency once with intense chest pain."
"The young (new) doctor I saw first listen to my chest and immediately concluded I had pericarditis but the supervising doctor decided I was faking it for drugs for some reason."
"The next morning I woke up to a psychologist in my room asking all sorts of random sh*t when an orderly interrupted because the ultrasound guy was in and wanted to see me first thing."
"I think after talking to the first doc I saw."
"Turns out I had pericarditis and myocarditis and the dude wheeled me out himself and told them to order an ambulance to take me to a hospital with a cardiac clinic."- freeLightbulbs
homer simpson pain GIFGiphyPremature Reactions...
"I'm a nurse on a floor that deals with a lot of chronic and acute pain patients."
"Most recent instance was this lady from a few weeks ago that was apparently splitting the Oxycodone we were giving her in half in her mouth and then when the nurse's backs were turned, she would stuff it in a pill jar."
"A night nurse caught her in the act and all of her sh*t had to be searched."
"We found 20 half tablets of Oxycodone she had been stashing."
"She told us that she was 'saving them for her family in case they need them because it's just so hard to get an Oxycodone prescription these days'."
"I had her a few days after that, and she was having some abdominal pain ."
"STAT x-ray showed only gas."
"She just really needed to fart."
"But she was screaming, claiming it was a 10, and making a huge f*cking scene."
"She DEMANDED Dilaudid through her IV, and she wanted it to be pushed fast."
"Huge red flag right there."
"She wanted the high, not the relief."
"Doc straight up said he wouldn't give her Dilaudid because she was already on so many opiates."
"She then demanded Lorazepam, still through her IV of course."
"Doc was like fine whatever, just one time and only a low end dose."
"I was flushing her IV with normal saline first, to make sure her IV was patent, and she leans back and is like 'OOOOoooo that's so much better already'."
"Hadn't even given her the Lorazepam yet, smdh."- strawberrytaint
Everything Is Fine Reaction GIF by Tricia GraceGiphyDesperate Ways To Avoid Change...
"Obligatory not a doctor, but I got a call from my son's school nurse when he was in 2nd grade, and the conversation went like this:"
"Nurse sounding upbeat & cheerful says, 'your son wants to tell you his terrible news'."
"Son gets on the phone, says 'Hi mom, I cut my finger off'."
"I ask him, 'Where is your finger now?'"
"Son: 'I put it back on'."
"I said, 'Can I talk to the nurse?'"
"Nurse gets on the phone again, says, 'Sounds serious, right?'"
"I asked, 'does he have a substitute teacher today?'"
"Ahhhhh... yes."
"I told the nurse to let him know I will take him to the hospital for a shot for his finger, to which he says 'I think it's OK. I glued it on really good'."
"Nurse kept him in the office for a bit to talk about scary changes in the classroom."- cat9tail
Crying Wolf Ruins It For Everyone
"I don’t know why anyone would want to fake anything medical."
"Unconsciousness in particular."
"I got a compound fracture recently and called 911 on myself and was put on hold."
"Fun stuff."
"But got through and asked them to send help."
"Operator was a badass and kept asking me questions to keep me conscious."
"The ambulance folks arrive, casually got out of the ambulance, walk up to me and then saw the bone sticking out of my body, and said, quote, 'Oh! You’re actually hurt!'"
"YES! Did you think I called 911 because I spilled some lemonade?"
"Then it occurred to me that most of their calls must be horsesh*t."
"But to cause me even more confusion, I received close to a $2000 bill for the privilege of actual help and the ride to the hospital."
"That ludicrous bill is no fault of the EMS.
"I’m very much appreciative of their existence and they don’t get nearly enough credit, but the best part of receiving that bill?"
"The ambulance ride was roughly $1850."
"The fentanyl they gave me was $2.15."- KedaZ1
bart simpson run GIFGiphyCan You Repeat That?
"My sister is a pediatric audiologist and this is my favorite story of hers."
"Apparently, sometime in elementary school, usually the early grades, a ton of kids like to fake hearing loss."
"Like not just 'oh, I can’t hear the teacher'.”
"Full on, want to get hearing aids, etc."
"Anyway, she explained to me that based on the way she plays the tones, you can usually tell if someone is faking."
"Especially when they just pretend they can’t hear anything.'
"But it’s not 100%, obviously, because hearing loss patterns can be really weird."
"However, she’s caught a number of kids simply by saying, 'okay, so I’m going to play [a random number] of tones and they’ll go in both ears'."
"I want you to say ‘yes’ if you hear it and ‘no’ if you don’t'.”- rbickfor1988
People will likely continue to fake illness in order to get out of something till the end of time.
And power to anyone who can successfully dupe their doctor.
Though, there's anyone one should always be in a trusting, honest relationship with, it's the person in charge of making sure you're healthy.
Something to consider.
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