Topic : 10/11 Munchausen Mom

I am a divorced mother with two wonderful children.  I have shared custody with the father of the kids.  He's a good father, as long as his mother does not get involved.  She is the problem.  My daughter hangs on her every word.  As a grandmother people think she is so caring and involved in thier lives.  The problem with this is that she is too involved.  I thought I was being paranoid, and that having a grandmother involved was a good thing, but now things have gotten out of hand.  In the begining my daughter was complaining of headaches.  I took her to the dr.s where they could find nothing wrong with her.  After awhile I was noticing that she was only succumbing to these headaches after she had spent the night with the grandmother.  Of course the grandmother made sure she was at EVERY doctor's visit and then when nothing was found wrong had me set up appts with dr.s in a larger city.  This went on for a year.  I started realizing that the grandmother was "overbabying" her.  This started to make me feel uncomfortable.  The dr.s in the big city found nothing wrong with her, but decided to put her on a powerful medication (the same medication that her father is on for his migranes).  Being a mother, I did what the dr.s told me to do.  The headaches seemed to go away for awhile, then about 6 months later came back.  The grandmother demanded more tests and I bowed to her wishes once again.  I knew as a mom something wasnt right.  She wasnt having these headaches with me, just when she stayed at her fathers house and was around her grandmother.  There was still nothing found that could say why she was having these headaches, and they wanted to increase this medication.  Its a type of bp med that I just was not comfortable with giving to my 8 yr old daughter.  I read up on the medication and over time weened her off of it.  She was no longer having the headaches and didnt have them for the 2 months that she was off her meds.  Finally I came clean to my ex and his mom about taking her off the meds and that she had had no headaches for these 2 weeks.  The father agreed with me that the less meds the better.  My ex mother in law threw a fit!  Next thing I knew she was taking my daughter to the dr.s (with my ex husband) and every time my daughter comes down with the siffles, wants my daughter put on an antibiotic.  I have let her have her way for about 2 years now, Im afraid that if I step in that the father will go for full custody.  His mother has him wrapped around her finger. 

   I put my foot down (softly) and was going to every dr,s visit with her and making sure of what she is telling the dr.  Now, my daughter is 11 yrs old and complaining of stomache aches.  She only has these when she has been around my ex mother in law.  I found out that she had taken my daughter to the drs and had her put on nexium without my consent ( but with the consent of the father).  She has no other problems other than her belly hurts.  My ex mother in law has gotten it into her head that my daughter has an ulcer and has proceded to tell my daughter this!  She is turning my daughter into a hypercondreacte (spelling).  Can a person who makes a child just believe she is sick have MSbP or is it just the phyical abuse that this diagnoses goes along with??  My daughter has a different ailment every time she spends time with her grandmother...

Please anyone with info on this please email me, its really getting me worried that even if she isnt physically making my daughter sick, she is messing with her mind.  Also, that someday my ex mother in law may take it one step further and give her something to make her sick!

Hi,

I watched the show with interest and an eerie sense that I may be a survivor (I'm 55 years old and have 4 sisters).

This would be the case if it is also considered Munchhausen when a mother terrorizes and abuses her children by obsessively attending health professionals and using alleged illnesses to excuse herself from her responsibilities.

I shall venture to learn more about the syndrome.

Thanks,

Helga