mademosiellebluebell has a wonderful way with words she has been writing about this little girl, her parents and grandma are not interested in her, she is a nuisance. They do not listen to her so she stops telling them anything , so when something does happen that her parents or grandma should of listened to her about , she did not bother to tell them. This is another poem for Child Abuse Awareness month.

Münchhausen By Proxy

Photo Credits http://www.olsonpediatrics.com/

Mummy says I am not well she made me take some of her medicine but I am not allowed to tell. I am feeling sick now, that is true but I was okay until I had to drink her brew.

Hospitals are almost my home we have been in one or another they are almost all I have known. I just get to like a place and make friends then we have to move on. I get so lonely maybe I shall be allowed to go to school soon then, I can move on.

I hate these tests my arms are like a pin cushion, the doctors and nurses are so nice and they always say mummy is so brave. I like that because then she will behave. Sometimes she makes me drink funny stuff or she cuts me and put the  blood in my wee….. I don’t like that it means more tests for me.

It always ends the same they tell mummy they cannot find anything wrong with me. She gets angry, then the Drs seem to change. Then off we go into the night again we flee. Mummy says it is an adventure  and we will find another hospital to make me well she hushes me when I say no, I am well she says “You Must Not Tell”

picture credit http://www.artslant.com/

Now at last mummy has said when we are settled and I can start school I was so excited but then I was vext. My beautiful hair she is going to shave off she said I have cancer  but I have not even a cough. Mummy got that angry look, no point to argue I can read her like a book.

I have to say I have cancer, “Tell the teachers, tell the girls let them see how brave you are.” she said delightedly. But I want my hair I do not want everyone looking at me ..pitying me. I am tired of only having tiny meals , no sweets no biscuits I have to keep thin. I have to look ill and always having to take the pills.

Mummy is right I do feel ill I am so empty inside it hurts I feel sick. Why must I be always ill does it have to be this way to give my mum a kick. Will I always have to look pale and sick for mum to get some kind of sick kick?

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Münchhausen by proxy is  a fairly un- common ‘illness’ where usually a parent or carer presents with a sick child. They often make the child ill by poisoning them or giving them pills or putting blood in their urine.

The mother or carer ( the Münchhausen suffer) often has some medical knowledge and is happy and at ease in a hospital environment. Strange as it may seem the Drs and nurses   do not always spot this as they do not suspect the parents/ carers to harm the patient.

Children who are subject to MBPS are typically preschool age, although there have been reported cases in children up to 16 years old, and there are equal numbers of boys and girls. About 98% of the perpetrators are female.

The long-term prognosis for these children depends on the degree of damage created by the perpetrator and the amount of time it takes to recognize and diagnose MBPS. Some extreme cases have been reported in which children developed destructive skeletal changes, limps, mental retardation, brain damage, and blindness from symptoms caused by the parent or caregiver. Often, these children require multiple surgeries, each with the risk for future medical problems.

I have written this poem for Child Abuse Awareness Month because it is an uncommon and insidious for of abuse. Blink and you miss it but it cause no end of damage.