Q. I suspect that a friend of mine is suffering from Munchaussen Syndrome. She is the mother of a 5 month old baby boy. Could you please help me to understand what this syndrome actually is. I am having trouble finding information on this subject. I am curious of the symptoms and treatment.

  A. The syndrome is one in which patients hurt themselves and pretend something medical is actually the cause. For example, some folks will inject feces under their skin to get infected and gain medical care. Others have taken small amounts of toxic substances with known medical effects that may mimic other diseases. The most common occurrences of this syndrome is in health professionals, often nurses. Self injury by cutting is not considered part of this. Putting feces in the cut after the doctor in the emergency room sew up the cut, however, could be part of this.

Treatments are varied, but the majority of patients have characterological problems with the illness, so the treatment must also address this. I do not treat this very often, and it is a fairly rare illness.