SYMPTOMS OF HYSTERIA
Hysterical neurosis with a somatic expression: "cathiémophrénose" [no english translation exists, roughly ~ distended abdomen due to hysteria, often associated with pseudopregnancy]
Please have a seat
I was asked to see you. Could you tell me about what happened, what led you to be hospitalized here [psychiatric unit]?
Oof
It seems that I have relapsed. I have been having a great deal of pain
You see, I was neglected...Well, it would be too long to explain...
I'll say I had a very sad childhood
Now I'm married, I have two children,
one will turn 4 years old on the 4th of December
the other will be 7 years old the 14th of December
I have two beautiful children. I have a husband who is very, very kind
But nevertheless, physically I am falling apart
You have health problems?
I weighed 77kg (170 lbs) when I got married,
and after I gave birth to my son, I went down to 37kg (82 lbs)
The pregnancy drained me completely, so that I was very anemic, I had nothing left
I can't regain the weight to this day
My blood pressure is chronically low
I was fainting, I was falling down everywhere
I was even hospitalized last in July, it's all quite recent,
I still have the notes from the hospital,
when I fell at a police station and was taken to hospital
I was falling at home constantly
My husband would to go to work very worried, he didn't know how he will find me when he returns
If I will still be in one piece or not
Once when I fell down, face first
It damaged my face
That time I didn't even feel the weakness coming on
And it's because of this that you've admitted yourself to hospital?
Yes, because the weakness was coming back
And because I was eating very little
I could hardly eat anything. And I don't sleep very much
It got to the point where couldn't handle it any more, my nerves were wrought
I feel so weak
My blood pressure is too low, my weight is too low
I try to put on weight
How is your eating?
I eat very little because I am struggling to adapt to my new teeth
When I fell down, I broke my front teeth, and had to have them all removed
They only left 4 front teeth, on the bottom, and no teeth left on top
My dental prosthesis was done at the hospital [mumbling name of hospital], where they took out all my real teeth
So your problems are difficulty eating, weight loss, insomnia
Yes, yes. And the belly
What is the concern there?
Yesterday it was completely flat, but this morning...
Could you please stand up to show me?
It has swelled up?
Does it swell up like this and goes down after?
Yes it gets big, then it comes down again and is small
It's as if they're inflating me with a tyre pump
As if we're inflating you with a tyre pump?
The problem is that it hurts
When did this begin?
It's gotten even worse since I've been here
I have a tendency to get very constipated
I have all these digestion issues and need to take a lot of laxatives
But the laxatives doesn't work anymore
And when I am feeling stressed
Or when I am disappointed
It becomes very prominent
I swell up in less than an hour. It is incredible
This isn't normal, you shouldn't suddenly blow up like this
And when I am very happy, the same thing will happen
Just the same, I will start inflating
How do you react to it?
How can I react?
I get very annoyed when my clothes won't fit me
and it is embarrassing. Embarrassing and painful
How do you manage with your clothes?
I found an old skirt that I hadn't worn for years
I brought it from home because there's nothing else I can wear
I am swelling from everywhere, sometimes I even start swelling from there, from the back
Nothing fits, and I'm wearing my old maternity clothes
On the subway a man offered up his seat to me, thinking I'm pregnant...
I turned red and didn't say anything, I just sat down
Everybody asks "when are you due?"
I am not pregnant, I have two and that is plenty!
It's always like that
And it happens often?
Yes often, very often
Some days it's totally fine, my stomach will be flat and I'll feel OK
And if you saw me the next day you wouldn't believe the change
I went to see my prosthetist last week
About your teeth?
Yes in St-Petriaire
I had to have my false teeth redone
Because I had even lost weight from my jaw
I didn't even realize it
So they had to redo the teeth
Dr. Benoit did the surgery
The first time he saw me, I was huge like today, or maybe even bigger
He took me in straight away so I wouldn't have wait
The following week, my stomach was flat again
I had an appointment with him on Friday afternoon, and he asked, "You've had the baby?"
I asked him: what baby? I wasn't pregnant.
He was confused
He said, "But last week you were pregnant, that's why I took you in urgently"
I said I wasn't, and if he had asked me then I would have told him that
He was...very surprised
He said, "That is astonishing!", and he couldn't understand
Do you have an explanation for why this happens?
I think it's my nerves, maybe
It is very unpleasant and painful, and the skin becomes so stretched
the skin on my stomach
I am very skinny
Maybe if i was heavier it wouldn't be as bad
Do you feel movement in your abdomen?
No, absolutely not
It isn't gas, although I also thought maybe that was the cause
I tried to use glycerin laxatives to relieve it
But it has no effect. Sometime I'll go to sleep after taking a laxative
Because it has no effect on me at all
And you were saying it happens very quickly?
Yes, within minutes
It's incredible how quickly it can happen
Even my husband....Yesterday I spent the day with my husband and my kids
And I wasn't big at all, I was even wearing pants, I wasn't fat
And in the evening, I became upset because they were leaving
and I started swelling
He asked me what's wrong? and I told him to look at my stomach
and a second after I was huge
I couldn't fit my pants any more, they were way too tight
I was trying to keep everything in place, the zipper was barely holding together
it was upsetting, and also very painful
Does it affect the way you walk?
I walk like a pregnant woman
Even my husband said so. That when I get big like this I start walking the same way as I did when I was pregnant
Ok. Thank you for coming in
He is very worried
He wants to know what's causing all this
why, and you know in our 11 years of marriage, I've only spent 3 years at home
just the time to have two kids and that's it
I want to be able to go back home to them
and never come back [to hospital]
Ok, thank you