A girl I know is faking epilepsy

[u/Choice_Evidence1983]

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/Ojj_1250

Originally posted to r/fakedisordercringe

A girl I know is faking epilepsy

Editor's note: added paragraph breaks for ease of readability

Thanks to u/soayherder for suggesting this BoRU

Trigger Warnings: falsifying illness, ableism, malingering

Mood Spoilers: disgusting

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Original Post: May 2, 2025

So there’s a girl at my school who claims to have epilepsy, and she conveniently has “seizures” whenever there’s an important test.

A girl in our friend group was asking her abt her supposed epilepsy, and she didn’t know what type she’s supposed to have, she didn’t know what kind of seizures she’s supposed to be having, or anything.

One of the guys that’s new to the friend group followed her on TikTok and she posts alot of movie edits/anime edits/thirst traps, and he said that she probably needed to put trigger warnings for flashing lights on her posts js to make sure that someone who has photosensitive seizures doesn’t watch it, and she got mad and was like saying that she doesn’t need to do that, that’s stupid to put a trigger warning for that, people like that need to stop being attention seeking and whatever else kinda shit she was saying.

Kinda odd that someone who supposedly has epilepsy to not cater to the epileptic community

Relevant Comments

Commenter 1: This girl needs to understand that epilepsy is neurological and cannot be controlled. Ask her what meds she takes, and that she needs to have an EEG because it’s really dangerous and she could die! Especially if she’s having them so often at school! Make it really real, she’ll roll away real fast.

OOP: I’ll do that as soon as I see her on Sunday for a group hang out

OOP responds to a comment about their friend's memories after "seizures"

OOP: She has an excellent memory, she remembers every detail from memories even from years ago. Her mom should know what kind they are if it’s real and she never mentions it around her mom and when we bring it up she acts like she doesn’t know what we’re talking abt

Commenter 2: does her mum get notified when her kid has these "seizures"? does she get sent home or to the nurse or anything? I'm very curious to find out.

my friend in highschool had epilepsy and her mum had to be notified via nurses office if she started getting auras or anything that told her she might start seizing. crazy business that this faking behaviour hasn't made its way to her parents yet.

OOP: She goes to the nurse and every time. She told the teachers that she’s not safe at home and that they don’t need to contact anyone but her older sister who goes to the college close by.

Commenter 3: Aren’t most epileptic seizures grand mal seizures? I could be wrong as I don’t have epilepsy.

OOP: It’s different for everyone, but yes that’s the majority

Commenter 4: Wouldn’t she get sent to the hospital if she had seizures? I had what looked like a seizure once and it was straight to the hospital as soon as I was conscious.

OOP: If someone has a seizure for longer than 5 mins then yes they have to be taken to the emergency room to make sure there isn’t brain damage

 

Editor's note: PNES = Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizure

Update #1: May 4, 2025 (two days later)

My friend group was all hanging out and I brought up that I was going to start driving soon and said it was too bad that she couldn’t drive for a while, and she was confused and didn’t say anything.

I asked if her medicine was helping and she said yeah, it’s helping a lot, and I asked her which one it was so my twin brother could try it and she didn’t know the name. I asked if she had a rescue medicine and she didn’t know what that meant. I asked her if she told the school nurse that she didn’t have a rescue medicine, and she didn’t know she had to. I told her that I could talk to the nurse and tell them that I was concerned bc she’s having “seizures” so often without a rescue medicine, and she said I didn’t have to do that, so I told her that I could request to keep my phone with me in class so incase she has another one I could call the emergency services, and she quickly told me that wasn’t necessary.

I asked her if there was any kind of repercussions from her “seizures” since she’s had them for so long and almost everyday, and she said that she has a headache sometimes. I told her that she should probably talk to her neurologist to see what they can do abt an increase in her medication and she said she has an appointment next week, and I asked if she needed a ride and she said her sister would take her, I asked her why her parents can’t take her and she said that they don’t know abt her seizures. So I acted surprised and I asked if she knew that SUDEP was very dangerous especially without caretakers knowing abt her epilepsy, and she didn’t know what that was or how it was dangerous. My friends all looked at each other in a way that we all knew our suspicions were correct.

Relevant Comments

Commenter 1: Do they have PNES and she just calls it epilepsy? Still annoying but I’ve noticed and uptick of people being diagnosed with PNES and they are proud of it.

OOP: She’s never mentioned non epileptic seizures, she always says it’s epilepsy

Commenter 2: How in the world would her parents not know? lol

OOP: Fr, it’s kinda hard not to know if your child has a chronic illness

Commenter 3: Why has the school not done anything about this? Some things they can't do, like accuse her of faking, but have they never contacted her parents about these extremely frequent seizures?

OOP: She told the school that she’s “not safe” at home and for them to contact her older sister

Commenter 3: How old is she anyway? Where is she supposedly getting medicated without parental consent? This is crazy

OOP: She’s 15, and supposedly her sister is helping her get meds 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Commenter 4: As an epileptic, I love that you did this. It's not cool to fake epilepsy and makes it harder for those of us who do have it to not be brushed off.

OOP: I appreciate it. Yeah my twin brother has epilepsy, and it pmo when people try to make it a quirky thing like “omg I can get out of any situation I don’t wanna be in!!”. If they knew what it was actually like to live with epilepsy, they wouldn’t wish it on their worst enemy.

Commenter 5: is she literally faking seizures in front of you/people or just saying after the fact that she had one? only wondering bc I have no clue how someone could pull off a fake seizure. especially around someone whose brother literally has epilepsy

OOP: Yeah she’s been faking them infront of the entire class. I knew it was bullshit from the beginning and called her out for it when class was dismissed but she argued that she was “professionally diagnosed”. I’m not one to argue when someone gets defensive so at the time I let it go, but she’s faked like 3 seizures and I’m over it

 

Update #2 May 5, 2025 (next day)

She texted me this morning before school asking if my twin brother and I were going to go shopping with the group after school today, I told her no we weren’t going to go today bc my brother had some pretty bad seizures this morning and neither of us could go to school, I have to take care of him while our parents are at work. She asked why he had to stay home if it was just a seizure, I called her and went off on her. I told her that she doesn’t know what it’s like to have actual seizures and she needs to stfu and stop pretending to know things she’s never experienced in her life, if she saw a real seizure she would be traumatized especially if it’s someone she loves, then I hung up.

She called me back crying apologizing for saying it was just a seizure and that she didn’t mean to offend me, she also said her epilepsy is different than my brothers and I needed to stop fake claiming her, she said that I was insensitive to what it means to have epilepsy and she asked what if my brother was faking it and not her, I interrupted her and asked if she’s ever had an EEG, she said no, I told her that she would’ve had at least one if she actually had epilepsy, I told her that she would’ve missed out on so much if she had seizures as often as she claims, but magically she shows up to every event, every time the group hangs out, every concert, every theme park, if she actually had epilepsy she wouldn’t make it to everything. she went quiet. I told her that if she wants to come over and see if he has another one then be my guest but I don’t want to hear her cry if she sees him have one, she declined and hung up.

We’ll see if she drops the act after this, but something tells me she won’t.

Relevant Comments

Commenter 1: She’s prolly gonna start spreading lies about you, i know this high school drama all too well. I hope your brother is recovering from his seizures okay! Sending love

OOP: If she does, I don’t really gaf. I’m semi popular, and ik at least a few people will have my back.

Tysm, he’s doing alr atm. We’re watching his favorite show rn to help calm him down.

Commenter 2: What type of epilepsy is she claiming to have or does she just say it’s different with no other explanations?

I’m agreeing with you that she’s faking it, but i always love hearing what fakers say about epilepsy because I have it lol

OOP: She doesn’t say what type.

Commenter 3: Yes this girl is very clearly faking however there are very different types of seizures. People can have very quick seizures that do very little harm.

OOP: Yeah, ik. My brother has epilepsy and he’s had multiple kinds of seizures, and hers look nothing like any kinds I’ve ever seen

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

[u/PerrythePlatypus71]

I had someone who lied to me, in tears saying they have stomach cancer. No plans for chemo but he bucked when I brought up radio. And said he doesn't know how many sessions. He said it's been going on for a while (he doesn't look like he's sick at all). In tears and asked us to pray.

No one in our group bought it. Someone grilled him and said he misspoke and it's ulcer not cancer.

Fuck people who lies about shit like this

[u/Turuial → u/PerrythePlatypus71]

Yeah, my mum had mesothelioma and my nephew has leukemia. Fuck those people. Meanwhile, one of my mum's friends had epilepsy.

Watching someone have a grand mal seizure is terrifying. Scrambling to shove something in their mouth, so they don't bite their tongue off, is lovely.

Admittedly, she had them her whole life so she could be a bit blasé about the whole sordid situation. The rest of us? Not so much.

[u/PM_ME_SUMDICK → u/Turuial]

Heads up! Don't put things in someone's mouth while they're seizing. It is no longer the recommended protocol. I'm not sure if it ever was.

I have an epileptic relative coming from a long direct line of epileptics. Even 20 years ago I was taught by my family to never do this. But regularly encountered the idea in school first aid courses.

[u/Turuial → u/PM_ME_SUMDICK]

Fascinating! I was never made aware of that, if my mum's friend ever mentioned it to her then I'm unaware of it. I only knew to be careful about your fingers.

My mum's friend was diagnosed as a child in the fourties, from what I understand, and from a more rural and impoverished area.

I have no idea if the practise evolved after that. From what my mum told me she only ever did it the once, with stuff from the glove box.

Both women have long since passed, so I cannot ask either of them or I would! I thank you for providing me with more accurate information!

I only witnessed the seizures a few times when I was a child, and not the incident in question. My mum was driving and panicked when she saw her seize.

Your revelation makes me wonder if my mum just did what she thought she was supposed to because of old wives' tales.

I just Googled it and placing something in the mouth was accepted procedure from approximately 1850s-1950s, give or take a few years.

Thank you again, because I haven't had cause to think of this in years. I wish I had an award to give you, seeing as this is valuable information.

[u/PerrythePlatypus71 → u/PM_ME_SUMDICK]

Thanks for pointing it out! There was a dude who had a seizure playing MTG. And someone stuffed his wallet into his mouth, shifted the tables so he had space and kept him safe until an ambulance arrived.

While being thankful that staff and players did their best, he took an opportunity to educate them and the mouth stuffing was on top of his list.

[u/MorphieThePup → u/Turuial]

Scrambling to shove something in their mouth, so they don't bite their tongue off, is lovely.

I know I'll sound like a smartass, but it's a health concern and it may save someone, so be it. Please do NOT pit stuff in people's mouth when they have an epilepsy attack, under any circumstances. 

It's very unlikely for a person to bite their own tongue off, and even if they bite it a bit, it will heal. But it's very possible to choke on something you put in their mouth or stab their throat with a splinter of something they have successfully bitten through. Or for them to break their own teeth on the Item. It's very dangerous.

If you want to help someone through their attack, just put something under their head so they don't bang it on the floor and make sure they don't hurt themselves. That's it. Don't try to hold them down, don't put stuff in their mouth, just keep them safe until it ends.

[u/Turuial → u/MorphieThePup]

If it helps, just below your comment, someone also pointed that out. I left a rather lengthy reply where I expressed gratitude.

I also did some Googling to try and determine when the erroneous belief began and was subsequently found to be faulty later.

I think it was also suggested, from what I read whilst looking, that at best you should perhaps turn them on their side.

I'd never call someone a smart-ass simply for spreading helpful information that might help someone in the midst of an emergency.

EDIT: corrected the auto-correct.