Factitious disorder: a rare cause of haematemesis

Epistaxis: An Unusual Presentation of Factitious Disorder

Introduction: About 1% of psychiatric consultations are concerned with a factitious disorder. Unlike malingering, factitious disorder is a special psychiatric disorder that should be taken into consideration by the medical staff. Case Presentation: This case reports a woman with fever and epistaxis as a primary clinical manifestation of a factitious disorder which was diagnosed and treated after further investigation and psychiatric consultation. Conclusions: Procrastination of diagnosis usually leads to an increase in the length of stay for unnecessary clinical and paraclinical investigations. The purpose of this case presentation was to raise the issue of psychiatric problems and their importance alongside physical problems.

Factitious Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Case Series and Review

Factitious gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is a manifestation of factitious disorder (FD) wherein patients feign GIB in the absence of external gain. As it can be a challenging diagnosis to make, factitious GIB often leads to multiple tests, exposure to contrast agents and radiation, invasive endoscopic and surgical procedures, an increased risk of iatrogenic complications, and increased healthcare costs. Patients who feign GIB often demonstrate characteristic behaviors that may go unnoticed unless they are explicitly addressed. We report a series of patients admitted to our institution for further evaluation of obscure overt GIB with an eventual diagnosis of factitious GIB and review of the epidemiology and development of FD, a diagnostic approach to factitious GIB, and current management strategies.