- Highlight
- #1
Aubrey Ahna (nee Aubrey Winkie,) is a young woman with Munchausen's who protrays her life online as a virtual medical soap opera your mom watched in the 80s. She gets triggered when the doctors don't give her exactly what she wants, then goes on angry rants about them on Instagram Stories. Aubs resides in Austin, Texas. (At least when she is not driving all over the American Southwest doctor shopping to find doctors who will diagnose her with whatever illness Aubrey wants to be diagnosed with.) She spends most of her time looking for attention on the internet and shopping for doctors, ERs, and hospitals that will give her the most invasive medical treatments for her made-up illnesses. Over the course of 2016 to now Aubs has claimed to have Chronic Lyme Disease, Babesia, Epilepsy, Narcolepsy, Gastroparesis, Pancreatitis, POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome,) MALS (Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome,) Cancer, Diabetes, Dysautonomia, Carcinoid Syndrome, CVID (Common Variable Immunodeficiency,) “deadly” genetic mutations including Check2 and MEN, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Endometria, Gall Bladder issues, Anemia, and more. Much of this can be disproven by basic probability (what are the chances of 1 person in their 20s getting all these diseases within the same 2-3 year period) and scientific evidence. The only real ailments that Aubrey has are caused by the medical instruments she has surgically inserted inside herself (ports and tubes) getting infected and side effects from taking all the medications she doesn’t need, as well as likely Munchausen's and an Eating Disorder.
Lyme Disease Saga:
Aubs' Instagram began as a personal Insta showcasing her love of hiking, dogs, concerts, normal 20s hipster stuff. Then, Aubs jumped on the Chronic Lyme bandwagon (which is not medically recognized as a disease, Lyme is only a short-term illness cured permanently with 1 course of antibiotics according to all scientific evidence, but there are some natural wellness quacks who will diagnose it to the highest paying customer.) She found a doc who would give her long term antibiotic therapy for her fictious Chronic Lyme for the right price. This is where we first see the infamous PICC line. https://web.archive.org/web/20070415220522/http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Treatments/Chemotherapy/Linesports/PICCline Which the quack infuses long term antibiotics to Aubs through.
First post with the PICC line, Aubs making her nice Christian husband be her nurse
Aubs is bitter when basically every other doctor tells her Chronic Lyme is a scam, this is six months into her antibiotic infusions
Eventually her PICC is replaced surgically for a PortACath (similar to PICC, port to infuse drugs into) on her chest.
About this same time it appears Lyme quack also diagnosed her with Babesia, another tick-borne illness (seems pretty rare) and the epilepsy hashtag starts appearing out of nowhere.
Some nonsense about Dr. Quack saying something about "mold toxicity" from her Lyme, which Lyme is a Bacteria so it makes no sense.
She writes an angry article about the 99% of doctors who said she was full of shit on the alt med cite Mighty Well https://web.archive.org/web/2018102...-letter-to-the-doctor-who-ignored-my-illness/
Eventually, Lyme takes the backseat as Aubs begins to focus more on her other more sooper serious illnesses.
POTS (Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) Saga:
Lyme quack also diagnoses Aubs with POTS, although him being a quack take this one with a grain of salt.
Aubs eventually doctor shops enough to find someone to prescribe her IV saline for POTS (even though that is usually a last resort, Aubs didn't want to try any less invasive methods first)
The PortACath stays around so Aubs can have saline injected in it.
Gastroporesis/GI problems Saga:
Aubs ER shopped for an ER that would run a battery of gastrointestinal tests on her, eventually she went home with a nasogastric tube, (Aubs is severly underweight at this point, so it could have been for that and she's just not telling us) she claims it is for Gastroporesis which in reality could be caused by an underlying eating disorder or a side effect of all the medications she is taking.
Aubs' meds:
(some of these are actually drugs used to treat mental illness, but suspiciously Aubs hasn’t brought up having mental illness despite claiming to have every other illness under the sun.)
Aubs' very underweight ana body:
Aubs' Nasogastric tube falls out accidentally on purpose! (She's angling for a surgically-implanted tube directly into her stomach!)
And she also shills for tube formula company Kate's Farms in this one, bonus!!
Because her Nasogastric tube "fell out," she gets a special surgery to get a tube directly on her belly:
She's the most excited person ever to get a GJ tube (tube opens outside her belly, goes into her stomach, and an internal tube goes from stomach to the middle part of the small intestine, called the jejunum) surgically inserted after another trip to the ER not long after her first stomach surgery.
Here is ProAna Aubs showing off her new tube, she is oddly happy about it (keep in mind a lot of people with severe eating disorders also get stomach tubes, but Aubs claims it’s for gastroparesis):
Also, note her health insurance card is in her phone case instead of a credit card like most people.
Aubs heads back to the hospital to get her GI dangler replaced with a GI button to wear it long term, and she is WAY too happy about it.
Aubs graduates to TPN (which is injecting nutrition directly into the bloodstream) by injecting it through her chest port. Supposedly this means she still isn't gaining weight.
Cancer Saga:
After undergoing a Celiac Plexus block procedure (which is where a doc injects painkiller into the nerve center called the Celiac Plexus for people with the most SEVERE abdominal pain, which evidently Aubs convinced everybody she had,) the doc reportedly found a growth on Aubs’ pancreas and wants to do a biopsy on it.
Aubs is immediately deciding that it's a tumor even though the biopsy hasn't even been done yet. Here’s an article with some solid radiographic images relating to the celiac plexus, and an overview of why a celiac plexus block is used. https://archive.md/pxHBJ
Then Aubrey proudly announces that she has Pancreatitis, and her Celiac Plexus Block procedure could have caused it! She is elated to be in hospital again.
Aubs announces she doesn’t have a tumor! Then, a few days later actually she does!! Turns out she has the uber-rare Neuroendocrine tumor (something usually diagnosed in the elderly) and remains vague about if it is cancerous or not.
In reality, there are concretely outlined methods for determining if a neuroendocrine tumor is benign and the extent of the aggressiveness of the tumor if it is malignant. This article is a good consult for a scientific overview. https://web.archive.org/web/20181023180411/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3095463/
Aubs happily announces she has "Cancer" despite informing us if the biopsy found tumor is benign or malignant, she remains vague about this.
Aubs finally gets the mass removed and also claims to have another tumor, we never find out if the tumor was benign or malignant.
MALS (Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome) Saga:
After learning of another Spoonie Warrior who had MALS, Aubs decides she has MALS. The Median Arcuate Ligament is a ligament near the Diaphragm and the Aorta (which is the main artery in the body.) According to this Journal https://web.archive.org/web/20161004032941/https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/rg.255055001 It is estimated that in 10-24% of normal, asymptomatic individuals the median arcuate ligament crosses in front of (anterior to) the celiac artery, causing some degree of compression. Meaning up to a fourth of us have this ligament pressing down a bit on our Celiac Artery (a major artery coming off the Aorta) and NO symptoms. However, Aubs decided she was in the minority of people who have pain from this, and doctor shopped until she found a guy who would operate on her by slicing up her MA ligament.
Notice instead of all her surgeries being done at one local hospital, she is traveling all over doctor shopping and each Instagram post for each surgery is naming a different hospital. This one is at Harris Hospital, while her previous have been at Baylor, Dell Setton, St. David's South Austin, Southwest Pediatrics (she's in her mid 20s?) and a bunch of other ones.
"Bloating," Abnormally Curved Back Saga:
What happened: Aubs posted a picture on her Instagram of her supposedly "bloated" stomach from her "gastroporesis." Her followers called bullshit on this as she basically just curved her back really far so that it looked like her stomach was bloated even so it was not. Aubs proceeded to go on an angry rant about the "hate" her followers had about her "naturally very curved back."
Here is her Instagram story post showing her original post and her justification that her back is naturally that curved.
Rant comment: she blames it on the evil doctors not giving her the "right tube."
(apparently the Mayo Arizona doctors gave her a G tube instead of a GJ tube which is getting Aubs very triggered)
She claims the followers are bullying her by "making fun of her curved back."
CVID (Common Variable Immunodeficiency) Saga:
Some doctor somewhere must have seen Aubs, an otherwise healthy-looking woman in her 20s, and then seen her laundry list of ailments, and he must have thought the only explanation for this was that Aubs was immunodeficient! Cue in the CVID saga. A bunch of her followers got frustrated that Aubs is getting started on IVIG infusions (infusions of antibodies from healthy plasma donors) because plasma antibodies are in such a shortage (and she doesn’t really need them.) Aubs responds with a passive aggressive message in her photo description.
She was mentioned/discussed in several lolcow archived threads: (You may have to CTRL F "aubrey" to find her the threads are long)
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #17
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #12
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #16
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #12
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #14
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #10
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #11
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #9
Aubs' social media accounts: (anyone want to help me archive, have at it!)
Instagram* aubreys.healing.journey
Youtube** Chronicles of a Chronically Ill Girl
*the Instagram is down or the name of it has been changed by Aubs
**Aubs has changed her youtube to 'joe johnson' in an effort to cover up her tracks although we all know it's her and nobody is really named 'joe johnson'
"Did she marry me for the insurance?"
Aubs' Instagram began as a personal Insta showcasing her love of hiking, dogs, concerts, normal 20s hipster stuff. Then, Aubs jumped on the Chronic Lyme bandwagon (which is not medically recognized as a disease, Lyme is only a short-term illness cured permanently with 1 course of antibiotics according to all scientific evidence, but there are some natural wellness quacks who will diagnose it to the highest paying customer.) She found a doc who would give her long term antibiotic therapy for her fictious Chronic Lyme for the right price. This is where we first see the infamous PICC line. https://web.archive.org/web/20070415220522/http://www.cancerbackup.org.uk/Treatments/Chemotherapy/Linesports/PICCline Which the quack infuses long term antibiotics to Aubs through.
First post with the PICC line, Aubs making her nice Christian husband be her nurse
Eventually her PICC is replaced surgically for a PortACath (similar to PICC, port to infuse drugs into) on her chest.
Some nonsense about Dr. Quack saying something about "mold toxicity" from her Lyme, which Lyme is a Bacteria so it makes no sense.
She writes an angry article about the 99% of doctors who said she was full of shit on the alt med cite Mighty Well https://web.archive.org/web/2018102...-letter-to-the-doctor-who-ignored-my-illness/
Eventually, Lyme takes the backseat as Aubs begins to focus more on her other more sooper serious illnesses.
POTS (Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) Saga:
Lyme quack also diagnoses Aubs with POTS, although him being a quack take this one with a grain of salt.
Aubs eventually doctor shops enough to find someone to prescribe her IV saline for POTS (even though that is usually a last resort, Aubs didn't want to try any less invasive methods first)
Gastroporesis/GI problems Saga:
Aubs ER shopped for an ER that would run a battery of gastrointestinal tests on her, eventually she went home with a nasogastric tube, (Aubs is severly underweight at this point, so it could have been for that and she's just not telling us) she claims it is for Gastroporesis which in reality could be caused by an underlying eating disorder or a side effect of all the medications she is taking.
Aubs' meds:
Aubs' very underweight ana body:
Aubs' Nasogastric tube falls out accidentally on purpose! (She's angling for a surgically-implanted tube directly into her stomach!)
Because her Nasogastric tube "fell out," she gets a special surgery to get a tube directly on her belly:
She's the most excited person ever to get a GJ tube (tube opens outside her belly, goes into her stomach, and an internal tube goes from stomach to the middle part of the small intestine, called the jejunum) surgically inserted after another trip to the ER not long after her first stomach surgery.
Aubs heads back to the hospital to get her GI dangler replaced with a GI button to wear it long term, and she is WAY too happy about it.
Aubs graduates to TPN (which is injecting nutrition directly into the bloodstream) by injecting it through her chest port. Supposedly this means she still isn't gaining weight.
After undergoing a Celiac Plexus block procedure (which is where a doc injects painkiller into the nerve center called the Celiac Plexus for people with the most SEVERE abdominal pain, which evidently Aubs convinced everybody she had,) the doc reportedly found a growth on Aubs’ pancreas and wants to do a biopsy on it.
Then Aubrey proudly announces that she has Pancreatitis, and her Celiac Plexus Block procedure could have caused it! She is elated to be in hospital again.
Aubs announces she doesn’t have a tumor! Then, a few days later actually she does!! Turns out she has the uber-rare Neuroendocrine tumor (something usually diagnosed in the elderly) and remains vague about if it is cancerous or not.
In reality, there are concretely outlined methods for determining if a neuroendocrine tumor is benign and the extent of the aggressiveness of the tumor if it is malignant. This article is a good consult for a scientific overview. https://web.archive.org/web/20181023180411/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3095463/
Aubs happily announces she has "Cancer" despite informing us if the biopsy found tumor is benign or malignant, she remains vague about this.
MALS (Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome) Saga:
After learning of another Spoonie Warrior who had MALS, Aubs decides she has MALS. The Median Arcuate Ligament is a ligament near the Diaphragm and the Aorta (which is the main artery in the body.) According to this Journal https://web.archive.org/web/20161004032941/https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/rg.255055001 It is estimated that in 10-24% of normal, asymptomatic individuals the median arcuate ligament crosses in front of (anterior to) the celiac artery, causing some degree of compression. Meaning up to a fourth of us have this ligament pressing down a bit on our Celiac Artery (a major artery coming off the Aorta) and NO symptoms. However, Aubs decided she was in the minority of people who have pain from this, and doctor shopped until she found a guy who would operate on her by slicing up her MA ligament.
"Bloating," Abnormally Curved Back Saga:
What happened: Aubs posted a picture on her Instagram of her supposedly "bloated" stomach from her "gastroporesis." Her followers called bullshit on this as she basically just curved her back really far so that it looked like her stomach was bloated even so it was not. Aubs proceeded to go on an angry rant about the "hate" her followers had about her "naturally very curved back."
Here is her Instagram story post showing her original post and her justification that her back is naturally that curved.
Rant comment: she blames it on the evil doctors not giving her the "right tube."
(apparently the Mayo Arizona doctors gave her a G tube instead of a GJ tube which is getting Aubs very triggered)
She claims the followers are bullying her by "making fun of her curved back."
CVID (Common Variable Immunodeficiency) Saga:
Some doctor somewhere must have seen Aubs, an otherwise healthy-looking woman in her 20s, and then seen her laundry list of ailments, and he must have thought the only explanation for this was that Aubs was immunodeficient! Cue in the CVID saga. A bunch of her followers got frustrated that Aubs is getting started on IVIG infusions (infusions of antibodies from healthy plasma donors) because plasma antibodies are in such a shortage (and she doesn’t really need them.) Aubs responds with a passive aggressive message in her photo description.
She was mentioned/discussed in several lolcow archived threads: (You may have to CTRL F "aubrey" to find her the threads are long)
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #17
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #12
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #16
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #12
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #14
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #10
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #11
lolcow archive Munchausen by Internet #9
Aubs' social media accounts: (anyone want to help me archive, have at it!)
Instagram* aubreys.healing.journey
Youtube** Chronicles of a Chronically Ill Girl
*the Instagram is down or the name of it has been changed by Aubs
**Aubs has changed her youtube to 'joe johnson' in an effort to cover up her tracks although we all know it's her and nobody is really named 'joe johnson'
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. It's not uncommon for someone with a chronic illness to have multiple conditions - there are a lot of conditions that have a history of running in tandem (things like migraines and any friggin' chronic illness, for example, or lupus and pretty much anything). But it sounds like she's just opening WedMD, running stuff through the symptom checker, and going "Yep, I'm going to have this today! Sounds like cancer? WebMD, you get me."
