Q&A for How to Fake Symptoms of Being Sick

You can use a foundation that’s 1-2 shades lighter than your natural skin tone, and use a greyish eyeshadow to create subtle shadows under your eyes. Skip wearing any lip color, or use a pale nude lipstick to make your lips look paler. If you regularly wear a lot of makeup, going without can also make you look paler or more “tired” than usual.

When someone is faking, you might notice an absence of hard-to-fake symptoms such as fever, congestion, or rash. You might also notice that their symptoms are vague or inconsistent, or that they don’t respond to treatments, such as medications, the way you’d expect them to. Also, be aware that while a person faking illness to get out of school or work occasionally is not unusual, someone regularly faking illness for attention is a serious mental health issue that needs to be treated.

Focusing too much on your health can stress you out, which may lead to physical symptoms. For example, if you’re really anxious about your health, you might start to experience symptoms like nausea or indigestion, headaches, fatigue, and muscle pain. If you experience these symptoms with no obvious physical cause or find yourself obsessing over your health, talk to your doctor about whether you might have a health anxiety disorder.

You could fake symptoms in class and tell your teacher you are sick.

You're already sick, you don't need to fake it. Just exaggerate the symptoms you already have to make them seem much worse than they are.

Go to school, stay for an hour or two, then go to the nurse and fake being sick.

You don't have to have baby powder to fake being sick. Not all illness involves looking pale. You could try looked flushed instead.

No, there is no way for a doctor to determine if you've thrown up.

Use oatmeal, a little leftover food from day before, and some water. Throw in a dash of something that smells gross, like vinegar.

You can use baby powder to make a pale complexion. Rub your eyes and lick your lips.

If you want to, you can. Typically, you wouldn't get hot if you were lightheaded.

You may not be able to do that, but you could try telling them that you're feeling better and your nausea is going away. If you're feeling better, they may not want to pay for a doctor visit.

If you really think you'd be miserable there, just tell whoever invited you that you can't go because loud noises/sounds stress you out. However, many people that have sensory issues simply opt to bring earplugs or noise-canceling headphones to events like this.

If possible, send the host a message saying you can't go. If nothing works, try explaining to someone the reasons you don't want to go.

Just act sick around them! Hold your stomach or your head and groan, tell them it hurts, etc. Lay around on the couch and act like it's a huge effort to do anything.

Ask to speak with your parents. They'll probably sign you out if you truly are sick.

Don't fake sick if you're being bullied. Talk to a teacher or counselor at school about what's going on and ask them to help you. Tell your parents too. You'll feel a lot better once you've done this.

Try and make a vomit-like substance before going into the bathroom and pouring it into the toilet. A mix of milk and orange juice usually does the trick. Bits of leftover food are recommended, but not necessary. Just pour it in the toilet, then go tell your parent(s) that you threw up.

Try 24 hours, this is how long a typical stomach bug normally lasts. Sometimes a really bad bug can last for 2-3 days, but don't push your luck.

Different symptoms can last different amounts of time. The time between you complaining about your stomach bug and you saying you feel right should be around 3-5 hours. If you want to be extra convincing, you should complain about your stomach bug occasionally for about 1 hour, show minor symptoms for about 2 hours, show medium symptoms (The kind that really tell people something's up and that it's not just a weak stomach ache) for about 1 hour, show noticeable impacts on doing everyday activities (run slower, grunt, put pressure the area where your stomach is, and stoop when you stand up). Finally, let all the symptoms die down and become less noticeable until they disappear.

No. You're always making "hot air" in your mouth just by breathing. You cannot do anything to actually change the temperature inside your mouth for more than a second or so.

You could work on doing a better job of pretending to be sick, or you could actually wait until you are, in fact, sick.

Try thinking of something that made you upset. That should make your nose run and your eyes water.

No it won’t. Ibuprofen or Tylenol may help with your fever, otherwise you just have to wait. If you have a fever for more than a couple of days, seek medical attention.

You should probably wait about two days, having your fever becoming gradually better.

Tell her you have a really bad sore throat and a headache. Crackers and Sprite will not do anything to help those things. Try to talk in a hoarse whisper so she's more likely to believe your throat hurts.

Try to speak in a hoarse voice and say something like, "It hurts to swallow, my throat is sore."

Be honest. Explain why you faked an illness. They may understand, even if they sound upset.

Try to politely ignore them, or just tell them you are sick, and you'd rather have that conversation when you feel better.

Not all illnesses make you pale. Try looking flushed instead. If you can, use makeup or baby powder.