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Medical Professionals Share The Craziest Moments They've Had With A Patient

This is why doctors should have therapists....

Medical Professionals Share The Craziest Moments They've Had With A Patient
Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash

Those in the medical field see craziness on the regular. How they make it through the everyday with sanity (mostly intact) is a darn miracle. Everyday life scenarios can be heartbreaking and sad and wild. So the amount of stories those in the profession have could fill the number of pages we'll never be able to count.

Redditor u/alexiiiyay wanted the people of medicine out there to vent a little by asking...

People of reddit who work in the medical field, what was the scariest/craziest moment you've experienced while working?

"torrent of blood" 

"Craziest wouldn't have to be when there was a patient who had suffered a shotgun blast to the chest started coding, I was assisting with the CPR, and his wounds were still pretty fresh so "torrent of blood" would be an understatement." MG87

50/50....

"A patient was having essentially last resort surgery on a tumor, 50/50 chance of making it. We have a special OR that is huge that they put these kind of cases in. I don't exactly what happened, but the patient started bleeding and they couldn't get it stopped. They called me because I was the gopher and essentially said, "get everything" which meant, clear the blood bank of all the compatible blood, plasma, and platelets and get here NOW."

"Here I am running through a surgical suite with essentially someone's life in my hands, dropping things along the way that other people start running with me grabbing said items. I get in the OR, drop everything off and see they are now on chest compressions. There was blood all over the walls and floor. I witnessed a patient die that day. I was pretty scarred from that and I never went in that OR again. The CRNA was absolutely destroyed over it and he left shortly after even though it wasn't his fault, it was just a bad situation and that patients time." likemong

(think Nearly Headless Nick from Harry Potter)

"Sooooooo many stories!! But I'll start with the one I saw when I was still a medical student."

"Was in the emergency department when suddenly this ambulance brought in a patient with a huge white cloth with blood stains on it (big OH NO sign going up in my head), later to reveal a broken finger with blood spurting out from the artery just hanging on by a piece of skin (think Nearly Headless Nick from Harry Potter)."

"Not only did we manage to secure the bleeding, the surgeon did such a great job at repairing the finger the only aftermath from this was a scar. He regained full function of the finger, sensation and motoric function both."

"One of the worse things I've seen as a medical student."

"EDIT: History of the patient reveals this to be an industrial injury as he was operating a bandsaw and almost saw his finger off (cutting wet wood)."Tough-tofu

$200! 

"Obligatory not my story, but my dad's. He's a family practice doctor but he told me this story after he got a page while on call one night from a patient whose daughter, around my age (maybe 15 or 16) at the time, was experiencing a high fever, aches, and a stiff neck, all signs of meningitis. He told the patient in question "Go to the ER, do not stop, do not pass go, do not collect $200." This advice was based on an experience while my dad was doing ER rotations in residency, and was taking care of a girl around the same age with the same symptoms who came into the ER laughing and talking and within the hour was pale and barely responsive."

"He said you could watch her get sicker with every minute. With meningitis, minutes can literally make the difference between living and dying. Both patients did end up surviving, but the condition is just so terrifying to me, and I could see on my dad's face that his patient was in trouble. You can be fine one minute and then paralyzed or dead the next and there's really no preventing it. (There is a vaccine for viral meningitis iirc but the bacterial one doesn't have one)." GrayGhoast

Intestines Out. 

"Not a human medic but a vet-went to a horse that had tried to jump a metal railing whilst still attached to it's carriage, missed and caught it's abdomen on the fence, pretty much eviscerating itself. The hardest part about it was that it was bright and happy and looking for snacks while it's intestines were hanging out." Iamme1980

"Watched someone die in front of me while having dialysis. The patient started out looking super uncomfortable and within 34 minutes of CPR, an ICU consult team, the renal team, the cardio team, lots of drugs and fluids, three defibrillations, the patient was dead. It was surreal to see it happen right in front of me, but I am so glad it did because it gave me an understanding of how things can go wrong so quickly and brought the understanding you cannot save everyone." vboak

The Pulse. 

"I was a brand new paramedic, had been out of medic school for a month and just finished a couple of field training shifts and was set free on my own with a brand new emt partner. We get called around 8am for a pediatric cardiac arrest. It was my first pediatric code and my partner's first code ever. We show up on the scene and find an unresponsive 6 week old baby, not breathing and pulseless. Family states the baby was crying a bunch last night and they haven't been getting much sleep. Mom and dad smoke some weed and put baby in between them in bed. Sometime during the night baby got wrapped up in the blankets and suffocated."

"They woke up the next morning and found him dead. Family is going crazy and its hard to show up and not do anything even if you know theres nothing that is going to change the outcome. So I start CPR and ask my partner to start getting stuff we need. He is just standing there frozen staring at this kid because he has a child around the same age. I use an IO in the tibia for vascular access and the kid is so small it drills through the backside and is useless. We end up coding the kid for 20 minutes and field terminate. Deliver the news to mom who is unable to say anything but scream. Dad takes off running down the street screaming and collapses 2 blocks later crying." Madhatter1216

De-gloved. 

"ER nurse, penile de-gloving. Never found out the "how" of it. Understandably, the guy wasn't getting too many clear words out." Charlio35

"I never knew the term penile de-gloving until today and if I never see or hear it again it will be to soon." gritsandgravy94

Showing Restraint...

"I used to work at a residential care facility in the area catering mostly to clients with bad mental health problems and potentially dangerous behavior. Over the years working there, I had done so many restraints and got hurt so many times that I lost count."

"Eventually though we got a particularly troubled client. He had pretty difficult behavior in general but he was very strong and had an unusually hard head, which he would use to bash things at times when angry."

"One time we put him in a couch-hold and I was behind him with the protective mitts we used for ethical head restraints. I wasn't pay attention closely enough and eventually, he whipped his head back and bashed me right on the nose. I knew immediately that I got a concussion, while I felt my nose was broken and I was in excruciating pain. I had to basically just stumble on over to the main staff area to ask my superior to take over."

"Luckily I just got a deviated septum (which I still need surgery for), but I was very traumatized by this and. My nose and right eye were dark red and purple for days and luckily, I started working somewhere else about a week later. Even after almost 3 years, I still remember the pain, the ugly cracking noise, and the anxiety I experienced at the time." theshizirl

literally on the brink of death.....

"I work in mental health with teens. Im a peer recovery specialist and also PCA. I was on the dorm (inpatient unit) one night, doing my 15 minute checks. It was a pretty chill day, no fights or upsets with the kiddos. I walk up to one of the rooms and see underneath the bathroom curtain what appears to be one of the clients sitting on the bathroom floor. This patient had a history of suicide attempts so I went in to make sure they were okay. When I opened the curtain they had managed to rip apart a sheet and wrapped it tightly around their neck. Their face was purple, eyes bloodshot, and blood coming out their nose and eyes, literally on the brink of death. It was the scariest thing I had ever encountered. Luckily the nurse got in there quick and was able to cut the sheet from their neck and they survived." jackysiz1

RPG...

"When my buddy got hit in the back by an RPG and I had to sit there telling him it's okay as the light left his eyes. Knowing that all the training as a medic the military gave me there was jack shit I could do for this man." Sporkee

Farewell....

"My Econ teacher used to be a firefighter and he told us a really sad story about a crash. They ended up getting a call about somebody who rolled their car on the freeway. When they arrived, their captain pulled them aside after assessing the damage and said, "Listen, he's pinned under that car and is split down the middle. The moment we move the car his organs are going to shift and he will immediately die." They walked up to the guy and asked him, "Do you have any family you'd like to say goodbye to?" Everybody was crying as he told his wife and children goodbye for the last time." termikyu

Under the Skin....

"During my internship, I was in the pediatric emergency and a family arrived with two children (approximately 5 years old). One of the brothers had accidentally fully inserted a sewing needle into the other's chest, and it was totally submerged under the skin so it required surgery to remove it."

"The problem was that the father was extremely religious and refused surgery. We took a chest x-ray and you could even see the eye of the needle, but the father said it was only a shadow and that God was going to heal it."

"It became a race against time because in successive radiographs we saw that the needle moved under the skin of the chest. Luckily we managed to convince the father and the boy entered the operating room." DelAguila182

Massive pulmonary bleeding.

"Former hospice nurse here. Massive pulmonary bleeding. We know it could happen, you prepare stuff for when it does happen but seeing someone basically drown in their own blood is messed up."

"This guy had a tumor in his lungs and it kept growing and it basically popped an artery. I just laid the guy comfortably in his bed and walked out the room when his wife screamed and I heard something wet splattering on the floor. Ran back in there, saw what was happening, grabbed a stack of dark towels and knelt down next to his bed. Send his wife out of that room."

"Spread out some towels but the amount of blood coming out was massive. Grabbed his hands and told him everything would be over soon. He tried to speak but there were only some gurgling sounds. I have never seen a man more afraid. Pure fear in his eyes. He was in shock after 3 minutes and dead in less than 10. Blood congeals really fast. Huge blobs on the floor and my uniform was red and sticky."

"I will never forget the look in his eyes and the sounds he made when he tried to speak." Mclovinisawesome

Breathing But Gone.....

"In the ER, a woman in her mid 20s is brought in unconscious. She was found on the floor of a store aisle. People thought she just fainted or had a seizure. Turns out she had a massive brain bleed and was brain dead. A healthy woman just enjoying her day will never wake up, and that can happen to anyone anytime. The brother was in shock seeing his sister was breathing but gone forever."

"Second one. A man brought his wife to the hospital because she was acting confused. They've been married 40 or so years. Turns out she had cancer all over her body. Stage 4. Biggest problem was the brain. He asked what we could do for her. The Dr had to tell him that his wife would die in about a week. There was nothing to do but make her comfortable. Watching him realize that his entire world is vanishing in 7-10 days was terrifying. Then we had to go in the room and tell the woman that she was dying. I don't know if anyone can fully accept that they're going to die in one week." echristine12

"he isn't acting right"

"I am an emergency department nurse and we regularly see blood, gore, and death. You have to become accustomed to it pretty quickly or you will not last long in the profession. The one thing I cannot get used to is the child abuse. Not infrequently we get infants who end up dying because of some horrific neglect or abuse. People will walk-in a blue, not breathing baby and say things like, "he isn't acting right". You hope it is due to abysmally low health literacy but often times it is just terrible neglect."

"The scariest crap isn't the gore or death but the angry and aggressive drug addicts. They look like zombies and they have nothing to lose. Most of the time it is just threats like, "I will wait for you to get off and then beat your butt" or "I will find you and murder your family." Honestly, I have had numerous individuals tell me this. Sometimes they get violent and come at you swinging, biting, and spitting and the only thing between you and them is some tiny waif of a security guard making $12 an hour. It can get pretty gnarly. Nurses, who are just trying to help and can do very little to defend themselves, are regularly punched and kicked. We mostly just laugh about it and chalk it up to the nature of the emergency department." CreamedCornFiend

The First Guard.... 

"Oh man..."

"Okay, so, full disclosure: I'm a clerk. Yes, a simply desk jockey. Real witch made position."

"That being said, I see everybody first. Every patient who enters our office, they first come to me. There was one girl being seen in one of our facilities that would stop by and chat me up from time to time. We just saw a lot of each other in passing, with me working there and with her being a regular patient. Her name? Don't know it. Reason she came in? No idea. So we're just chat buddies. Months go by. We kinda click, joke around more. Real funny girl, bright. Smiled a lot."

"One day she walks in, shaking. Eyes bugged out. A woman is standing behind her, obviously concerned. The girl asks me to come out from my desk so she can talk to me. She's shivering. Looks like she's not slept in days, but is wearing pajamas, disheveled hair. Sunken eyes. Classic "Oh Crap" appearance. Obviously I oblige and go stand next to her. She turns to look at the woman behind her, turns back to me, leans in. She says, "They're after me. They're going to take me away. That woman is trying to get me to take these pills. I need to see my doctor now. She understands*."

"Turns out she was one of out psych patients, suffered a complete melt down. Stopped taking her medication. After I walked her up, I went to talk to the woman. She was crying, it was her mom. Horrifying to see what can happen to people. I mean, I'm no stranger, I have my problems, but I expect it of myself. To see this seemingly chipper girl do a complete 360* was scary as Hell."

"Just remember, you never know. You never know what someone is carrying inside of them. So, be kind. As much as you can." ninetofivehangover

Unlivable....

"I am studying to be a paramedic in South Africa. While we study we work on ambulances and in hospitals etc."

"The first time I went into a red zone (area of high gang presence or previous known attacks on service personnel/vehicles that requires us to take a police van in with us) I didn't really think much of it. Then my elderly gentleman patient and his lady friend get in."

"He requires assistance walking but she (the classic hunched-over lady with enormous bag) climbs in and sits down with a smile. Just as she gets comfortable, with her bag on her lap, she looks up at me, smiles and says very calmly and as a matter of fact: "we should go quickly, they might shoot us".

"I have seen other violence, what gang shootings look like and people with a lot of physical trauma (attacks etc) but this was the scariest to me. Just the acceptance of it, as the police force in some areas lack immensely and there's not much anyone can do."

"I don't want anyone to live like that." JamieLee711

Bloodletting....

"A coworker and I were getting a patient washed up and as we were turning him to the side he said he felt funny and then in the next second liters and liters of blood started gushing out of his mouth and nose. I screamed for help, slammed on the code button and started compressions bc he went pulseless."

"In minutes the room was completely filled with staff and I remember as I was doing each compression, more blood would leak from his nose, mouth, eyes and ears. His mom and fiancée were in the background pleading with the staff to help him but we couldn't do anything. He'd had cancer and the disease had infiltrated his vascular system."

"All I remember is the blood everywhere, the cracking I felt with each compression and his family wailing when the physicians called it. It was my first code and I'll never forget it." chewybears

20 Seconds....

"That moment when the power went out for a little too long and every single oxygen concentrator on my wing turn off and started emergency beeping."

"The backup generator kicked on after like 20 seconds or so but it was the longest 20 seconds of my life." ModAbuseo

No Cuts....

Pulling a 15" Optimus Prime figure out of some dude's butt. It was in up to the waist, and as we tried to remove it, the arms went out like a grappling hook. Had to cut it out. (I didn't do the cutting)." Magurdrac

Some of these almost read like a Grey's Anatomy plot line.

Do you have similar stories to share? Let us know in the comments below.

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People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.