
You ever get a migraine and think you have a brain tumor, and you get super paranoid about it, but then when you go to the doctor, they just tell you it's from stress from your emotional trauma? Yeah, me neither. But thanks too the beauty/awfulness of the World Wide Web, we can all Google our symptoms and assume we're dying together.
Take a look at these poor folks who misdiagnosed themselves. Lay off the WebMD next time! Trust me!!!
U/PizzaFlavoredRanch asked: What self-diagnosis did you give yourself that turned out to be completly wrong?
When you automatically go to the worst case scenario, you may end up looking really f*cking stupid.
Wow, I hate this.
I thought I had worms when I pooped so I fished one out from my poo and put it in a little box and showed the doctor. Turns out it was a noodle.
Have you started chewing more?
My boobs hurt reading this.
TL;DR: (not) breast cancer.
When I was a teen I woke up with mild boob pain, but told myself that it was all in my head and went about my day. As you do.
But by the time midday rolled around it was so bad that I was literally hunched over, groping the offending titty in the middle of class. It felt like it was on fire and trying to shoot off my chest, and I had to hold on tight to keep it attached.
It couldn't be calmed, so I got my dad to come pick me up from school and take me to the hospital. I for sure had breast cancer, but we did some of his errands before going to the ER because he didn't think it was anything really serious. The whole time I was holding my chest and stifling cries because I was definitely about to die from breast cancer and it really f*cking hurt. Edit: not his fault, I didn't clue him in to how bad it actually was.
At the ER I embarrassed myself further by telling them all of this. Imagine being the doctor/ nurse that has to reassure a 15 year old that she's not dying from "acute breast cancer". Pretty sure they were laughing at me in the nurse's station.
Anyway, it turned out that I had an infected abscess, and it was decided that the best way to get it all out was to squeeze it through my nipple. The (army) doc went at it like he was replacing engine parts, knee on the bed, both hands grabbing my poor tiddy like it owed him money or something; I remember hating how much his hands were shaking from the effort, for some reason it made me ridiculously nauseous. I didn't even get the courtesy of a safe word. They told me that I screamed and passed out briefly, and I don't remember much after that except really appreciating the painkillers and a few days off school.
Not having breast cancer was also pretty cool
Mazel tov.
When I was 11, I convinced myself I was bleeding to death. I thought I was peeing or pooping buckets of blood and that's definitely not good. Right before I went to say goodbye to my family, I remembered that thing they told us about in sex ed like 6 months ago. It was a period. I got my period.
Oftentimes, misdiagnosis can come with an underlying mental illness. It’s insane what anxiety can do to a person.
Hypochondria is no joke.
I had hypochondria as a teen. The most horrifying by far was when I gave myself an AIDS diagnosis and kept it all to myself. Only now, many years later have I been able to share this with my closest friends. I was sure I wasn't going to see my 18th birthday. There was no way possible I could've had it and I didn't have any symptoms.
This internal panic lasted for about two months and became to a halt because I realized how ridicilous it was. With that stopped also my hypochondriatic thoughts once and for all.
I know some people aren't that lucky and can't shut it down with just the power of logic. That's why hypochondria is no joke. That sh*t eats you up inside.
Been there.
I diagnosed myself with a brain tumour due to headaches. Was so convinced that I got a CT scan and turned out there was nothing wrong. Anxiety is a b*tch and will help convince you of anything negative.
I suffered constant headaches at one point. Turned out I was very dehydrated as I don't often drink.
Panic attacks will do that to you.
I had just moved to a different country and had to do a 14 day quarantine. By the 8th day I started having stroke-like symptoms. Having trouble breathing, heart palpitations, body going numb, not being able to speak properly. I was sure I was going to die and that it was definitely a stroke or a heart attack. I got taken to the hospital only to be diagnosed with panic/anxiety disorder. It didn't make sense to me at the time, but now it does.
This is terrifying.
I was having frequent episodes where my vision would blur, my tongue felt swollen, my speech would get slurred, my concentration would drop to null, I would stagger, I would have goose bumps. These symptoms would come all at once and would last for hours. Once they were gone, I felt exhausted.
I thought for sure that it was something neurological. Lots of testing later, turns out it was a conversion disorder. The symptoms were an adverse reaction to stress and anxiety.
Treatment is helping (drugs, therapy, etc.). The episodes are a lot less frequent now, and also less severe. But I was forced to retire because of this. I didn't like that part. Still having trouble adjusting to that part.
While they do suck sometimes, believe it or not, misdiagnoses can come with unexpected surprises.
That would’ve been some really bad ceviche.
My aunt and I both got really sick, like throwing up for almost two weeks. Decided we had gotten food poisoning from some bad ceviche at a family gathering.
Nope! We were both pregnant. Had babies three weeks apart.
Gross, but better than the alternative.
One time I felt this terrible feeling in my gut when I was on my way to school. I had been feeling uncomfortable all morning but then it hit me much worse, it was this sharp pain I couldn't ignore anymore; It was awful. I thought I was dying. I told my mom "take me to the ER" she said "what's wrong? Can it wait?" And I said "no, Mom, I think I'm dying! Something ruptured! I feel like I'm being stabbed!" And she spun around like you see in the movies and started speeding and I curled over. I thought I was about to pass out the pain was so bad and then.... then I farted.
So I sat back up and said "It's okay. I'm better now" in the calmest possible voice to my mom- who at this point was panicking and driving like 90 in a 50- and she turned to me and said "did you just fart?" And she turned the car back around and took me to school. We never spoke about it again.
Same.
Narcolepsy, turns out I'm just built different and need like 13 hours of sleep to feel satisfied.
That's called hypersomnia.
In regards to that last one, I also have hypersomnia and it SUCKS. But hey, it just means more nap time.
Moral of the story, go to your freakin' doctor. It's always better to be safe then sorry, and the copay is less expensive than a future ER visit. Do future-you a favor and get it taken care of early
Advancements in science happen every day in every way.
But often it feels like we are still so far behind.
How have we not cured so many diseases?
Shouldn't we know more about space?
What is Jello really made of?
So much to ponder and understand.
Maybe one day.
We all have a bucket list of what we'd like to see cured or invented before our last breaths.
Let's discuss...
Redditor yoda2060wanted to discuss all the science that needs to be devoured before the sand runs out of the hourglass. They asked:
"What scientific achievement you would like to see before you die?"
Life is infinite and we'll never know everything that is possible. But let's dream of what could be...
New pieces...
"I want to see us grow hearts, kidneys, livers, etc... In labs and end the need for donations and waiting lists for transplants."
IMadeThisBullS*itUp
"I waited for a heart/bilateral lung transplant for over a year and I spent 8 months living in the hospital waiting for it. You’re basically waiting for someone to die."
"Which feels all kinds of wrong… but my therapist (all transplant patients sees a transplant therapist) kept reminding me that me needing a heart and lungs doesn’t cause someone to die…"
"And what made even harder was that my mom died of Covid about 5 weeks before my transplant happened. So while I was praying and hoping so hard my mom wouldn’t die… I was also praying for my transplant to happen. I had a lot of mixed and confusing feelings. My transplant happened last November."
Junebug1515
"Idiot Bottom Line"
"To build an environment friendly world."
deadprotocol_
"That depends entirely on how far you want to go with 'environmentally friendly.' Some amateurish pseudo-intellectuals will say that humanity itself is devastating the planet by it's very existence so we'll call that the 'Idiot Bottom Line."'
"So you have to find an acceptable level above that to declare environmentally friendly. For example can we still have hear exchangers? Space debris? Artificial Electromagnetic radiation? There has to be a level before you can declare such and so far no one agrees."
PoorPDOP86
“20 years, tops”
"Viable nuclear fusion."
AlterEdward
"Nuclear Astrophysicist here. I know the joke is that we been saying '20 years, tops' for 50 years now - who do you think came up with that joke? But seriously, we are really close."
"We need a reaction that is self-sustaining and puts out more energy than we put in. We can easily do a reaction that’s one or the other, just getting one that’s both is hard. And with recent updates to the Greenwald limit we found some relatively minor tweaks that doubles previous theoretical max output."
Gleeful-Nihilist
Deep Within
"Figuring out what Dark Matter is, solving the mysteries of black holes. Proper thorough investigation of our own oceans."
fIumpf
So far, so interesting. We have so much to learn.
let me dream...
"Prosthetic limbs and organs that can work just as well as real ones. Affordably too. A cure for total nerve damage. Carbon neutral liquid fuel. FTL travel (let me dream)."
idonthaveanaccountA
Contact
"Making contact with another intelligent species in another solar system."
Pigs100
"That's probably not going to happen. I'd be overjoyed though if we discovered even just microbial life in the oceans of Europa or Enceladus. They'd be the first true extra-terrestrials ever encountered."
Cybyss
Going Places
"If we had teleports then we might also have other technologies integrated with it like instant dental work, instant food, instant surgery, things just unthinkable without the technology but before the steam engine travel was by horse so they could not imagine traveling cross country in any other way besides ships. Maybe with teleports we wouldn't need energy, just an infinite loop of the first spark."
Stickerdan
Sickness be gone...
"Cure for all cancer forms."
Kal-El1994
"I approached a nursing assistant with the question. They could describe it as trying to go after the stick of a lollipop. The treatments are mostly concerned with favors, not sticks. If they can discover a way to deal with the stick, then you may be able to treat cancer from there."
MissSara101
"I think it is important to add that there won’t be ONE cure to all cancers. Cancer is such a broad spectrum of diseases that sometimes have next to nothing in common. But hopefully we will keep getting the survival rates up with different medications for different cancer types."
TastyConsideration82
Simplicity
"Solve back pain please. We can do crazy sh*t like nuclear bombs, new fancy vaccines and space exploration, yet we don't have a solution to one of the biggest and most common ailments that existed though all of humanity."
inksane
I want to see all of this happen! Fingers crossed.
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Fast fashion is terrible for the environment, one of the largest polluters of clean water globally because of its all too common use of cheap, toxic textile dyes.
It also places producers under more and more pressure to manufacture more and more clothes on masse–the people working in the factories that make this stuff are being paid a pittance, contributing to much of the wealth inequality in less developed nations.
Additionally, it's estimated that the textiles industry produces 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 per year and that just two percent of all fast fashion emissions can be reduced through recycling. Ouch. Time to change habits, right?
People shared their thoughts on this and other topics after Redditor urmomsucked asked the online community,
"What should people seriously stop buying?"
"Pets..."
"Pets they can’t take care of."
WonderfulShop888
I have known several people who got puppies, decided they couldn't handle them, and dumped them. It's rage-inducing.
"Nestle products."
"Nestle products. Literally the most evil company currently in business. Unfortunately it's really hard to tell what brands they own."
I_used_to_be_hip
Nestle is responsible for the deaths of babies in undeveloped nations. It's sick.
"Designer clothes..."
"Designer clothes and accessories with logos slapped all over them. It wastes your money and makes you look idiotic."
Botryoild2000
The funny thing is, the designer clothes/accessories with logos slapped all over them are typically the cheapest options from said designer.
"Simple syrup."
"Simple syrup. It’s sugar water with an $8 price tag."
providentialchief
It's easy enough to make your own. Your iced tea will never be the same again.
"Cheap belts."
"Cheap belts. A quality leather belt will last you decades."
[deleted]
I have a few (quality leather belts, that is) and they've lasted for years and years. Can confirm.
"Cigarettes."
"Cigarettes. To anyone reading this, please just don't start even if it's out of curiosity. I'm 20 years deep into this and it's hell."
SeaSwimmer5386
Smoking is a brutal addiction to break. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently proposed rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars to stop young people from picking up the habit.
"Garment workers..."
"Fast fashion. Garment workers get paid s*it, the environment suffers and you look like everybody else on the street with no personality or sense of individualism."
SenoritaBrownRecluse
This should be up at the top. The environmental impact is terrible.
"Unnecessarily large vehicles..."
"Unnecessarily large vehicles, which they'll then inevitably complain cost too much to fill the gas tank."
[deleted]
Gas guzzlers need to go. It's far past time that they be phased out.
"Anything advertised..."
"Anything advertised on Instagram. It’s a scam and those influencers are just making it look cheap AF."
megapintt
Or just avoid Instagram in general. That would solve a lot.
"New phones..."
"New phones when their current is just as good."
[deleted]
You've got that right. People buy a new one for the hell of it without even thinking about it.
It's pretty clear that many of us need to change our habits now. Our wallets will thank us later.
Have some suggestions of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
If you make too many funny faces, your face will stay that way permanently.
Watch too much tv and your eyes will fall out.
Break a mirror and it's seven years of bad luck.
These are among the many myths and superstitions we heard as children, more often than not from our parents and teachers as a way of scaring us into behaving.
But while there is not one ounce of truth to any of these tall tales, there are many who still believe them, and many more.
Redditor RedditPersonIf was curious to learn what superstitions people continue to believe are true, leading them to ask:
"What myths are obviously false, yet most people still believe they are true?"
When they fly the coop...
"If you take care of a baby bird, the mother won’t want it anymore because it’ll smell like a human."- GreatXs
No amount of fiber can help you
"If you swallow gum, it'll stay in your digestive tract for 7 years."- stinky_cheese33
It was every other subjects he had trouble with
"Albert Einstein failed math in school."- Nothingreallyend
Though it does make shampooing easier
"Shaving your hair will make the hair grow back thicker.'- RunWithScissorsss
Sleep with your mouth closed
"The amount of spiders you eat while being asleep."- pantsofafatman
Just... No...
"That you are supposed to pee on a jellyfish sting to ease the pain."- Actuaryba
Olé
"Bulls not liking the color red."
"Bulls are partially color blind and can only see yellow, green, blue, and violet."- Rogurzz
Call a Lyft instead
"Coffee, speed, and uppers sober you up."
"Nope!"
"Too drunk to drive?"
"Now you're drunk AND on drugs, you just don't feel the effects of the booze but your motor skills, reaction time and decision making are all still drunk AF."- kirkrjordan
Best let nature run its course
"The damn alpha wolf."
"It was one study under captivity, the poor researcher made it his life's work to try and set it right."
"If you want a brutal hierarchy where everyone pecks down, what you're looking for is chickens."- raxeira-etterath
Give this one some thought
"We can only use 10% of our brain."- UnbearableHuman
A little bit of research will clear up any doubt you have on these old superstitions and beliefs.
And for anyone who helped out a friend who got stung by a jellyfish, no need to be embarrassed.
Who hasn't looked at a scarf someone knitted for a loved one, a flawless homemade birthday cake, or an immaculately planted garden and thought, "I wish I could do that"?
But you'd never dare try to attempt it yourself, knowing that it's well beyond your personal skill set.
But is it?
Intimidating as they may seem, some skills might be deceptively easier than they appear to be, or might come more naturally to you than to many others.
Redditor halfmoon599 was curious to hear what skills people believed to be much easier than they seem, leading them to ask:
"What skill is actually easier to learn than what other people think?"
Everyone can be ambidextrous!
"I'm left handed and and I wanted to learn to write with my right hand."
"it was much easier than I thought and now I can write with it making it look somewhat decent."- JE3V4N_
"Using your off hand skillfully."
"I worked on this when I owned a woodworking business and it has helped so many times over the years."- karg_the_fergus
Should you ever forget your keys...
"Picking a lock."
"It only takes about 1 or 2 hours to learn, contrary to popular belief." - DifficultAd5113
Can't get to the genius stand? No problem!
"Fixing computers."
"It's just a lot of googling and YouTubing."- theassassintherapist
"Basic IT troubleshooting."- usmarine7041
You'll have a blanket done in no time!
"Crocheting!"
"It looked really difficult to me but I was really pleased how easy it was to pick up."
"Especially with YouTube tutorials."- geeltulpen
But do get a license first...
"Flying a small airplane is actually very simple."
"It's everything else like weather and flight planning, emergency mindfulness, airspace and traffic, and confidence in yourself that gets tricky, but any person with eyeballs and a pulse could fly a plane."- Clyde-MacTavish
With practice, of course
"Parallel parking."- Feels2old
Give your arms a rest!
"Unicycling."
"It takes just 10-20 minutes a day for 3-10 days.'
"Find a railing you can lean on to start."
"At some point, you'll be able to let go and ride!'- Vegan_BTW_VR
... Is it though?...
"Driving a stick shift."- fantazja1
Next time you think, "aw, I wish I could do that," rather than keep wishing, why not just give it a try?