People Share The Craziest Medical Conditions They've Ever Heard Of
A Redditor asked: 'What is the craziest medical condition you've ever heard of?'
There are some wild medical conditions out there, and sometimes, I feel like we're never done learning about them.
It was just a few years ago that my brother told me about Cotard's delusion, a rare psychological disorder in which the person afflicted believes they are dead, immortal, or don't exist.
I didn't even believe him at first, but when I looked it up, it turned out to be a real thing (and I even based an entire short story around it).
A lot of crazy medical conditions sound like they are not real, but it turns out, they are. Redditors know this all too well and are ready to share the craziest medical conditions they've ever heard of.
It all started when Redditor TweekerAllWeeker asked:
"What is the craziest medical condition you've ever heard of?"
Frozen
"Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare muskuloskeletal condition where, after birth and progressively through life, muscles and tendons are gradually transformed into bone (a process called ossification). This creates a second “skeleton” of extra bone, which makes movement impossible."
– yParticle
"Idk if it's real, but I heard people with FOP have to chose, at some point, the position they want to spend the rest of their life in, standing sitting or laying down."
– aoi4eg
"I saw a show about this when I was a kid and the whole idea still f**ks with me."
– Jaway66
You Thinking What I'm Thinking?
"There are conjoined twins (the Hogan sisters) who are attached at the head and their brains are attached. Each one can see through her sister's eyes. Each one can taste the food the other one is eating."
– Fun_in_Space
Fragility
"I met a guy who practically had eggshells for bones. He broke them about 50 times or so doing simple things like just sitting on a couch or brushing his teeth."
– Odd-Package-4713
"That'd be osteogenesis imperfecta type 3."
– crimpytoses
"My nephew has osteogenesis imperfecta and is almost 8yrs old. CPS got involved when he was a baby and hadn’t been diagnosed yet, thinking there was abuse, which was so sad for my family. They later found out what it was and have made medical accommodations. Man, he’s such a sweet, happy boy despite his condition. He hasn’t known anything other than this his entire life, so for him pain is normal (which makes me so sad), but he is bright, engaging, and so very amazing in every way that I get pissed the f**k off that he’s dealing with this."
– Purse_Whiskey
Life Span
"That disease that ages people at an insane rate that often kills it’s sufferers before they turn 16. I think it’s called progeria."
– MascotGuy2077
"That is a wild one, also the girl that looks 8 but is in her 20's, it's crazy as f**k."
– IThinkMyLegsAreBroke
"At my old place, two of the kids in the community had progeria. I'd only ever see them once a week at most, but they always seemed happy when I came across them; their family made a real effort to make their time count. I've always wondered how they grapple with the reality of their situation at their young age, though. How do you even bring that kind of subject up as a parent?"
– miniman03
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
"The Capgras delusion: the person becomes inalterably convinced that someone close to them has been replaced by an imposter who has disguised him/herself so cleverly that they look identical to the replaced person."
""Yes, this woman looks and acts just like my wife and knows everything my wife would know. ...But she is an imposter disguised to fool me and I will have nothing to do with her.""
"It's funny to think about in some ways but would be absolutely terrifying to have."
– dr3rdeye
Facial Blindness
"This reminds me of a condition where people lose the ability to see faces. Their eyes work, they can see anything, but if it is or resembles a human face it gets turned in an undeterminable blur."
– random_sh*tter
"Faceblind. I have this. Brad Pitt has this. The worst part is when I wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, think "oh that's what I look like," then promptly forget my face 5 seconds later. I cannot point myself out in family photos."
– GodsCasino
"Prosopagnosia. It comes in varying degrees of severity. I have it. I have a lot of trouble recognizing people in unfamiliar contexts, like seeing your teacher at the grocery store. I have to see somebody a lot of times before I can recognize their face, unless they have some distinguishing feature (like my friend with a long beard). My friends tend to be people who look or dress distinctively, because it’s so much easier for me to recognize them."
– linuxgeekmama
Cut It Off!
"Body integrity disphoria: people who desperately want to cut off a part of their body, a limb for instance. They have always been thought of as insane until someone decided to have a look at their brains and realised that the limb in question isn't registering in their brain. To them, it feels like an alien appendage was sewn to their body. I find that so fascinating."
– Deleted User
Is It Still There?
"Or the other way around, phantom limb syndrome. When one loses their limb but still feels itchiness or pain on that non-existent limb. They use mirror therapy which is quite interesting as well."
– trickydaze
Strange Immunity
"Knew a woman who couldn’t conceive with her husband."
"He could theoretically get another woman pregnant, and she could theoretically get pregnant from another man, they just couldn’t conceive together."
"He donated blood (maybe marrow) to her while she was being treated for cancer. This somehow made her body immune to his sperm."
"They wound up adopting a couple of kids."
– ShaolinDave79
Anti-Hydration
"Allergy to water. It's extremely rare, last I researched it I believe there were less than 10 documented cases. And yes, they are allergic to themselves. They can't drink straight water, typical hygiene is a huge no go, and even humidity can trigger bad reactions."
– KaliCalamity
"How do these poor people live…"
– Crackheadwithabrain
"Not well, and on a lot of antihistamines"
– KaliCalamity
"I knew one of those kids who has the disorder. His twin brother was diabetic, and I didn't believe him, but his parents confirmed it. His skin was constantly cracked and sloughing off. Poor kid. I felt so bad for him."
– arcticnerd
"How do they stay.... Hydrated? Do they have to drink insanely alkaline water? What about their blood? Like wtaf???"
– Grouchy-Place7327
"They can have small amounts of water, but at least in the documentary I saw, the couple of people it focused on usually stuck to things like juices and milk, as they're less reactive. The major danger is skin contact."
– KaliCalamity
Seeing Things
"My nephew had PFAPA (periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, adenitis). Basically he would get a very high fever every 3-4 weeks with no other symptoms other than the fever alone. One night when he was maybe 5 years old, he was going through an episode and called his mom (my sister) into his room. He told her that he was really scared because his bedroom was covered in bees. I guess the hallucinations aren’t always fun."
"He had his tonsils and adenoids removed and that was the cure!"
– emjayholla
A Whole Different Perspective
"Synesthesia. A condition where your brain mixes up sensory signals."
"With this condition, one might be able to taste words, or certain numbers will always appear a specific color, or you might literally see music or smell something and feel as though you're being touched."
– ChaoTiKPranXter
"I can hear color. Sounds have different colors to me. This is especially true of people’s voices. Barbra Streisand, for example, has a light amber voice."
– IoSonCalaf
"I have that! For a while I thought everyone did."
– RenegadeRabbit
It's surprising how many of these I've actually heard of (thanks to Grey's Anatomy) but that last one is completely new!
Who hasn't faked an illness at least once in their life, to get out of going to a work, school or a party or gathering you just really didn't want to go to?
In such cases, a simple call or message saying you're sick will often suffice.
Other times, a doctor's note might be necessary to prove that you are in fact sick.
While needing medical proof of illness is enough for some people to wave the white flag, others are a bit more determined, and will give the performance of their lives to try to convince a doctor they are ailing.
Unfortunately for them, most doctors can detect a fraudulent invalid before even inserting a thermometer.
"Doctors of Reddit, what are the dead giveaway signs that someone is faking?"
Believe Them First
"Brief note foe all the student doctors out there."
"People can pass stroke field tests and still be having a stroke."
"I could do everything on the list while I had a clot in my brain, verified by CT and MRI."
"Except I couldn't stop vomiting."
"Good times."
"Be aware sometimes sh*t doesn't look like you think it should."-Justbecauseitcameup
"I went to emergency once with intense chest pain."
"The young (new) doctor I saw first listen to my chest and immediately concluded I had pericarditis but the supervising doctor decided I was faking it for drugs for some reason."
"The next morning I woke up to a psychologist in my room asking all sorts of random sh*t when an orderly interrupted because the ultrasound guy was in and wanted to see me first thing."
"I think after talking to the first doc I saw."
"Turns out I had pericarditis and myocarditis and the dude wheeled me out himself and told them to order an ambulance to take me to a hospital with a cardiac clinic."- freeLightbulbs
homer simpson pain GIFGiphyPremature Reactions...
"I'm a nurse on a floor that deals with a lot of chronic and acute pain patients."
"Most recent instance was this lady from a few weeks ago that was apparently splitting the Oxycodone we were giving her in half in her mouth and then when the nurse's backs were turned, she would stuff it in a pill jar."
"A night nurse caught her in the act and all of her sh*t had to be searched."
"We found 20 half tablets of Oxycodone she had been stashing."
"She told us that she was 'saving them for her family in case they need them because it's just so hard to get an Oxycodone prescription these days'."
"I had her a few days after that, and she was having some abdominal pain ."
"STAT x-ray showed only gas."
"She just really needed to fart."
"But she was screaming, claiming it was a 10, and making a huge f*cking scene."
"She DEMANDED Dilaudid through her IV, and she wanted it to be pushed fast."
"Huge red flag right there."
"She wanted the high, not the relief."
"Doc straight up said he wouldn't give her Dilaudid because she was already on so many opiates."
"She then demanded Lorazepam, still through her IV of course."
"Doc was like fine whatever, just one time and only a low end dose."
"I was flushing her IV with normal saline first, to make sure her IV was patent, and she leans back and is like 'OOOOoooo that's so much better already'."
"Hadn't even given her the Lorazepam yet, smdh."- strawberrytaint
Everything Is Fine Reaction GIF by Tricia GraceGiphyDesperate Ways To Avoid Change...
"Obligatory not a doctor, but I got a call from my son's school nurse when he was in 2nd grade, and the conversation went like this:"
"Nurse sounding upbeat & cheerful says, 'your son wants to tell you his terrible news'."
"Son gets on the phone, says 'Hi mom, I cut my finger off'."
"I ask him, 'Where is your finger now?'"
"Son: 'I put it back on'."
"I said, 'Can I talk to the nurse?'"
"Nurse gets on the phone again, says, 'Sounds serious, right?'"
"I asked, 'does he have a substitute teacher today?'"
"Ahhhhh... yes."
"I told the nurse to let him know I will take him to the hospital for a shot for his finger, to which he says 'I think it's OK. I glued it on really good'."
"Nurse kept him in the office for a bit to talk about scary changes in the classroom."- cat9tail
Crying Wolf Ruins It For Everyone
"I don’t know why anyone would want to fake anything medical."
"Unconsciousness in particular."
"I got a compound fracture recently and called 911 on myself and was put on hold."
"Fun stuff."
"But got through and asked them to send help."
"Operator was a badass and kept asking me questions to keep me conscious."
"The ambulance folks arrive, casually got out of the ambulance, walk up to me and then saw the bone sticking out of my body, and said, quote, 'Oh! You’re actually hurt!'"
"YES! Did you think I called 911 because I spilled some lemonade?"
"Then it occurred to me that most of their calls must be horsesh*t."
"But to cause me even more confusion, I received close to a $2000 bill for the privilege of actual help and the ride to the hospital."
"That ludicrous bill is no fault of the EMS.
"I’m very much appreciative of their existence and they don’t get nearly enough credit, but the best part of receiving that bill?"
"The ambulance ride was roughly $1850."
"The fentanyl they gave me was $2.15."- KedaZ1
bart simpson run GIFGiphyCan You Repeat That?
"My sister is a pediatric audiologist and this is my favorite story of hers."
"Apparently, sometime in elementary school, usually the early grades, a ton of kids like to fake hearing loss."
"Like not just 'oh, I can’t hear the teacher'.”
"Full on, want to get hearing aids, etc."
"Anyway, she explained to me that based on the way she plays the tones, you can usually tell if someone is faking."
"Especially when they just pretend they can’t hear anything.'
"But it’s not 100%, obviously, because hearing loss patterns can be really weird."
"However, she’s caught a number of kids simply by saying, 'okay, so I’m going to play [a random number] of tones and they’ll go in both ears'."
"I want you to say ‘yes’ if you hear it and ‘no’ if you don’t'.”- rbickfor1988
People will likely continue to fake illness in order to get out of something till the end of time.
And power to anyone who can successfully dupe their doctor.
Though, there's anyone one should always be in a trusting, honest relationship with, it's the person in charge of making sure you're healthy.
Something to consider.
People Confess Which Illnesses They Think They Have But Aren't Willing To Get Checked Out
It's very easy to jump to conclusions about a small sniffle... or noticing what looks like the beginning of a rash.
Most of the time, It's easy enough to rub it off as just a cold, or an allergic reaction which might clear up with some lotion, and thus don't feel the need to alert their doctor about it.
Though others might worry that it could be the beginning of something more serious.
But even with that looming possibility, they still avoid seeing a doctor, perhaps afraid to learn that their fears turned out to be true.
Redditor Kith-Kath was curious to hear from people who refused to get confirmation from a doctor that they may be suffering from a specific illness or ailment, leading them to ask:
"What illness do you think you have but aren't willing to get it checked?"
Depression
"Probably depression."- Kho-yi-dwags
Hypothermia? Or Chronic Fever?
"I'm always stupid cold."
"Hands and feet especially."- SimplyJustKarma
Cancer
"My family has a history of cancer."
"I've lately been having a lot of the same symptoms my dad had when he first got diagnosed."- nottherealneal
Schizophrenia
"I doubt it's full-on schizophrenia, but sometimes I hear things other people don't, or see distinctive things out of the corner of my eyes that aren't really there."
"Idk, one time I was at work and saw a customer in my peripheral, but when I turned to go take their order no one was there."
"Also, I was recently at a park on an overcast day."
"I was chilling on a bench with some friends, and I noticed the mulch moving weirdly."
"We all looked in the same spot at the same time, after I had mentioned it, they wanted to see, and although I saw it happen, they didn't."
"And it wasn't this subtle little movement."
"It looked like tiny little explosions in the mulch."
"At random spots, it would just go flying, like the smallest land mine just went off."
"It was f*cking impossible to miss."
"I have enough mental illnesses as it is, I don't want to lengthen the list." -Reddit
Autism
"I think I’m on the spectrum."- TheCanadianRedHood
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
"I already know for a fact I have OCD/Hoarding issues, but I don't have the money or time to deal with it, and honestly, it's not a huge problem."
"Right now."
"But I sh*t you not, watch the show 'Monk' and just imagine the main character is a Black guy in Detroit and you know me backwards and forwards."- ThatGamingAsshole
"OCD and maybe Dyslexia."- UnstableThought
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
"I think I have IBS but don't want to go to the doctor about it."- No-Understanding8583
"Some kind of bowel disease."
"Been having diarrhea chronically."- Reddit
Deafness Or Hearing Loss
"I think I'm going a bit deaf or have some kind of auditory processing disorder."
"My left ear rings and if I am going to understand someone I have to watch them talk to hear them if that makes sense?"
"I have been a bit worried because it has been getting worse."
"I hate having to ask someone to repeat themselves three times before I understand what they are saying."- sfoxx
As we are, hopefully, coming to the end of a global pandemic, it's understandable to jump to worrisome conclusions regarding our health.
But if you think something seems off, and doesn't seem to go away after a day or two, always check in with your doctor.
As it could be the beginning of something much more serious.
Life is fragile.
We're reminded of that every single day.
In a split second, anything and everything can change.
You never know when you may end up in an ER.
Redditor SpinalPrizon wanted to hear about the times life took a sudden unexpected turn. They asked:
"People who were fine one minute, then woke up in the hospital, what happened?"
Thankfully I've only ever fainted. Blackouts and hospital stays give me anxiety.
Knock Out
happy homer simpson GIFGiphy"I was walking to a birthday party. Next thing I knew, I woke up in an ambulance. I had been struck over the head and was knocked unconscious. I never found out who it was, or what they wanted (they didn't take anything from me)."
nome_king
The Van
"On a business trip in Texas. Me and two co-workers were driving to work, I was in the back passenger seat. Woke up in an ambulance. Got hit by a sprinter van at 50mph and slammed into a guard rail according to the police report. I don't remember any of it. Broke 7 ribs, collar bone, concussion, and fractured two bones in my neck. Took like 7 months to recover, but my neck and shoulder still bother me daily."
RemarkableWafer
Psycho
"When I was around 8 or 9, my parents went to have dinner at a fancy restaurant. My younger brother was at a friends house and I had a babysitter. When I finally fell asleep I woke up in an ambulance. Turns out my babysitter overdosed me with pills so I wouldn’t wake up whilst she threw a party at my house. She gave me so many I passed out and had a reaction."
Honey_*itch-
Weeks Later
"My girlfriend had a thyroid related heart attack, where she was revived and put into a medically induced coma for like 2 weeks, and took her another 2 weeks to come out of it. Then she had to go to in-patient physical therapy for a bit. Talking to her after she woke up, I couldn't help but be astounded how much it f**ked with her memory. It was like she remembered events, people, things and places, but any concept of time went out the window."
"For example, she thought she was living at her ex husband's mom's house, driving a car she had before we met, working at her current job, and knew we were dating. And of course, as those were all simultaneously impossible, she was having a lot of trouble figuring out what was right, and what wasn't."
Digital_Utopia
Hero Gramps
Winning Old Man GIF by Great Big StoryGiphy"I had a severe asthma attack to the point my entire throat closed up. I turned blue and was lying on the kitchen floor. Woke up in my grandads car with a straw in my throat and him banging on my back. Woke up again in the hospital. I was about seven."
Kaonashi_chlo
I would be a wreck in all of these situations. This is too much.
Erased
Alcohol Memory GIF by funkGiphy"Hit by a van . Woke up about a month later. My last memory before waking up is my 4th period art class in high school. So it completely erased the last half of the day before and the entire morning of the accident itself."
Half_Smashed_Face
A Bad Series
"My dad was driving me to school and suddenly I was in my bed! I get up, open my door, and ask my family what just happened! They all simultaneously scream for me to go back to the bed. Apparently I had already asked them what happened six separate times. I had a series of grand mal seizures during the car ride."
"Went from chatty to seizing all of a sudden. My dad called our pediatrician and I was eventually diagnosed with a form of epilepsy. My dad was told to take me home and put me to bed. It was the most disorienting thing I've ever experienced. It took six months to feel normal again. I had a constant sense of newness with familiar things that was very weird."
Nht2
To Sleep
"I was in elementary school. I stayed home because I had a light fever one day. I took a nap and woke up 3 days later in the hospital with no feeling in my legs. I had contracted viral meningitis, which had cut off the nerves to my lower body. I was bedridden for 3 weeks and spent several more weeks in physical therapy relearning how to walk. The horrors I endured during my stay were traumatic enough, but I still feel lucky. In high school, a fellow classmate had contracted bacterial meningitis, he died two days later."
Tathanor
The Jungle Gym
"I don't know if absolutely plastered counts as being fine one minute, but yeah. I remember being sh**faced sitting on a jungle gym in a park and then waking up the next morning in the hospital with an IV and catheter. Apparently I was found in a coma and had multiple organs shutting down. If I hadn't received medical help I would've died. Am now 3 years sober."
sandenema
The Rupture
angry chris farley GIFGiphy"I was at work having a normal day. I went to the toilet and could not get off the floor because I was doubled over in pain."
"I somehow managed to stagger out to where my colleagues were and they called me an ambulance. Got to hospital and had all my clothes and belongings shoved in a bag and was rushed into emergency surgery for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy."
snoozlybar
Well I guess some miracles actually do happen. That is all too crazy.
There are several inconveniences which come with an illness or injury.
Being bedridden at home, missing work, having to cancel plans which were long in the making.
But the worst thing which often comes hand in hand with illness or injury, is physical pain.
While some pains can be taken care of with an ibuprofen or other medicines, others are so unbearable that almost nothing can ease it.
Redditor Dassag-Kababi-07 was curious to learn of the worst pain members of the Reddit community had to endure, leading them to ask:
"Users for Reddit, What is the most physical pain you have experienced? And how did it happen?"
The memory was almost equally painful.
"I was mauled by a dog while in the Caribbean."
"We went around the island trying to find the one doctor, kept missing him, in the age before cell phones, and finally went to the airport."
"We climbed on the plane barefoot and without any ID, it was the 1980s, a totally different time, and ended up in Miami, and went straight to the hospital."
"There they had mere minutes to save my nose so they strapped me to a surgical table and did surgery without anesthetic."
"I was four."
"It was to this day the most painful experience of my life and I still feel the pain in my whole body as I write this."
"What a horrible memory."
"The nose turned out great though."- LeskoLesko
Not one, but two!
"I've had two hernias, the first one was so bad that my insides essentially were 'spilling into' my sack."
"You could push it back in, but sometimes it would rest on my testicle and I would almost pass out from the pain."- izthistaken
"Didn't poo for a week."
"One massive turd."- Onetrillionpounds
Among the most invasive procedures you can get.
"Bone marrow biopsy."
"Trust me, you don't want to go through that."
"Also after that I found that I had Leukemia, so then there's that."
"But fully recovered, cured."- tombandicoot
"Bone marrow biopsy."
"They cannot numb bone."
"They just jam a needle in and suck out the marrow."
"It was worse than the craniotomy or mucositis."- stolliolli
Unbelievable
"Ruptured my patella tendon, stepped into a manhole in a dark room and all my weight hit the concrete edge , opened my leg up and caused a 'fishtail' rupture on the tendon going under my knee, also the skin split showing my knee and shin bone."
"I got driven to hospital, I lay on my back and watched the consultant lift the skin to look at my kneecap, he then told me that this would be quite painful, and he could only give limited anaesthetic, then pushed the tip of his fingers under my kneecap to raise it to check the tendon."
"I wanted to f*cking die, I had surgery that night and was in physio for months after the cast came off."- ThrobberMcThrob
Um... okay...
"Being on fire really sucked."
"The first time was worse though."- Jam-18
Seatbelts save lives
"Crashed into a mound of dirt at about 60mph and ended up with a burst fracture in my lumbar spine."
"Hands down the most excruciating pain I've ever experienced."
"The worst part was, I was in a rural area so I couldn't get to a hospital for several hours and had no pain relief until the ambulance got to a safe place for the helicopter to land for me to be airlifted to a city."- ihatemyselfalot-lol
Let's hope this was a one time occurrence
"My period."
"I went to the doctor for a physical and when I got there my cramps were so bad that I physically passed out."
"When I woke up I was in an ambulance."
"Apparently the pain made my blood pressure sky rocket and when the pain stopped it made my blood pressure drop so fast I past out."
"I’m also a diabetic so they assumed it was a low blood sugar and were shoving an apple juice down my throat when I came to."- blubberwinx
Don't forget to floss
"Nothing beats the highest level of tooth pain for me."
"If you break a tooth or lose a filling, don't wait to get it taken care of. Dental insurance on its own is fairly inexpensive and one of the better investments you can do for yourself. And if you really can't afford that, there are usually low income clinics that will help you in times of emergency. Don't suffer!
Take good care of your teeth folks.
Whether inevitable or completely avoidable, unbearable, long lasting pain is something no one deserves to endure.