Therapists don't coddle their clients, contrary to what some people might believe. Therapy works when therapists are able to be 100 percent real with their clients, as we learned when 88mica88 asked: "Doctors/therapist of Reddit, do you have any "no, that's not normal" stories? If so, what abnormal habit/oddity did the patient have thinking it was normal?" Patients also weighed in.
"Woman came to the hospital..."
Woman came to the hospital because she was feeling "tired" and casually mentioned her persistent vaginal bleeding she'd been dealing with for 2 months. She said it wasn't ever a large amount so she didn't think twice about it. Labs were done and her hemoglobin was 3.9. For context, that's low. Like, you should be dying low. But she looked perfectly fine.
"I examined him..."
Guy in his 20s came in complaining of bellybutton problem. I examined him, he had an irritated scab inside the bellybutton caused by aggressive lint picking. But dude was sweaty and had a slight tremor. Looked like crap. When I asked how he was feeling overall he said "Oh ok I guess. Just a little tired, drank a little more this week than usual. Probably overdid it."
I had to pry for details and turns out he drank a gallon of gin over the last 3 days and stopped drinking alcohol when he started vomiting large amounts of blood and pooping a mixture of bright red blood and dark sticky stuff (melena- digested blood).
He was totally unaware of the fact that he was going through alcohol withdrawal (sweating, shaking) because he hadn't stopped drinking long enough in recent memory to experience symptoms. I sent him straight to the emergency room, where they found a tear in his esophagus that required immediate intervention, and he was admitted for inpatient alcohol detox.
I read his hospital note, he still insisted that the ED doc examine his bellybutton.
"I'm a therapist..."
I'm a therapist and a couple came in and were fighting because they didn't want to have sex. I told them they didn't have to, they were fairly confused and thought I was lying to them... Now they have 3 kids.
"In my psych rotation..."
In my psych rotation, me and my fellow students were interviewing this anhedonic patient.
A guy asked him does it feel like nothing matters and that you'd rather die.
I promptly responded of course, but that's just normal. Thinking about death because there's so many bad things in the world that we know for sure are happening but have no actual way of subverting or preventing. (In my mind, scenes of forced prostitution, organ harvesting, domestic abuse, sadistic torture). That just all collectively said, No!! That's not normal. If you're having problems, please tell us more. I just responded, oh. And justified in my head that it's just a lack of proper communication.
"I currently have a patient..."
Giphy
I currently have a patient who, for no seemingly good reason, consumes food via their nose. It wasn't so bad when it was a softened diet but the salad was a real shocker.
"It was more like..."
It was more like... I realized what was happening was not normal and it lead to the client being diagnosed with what I can only assume was rapid cycling bipolar II with psychotic features (was referred to a more appropriate agency after initial intake so I didn't do the official diagnosis). He came in and was so down about his life that I called in another therapist to do a suicide assessment together. Once we were going through the questions the client became excited at having an audience and did a 180 in demeanor. I had never experienced someone flip so quickly. Aside from the mental health stuff, the client was a really cool person whom I hoped would get proper medication and go on to live a happier life. Lots of achievable hopes and dreams, and a really intelligent person, delusions aside.
"Turned out that, no..."
I was the patient, but when I went in for a routine physical the doctor poked my extended belly and asked how long it had been like that. I laughed and said, "What? My beer belly? Oh, since I was 21 probably." Turned out that, no, the 'beer belly' was a cyst that had grown really large and that was why my friends kept saying I looked pregnant. I thought I just had really shitty friends. Had to have emergency surgery and for a week or so there did not know if it was a cyst or ovarian cancer. It was a pretty big scare.
"I had no idea it wasn't normal..."
I was the patient.
I had no idea that it wasn't normal to uncontrollably sob for 2 weeks out of every month, have breasts so sore I couldn't go down stairs (jiggle), and then have it all stop the day you start your period. It took me getting a female roommate at 30 for me to realize that wasn't typical. I asked my obgyn after charting my symptoms for 6 months. PMDD, a depressive disorder that is tied to your menstruation.
A change in birth control pills fixed it right up. He also looked at me like I was crazy for thinking that was normal for 16 years. I asked my mom after my diagnosis, "oh yeah. remember in high school? Your friends would come over and ask if you were crazy that day or not?"
No mom. They didn't ask me that. Thanks for letting me know.
"From the other side of the therapy couch..."
From the other side of the therapy couch as a client, I once described a new emotion I was feeling that was really difficult to process. Turns out I was just fully experiencing sadness.
I'd built a defence mechanism where I'd go straight from zero to angry, and whatever was trying to make me sad I'd just get angry about instead. So I'd never really spent time in the sadness area long enough to experience it properly. It usually flicked me straight through to anger at high speed.
I can't imagine what it's like as a therapist to have a 33 year old telling you about this weird new feeling, and you having to explain to them what a normal response sadness is.
"A few years back..."
A few years back my mental health totally took a skydive. As a result I dropped out of school and had to start a recovery program. The first thing I had to do was talk to a psychologist. During these conversations with the psychologist, she'd focus on different parts of my life. So one day she'd ask about relationships and the next, childhood memories and so on. After a few conversations she focused on my social life. I then told her that it's pretty much nonexistent, and it always has been.
She then stated that I must've suffered from loneliness a lot then. I just told her that I've never actually felt lonely at any point in my life. After all it's pretty hard to feel lonely with the 2 voices in your head always keeping conversation. But surely she knew that, right? Well as it turns out, no. Apparently everybody else only have their own voice in their head. My entire life has been a lie. Turns out I'm schizophrenic.
I can't definitively say I've come face to face with the spirits. But I have had some unsettling feelings in the dark. Shadows are just shadows sometimes, but who can be sure.
I hear it...
Nbc Wings GIF by HULUGiphy"I was helping my dad clean my grandma's house after she passed and I went in and was trying to find a song in my phone and before I could I heard a cough plain as day come from down the hallway where her room was. She died of lung and throat cancer it was pretty crazy."
Running Past...
"When I was 5 I remember getting home from my grandpa's birthday party. For context my mom was pregnant with my brother at the time, so my parents had already bought his crib. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a women in a white dress and long black hair standing over my brother's crib. I managed to wake up my dad so he could take me to the bathroom. When I got back it was still there. It was only until morning when it disappeared. Every now and then I see a glance of what I assume is that thing running past the backyard."
The Cat
"My best friend and his wife had moved to a new apartment. I came over to visit a few times, and each time I'd see the motion of a cat in my peripheral vision. Not the image of a cat, but a sense of how a cat moves. Anyway, one day I finally cracked some joke about the ghost cat in the place and his wife was instantly saying "See! See! I told you we had a ghost cat!"
"excuse me"
"I worked graveyard shift in a dementia ward for 4 years and it was anything but quiet. I was working with a nurse one night when we both heard a resident say "excuse me." We looked around and no-one was there. I checked on the resident in question and she was fast asleep in her own room. Many of us also experienced someone whistling in the ward late at night and one nurse even managed to catch a video of it happening. It was unnerving to say the least."
Clueless
Skeleton GIFGiphy"I once saw someone short walk by me in my house. They walked into the laundry room which only has one way in. I walked into it behind them and they where gone. I thought it was my little brother but I went to his room and he was asleep. I still have no clue what that was."
- ImBolio
Now was everyone here positive they were sober? Just asking. Those are certainly spooky moments. I'd like some video footage please. Continue...
Reflections
ghost library GIFGiphy"I was up at 3am when I was maybe 7 or 8. I looked out the window and saw a woman in a white dress run across my yard. I could see through her. She was transparent like the reflections on the window."
"you alright?"
"So, my work place is haunted. I was having a really crap day, and as a cleaner, it's normal that me and my co worker will be the only ones left at night. So I was standing on the second floor, leaning on the banister for the stair case, when I heard this male voice say in my ear "you alright?" Clear as day. I turned around so fast and nobody was there and it scared the hell out of me."
- Rex-the-
Watching Me
"I remember as a young kid I usually use to sit in my bed and watch tv with my room door open while the adjacent guest bedroom next to mine would always have the door shut. I always remember seeing that door fully open and close by itself multiple times a day very slowly and gently. Never really bothered me much now that I think about it… but there were other creepier experiences I had in the same house that made me feel uncomfortable like I was being watched."
Betsy
"I went to the Betsy Ross House as a really little kid in the early 90s. Normal house but I was confused why the tour guide never talked about the woman on the chair crying at the edge of the bed in Betsy Ross's bedroom. So I asked about it. No one else saw the woman at the edge of the bed. I figured it was just a wax museum since there was a wax statue of a man in uniform rolling bullets in the basement."
"Years later, I was looking at haunted Philadelphia tours to go on with a friend and the Betsy Ross House was on it. I was like "woah! I was there!" and looked into it some more. Turns out there is a woman at the end of the bed crying and a uniformed man in the basement that people have reported seeing. There is no way that 8 year old me would have known about either of these things."
hello kitty...
hello kitty lol GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphy"I had this hello kitty Balloon In my bed room, it had a string and weight on it. So it was late, I had the lights on just Sitting on my bed. The Balloon turns, faces my door, slowly floats into my hallway and turns and floats into my sister's room. To this day I am scared of balloons."
They are among us and they like Hello Kitty. I'm probably rattling the paranormal cages and they'll come for me next, but I'm ready. I feel like this thread has prepared me.
Boo!
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