NationStates Jolt Archive

Yea, I'm in a posting mood today, so hush. So, what Medical Oddities do you have, or a family/friend have or you've come across?

For me, since I do have Goldenhar Syndrome, and I've had ear and jaw reconstruction surgery, I have titanium plates in my skull. If I could figure out how to take an X-ray and scan it into a flash drive I'd show ya'll my Frontal Skull X-ray. Because I have these titanium plates in my skull, I HATE MRI machines. Yes I know, Titanium aren't magnetic but it still doesn't keep me from worrying that the magnets will rip the plates out.

I also have a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Anchored_Hearing_Aid) It is the BEST THING SINCE SLICE BREAD! Now from the Wiki, it does say there's a metal post that the hearing aid snaps onto. Yes it is titanium and yes I do worry about it being ripped out in the MRI machine.

So, share any Medical oddities that you've come across! :)

Tachycardia, lets my heart rate shoot up to the low 300s on occasion, blood pressure jumps too. Used to be disabling when I was younger, couldn't walk when it happened. Now it's just annoying and exhausting.

Also when I was born I had to have surgery, my abdominal muscles were abnormally large and blocking food from entering the small intestine, so I was starving to death.

Then of course there's my odd sense of smell, what's left of it. Exposure to large amounts of anhydrous ammonia mixed with phosphoric acid. A four inch ammonia pipe lost it's end cap right into a barrel of cleaning acid. That was fun.

Communism. :tongue:

Yea, I'm in a posting mood today, so hush. So, what Medical Oddities do you have, or a family/friend have or you've come across?

For me, since I do have Goldenhar Syndrome, and I've had ear and jaw reconstruction surgery, I have titanium plates in my skull. If I could figure out how to take an X-ray and scan it into a flash drive I'd show ya'll my Frontal Skull X-ray. Because I have these titanium plates in my skull, I HATE MRI machines. Yes I know, Titanium aren't magnetic but it still doesn't keep me from worrying that the magnets will rip the plates out.

I also have a BAHA (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_Anchored_Hearing_Aid) It is the BEST THING SINCE SLICE BREAD! Now from the Wiki, it does say there's a metal post that the hearing aid snaps onto. Yes it is titanium and yes I do worry about it being ripped out in the MRI machine.

So, share any Medical oddities that you've come across! :)

just you ;)

although I saw a woman with her fingers fused together, such that she had index and middle fused, and pinky and ring finger stuck together. Probably more than that, but I don't remember.

Being Alien Born - too many.

well,i have ADD or Attention Deficit Disorder.I can't concentrate well.i took ritalin for a while but stopped taking it a while ago.it doesn't affect me that mach and i can live with it without meds.

My grandmother was allergic to everything. She was allergic even to the sun.
If she stood to much in the light she would turn red and swollen very fast.
Quite annoying if you ask me.

Insanity.All throughout my mothers side of the family. It must be a dominant allele.:wink:

Wilgrove, how uncomfortable is it? Or is it totally unnoticeable and non-intrusive? I know, it's a strange question but, I hate hearing aids (I refuse to wear mine and strangely function without) and I'm always curious to know if other methods work.

Wilgrove, how uncomfortable is it? Or is it totally unnoticeable and non-intrusive? I know, it's a strange question but, I hate hearing aids (I refuse to wear mine and strangely function without) and I'm always curious to know if other methods work.

I actually can't feel it unless I'm touching it. The only downside is that the microphone is sensitive, so if you want to use a head phone, you have to use those ear phone things. Also, if you only get it on one side, the other side without the hearing aid will be more deaf than the one with the hearing aid. However, overall I would recommend the BAHA.

All of my health problems are mundane, except for the fact that I was born with only 1 kidney, well, I have two but one is very small and doesn't work, so it's just basically there........doing nothing.

My mother only has 1 kidney and my grandmother only has one, my aunt had two but one quit working so now she has one and it's slowly degenerating.

My children luckily have all the organs they are supposed to and most of them work properly.

I have no serious problems. Just Morton's Neuroma in my right foot, asthma, hormone-related migraines, osteoarthritis and, since menopause, osteopinea (precursor to osteoporosis the treatment is HRT which I can't do because of the hormone related migraines and other negative reactions to hormones). Also the incredibly common myopia and astigmatism.

Mentally, a tendency to depression, obsession and procrastination.

I've never had to adjust to anything really serious, for which I'm very grateful.

Nothing. My heart doesn't work quite right, so I'm prone to falling over unexpectedly on occasion, but that's minor.

The stuff that killed my older relatives was pretty cool. Rheumatic fever, pneumonia, Spanish flu. No one dies of acute disorders anymore - it's all chronic illnesses that take years and years and cost tens of thousands of dollars to treat. Boring.

Couple of scars, easily forgotten. Signs of a fun childhood.

I've got a titanium rod running the length of my femur now. I've also got a tendon in my chest that was reattached over my shoulder to hold it in place. Yay for sports.

Hmm. TM Syndrome is the proper name (better known as TMJ), that had me on Celebrex for about a year when I was in high school. Anemia -- garden-variety iron-deficiency -- or more accurately, misshapen rbc's, but not sickle-cell. Mild PTSD from the Red River Valley floods of 1997. Generalized anxiety disorder.

The cool one is the sore left hip. I jumped off a playground slide onto a patchurbs vatican of bare ice when I was 9. Yes, I know, it was massively stupid. It never healed right; thank God the growth plate wasn't destroyed, or I'd be shorter than I am now.

I'm probably missing some, I'm a mess of health problems, thankfully none of them lethal.

I was born white.


I'm so ashamed! :(

Sensuality.

small hole in my skull, front right temple. caused by falling onto one of those posts made up of jagged stones all bound together with cement. i was around 4 or 5 when it happened.

I was born with Spina Bifida. ^_^

I suffer from RSD (recently changed to CRPS). Nerves go haywire, afflicted part of the body becomes so sensitive that air pressure is painful. If anyone is in the mood to get sick, I'll show a picture :D

Mildish OCD, moderate Tourette's, mild Schizophrenia.


I'm just loony. =)

*insert abnormally huge penis joke here*

A few auto-immune issues as well.

I have AADD - adult attention-deficit disorder. The symptoms are very similar to ADHD in children, but as I was diagnosed later in life (in my twenties), I've developed coping measures and do not find I need to use drugs to control it. It does become a pain in the arse sometimes though, but since I was diagnosed, being able to recognise that my behavioral patterns are abnormal allows me to change them as they come.

I have unusually long legs, which allow me to sit in all kinds of positions that most people find uncomfortable.

I also have better than perfect vision - nothing unusual, except both my parents were wearing glasses by the time they were my age.

I have ADD (diagnosed in elementary school) and mild PTSD from being in northern Israel during the 2006 Lebanon war (fireworks set it off).

I have an extremely high metabolism, which kept me underweight for a while (though I recently discovered that I weigh about 145 lb).

Sure. I have four different colours in my iris, a set of hips that are somewhere between male and female, every common hair colour in my beard/goatee hair, extremely sensitive hearing, eyesight (at one point) and sense of touch, what was once thought to be Osgood-Schlatter disease, some extremely unusual (for me) numbness on the right side of my body, an ulcer since 7th grade (although not much of a problem anymore) ... probably more. Yay.

Two of the toes on my left foot are actually conjoined up until the first joint. It seems to be an odd sex-linked trait, as my father's mother and his sisters have the same trait, though they all have it on both feet instead of just one. I seem to be the only one of my generation to have acquired this particular genetic quirk. It's technically a deformity, I suppose, but I find it kind of cute. :)

Less cute was my experience in college of becoming a footnote to medical history when my eyes were infected with a virus that was not supposed to be able to infect eyes. It was pretty scary, since the effect was for my vision to cloud over completely over the course of about two weeks until it looked like I was seeing everything through a very thick, blurry fog, and doctor after doctor just looked at me in bafflement because what it looked like wasn't possible. Finally, the fifth doctor I went to decided that he was darn well going to treat it even though it was impossible, and antivirals pretty quickly brought me back to normal. Apparently he got a write-up in some minor medical journal for it, too. :tongue:

I was born white.


I'm so ashamed! :(
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Trouble-Every-Day-in-album-You-Can't-Do-That-On-Stage-Anymore-vol-5-lyrics-Frank-Zappa/
F9BFD0F5EA4C7AA9482569720030F0F0
There's a part they didn't include, apparently.

I actually can't feel it unless I'm touching it. The only downside is that the microphone is sensitive, so if you want to use a head phone, you have to use those ear phone things. Also, if you only get it on one side, the other side without the hearing aid will be more deaf than the one with the hearing aid. However, overall I would recommend the BAHA.

Thanks. That's good to know.

As for me... medical oddities? Kallman's Syndrome. :(

Yay hypochondriac threads! >.>

It's not a crippling oddity at all but I think it's interesting. I have visual snow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow) and it's probably connected to migraines I sometimes get. It gives the illusion of being able to see individual air molecules (its termed "aeropsia", apparently). It's hard to explain. I also occasionally see flashes of light etc without reason. I've had it since as early as I can remember and till recently thought it was normal.

Okay, I don't know anyone with this but i saw it on tv. A kid was born without 30% of his skin. He only had a thin membrane that kept his organs from the air.

I was born white.


I'm so ashamed! :(

You, me, and many other white men on earth.

seriously though. I have pectus carinatum, also known as pigeon chest.
While it's not life-threatening, it does make my chest look pretty funky.

I have two scars on my left knee - one from a accident with a machette, and one from a heavy-duty metal grinder.

Oh Yeah! I have scar on my forehead from playing lazer tag.

sadly, all three scars are short, fat, and really quite ugly.

I have a tooth that is is rather large (normal teeth are like this: /\_/\, one of mine is like this: /\_/\/\)

My stomach muscles almost starved me to death when I was an infant. >_>


edit: oh, I forgot: i have an arrhythmia.

I don't have any medical oddities. But I know some people with them.

This one chick I kinda-barely know was born without toe nails on her left foot, and she still doesn't have any.
I know that's not amazing at all, but that's all I could think of.

Oh, and I know this one girl who claims her eyes change colors.
She has pictures of herself where her eyes are drastically different colors.
I don't see her often enough to decipher myself if she's photo-shopping or not.

My hips are fucked up.

It's ok though, people are more concerned about their fucking mutts than they are people.

Type in "hip dysplasia" and all the results are about treating dogs.

1. MVP (mitral valve prolapse--basically a slight thickening of a valve in my heart that makes it skip sometimes),
2. epilepsy (only diagnosed about three years ago, under control with medication),
3. a weird autoimmune sort of allergic response to my own body apparently that makes me break out in head to toe hives if I don't take allergy medication (apparently this is not uncommon for women my age, but they don't know why it happens)
4. penicillin allergy (which I developed suddenly after 13 years of being stuffed with penicillin for strep infections, yay),
5. a congenital defect in my spine that required surgery on a disk when I was 18,
6. and I was born with a hole in my heart (it hadn't finished growing when I was born and sealed up when I was around 6 months).

Most of those aren't interesting as much as irritating. My dad was born without a left pectoral muscle. My mom has the same back defect and MVP that I do.

My hips are fucked up.

It's ok though, people are more concerned about their fucking mutts than they are people.

Type in "hip dysplasia" and all the results are about treating dogs.

That because dogs are awesome.

People are Bastard coated bastards with bastard fillings.

How is this for a medical oddity: I had kids! :eek:

How is this for a medical oddity: I had kids! :eek:

Let me guess, you created them out of mud and pie, right?

Let me guess, you created them out of mud and pie, right?

That was plan A. Didn't work(was fun trying though). Plan B was to hope my testicles were still functional. They were. *nod*

Less cute was my experience in college of becoming a footnote to medical history when my eyes were infected with a virus that was not supposed to be able to infect eyes.

I think this is the secret reason doctors work at campus health centers--they hope with enough young, diverse people around they will discover something new and write a paper about it. My ex once went into the health center with a rash and the doctor ended up inviting in about 6 doctors and nurses and they all excitedly examined it, thinking it was scabies. It ended up being an allergy to the detergent he was using, to their disappointment.

That was plan A. Didn't work(was fun trying though). Plan B was to hope my testicles were still functional. They were. *nod*

So, a woman actually agreed to mate with you?! :eek: She must be insane!

lol, I'm just kidding man, that's awesome. :)

I think this is the secret reason doctors work at campus health centers--they hope with enough young, diverse people around they will discover something new and write a paper about it. My ex once went into the health center with a rash and the doctor ended up inviting in about 6 doctors and nurses and they all excitedly examined it, thinking it was scabies. It ended up being an allergy to the detergent he was using, to their disappointment.

Dr. love me, let's see what I have.

Goldenhar Syndrome (which is apparently rare enough for them to get an orgasm over)

There's also the fact that every organ and system in my body is backwards. I am not kidding. heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, they're all flipped. Only the skeletal system wasn't affected.

Yea, I know there are one or two institution that wants me to donate my body to them after I die.

So, a woman actually agreed to mate with you?! :eek: She must be insane!

Now that we have kids, she says the same thing. :D

I have an oddity that a slew of dermatologists called something like an atypical presentation of an already (from what I understood) weird disease. They offered to biopsy it and I agreed, but prolly they didn't think I was serious because I was smiling and chuckling when I told them to go ahead and have it biopsied.

Well anyway, being a medical student in a developing country, I had seen (and as they say, will yet to see) lots more 'oddities' (for you people in the developed world). Like dengue hemorrhagic fever. Multidrug resistant tuberculosis. Lymphatic filariasis.
There's also the fact that every organ and system in my body is backwards. I am not kidding. heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, they're all flipped. Only the skeletal system wasn't affected.
Situs inversus?

The other day in work I saw a woman with huge warts all over her face, I was scared and slightly nauseated! Poor woman, I have never seen anyone with such a large number of them (and so big too) on their face before. Okay so it is not exactly a medical condition but it was still pretty funky.

Also the same day I saw this boy who had a weird skin condition that looked like it was all flaking off.

My right ankle clicks every step I take unless I abnormally supinate my foot.
Due to chronic ingrown toenails, by right big toenail is deformed. (If you want technical terms, onychocryptosis=>onychochauxis)
I think I have minor venous insufficiency.
My lips are chapped :(

My right ankle clicks every step I take unless I abnormally supinate my foot.
My temporomandibular joint clicks. People near me often cringe when they hear it.
My lips are chapped :(
Lick it. Mmmmm.

I think this is the secret reason doctors work at campus health centers--they hope with enough young, diverse people around they will discover something new and write a paper about it. My ex once went into the health center with a rash and the doctor ended up inviting in about 6 doctors and nurses and they all excitedly examined it, thinking it was scabies. It ended up being an allergy to the detergent he was using, to their disappointment.

Hehe, very possibly. I have a tendency to get weird ailments or to get ordinary ailments in weird ways, and I always "love" going to see a doctor and having him have to call over everyone else in the office with cheerful comments along the lines of, "Look at this! Isn't this weird?" (The last time was about a year ago, when a throat infection caused just one of my lymph nodes to swell up literally to the size of a golf ball. The entire freaking ER staff had to come in and poke it excitedly. :rolleyes: )

My temporomandibular joint clicks. People near me often cringe when they hear it.
I geuss atleast ankles aren't as obvious... however, it is the kind of thing where I'll walk down Woolies and it just echoes :S

Lick it. Mmmmm.
:mad:

I geuss atleast ankles aren't as obvious... however, it is the kind of thing where I'll walk down Woolies and it just echoes :S
Yeah, you know as they say, perhaps you may not use your ankles, but you need your temporomandibular joint.
:mad:
Hey, why so angry?

Yeah, you know as they say, perhaps you may not use your ankles, but you need your temporomandibular joint.
... well.. they could feed you through a tube and make you learn sign language...
Hey, why so angry?

That's how they got that way <_<

... well.. they could feed you through a tube and make you learn sign language...
Er no... I need my TMJ because I get that primal urge to SCREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:headbang:

I'm pretty much completely blind in my right eye. (I have a little peripheral in it.) When I was born, it was crossed, and apparently the operation to straighten it weakened it, and it never recoverd. It's a little annoying, and was partially responsible for my not getting my driver's license till i was 21.

There's also the fact that every organ and system in my body is backwards. I am not kidding. heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, they're all flipped. Only the skeletal system wasn't affected.
That's pretty interesting, actually.

Yay hypochondriac threads! >.>

It's not a crippling oddity at all but I think it's interesting. I have visual snow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_snow) and it's probably connected to migraines I sometimes get. It gives the illusion of being able to see individual air molecules (its termed "aeropsia", apparently). It's hard to explain. I also occasionally see flashes of light etc without reason. I've had it since as early as I can remember and till recently thought it was normal.
I do too! I had gotten so used to it that i've come to ignore it. I also had the flashes, which i'd attributed to pressure on an ocular nerve or something. Most of 'em, anyway.
And yes, i had about 5 or 6 years of migraines *before* the ulcer was a problem. Thankfully, and i truly mean thankfully, they wore off. I got a little reminder of it this morning, though.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=why-migraines-strike

pretty middle-of-the-road (actually, come to think of it, mild) irlen's syndrome = really quite photosensitive to bright light (sunny days hurt, overcast days hurt... and i hate rainy days...) i tend to wear sunglasses a lot. it can make reading difficult (high contrast black text on white paper sometimes is ouchy) and, coupled with mild dyslexia, often i'll get headaches when reading.


some people on here have it pretty tough :(

Er no... I need my TMJ because I get that primal urge to SCREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:headbang:

Then learn how to sign langauge it...