Unbelievable Medical Conditions

SF

A strange list, but this looks like bull****

http://www.oddee.com/item_96473.aspx

CEL

There is a photo of the woman, taken in daylight. So she is not sensitive to visible light, that is an EMF radiation much more energetic than microwaves.

chuck654

Well, I tend to believe it, at least the thing with the man that cant get fat, I have the same condition, Im 47 y and 1.83m and pretty much (+- 2-3 KG) the same weight when i was a young teen (63KG), I tried all to gain some weight to no avail... even the clothes still fit (not in length of course but in waist size...)

leroyjenkens

Some may be real, but some must be false. For example, the kid who can't sleep would die.

zoobyshoe

Not necessarily, and it's clear his quality of life is extremely poor. If he actually can't fall asleep his waking life is quite degraded, but there's no reason he should outright die from it that I know of.

This one is plausible because of his diagnosis of Chiari Malformation which is a squeezing of the brainstem. Inability to fall asleep is not normally a symptom, but in an atypical case it could be. The brainstem is the location of the reticular formation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reticular_formation

I read a case of a neurologist who had a brainstem bleed and wasn't able to sleep for months. He and a colleague both agreed his reticular formation had been compromised.

leroyjenkens

People with fatal familial insomnia eventually die from a lack of sleep.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia

As much as we sleep, you have to think it's pretty important. If you can't do it at all, there's gonna be some serious repercussions.

mgb_phys

It is (or rather it's psychosomatic - but still very real and painful for the victim) everytime you double blind test them with a microwave source that they don't know if it's turned on or off they don't get sick.

IcedEcliptic

This sounds like people who complain of "chemtrails" and "Orgone". Laughable if it were not the result of underlying mental illness.

Additionally

Who was that radio host in the 50's who did an experiment to see how long he would stay awake? I remember that he began to hallucinate, and I think he nearly entered a comatose state. By accounts of friends and family he was never the same person after this. That is the most extreme induced case I know of, and the other as you say, is inevitably fatal.

The loophole is that people can sleep for bursts and appear awake, or the person may have an exotic sleep disorder and people think he is awake when he is not. There is no getting around no sleep being fatal however, and it doesn't take very long.

zoobyshoe

The form of insomnia you linked to is clearly fatal, but that doesn't mean all forms of it necessarily are. There will definitely be serious repercussions, but death isn't necessarily one of them. Depending on the cause, the person's body might well adopt alternate strategies for accomplishing some of what sleep normally accomplishes.

IcedEcliptic's comment about appearing to be awake when you're actually asleep might be the explanation. This wouldn't constitute proper sleep, just as sleepwalking is not proper sleep, but something asleep enough to go on for years without killing a person. People with idiopathic insomnia seem to scrape by for a lifetime on short snatches of sleep. The kid may be surviving on a minute here, a minute there of half-sleep. That is: he goes asleep only to the extent that the minimal, vital processes of sleep are accomplished enough to keep him alive.

zoobyshoe

I was wondering about this. Do you know of a study that demonstrates this? I've heard tales, but never seen documented proof a person can cause lesions, or rashes, on themselves. That would be pretty damned remarkable in and of itself.

Freud was able to hypnotize susceptible patients into thinking they had neurological symptoms like tremors, but any reasonably accomplished actor can mimic a tremor. A rash, burn, or lesion caused by hypnotic suggestion would be a couple orders of magnitude more mind boggling.

leroyjenkens

All I have to go by is that the article says he can't sleep. No sleep equals death. If you get a little sleep, then that's a whole different story. But the article didn't say that, it said he can't sleep at all.

IcedEcliptic

The family of Parasomnias is very large, so while leroyjenkens is correct that a complete lack of sleep is fatal, it is also very possible that this individual is "fooling" people utterly unintentionally. He would still be terribly exhausted and have many problems, but it would avert death, a bit like trying to hold your breath until you die; you pass out, but you do not die. His mind is going to suffer however, and his memories must be awfully fragmented. If it isn't a hoax, I hope he gets to a reputable sleep-lab and gets a diagnoses.

I cannot find, and have not heard of a double-blind study showing psychosomatic lesions or burns appearing. I pose this scenario however: You believe you have been burned, or itch, so you pick at yourself. Boom! There is also the very real fact of Atopic Eczema, which presents in so many ways for many people. A bit of infection added, and it looks a LOT like burns: http://www.staphy.com/Files/Billeder/PIC1365_384.jpg http://whatdoeseczemalooklike.pbwork...pic_Eczema.jpg

These could be honest mistakes, hysterical self-injury, or hoaxes. Likely they are a combination of these, as with so much in our lives.

zoobyshoe

Well, he did get a diagnosis: Arnold-Chiari Malformation. While a complete inability to fall asleep is not a symptom of this disorder, ordinary insomnia and sleep apnea are common symptoms. I haven't watched this video, but the caption says he's already had surgery for it:
http://www.webtvhub.com/chiari-malfo...couldnt-sleep/
The picture of the woman's burned forehead looks more like a chemical burn, say acid or sodium hydroxide, rather than scratching or abrasion. In the absence of proof for lesions by self hypnosis, I'd say it's Munchausen Syndrome:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchausen_syndrome

Munchausen might explain some of the 10 others as well.

IcedEcliptic

Arnold-Chiari Malformation, does explain this, but it means the parasomnia thesis is correct. Poor little man, he will never be what he could have with that damage.

Ugh, I do not like this mental disorder, Factitious Disorder, and by proxy. I know of them, it is a serious issue, even if it not so common, every doctor must be aware of the signs. It could be FD/FD-BP, but it could be simpler: a chemical or acid burn, and a severe local reaction to an irritant such as poison oak or sumac, as well as many natural oils could explain this. As you say, so could a madman or woman dabbing muriatic acid on their forehead. Such a complicated world.

DaveC426913

Creepy as Munchausen Syndrome is, my wife had a friend/roommate who we suspect has Munchausen-by-proxy.

This woman's child had operation after operation from the time he was a baby, for all sorts of brain shunts and things. When he was old enough, he got hold of Child Services (she was also abusive), got himself pulled out of there, and has not had another operation in the intervening fourteen years.

IcedEcliptic

Lord, that would be very typical of the disorder. He is lucky to be alive! Was there a diagnoses by a neurosurgeon as to why these shunts were needed? That is so extreme, often FD presents with poisonings, breaks of bone... this is so elaborate! Not unimaginable, but terrible to consider.

DaveC426913

I don't think she actually harmed him to get the medical attention, I think it was more a matter of blowing problems way out of proportion - demanding operations for conditions that could have been resolved through less drastic means if doctors had been left to use their better judgments.

I think she got off on righteously yelling at doctors and generally raising hell in the name of her child's health.