Unfortunately, he had to give up Sudoku in order to make a full recovery. … While teeth do sometimes appear in tumors, the type of tumor removed from the infant's brain — a craniopharyngioma — wasn't known to host these strange additions. A parasitic worm infection that causes a "calcified bladder" — a condition that probably feels every bit as uncomfortable as it sounds. What could cause a healthy 26-year-old to suffer a heart attack? He also experienced spontaneous seizures in his left arm. It turns out you can get pregnant from a blow job ... His doctors wrote about the case study in BioMed Central's Cases Journal. While this kind of calcification as a result of schistosomiasis(another name for aSchistosoma infection) is not rare, it is unusual for doctors to see a patient with an entire bladder encased in calcium, since it takes years for that much calcium to build up inside the body. While the rat lungworm is commonly found in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin, there’s indications that its territory is starting to expand further into the U.S., as the warming climate has made more areas hospitable to the many slugs capable of hosting the worm. Not only did the home remedy not appear to work, but his last attempt left him needing immediate hospitalization to treat the arm he had inadvertently infected. Green tea is supposed to be good for you; researchers have found that compounds in the beverage may help suppress lung cancerand improve certain brain functions. There are few combinations of words that are viscerally repellant as “a cloud of face flies.” But alas, that’s the reality that Dianne Travers-Gustafson, a retired medical anthropologist and public health researcher from Nebraska, had to confront while jogging along a California trail in February 2018. After his family reached out to one of the few experts on Bartonella in the country, doctors were able to successfully treat the infection. 1. Millions of people worldwide suffered this horrendous fate. But because the bacteria is so understudied, case study author Ed Breitschwerdt told Gizmodo, there’s really no knowing how often people can become seriously sick from it or how exactly the bug affected the boy’s brain. This condition caused the man to develop sudden muscle twitches around his mouth when he talked and in the muscles of his legs when he walked. Indeed, the specific, usually mild infection he had gotten is often known as cat scratch fever. So let’s go ahead and take a trip down memory lane, just in case you were hoping to get a good night’s sleep ever again. Doctors some how disagree with this fact! But the man’s predicament was the result of him having fallen off his moped and bruising the area between his junk and anus, commonly called the “taint.” The injury ruptured nearby blood vessels, which caused blood to pool around his genitals and created new connections that redirected the blood to his penis. Lauren Cox - Live Science Contributor, People often get infected by eating vegetables contaminated with snail or slug debris. A biologist was called in to examine these strange specimens, which turned out to be the jawbones of a halfbeak, a fish that dwells in shallow coastal waters. It’s likely that the boy’s case was a rare complication of Bartonella infection. Doctors were able to remove the tumor and the boy made a full recovery, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February 2014. ... but in some cases, it is. Doctors were able to remove the earring, and the woman healed quickly. Case reports are meant to add to scientific research, or help other doctors who might encounter the same strange symptoms in the future. A 43-year-old man in Qatar found out just how painful a calcified bladder can be. He was eventually rescued, but while buried under the snow, the man experienced a condition known as hypoxia, in which the body tissues and brain don't receive enough oxygen. Not long after the incident, the man developed a swollen and droopy eyelid that wouldn't heal. Sudden changes in your speech. In some cases, mashed mouse was blended with other ingredients, and the resulting poultice was applied to … 1. Doctors prescribed anti-epileptic medications and thought they had these seizures under control. Some also serve as highly effective cautionary tales. A scan of the child's brain revealed a tumor that contained what looked like teeth normally found in the lower jaw. Medical Research and the study of Human Health are subjects that offer an extensive and ever expanding range of puzzling and in some cases, disturbing phenomena. Shunted into medical units, they still showed signs of brain activity, but they didn’t respond to stimuli. The doctors who diagnosed her believe it was a condition known as pica, which is common during pregnancyand is characterized by cravings for nonfood items, such as baking powder, clay or dirt. Ossification happens when calcium salts build up in soft tissues, leading to bone formation. You know what they say about raw beef: You shouldn't eat it (at least, not unless you cook it first). 8 ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Storylines Inspired by Real-Life Medical Cases. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Stay up to date on the coronavirus outbreak by signing up to our newsletter today. But sometimes people get in the middle of this majestic dance of life and eat the slugs instead. This is not what people mean when they say they want to "ring in the New Year" — A woman in Australia accidentally inhaled an earring at a New Year's Eve party in 2015. But in at least one case, health officials reported that a person had gotten sick last December by “purposely eating a slug on a dare.”. ET. A Twisted Esophagus Well, that applies to this next case. Here, Thomas Morris reveals seven of the most bizarre cases in medical history, from the curious case of a knife-swallowing sailor to an epidemic of exploding teeth…. Please refresh the page and try again. Rudder M., Russo M., and Ventetuolo C.E. Editor's Note: This article was first published on July 2, 2013, at 3:45 p.m. This is interesting. Published: October 18, 2018 at 7:00 am. Presumably, the man's preference for uncooked beef passed just as quickly. Need a reason to skip Pilates class? Over a period of 18 months, the once-healthy boy spiraled into depression, suicidal ideation, and psychosis. Dan Clarendon June 4, 2020, 1:45 pm. If you answered no to both of those questions, then consider yourself lucky: Fishy eyeballs and inhaled earrings are two real (and really bizarre) medical cases that have cropped up in recent years. Drinking nearly a dozen energy drinks a day, every day, that's what. He suffered hallucinations that made him violent and homicidal, and his family eventually gave away their pets, fearing he might hurt them. You know that expression "too much of a good thing?" While the worms can cause more serious damage in animals, Travers-Gustafson was able to remove them all (a fourth was suspected in her left eye) with no lasting complications. Doctors who have taken up these weird cases have been shocked to their wits to see such abnormalities in the country. In the case of the mother-to-be, downing such a large quantity of baking soda resulted in weakening of the heart and other muscles. Her doctors didn't analyze the exact chemical makeup of the tea, but once the girl stopped consuming it, her symptoms — which included jaundice, joint pain and dizziness — improved quickly. Surprisingly Weird Medical Cases: Eyes clamped shut. The part of his brain that he used when thinking about things in 3D happened to be the part of his brain that was most affected by his 15 minutes of oxygen deprivation under the snow. Their 35-year-old male patient ended up in the emergency room with a Grade IV erection—an absolute real medical term—that had lasted for nine days. Five weird and wonderful surgical procedures. Some Of The Strangest Medical Cases Ever Documented | Weird Medical Cases The Effect of Trichophagia. Thank you for signing up to Live Science. As the name implies, humans aren’t typically on the worm’s menu. In India, there have been more than a hundred medical cases which are strange. ... Dr. Canavero told Medical News Today that the first human head transplant will be performed in December 2017. In March, doctors reported a frightening case of a 14-year-old boy who was likely driven mad after contracting an acute bacterial infection found in cats. 1 Comment. In January, doctors reported that the man had spent at least 18 months injecting himself with his own sperm using a hypodermic needle he bought online, in a completely baffling effort to cure his chronic lower back pain. Hairy Eyeball. Ancient Egyptians did, with the hope that doing so would ease toothache pain. But I’d never seen anything quite like this,” she told Gizmodo. A man in China learned this lesson the hard way after finding out that he had a 20-foot-long (6 meters) tapeworm living inside of him— a result of chowing down on uncooked cow meat. Here are some notable medical malpractice cases that have happened throughout the years. Although some were “awakened” with drug treatments in 1969, many slipped back into their sleeping state after only a few … Thankfully, doctors were able to plug up the leaky genital plumbing and stop the erection. These are among the symptoms associated with several physical and mental disorders that sound too strange to … NY 10036. [9 Uncommon Conditions That Pregnancy May Bring]. But in certain people, brain fluid leaks can occur spontaneously when too much pressure is put on the skull or spinal cord, which is probably what happened to the Pilates-performing patient with persistent headaches. Visit our corporate site. In May, health officials in Hawaii were forced to issue a warning to tourists that they should refrain from eating raw slugs, even on a dare. A doctor's visit revealed he had an area of inflammation called a granuloma on his eyelid, and the patient underwent surgery to correct the issue. Doctors suspected something might be going on inside the boy's brain when his head appeared to grow faster than was usual for his age. Yeah, the odds of all these rare medical cases coming to one hospital in New Jersey are pretty slim, but a variety of sources-- including Andrew Holtz, former CNN Medical Correspondent and author of Medical Science of House, M.D.-- have stated that many of the cases were built around real science.Holtz explained to the "House, M.D." Pregnancy cravings are normal, but indulging unusual cravings when pregnant can sometimes be dangerous. While it did take some time to recover, the man’s normal sexual function returned within a year. Here we have rounded up a handful of some of the strangest medical cases we could find. Chest fire Just imagine: an idea so beyond the pale that no one on the internet had ever suggested it before. Combined with the patient's known predilection for raw beef, the tapeworm specimen helped doctors guess that the man was sharing his intestine with Taenia saginata(a species of beef tapeworm). December 16, 2015 / Awesome Medical Feats, Head Cases, More Cool than Weird, More Wonderful than Weird, Revolutionary Therapies Not so weird but very cool…in more ways than one. The slimy creatures just might infect you with the parasitic rat lungworm, or Angiostrongylus cantonensis. [Here's a list of top meats that can make you sick.]. What's worse than a parasitic worm infection? Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer, (Image credit: The New England Journal of Medicine ), (Image credit: The New England Journal of Medicine ©2016), (Image credit: The New England Journal of Medicine ©2015. Ultimately, the boy was able to fully recover physically and mentally. This competition is now closed. Caused by a deficiency of the HGPRT enzyme, it causes cognitive impairment along with self-mutilation like biting of fingers, lips and in some cases, even head-banging. In her right eye, she unmistakably saw “three little glittering, translucent things” moving around. The report's authors also noted that smoking may have led to the constriction of the man's coronary artery. A month after her encounter with the face flies, her eyes were constantly watering, leading her to look more closely with a pen light and magnifying mirror. guide site: “My first actual thought was, ‘Wow, fascinating. Mysterious Medical Cases that are Too Weird to Believe. Some sufferers lapsed into coma-like states, unable to control their bodies and unable to wake up. "Two tubular structures" were also removed from the man's eyelid, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2015. The 52-year-old tourist was swimming in the Red Seawhen he collided with a school of fish. If you answered no to both of those questions, then consider yourself lucky: Fishy eyeballs and inhaled earrings are two real (and really bizarre) medical cases that have cropped up in recent years. Medical malpractice cases can take on many forms, with multiple causes and a wide variety of results. A man in Texas told doctors that he regularly consumed eight to 10 caffeine-laden energy drinks a day before suffering a heart attack. There was a problem. When doctors encounter such weird cases, they sometimes decide to publish a case report. 7 Weirdly Gripping Medical Stories That Are Actually True. 1. You will receive a verification email shortly. Nothing ruins a day at the beach quite like getting a fish bone stuck in your eyeball. Have you ever been to the doctor because you had a fish jaw stuck in your eyeball? Perhaps unsurprisingly, the doctors were unable to find any other similar case of someone trying to treat their back pain with a sperm injection, nor could they even find a hint of reason online why the man thought it would work. Image- Anthony Poynton (publicdomainpictures.net) With the advancement of research and medicine, even the impossible to cure diseases are now treatable but there remain some mysterious medical cases shun the medical experts. An infant in Maryland had teeth form in his brain as a result of a specific type of rare brain tumor. Travers-Gustafson, as she came to find out, became only the second person ever known to be infested by the cattle eye worm. People in Rajasthan had Long worms coming out from their skin This strange case of eyes clamped shut came about following the woman suffering a sinus and staph infection, leading to her being unable to open her eyes for up to three days at a time. But for those who aren't doctors, case reports illuminate the limits and the mysteries of the human body. The experiments were conducted in concentration camps, and in most cases resulted in death, disfigurement, or permanent disability. Elizabeth Peterson - Live Science The roundworm is spread by a species of fly that typically drinks the tears of large animals like horses and cattle. A young man in Germany completed so many Sudoku puzzles (a logic game that may help sharpen memory) that he began having seizures. In May, doctors in the UK reported the sort of story that could only be funny years after it happened to you. It wasn’t until early 2017, when a doctor spotted “stretch mark” lesions during an examination, that the true cause of his suffering was uncovered: His brain had been infected by a kind of bacteria spread by cats and other animals called Bartonella. Finally, other rats eat the slugs and the cycle begins anew. "Fitting rare medical cases into the characters' stories is a total puzzle." But the sheer mass of flies she encountered that day must have given them ample time to infect her with worm larvae. He also smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for two years prior to the incident, according to a report published in the journal Case Reports in Emergency Medicine in February 2015. But the patient's doctors suspected that the man actually became infected with the parasite as a child and that he lived with it for at least 30 years before doctors prescribed a treatment. After a standard treatment of bed rest, caffeine and ibuprofen, the woman recovered, according to a report published in the Journal of Medical Case Reports. We look back at the best, worst, and most significant moments of the year, and look forward to next year. After a sinus and staph infection, a 17-year-old woman began experiencing a weird phenomenon where her eyes would close tight for a few days straight. Involuntary hand movements. Eggs of the parasite ended up on the wall of the man's bladder, and his body's immune response caused these areas of the bladder wall to become calcified in a pattern known as "eggshell calcification," according to a case report published in The New England Journal of Medicine in February 2016. However, a few weeks after he was discharged from the hospital, the man began having seizures in his left arm again … but only when he did Sudoku puzzles. Some of them are as follows. 0. Typically, this is a complete accident. Though we’re a dead end for the worms, and they soon die off, they can still cause a serious, life-threatening brain infection called meningitis. Though initially diagnosed with schizophrenia, the boy failed to respond to antipsychotic medication. The girl had ordered the suspect tea online (after hearing claims it could help her lose weight). Eventually, doctors got to the root of the problem: The man had a very intense "three-dimensional imagination" that was activated whenever he did these brain-stimulating puzzles. For one 33-year-old man in Ireland, an especially, ah, creative attempt to treat his own pain landed him in the hospital. Baking soda is mostly made up of sodium bicarbonate which, when consumed in large quantities, can disturb the body's normal metabolic processes. 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All rights reserved. ), (Image credit: 5 second Studio | Shutterstock.com ), Here's a list of top meats that can make you sick, getting a fish bone stuck in your eyeball, infant in Maryland had teeth form in his brain, a healthy 26-year-old to suffer a heart attack, 5 Health Problems Linked to Energy Drinks, she started to show symptoms of acute hepatitis, woman who consumed a 1-pound box of baking soda a day, 9 Uncommon Conditions That Pregnancy May Bring, Mount Etna's fiery eruptions seen from space (satellite photos), Swarm of 20,000 earthquakes could make Iceland's volcanoes erupt, Lab-grown black hole analog behaves just like Stephen Hawking said it would, Shark gets stabbed in the head, washes ashore in Los Cabos, Sherlock Holmes' famous memory trick really works, Black holes could be dark stars with 'Planck hearts', Ancient helmet worn by soldier in the Greek-Persian wars found in Israel, Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice. The man had been an avid Sudoku solver for some time before experiencing such seizures, but that changed after he was trapped in an avalanche during a ski trip. After being treated with an antibiotic that caused him to pass the tapeworm out of his body within hours, the man's symptoms cleared up in just three months, according to a case report published in The New England Journal of Medicine in January 2016. It typically takes some kind of trauma for brain fluid — a clear liquid that flows between the brain and spinal cord and their outer coverings — to leak. The condition is very rare, with fewer than 40 cases reported in the medical literature. 2019 has truly been the year of too much. Unbeknownst to her, a loose earring from her purse had become lodged in the inhaler, and she inhaled it when she used the device. 12. University Community Hospital in Tampa, the medical center where the surgery took place, paid $900,000 to King and the surgeon involved in the case paid an additional $250,000 to King. And indeed, when doctors removed the tumor they extracted several fully formed teeth with it. Because we've got a good one: In 2015, a British woman with persistent headaches found that the reason for her pain was leaking brain fluid brought on by (you guessed it) a Pilates class. The 41-year-old woman, who had asthma, reached into her purse for her inhaler when she began to wheeze during the New Year's festivities. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the bizarre medical cases that made the news this year. But they didn’t die. But those two are cases are only runners up in the medical world's penis mutilation Olympics. Medical Dye Blocks Psychic Powers. By But a granuloma wasn't the only thing that doctors removed from the erstwhile swimmer's eyeball during the surgery. Overactivating this damaged part of his brain was what caused the man's seizures. Case in point: A woman who consumed a 1-pound box of baking soda a day, both before and during her pregnancy, developed serious muscle and heart conditions, according to a report published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology in August 2013. Have you ever heard about trichophagia before? It's possible that the excessive amount of caffeine in these drinks, as well as other potentially harmful substances, may have reduced blood flow in the man's coronary blood vessel, causing a blood clot to form and ultimately resulting in a heart attack. Here's a look at 27 cases that will make your next trip to the doctor seem like a total bore. Historically, the most famous case of Proteus syndrome was that of Joseph Carey Merrick (1862-1890), cruelly named “the Elephant Man,” in 19th-century Britain. Well, compared to the hair-pulling disorder a.k.a trichotillomania, trichophagia has been receiving less attention than it … 05 October 2016. Slugs and snails then eat these tainted rat feces, or the worms bury themselves into slugs that come in close contact with the poop. Chemotherapy patients for decades have suffered the indignity of hair loss. It's not entirely unusual for a 4-month-old baby to have a few teeth, unless those teeth are lodged in the baby's brain. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, The man and his back did get better, though once his pain dissipated, he discharged himself from the hospital, leaving behind a mystery that might never be solved. But the droopy-eyed swimmer recovered shortly after his surgery. What caused the woman to crave an ingredient most commonly found (in very small quantities) in baked goods? The earring scratched the back of the woman's throat, causing her to wheeze more and cough up blood, before it became lodged in her right bronchus (one of the main airways leading from the windpipe to the lungs), according to a report published in the journal BMJ Case Reports in April 2015. New York, A 17-year old Melbourne woman discovered one day upon waking that she could not open her eyes. The fish bones had immobilized the muscles controlling the man's eyelid, causing it to droop. Of course, that's only part of the story. The tapeworm likely lived inside the man's small intestine for at least two years before he went to see the doctors who would ultimately help him flush out this lengthy stowaway. Despite the controversy surrounding ICD-10, there is one universally agreed-upon upside to the hyper-specific coding system: Weird and obscure codes that stand for bizarre medical injuries. A malpractice case which achieved international notoriety involved self-professed psychic Judith Haimes, who claimed that an injection of dye which was required for her to undergo a medical scan led to headaches which interfered with her psychic powers. The tumors can contain a wide variety of tissues, including hairs. Over the course of the Third Reich and the Holocaust, Nazi Germany conducted a series of medical experiments on Jews, POWs, Romani, and other persecuted groups. There’s no mystery surrounding this next one. Here are some of the weirdest medical cases ever seen in India! The lesser known, exceptional or downright weird occurrences in the medical field thus continue to fascinate Listverse readers and scientists alike. Most cases of too-persistent erection happen because of a blockage of the blood vessels leading to the penis. From the massive changes with the cast, the most gut-wrenching deaths, heartbreaking romances and of course those wacky medical cases, Grey’s Anatomy has something to offer everyone. Strange Medical Conditions Little-Known Diseases Odd Medical Cases Unusual Medical Concerns Here’s a list of some of the weirdest, and thankfully very rare, medical conditions known to man. Unfortunately, that's what happened to a beachgoer visiting the Red Sea in 2015. Or perhaps you've been rushed to the hospital after accidently inhaling your own earring? The fact that “Yikes, I’m a host” was her SECOND thought just might be the most scientist thing ever. Worse still, the experience left her with an almost unprecedented infestation of eye worms. A 16-year-old girl in the U.K. learned this lesson the hard way when, after consuming about three cups of green tea a day for three months, she started to show symptoms of acute hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver. Trauma from car accidents, tumors and botched surgeries are all known to sometimes cause this problem. Most of the beverage's ingredients were in Chinese, so she wasn't sure exactly what was in the alleged "weight loss" beverage. As a result of the error, the surgeon’s medical license was suspended for six months and he was fined $10,000. [5 Health Problems Linked to Energy Drinks]. Our gold medalist is Romanian doctor, Naum Ciomu. He had blood in his urine and pain when he peed for a month before doctors diagnosed him with an infection by the parasite Schistosoma, which is transmitted by freshwater snails. Her ordeal was detailed this October in a case report she co-authored with her doctors. © While the report doesn’t name her as the patient, Travers-Gustafson later agreed to share her story directly. Foreign Accent Syndrome: Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a speech disorder that causes sudden changes in speech pattern, intonation and pronunciation so that the victim is perceived to speak with a “foreign” accent. Clinical Problem-Solving Jan 07, 2021 Breathing for Two.