Strange Medical Conditions You Won’t Believe Are Real

February 1, 2023

What’s a vampire without its bite? Surprisingly enough, human. You may not know, but there are a number of rare and strange medical conditions that have been researched and analyzed over the years. Although many of them were discovered many years ago, there is still no cure. However, treatments and preventative methods have been found to ease the symptoms and the lives of the patients that are affected by them.Some of the conditions may make you do a double-take upon witnessing werewolves, vampires, tree men, stone men, and blue men. This is not the work of imaginative storytellers, but true reality of the strangest-known medical conditions.

Alien Hand Syndrome

Alien hand syndrome (AHS), also known as an anarchic hand or Dr. Strangelove syndrome, from the Stanley Kubrick film titled Dr. Strangelove (the first film to present AHS), is a rare neurological disorder. The main symptom of AHS is that the patient’s hand appears to have been possessed by a will of its own, acting without them being aware of it.

The condition is most commonly caused by a brain injury. However, much about AHS remains a mystery, as not enough information has been gathered on the causes, cures, or treatments for alien hand syndrome.

Cold Urticaria: An Unbelievable Allergy

Cold urticaria is a rare disease that affects the skin of the patient upon exposure to the cold as if it was an allergic reaction. The reaction causes the skin to develop itchy, red welts. However, the severity of the symptoms varies from patient to patient. In some cases, while patients swim in cold water they may get low blood pressure, shock, or faint. Some symptoms of cold urticaria may include welts, swelling of hands upon touching cold objects, swelling of lips from cold drinks, and a worsening of symptoms as the skin warms.

Now that you know the cold truth about cold urticaria, continue reading to learn all about epidermodysplasia verruciformis, the tree man syndrome.

Epidermodysplasia Verruciformis: Tree Man Syndrome

Epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) - also known as the tree man syndrome - is a rare, hereditary disease causing tumor growth on the patient's skin that resembles the bark from a tree. EV can occur during any time of the patient’s life, but it generally occurs in children between the ages of five and eleven. The symptoms of EV include flat or bumpy lesions, small bumps known as papules, patches of inflamed skin, and brown lesions resembling tree roots or tree bark. Approximately six-hundred cases of EV have been reported since the disease was first identified in 1922. Two-thirds of patients with EV are diagnosed with skin cancer between the ages of twenty and thirty.

Keep reading to learn all about fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, or stone man syndrome.

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva: Stone Man Syndrome

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) - more commonly known as stone man syndrome - is a genetic disorder that turns tissue, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage into bone over time. FOP is quite rare, affecting approximately one to two million patients worldwide. The condition commonly becomes noticeable in childhood, beginning in the neck and shoulders and working its way down the body and into the limbs. As FOP progresses, patients lose mobility. In some cases, they are unable to fully open their mouth and have a difficult time speaking and eating. Any trauma to muscles and joints such as a hit or a fall can trigger muscle swelling and inflammation that often leads to more ossification to the area. Often children born with FOP have larger, malformed toes, shorter thumbs, and other skeletal deviations.

Now that you know about fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, keep reading to learn about hypertrichosis, the werewolf syndrome.

Hypertrichosis: Werewolf Syndrome

Hypertrichosis is also known as werewolf syndrome. Patients diagnosed with hypertrichosis are affected by abnormal hair growth all over their bodies. Often their faces will be covered in long hair, which is the reason the condition was dubbed as werewolf syndrome. Hypertrichosis can be hereditary or acquired from side effects of anti-balding treatments. Some causes of hypertrichosis include malnutrition, poor diet, medications, cancer and cell mutation, and autoimmune diseases that affect the skin. Although there is no known cure, there is a variety of short-term methods to remove hair include bleaching, plucking, waxing, and shaving. Some patients attempt to use laser treatments for long-term treatment as well.

Keep reading to learn all about xeroderma pigmentosum and the similarity between those who are diagnosed with it and vampires.

Xeroderma Pigmentosum: Vampire Syndrome

Xeroderma pigmentosum is a rare disease affecting approximately one out of every one million people and is more commonly referred to as vampire syndrome. Patients diagnosed with xeroderma pigmentosum are hypersensitive to UV rays and must be entirely shielded from the sunlight or they risk extreme sunburns. Patients who do not take proper precautions of their condition can easily develop skin cancer. There is no cure for xeroderma pigmentosum, and although there are some treatments available, the best form of prevention is for the patient to stay completely out of the sun.

Now that you know about people who share a similarity to vampires, continue reading to find out why patients with the next disease are always blue.

Methemoglobinemia

Methemoglobinemia occurs when red blood cells carry an abnormally high level of methemoglobin, which results in the formation of ferric acid instead of the usual ferrous form. This causes a lack of oxygen to tissues and results in changing the color of skin, either through paling or changing it to a gray or blue hue.

An average level of methemoglobin is between zero and three percent. As the levels increase, the symptoms worsen. At three to fifteen percent, symptoms of the disorder include discoloration of the skin and blood. Cyanosis, a deeper blue coloration of the skin, occurs when the levels reach fifteen to twenty percent. During twenty-five to fifty percent, patients may experience headaches, lightheadedness, weakness, confusion, chest pain, and palpitations. By fifty to seventy percent, there may be abnormal cardiac rhythms, delirium, altered mental status, seizures, and a coma. If levels of methemoglobin reach above seventy percent, it usually results in death.

Now that you know about blue man syndrome, continue reading to learn all about parasitic twins.

Parasitic Twins

Parasitic twins, also known as unequal conjoined twins or asymmetrical twins, are a subtype of conjoined twins that occurs when one of the twins ceases development. The parasitic twin remains partially formed and nonfunctional or is fully dependent on the dominant twin, known as the autositic twin. The most common type of parasitic twins gives the autositic twin extra limbs, appendages, or organs. However, there are other kinds of parasitic twins like dipygus parasitic twins that have duplication of legs, hands, feet, or sexual organs, and the epigastric parasite, which is an incomplete twin usually attached to the autositic twin’s abdomen.

One of the most common health complications among parasitic twins is heart failure due to the heart having to supply blood to both bodies.

Now that you know about the various kinds of parasitic twins, keep reading to learn about a rare and scary allergy.

Aquagenic Urticaria

Aquagenic urticaria, more commonly known as an allergy to water, is a rare allergy causing hives or red welts upon contact with water. In most cases, the rash develops on the neck, upper torso, and arms, lasting thirty minutes to an hour after the water has been removed. There is not enough evidence to determine an exact cause of aquagenic urticaria. However, medical professionals have suggested two theories: dissolved chemicals or substances in the water trigger an allergic reaction, or the mixture of water and a dissolved substance is the cause of the allergy.

The typical treatments for aquagenic urticaria include antihistamines, stanozolol, creams acting as a barrier between skin and water, Ultraviolet B light treatments, and a bath with sodium bicarbonate.

Now that you know about the water allergy, read further to discover what alien hand syndrome is. Unfortunately no, you cannot phone home with it.

Polymelia

Polymelia is an extremely rare congenital disability where the patient is born with five or more limbs. The four kinds of polymelia are cephalomelia, an additional limb connected to the patient’s head; pyromelia, a limb attached to the pelvis; thoracomelia, a limb attached to the thorax; and notomelia; an extra limb attached to the backbone.

Polymelia is rare, affecting approximately sixty-five out of every one-thousand babies, but can be found during pregnancy through ultrasound and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Treatments require surgery to cut the soft tissue between the additional limb(s) and the rest of the body. However, it can sometimes lead to lifelong complications or disabilities.

Now that you know about polymelia, keep reading to learn about the disease that starred in the film Jack, portrayed by Robin Williams.

Progeria

The rare genetic condition, progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, occurs early in a child’s life and causes their body to age quickly. Although they look healthy when they’re born, babies with progeria begin showing signs within their first year of life. Some of the symptoms include a bigger head, large eyes, loss of muscle and body fat, and hair loss. As the child ages, they may begin to get diseases expected of people over the age of fifty, including bone loss and heart disease.

This rare disease affects approximately one out of every four million, and those diagnosed are lucky to live past thirteen years old, often dying of heart attacks or strokes.

Now you know Benjamin Button could have existed! Keep reading to discover a strange condition that shrinks skin, muscle, and even bone.

Parry-Romberg Syndrome

Parry-Romberg syndrome is a rare disorder in which the skin, fat, soft tissues, muscle, and sometimes bone from half of the patient’s face progressively shrink, appearing to deteriorate. Often it will make the one side of their face appear sunken in, and in rare occurrences, the disease will affect both sides of their face. The severity of symptoms vary from patient to patient, sometimes causing abnormalities to their eyes, teeth, or neurological system.

Most patients diagnosed with Parry-Romberg syndrome encounter symptoms before they reach twenty years old. There is no exact known cause for the disease. However, there have been many theories linking it to viral infections, trauma, and inflammation of the brain and nervous systems.

Keep reading to discover what disease is through the looking-glass.

Alice In Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS)

Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) is a disease that affects the perception of size. AIWS is named after Alice In Wonderland because patients who suffer from it may perceive themselves, their body parts, or objects to be smaller or bigger than they truly are, similar to when Alice shrinks or grows to get herself out of a difficult situation. However, AIWS is not as cheerful as Lewis Carroll’s best-selling novels. Symptoms of AIWS usually include migraines, loss of sense of time, and hallucinations. Migraines, psychoactive drugs, brain tumors, temporal lobe epilepsy, and Epstein-Barr virus infections can all cause AIWS.

There is no cure for AIWS, and chronic cases must wear themselves out, but it can be treated with anticonvulsants, antidepressants, beta blockers, and calcium channel blockers.

Now that you know what’s down the rabbit hole with AIWS, continue reading to learn about the final scary and strange medical condition.

Lymphatic Filariasis And Elephantiasis

Lymphatic Filariasis is a parasitic infection that impairs the lymphatic system, causing abnormal growth of body parts, pain, and disability. The infection is caused when parasites are transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. Most cases of lymphatic filariasis show no physical signs whatsoever. However, the infection will cause damage to the patient’s lymphatic system, kidneys, and may alter their immune system. If the infection is left untreated, it can lead to lymphedema - the swelling of tissue - or elephantiasis, which is the thickening of the skin and tissue on the limbs.

Lymphatic filariasis and elephantiasis can both be combated by stopping the spreading of infection through preventative chemotherapy treatments.

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