The Weirdest Medical Mysteries
Posted by on Oct 28, 2009 in Ten Amazing Medical Mysteries
Despite the leaps and bounds the medical community has achieved in understanding the human body, there are mysteries and diseases that are still not understood. Here are ten of the top medical mysteries that still baffle doctors and scientists.
Morgellon’s Disease
Imagine feeling like bugs are crawling around under your skin. Worse, imagine sores that burst, releasing white or clear fibers or little black specks. This condition is called Morgellon’s Disease, and while the fibers from sufferers all seem to match one another, there is no known cause or even a standard to diagnosis the condition.
Inability for Body to Grow
Brooke Greenberg is 16-years-old but has the size and IQ of a toddler. She’s currently 30 inches tall and weighs 30 pounds. The only parts of her body to grow since she was 4-years-old are her hair and fingernails. There is currently no one else alive in the world with this condition but researchers are studying Brooke’s DNA to see if they can identify a congenital condition.
A Real Life Mermaid
Shiloh Pepin was a real-life mermaid. She suffered from a very rare condition that causes sufferers to have fused legs and was not expected to live long after birth. Doctors don’t know what causes the circulation problem that leads to fused legs in utero. She died at age ten in October of 2009.
Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy Type 5
There are some people among us who can literally feel no pain. Sufferers of hereditary sensory autonomic neuropathy type 5 cannot feel any pain. People with this rare condition do not have pain triggers to teach them certain behaviors as children, like avoiding extreme heat or scratching at their eyes, and have to be protected until they are old enough to understand their condition. There is no cure.
Tree Man
A man in Indonesia is covered with warts that resemble tree bark, earning him the nickname, “Tree Man.” It is believed that the condition is a genetic immunity defect that caused the human papillomavirus (HPV) to mutate. No one else has this condition and aside from surgeries every few months to scale back the growth, there is no treatment or cure.
Cannabinoid Hyperemesis
A woman suffered bouts of intense vomiting that only hot showers helped. After several hospital stays, a doctor discovered online a condition called cannabinoid hyperemesis, a new condition caused by excessive use of marijuana. Chronic use of the drug can cause an upset in the brain’s ability to regulate body temperature, which is why suffers have a relief of symptoms after a hot bath or shower.
Partial Gigantism
Mandy Sellars has enormous legs and feet – they weigh over 200 pounds. They were over sized at birth and continued growing much faster than the rest of her body. Doctors are still baffled by her condition, though some have posited that she suffers from partial gigantism.
Constant Hiccuping
Christopher Sands has been hiccuping for over two years. He has undergone surgeries, tried alternative medicine and yoga, but nothing relieves his hiccuping for long. The condition leaves him in pain and unable to eat or sleep. Doctors have no idea what caused the condition or how to cure it.
Inability to Sleep Causing Death
There is a family in Italy with a congenital condition that causes many of them to stop sleeping in middle age. The condition is extremely rare and is a prion disease; meaning proteins in the brain are involved. There is no cure. Sufferers stop sleeping until they eventually die from exhaustion.
