It's not hard to imagine most medical conditions.
Reddit user, u/Menardmildred13, wanted to know what surprised you when they asked:
What medical condition did you have that you didn't even know was a problem?
Allergies can hit you out of nowhere. While typical allergies, either seasonal or food-related, aren't that surprising, sometimes it's how they manifest that can be truly alarming.
Well, Then, Stop Eating Cheese?
"I have a cheese allergy and get the cheese coughs. Still totally eat cheese."
"Are.. are cheese coughs different from regular coughing? Because it sounds like you start coughing up partially digested cheese which is pretty horrific and I might have nightmares now"
"No. My throat is trying to close. Which I guess is also horrific considering how often I eat cheese."
Switching It Up
"I thought I just had extremely sensitive skin and was prone to rashes, especially around my eyes - always had a permanent domino mask of irritated skin around my eyes. When I switched doctors my new one had me take allergy tests. Turns out in the last 5 years or so I developed a severe allergy to laundry detergent perfumes. I switched to a hypoallergenic detergent and it all went away."
Sometimes a surprising medical condition can be lived with for months, maybe even years, without popping up. Then one day you'll be inconvenienced by something you didn't know you inherited from a family member a long time ago.
Not Responding How You Want
"Low thyroid hormone levels which isn't all that strange or dangerous and easily managed by a simple medication."
"However my thyroid condition did not easily respond to the medication and symptoms of severe thyroid dysfunction showed up and got worse. They checked for nodules like thyroid cancer just by feeling my neck. Didn't notice anything."
"Turns out I have a very rare and aggressive form of Lymphoma and it was lodged in my thyroid destroying it and spread to my brain and lymph nodes before anybody had the wherewithal to start sticking my with needles and scanning me."
Tearing Up Your Insides
"Celiac disease. I was having trouble with depression and chronic fatigue, so I got some blood tests which revealed that I had nutritional deficiencies related to the damage my intestines had sustained."
How Does That Even Work?
"Ovarian torsion. Found out about it this weekend-when I had to go to a&e with a suspected case. Thankfully it turned out not to be, but still yikes."
"I knew of the testicular version, which is kind of understandable as they are... more exposed. Never would have thought the ol' ovaries could go for a spin, too. Apparently, in rare cases they just decide too."
Passing It On
"Von Willebrands Disease! It's like a variant of hemophilia that acts on a different factor. Had pretty bad, hours-long nosebleeds my whole life. They started getting worse as I got older. When I was 18, I got them bad enough that they started hospitalizing me and I would bleed enough I would pass out. After a year of fighting doctors who fully believed I was overreacting, I got blood tests- turns out my blood just doesnt clot anymore! And something as simple as having a bad enough nose bleed or period could very well kill me! Now I have to have emergency clotting factor pills that cost 200$ a pill on hand at all times so I don't die if anything happens and a medical bracelet."
"Also, it's genetic! Turns out most people in my family had it too, and multiple women died from childbirth and complications with their periods and just never knew it."
Our bodies are embarrassing. You can be perfectly fine one day, then the next be told you have a weird shaped tongue. It's a shame, really.
That'll Do It
"I had skin cancer...on my butthole."
"Yep, that's right. I got skin cancer on a place that had never seen the sunshine."
"Apparently it can totally kill you, but mine hadn't spread so I just had a simple (yet embarrassing) surgery and went on with my life. I was only 21 years old at the time."
"How... how did they even catch this?"
"My butt started bleeding, so I went to the doctor."
Flipped The "Off" Switch
"During a routine examination of my throat the doctor accidentally hit a nerve with their instrument, after which my heart stopped beating and they had to revive me. When I got back I heard my wife sobbing loudly, and there were 3 doctors and 5 nurses struggling with me."
"I had never in my wildest dreams thought that something like that could happen. It was a simple routine examination that doctors do all the time!"
"The human body is a fascinating thing indeed."
"Did they explain why that happened? Because I'd love to know"
"Probably the vagus nerve. It courses down the outside of the esophagus into the abdomen ("vagus" means "wanderer"), and is also ennervates the heart. Activation of the nerve can cause the heart rate to drop quickly (sometimes called vagal-ing down), which can cause people to faint."
"Vaso-vagal syncope is a fascinating subject."
Hey, Your Tongue? It's Weird.
"I was told at a recent dentist visit that I had a mild case of something called geographic tongue. They asked if I had ever been told that I had it before, and then went on to say it was not a big deal if it wasn't bothering me and you can't really do a whole lot for it anyway. So I was just left with a fact for this thread, and the knowledge that my tongue is slightly discolored in spots."
