Table of contents:
- 1. Persistent sexual arousal syndrome: aroused endlessly
- 2. Exploding head syndrome: "Bomb blast" in the head
- 3. Progeria: age 5 years, looks like 80 years
- 4. Stone's disease: grows new bone in the body
- 5. Xeroderma Pigmentosum: vampires in the real world
- 6. Cotard's delusion: zombies in the real world
- 7. Alien Hand: Hands have a life of their own
- 8. Riley-Day Syndrome: superhuman is immune to pain
- 9. Foreign Accent Syndrome: suddenly fluent in a thousand languages
- 10. Hypertrichosis: werewolves
When talking about strange diseases, what you might sound familiar with is elephantiasis or Zika. However, some that exist on this list are so rare that you may not have heard of them at all. In fact, the majority of these diseases have no treatment options and still baffle doctors around the world
1. Persistent sexual arousal syndrome: aroused endlessly
You will usually only feel the excitement and the seconds to climax during sex or masturbation. However, some people can be almost at the threshold of orgasm during daily activities. For example, when crossing the road or even waiting for a public bus. Even though. they do not experience or receive the slightest sexual stimulation.
This state of being aroused continuously without stopping is calledPersistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS). PSAS can affect anyone regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation. However, the cause is not known until now.
Some scientists believe that hypersensitivity to nerves in the genital organs may be one of the causes. Others suspect that narrowing of the pelvic veins to hormonal disturbances is the cause.
2. Exploding head syndrome: "Bomb blast" in the head
A loud noise waking you up at night or startling you to jump as soon as you fell asleep? Even though after the right-left lyrics, there is not a single thing that causes noise. The loud voice is coming from inside your head.
Exploding Head Syndrome sounds like a scenario from a horror movie, but it's actually a serious medical condition that affects thousands of people around the world. Symptoms of this disease are disturbed sleep with bright flashes of light, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, accompanied by a sound that sounds like a bomb exploding, a gun shot, a cymbal collision, or another version of a loud sound in a person's head while trying to sleep. There are no symptoms of pain, swelling or other physical problems.
When the head "explodes", the situation is usually described as a process shutdown brain, similar to a dead computer. When the brain goes to sleep, the brain will "die" gradually, starting from the motor, auditory, and nervous aspects, to visuals - but then something is wrong in the sequence of the process. Unfortunately, the drugs currently available are only able to reduce the volume of the explosion but do not actually stop the sound.
3. Progeria: age 5 years, looks like 80 years
Generally, the symptoms of aging will begin to appear in middle age. But for children who suffer from Progeria or Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome 3, their physical appearance even looks like 80 year olds even though their actual age is not yet two years old. They have protruding eyes, a thin nose with beaked tips, thin lips, small chins, and protruding ears. Progeria is caused by a genetic defect.
Even though mentally they are still minors, physically children with progreria will physically age like older people. Starting from hair loss and thinning, graying, sagging skin and wrinkles here and there, suffering from joint pain, to bone loss.
Progreria is a rare, life-threatening condition. Only 48 children worldwide have managed to grow up with this condition. On average, a child born with progeria will not survive past 13 years of age. However, there is a family that has five children with this strange disease.
Progeria is deadly because many of these children also develop diseases usually associated with advancing age, such as heart disease and arthritis. They have acute hardening of the arteries (arteriosclerosis) that begins in childhood, leading to a heart attack or stroke at a very young age.
4. Stone's disease: grows new bone in the body
Medically known as Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), Stone's disease is one of the rarest, most painful, and most disabling genetic conditions. Stone Man's disease causes new bone growth to appear to replace muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissue that should not have grown bone.
This strange disease is caused by a genetic mutation in the body's immune system to repair injuries. After injury, new bone develops throughout the joint, limiting movement and forming a second skeleton. This condition makes the sufferer like a living mannequin statue that moves stiffly. Trauma and the slightest injury, even injection marks, can cause bones to start growing.
Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment for this condition other than taking common pain relievers. FOP occurs in one in two million people, but there are only 800 cases officially recorded in the world.
5. Xeroderma Pigmentosum: vampires in the real world
Humans need sunlight to get vitamin D, but about 1 in 1 million people have it xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and very sensitive to UV rays. They must be completely protected from the sun, or they will experience it sunburn extreme and severe skin damage.
Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a subtype of the disorder known as porphyria. This condition is caused by a mutation of a rare enzyme that prevents the skin from repairing itself once it is damaged by exposure to UV radiation.
Symptoms usually first appear in early childhood, characterized by severe blistering of the skin after only a few minutes of exposure. The eyes also become red, blurry, and irritated from UV exposure.
People with XP are at a very high risk of developing skin cancer. Nearly half of all children who have XP will develop certain types of skin cancer by age 10. It is estimated that only one in 250,000 people in Europe and the United States have XP. Although there are several treatments available, the best prevention from severe skin damage is simply to stay in the dark and stay out of the sun, like a vampire.
6. Cotard's delusion: zombies in the real world
Cotard's delusion aka Walking Corpse Syndrome (Walking Corpse Syndrome) is a rare mental disorder in which a person believes with all their heart that they are zombies. They believe they are dead but half alive for reasons that don't make sense if we hear about it. For example, he felt that all the blood in his body was drained, his spirit was taken by a demon, or that all of his organs had been stripped away.
Some people with this syndrome may also claim that they can smell their own flesh rot or feel maggots crawling on their skin. Others believe that they cannot die (because they are already dead, they think).
Sufferers tend not to eat or bathe, and often spend time at the cemetery with the excuse of wanting to mingle with their own "clan".
This condition is most common among schizophrenics and people who have suffered severe head trauma. People who are chronically deprived of sleep or suffer from psychosis after taking amphetamine or cocaine also often have symptoms of Cotard's syndrome.
Cotard's delusion is thought to arise as a result of a disturbance in the area of the brain responsible for recognizing and relating emotions to faces, including their own faces. This causes people to experience dissociation when they see their bodies.
7. Alien Hand: Hands have a life of their own
Alien Hand Syndrome is a strange disease that makes the owner of the body completely unable to control the movements of his own hands. It was as if both of his hands had a life and mind separate from their mother's body.
Researchers believe that this is a side effect of brain surgery or separation of the function of the lobe areas of the brain. They found that the left and right brains of the sufferer were able to move independently of their own accord. Sometimes, this syndrome can occur as a rare side effect of brain injury.
Alien Hand Syndrome has no cure, but giving something to keep in your hand is enough to make it stop moving for a while. A study published in the journal Neurologist reports that Botox injections can help manage this syndrome.
8. Riley-Day Syndrome: superhuman is immune to pain
Riley-Day syndrome, known as Familial dysautonomia or hereditary sensory neuropathy type 1 (HSN), is a rare inherited genetic mutation condition that affects the autonomic nervous system that connects the brain and spinal cord to muscles and cells that detect sensory sensations, such as touch, smell, and pain. The ability to feel pain and temperature is severely impaired, sometimes to the point where the individual actually experiences no pain at all.
To truly show signs of having the condition, however, the relevant gene must be passed on by both parents. This condition is also accompanied by frequent vomiting and difficulty swallowing.
Because HSN causes loss of pain sensation, it is not new for sufferers to suffer random fractures and even necrosis, which results in tissue death. People with HSN can even sever their limbs or bite their tongue without feeling the slightest bit of pain. Insensitivity to aches and pains can be life-threatening in many situations, and because injuries and sores may continue to be left untreated, ulcers and infections are common side effects.
9. Foreign Accent Syndrome: suddenly fluent in a thousand languages
An accent can reveal a lot of information about a person's origins, and many people have tried to speak a foreign language other than their own. However, some people can develop a condition that causes them to suddenly become fluent in a foreign language and out of control, even if they have never studied or visited the native language's area before. Often times, several different types of accents can "come out" at different times, or they can be mixed up at one time.
Individuals with this condition not only change their accent and tone of voice, but also change the placement of their tongue when speaking. This strange, rare disease usually appears as a side effect after a stroke, severe migraine, or other brain injury. The only treatment available for this condition is extensive speech therapy to train the brain to speak in a certain way.
10. Hypertrichosis: werewolves
Another horror movie theme that "inspires" the description of this rare disease. Known as cognital hypertrichosis lanuginose, those born with this congenital condition have too fast hair growth and a large number of genetic mutations, covering the body, including the face. This is the reason why hypertrichosis is also commonly referred to as "werewolf" syndrome - devoid of canines and creepy sharp claws.
This condition can also be a side effect of anti-balding medications, although some cases occur for no known cause. Treatment options include common hair removal methods, although even regular waxing and laser treatments do not provide long-lasting results.
