8 Incredibly Rare and Strange Diseases That Really Exist
When we hear yet another suspicious news
story of this one patient who woke up with a foreign accent or one about
that one patient getting drunk on bread or arguing they're dead, we
can't help but be skeptical. Realistically, though, there are some
really strange rare diseases out there that sound unbelievable but are
painfully real for the people suffering from them. In fact, all the
diseases we've mentioned in the first sentence are very real, just like
all the others we describe in this article.
1. Auto-Brewery Syndrome Makes a Person Feel Drunk after Eating Bread
The overwhelming majority of people
experience drunkenness after consuming alcohol, but individuals who
suffer from auto-brewery syndrome get drunk from just eating carbs (and
especially gluten). This is because of yeast living in these patients’
gut that converts the carbohydrates we consume into ethanol (alcohol),
which can lead to intoxication.
Just imagine waking up with a hangover
after one-too-many croissants... Admittedly, the majority of people
suffering from this condition don’t get hammered after eating a piece of
cake, but those with a more severe form of the disease can suffer from
chronic fatigue, headaches, vomiting, and even liver damage, not to
mention sudden changes in behavior.
2. Foreign Accent Syndrome Patients Wake up Speaking with a Foreign
Accent
This rare speech impediment that usually
appears after some form of damage to the brain makes a person suddenly
acquire a foreign accent. So, a native American English speaker
recovering from a brain injury may all of a sudden wake up speaking with
a French or Chinese accent.
And while it may sound bizarre, neuroscientists can explain why this
happens: a person who has sustained some damage to one of the language
areas of the brain may have difficulties producing certain speech
sounds, which we, the listeners, perceive as a foreign accent. And while
these people are usually aware that they are pronouncing a sound
incorrectly, they simply lack the ability to change the way they speak.
3. Tissues and Body Parts of Patients Suffering from Proteus Syndrome
Grow Disproportionately
Proteus Syndrome is a rare genetic disease
that makes the different tissues of our body (bones, skin, organs and
blood vessels) grow out of proportion. This rare condition is not
hereditary, and the abnormality in the genetic code is believed to be a
random gene mutation during fetal development.
At birth, patients with Proteus Syndrome don’t exhibit any symptoms of
the disease, and the excessive growth typically starts at 6-12 months of
age. The condition is highly stigmatized, and throughout history,
Proteus Syndrome sufferers have been often labeled freaks and outcasts,
with one of the most famous examples of this stigma being a British man,
Joseph Carey Merrick (1862-1890), sadly more known by the nickname “the
Elephant Man". Merrick himself wrote that people, even doctors, often
treated him like an animal.
5. Cotard's Syndrome Makes Patients Believe They’re Already Dead
This rare psychiatric condition, also
called “the walking corpse syndrome,” makes patients believe that their
body is decomposing. These patients are severely delusional, denying the
presence of certain body parts and often refusing to eat because they
believe they’re already dead and won’t be able to digest food.
Interestingly, patients suffering from the disease can successfully
distinguish between alive and dead people, but they are convinced that
they specifically are deceased. The condition is loosely linked to
depression, with antidepressants generally helping recovery, but there
were also reported cases of Cotard’s Delusion induced by brain damage
and injury, which sometimes clear up spontaneously after the patients’
recovery.
5. Urbach-Wiethe Disease Sufferers May be Immune to Fear
Yet another rare genetic condition, the
Urbach-Wiethe Disease is typically characterized by the hardening of the
skin and other tissues, including the brain (thus the condition is
often linked to brain damage). There are 400 registered cases of the
condition at the moment, but one of these patients, a female patient
called S.M. in medical literature is unique, as she cannot experience
fear.
S.M. was dubbed “the woman with no fear”, and her case helped
neuroscientists isolate one brain area that is responsible for the
sensation of fear, the amygdala. After scanning S.M.’s brain, the
scientists saw that her amygdala is completely destroyed, which
confirmed this area’s role in experiencing fear.
Several experiments designed to trigger fear in S.M. have been
conducted, e.g. holding her at knifepoint and gunpoint, exposing her to
spiders and snakes, and she didn't even flinch. What's more, when asked
to distinguish between sad or scary music, she failed, so the very
concept of fear is foreign to this woman.
6. Marie Antoinette Syndrome Makes One’s Hair Suddenly Turn White
The name of this condition comes from a
legend about the French queen Marie Antoinette, whose hair supposedly
turned white the night before her execution. And while the majority of
scientists don’t believe that it’s possible to lose all of your hair
pigment overnight, there are reported cases of relatively sudden graying
of the hair due to extreme stress.
Some World War II bombing survivors, for example, have experienced their
hair turning white faster than usual, but not overnight. Many
historical figures, too, such as Thomas More, have been believed to
suffer from this condition as well.
7. Persons Suffering from Water Allergies Get Skin Rashes after Contact
with Water
The medical name of this condition is
actually twofold: Aquagenic urticaria and Aquagenic pruritus, and both
are skin conditions that develop minutes after a person suffering from
the so-called water allergy gets in contact with water. Though commonly
known as a water allergy, these conditions are not technically an
allergic reaction and their causes are poorly understood. There is no
cure and water of any temperature can trigger a reaction.
There are 30 known cases of water allergies, and the majority of these
patients are women who start exhibiting symptoms during puberty. The
main distinction between Aquagenic urticaria and Aquagenic pruritus is
that the former forms only in contact with water outside of the body,
whereas in the latter, even sweating, tearing up and urinating can
trigger a reaction. Also, Aquagenic urticaria patients generally develop
skin hives, whereas Aquagenic pruritus only causes redness and intense
pain when exposed to water.
8. Fish Odor Syndrome Makes All Bodily Secretions Smell Like Rotten Fish
If you’re self-conscious of your BO, just
imagine how patients suffering from fish odor syndrome might feel.
Trimethylaminuria, the scientific name of the condition, makes patients
emit a smell reminiscent of rotten fish through their sweat, breath, and
urine.
This condition is genetic and there is no known cure, but minimizing the
intake of foods containing chlorine may temporarily improve symptoms.
And though this condition is not dangerous to a person’s health on its
own, most patients suffering from trimethylaminuria have mental health
issues due to stigma and low self-esteem, and a few suicidal attempts
have even been recorded.