8 Rare Diseases That You Won’t Believe Actually 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.