# Ailments/issues you're glad you've never had to deal with **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 6, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076 "2009-09-06T18:57:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/1 "2009-09-06T18:57:47Z")
Lots of time we bitch about the problems we have. What about the ones that we’re happy we don’t have? Like, maybe you’re a woman who never gets menstrual cramps. Or you never get colds. I was inspired reading the “Why do most medications cause diarrhea” thread and it occurred to me that I rarely have stomach ailments. And I don’t think I’ve been constipated in my life since I was really little. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/2 "2009-09-06T19:15:05Z")
Poison Ivy doesn’t effect me. Mosquito bites last about thirty minutes before they go away. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/3 "2009-09-06T19:34:42Z")
I seem very, very prone to infection, while my hubby seems almost immune to any kind of infection. _Except_ for sinus infections, which he gets a couple of times a year. Now our 9YO daughter has one, too. Oddly enough, for all my kidney infections, infected wounds from surgeries, bladder infections, urinary tract infections, etc., I have _never_ had a sinus infection. And for that, I am _insanely_ grateful, as I understand they are _very_ unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/4 "2009-09-06T20:11:33Z")
i have never had a yeast infection, despite damned near living on antibiotics some years … and \ I hope to never have one. I am glad not to have balls, because as klutzy as I am I would get kicked in them sometime 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leonard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Leonard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leonard)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/5 "2009-09-06T20:18:15Z")
From the horror stories I’ve heard, I hope I never have to deal with kidney stones. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/6 "2009-09-06T20:19:14Z")
I’m happy to not have leukemia or a hole in my face where the nose should be. I’m glad I don’t have a chest opening that won’t heal shut after heart surgery or breast removal. I’ve met people with both chest wound issues. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/7 "2009-09-06T20:20:27Z")
The list of things I’m glad I don’t have is endless Plantar fasciitis. I did have this for about a month, but got rid of it doing exercises, stretches and getting new insoles. But some people suffer for months or years with it. Its miserable, and some people end up in wheelchairs because they can’t handle the pain of walking. Migraines. I don’t get migraines so that is awesome. Basically you could fill an encyclopedia with disorders I’m glad I’ll never get. ---
**Author:** ![Pocito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@Pocito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pocito)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/8 "2009-09-06T20:22:16Z")
I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person on the planet who has never had a migraine. Headaches are a very rare occurance for me, in general. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/9 "2009-09-06T20:34:15Z")
> [@Pocito](#): > > I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person on the planet who has never had a migraine. Headaches are a very rare occurance for me, in general. My husband says he’s never had a migraine or even a headache. People complain about heartburn but I had no idea what it was until this year (I’m slightly over 60) when I had it for the first time. Now I know. That was only a one-time occurrence. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with back problems. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/10 "2009-09-06T20:49:34Z")
Migraines. They sound like living hell. A friend of mine gets them regularly and even the strongest painkillers don’t help, and she’s a tiny woman. Bad allergies. I’ve gotten a taste here and there for a day or two and the pain and discomfort made me see ads for allergy meds in a whole new way. It’s not just a stuffy nose, dammit. Diabetes. I don’t think I could overhaul my diet and lifestyle to accommodate it. I’ve thrown out my back before and can’t imagine dealing with that sort of chronic pain. A few days were enough. I’ve been depressed and my heart goes out to anyone crawling up from that dark, lonely hole. Good luck. The first time I got a UTI my sympathy for a friend plagued by them went through the roof. Among the worst pain I’ve ever felt. This actually made me feel a bit better about myself. Now to knock on a few tree trunks. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/11 "2009-09-06T21:24:52Z")
I’ve had my share of depression and anxiety, but every time I am tempted to feel really bad about that, I think of my uncle, who is paranoid schizoaffective. He believes that people are trying to poison him on a regular basis. He sees aliens and angels and tastes everything from dead bodies to cheesecake in his cigarettes. I remember as a teen once dropping by his shitty apartment which is layered in a film of nicotine, and seeing a letter he’d written to his tormentors taped up on the bathroom door. It said something to the effect of LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE. WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO DESERVE THIS? in shaky, scrawled handwriting. One summer he was involuntarily committed 8 consecutive times. He is terrified of his doctors and believes they are trying to harm him–essentially he views the world and everyone in it as one giant conspiracy. Nobody in my family really wants to be around him because he is so difficult to handle and prone to violent outbursts. So in the eyes of his parents he’s not much more than an obligation they have to deal with. Hell, I love my uncle to death but always think twice before dropping by to say hello, because it’s so damned uncomfortable to listen to his completely inappropriate choices of conversation. I’m ever-so-grateful I don’t have cancer, have never passed a kidney stone or lost a limb, but I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t thank the universe for blessing me with my sanity. These are the truly damned who walk among us. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/12 "2009-09-06T23:00:36Z")
I’m always grateful that I don’t have clinical depression. I have my lousy days, like anyone, and I really can’t imagine how horrible it would be to feel like that all the time. Also: I have an iron-clad stomach. I never have stomach ailments. I’ve been to Mexico seven times, and just spent the last two and a half months in India. Number of times in my life I’ve gotten ill as a result of food I’ve eaten? Zero. I’ve vomited maybe four times in my life since I was a baby, and only once in the last nineteen years. (Oy, drinking on an empty stomach is not a good idea. That was six years ago.) It’s not an exciting superpower, but it’s mine. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/13 "2009-09-07T01:01:56Z")
Kidney stones. My husband is a rather stoic, “I don’t need no stinkin’ aspirin” type. Kidney stones had him white with pain, begging for percocet, being knocked out with a slege hammer, anything to stop the pain. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/14 "2009-09-07T01:53:06Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever had the flu. I can’t be 100% sure, but I can’t find any memory that matches what I’ve heard about flu syndromes. I have only once had to be taken to the emergency room (from a lion bite, no less). Other than that, I have never broken a limb, been in a car crash, or even needed stitches. And like **aruvqan** , I am very sincerely glad not to have external genitals. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/15 "2009-09-07T02:09:48Z")
Lots of stuff that has been listed – migraines, UTI’s, kidney stones, external genitals prone to accidental injury – but I am thankful that I have never been seriously burned. Reading about the lengthy, extremely painful healing process for serious burns makes me writhe in sympathetic agony. I felt nauseous listening to an NPR story about a forest fire fighter whose buddies got burned in some famous fire out West several decades ago, a couple of whom lived long enough to suffer for a few hours before dying. Uggggggh. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/16 "2009-09-07T02:16:52Z")
[Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva). Don’t have it, don’t expect to have it. If you have it, your joints calcify over time. Any injury anywhere on your body results in the growth of shards/fibers of bone. It’s a one-way trip that eventaully renders sufferers immobile; your best hope is that you become immobilized in a reasonably comfortable sitting posture. Death comes when your thorax is so riddled with extra bone that it becomes impossible to draw breath. [Familial fatal insomnia.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familial_fatal_insomnia) Having trouble sleeping? Not as much trouble as you could have. Imagine developing, over the course of a few months, a complete inability to sleep. Once that’s done, the hallucinations and dementia set in, and you’ll be dead within a couple of years. Me? I’ll take my chances with the swine flu, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/17 "2009-09-07T04:04:27Z")
> [@Pocito](#): > > I sometimes wonder if I’m the only person on the planet who has never had a migraine. No, but you may be the only person on the planet who hasn’t _claimed_ to have had a migraine. The problem is that the vast majority of people have no idea what a migraine actually is. Some of us, on the other hand, have been correctly diagnosed by professionals, and can claim to have the disorder without grossly misusing the term. To actually be a migraine very specific criteria need to be met, and in many cases (like mine) the head pain isn’t even the worst part of it. I’d gladly deal with the headache part of my migraines if I could just do without the cold sweats and nausea. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/18 "2009-09-07T05:22:19Z")
I’m really glad that so far I’ve skipped most of the scary medical conditions on both sides of the family. My teeth suck because I inherited one of the dental imperfecta disorders, and I have plant allergies and asthma, but I don’t have psoriasis, or bipolar disorder or clinical depression or paranoid personality disorder or crohn’s disease and on and on. My family is not hearty stock, that’s for sure. Above all, though, I’m glad I have never had any type of cancer like my mom, my maternal grandfather, my maternal grandmother, my grandmother’s three sisters, my grandmother’s parents, three of my grandmother’s grandparents… knock on wood. On a far more trivial level, I’m glad that I don’t possess dangly parts that can get damaged while zipping up your pants. That sounds damn painful, and I’m clumsy, so I’d totally have done that to myself if I were male. Probably a bunch of times. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/19 "2009-09-07T06:56:20Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever had the flu. I can’t be 100% sure, but I can’t find any memory that matches what I’ve heard about flu syndromes. > > I have only once had to be taken to the emergency room (from a lion bite, no less). Other than that, I have never broken a limb, been in a car crash, or even needed stitches. > > And like **aruvqan** , I am very sincerely glad not to have external genitals. Actually, I just had the misbehaving inner girly bits removed, so I dont have to either take a pill every day or get tormented once a month for varying amounts of time … 😃 Ill deal with the inner child playing with matches… :D:D:D:D An exroomie of mine worked at the Mystic Aquarium … one interesting saturday afternoon the orca bit the trainer on her butt … can you imagine the insurance paperwork under reason :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076/20 "2009-09-07T08:09:39Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > And like **aruvqan** , I am very sincerely glad not to have external genitals. At the risk of being particularly un-PC, I’m glad I don’t have _internal_ genitals. It’s always sounded like that would be like owning an expensive, high-powered sports car with a really temperamental engine and transmission. In comparison to the [other system](http://www.hccmo.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/08autoshowbuckboards3.jpg), I think it’d be more trouble than it’s worth, at least for my own purposes ([such as they are](http://www.wiseooo.com/it_consult/computer_nerd.png)). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ailments-issues-youre-glad-youve-never-had-to-deal-with/509076.md?page=2)