I have an irritating habit of scratching my scalp and/or neck when I’m under a lot of stress or deep in thought. Not pulling or picking, just gentle scratching.
So today I’m at work and I’m scratching my neck and all of a sudden my hand feels wet. I look over to see that my hand is covered in blood! I press a kleenex to my neck and pull it back to see A LOT of blood. Then another kleenex as I try to inconspicuously make my way to the bathroom and figure out what the heck is going on.
A pretty impressive amount of blood was flowing from a relatively tiny spot on my neck, so I sat in a stall and held a paper towel to my neck until it seemed to stop. Slapped a bandaid on there and I was good to go (left work early because my shirt was quite bloody and I wasn’t sure how to explain it to my colleagues…)
Took the bandaid off and… there is NOTHING there. The bandaid itself was pretty bloody but there is no mark on my neck, no cut, no bruising, no scab, nothing. Weird.
What inexplicable injuries have befallen you lately?
Sounds like you may have scratched off a teeny tiny skin tag. From personal experience this can result in a whole lot of blood for no discernible injury.
For a real fright, read the troubling story of M’s itch published in The New Yorker by Atul Gwande
M. said. “At night, it was the worst. I guess I would scratch when I was asleep, because in the morning there would be blood on my pillowcase.” I won’t spoil the ending: The Itch | The New Yorker
Yes! (I’m a quick reader.) And now I feel compelled to find some mirrors and see what I can teach my brain! Do you know if she was able to stop her itching?
I never found a follow up but I haven’t searched in awhile. Do you know of any posters here with access to the paid only med journals? There may be some update there. My heart aches for her. My stomach lurches for her. My brain boggles for her plight. So very disturbing.
I have some access through school, but with only a name of “M.” I haven’t the foggiest clue how to find a follow up.
I did find this Q&A with the author, but at the time of writing, he didn’t think she’d tried the mirrors, and it sounds like she was still itching. (It also clarifies how what happened actually happened.)
My goodness, positive mirrors. Haven’t we hundreds of injured vets who should be giving this a try? And what would such a trick do for those with body dismorphia? amaguri, my apologies for derailing your thread. I’m quite certain you didn’t hit gray matter.
So, nevermind. I was aware that some amputees had a bit of luck with using mirrors to imagine their missing limbs and relieve symptoms of phantom limb, but the reverse mirror would stand as a sore reminder of our face’s own assymetry, wouldn’t it? Create more problems than it might solve. Ugh.
Reading most of that article reaffirms my belief (that originated with people much smarter than me) that “reality” is little more than our interpretation of the things we perceive, and our reality is changed easily by things that skew our perception.
“Reality is 90% perception” I believe is the actual quote…