# It happened to me: medical oddities **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 9, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311 "2018-03-09T23:56:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/41 "2018-03-12T02:37:01Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > For the last six months I’ve dealt with an eczema-like skin condition that occasionally gets so severe, I’ll wake up and feel my TEETH itching. Don’t have any idea how common that is. Have you sought diagnosis/treatment? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/42 "2018-03-12T04:14:17Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Have you sought diagnosis/treatment? Yes, but I neglected to ask how common itchy teeth are. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/43 "2018-03-12T05:06:40Z")
I seem to have an awful lot of curls/curves/folds, none of which are serious but which have elicited comments from doctors (which is the only reason I know I have them): - Not only do I have extra nerves in at least some of my teeth, the nerves are very kinked. Once when I had a root canal, the orthodontist, who taught at Tufts Dental School, said he was going to make my case part of his classroom instruction because of how the nerves coiled around. - I have a retroverted (tipped) uterus, which is fairly common, but mine is REALLY tilted. Every time a new OB-GYN examined me, they would comment that it was the most tilted they had ever encountered. - My ear canals are apparently very curvy. Or so says the doctor. I think there are one or two more examples of unexpected curliness in my body, but I’m blanking on them if there are. On the other hand, my hair is perfectly straight! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2018, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/44 "2018-03-12T05:53:02Z")
I just had a root canal. When the endodontist took the before x-rays, her and the assistant kept oohing and ahhing and shoving the film down further into my mouth and taking more pictures. When I asked what that was all about they both said that I have really, really long roots (upper and lower). Where most people’s roots stop a few millimeters shy of their mandible, mine went clear past it. My upper teeth, they said, were about a mm or two from my sinuses. It didn’t really make a difference to the procedure, they were just surprised at how long they were. Oh, and I also have one of those little holes in my ear. The ones that they say came from being a fish or lizard or something millions of years ago (based on they always reliable buzzfeed article). I’m always asked if I had my ear pierced at some point. I have, but it wasn’t quite that high. Looks pretty much just like [this](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article9297069.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/This-is-why-some-people-have-a-tiny-hole-above-their-ears.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/45 "2018-03-13T16:00:16Z")
On the synesthesia front I have an online acquaintance who is blind and autistic. She perceives sound as shapes. For instance, to her, my voice us a curved wedge, but her Dad’s voice is a concave oval. Her support worker’s voice reminds her of a churro. She also has perfect pitch. Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/46 "2018-03-13T16:18:11Z")
My Son has 2 kidneys but one decidedly smaller than the other, and shaped funny. They never explained why this was. He had his appendix out at age 12, and the scan showed it. The doctor just mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/47 "2018-03-13T17:24:59Z")
> [@tvaetbjorn](#): > > Are you kidding me?!?!? Ambivalid hasn’t touched this thread yet?! > Um… Well, you two have something in common, at least. Though his problem is nearly constant and daily. > > My oddity, if it’s even medical, is sound can torture me. My brain clicks into an irritated mode and the smallest noises seem to grow louder, and I curse furiously in my mind to keep from running from the room. > > I have a hard-of-hearing brother, by the way. He came over last week and said how he thought his hearing impairment was a blessing because sounds get to be too much and he can just turn his hearing aids off. > > I started bouncing in my seat and gesturing wildly when he said it, at Ambivalid, as if to say, “See?! I’m not insane!” > > The fact he has the same issue makes me wonder if it is more than purely psychological. Then again, he has so many issues it’s all just a ball of knots that no one can unravel. (ADHD, autistic, hard of hearing, PTSD, etc) Haven’t I [read about you](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tell-Tale_Heart)? 😃 My oddity is trivial. All four wisdom teeth came in true and straight, so I’ve never had them removed. (No, that’s not the oddity) One of the looks like a peg tooth like on a toothed whale. No crown, just an ogive point. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/48 "2018-03-13T17:34:58Z")
Whenever I drink something cold and tangy, my ear canals itch badly afterwards for a minute or two. I force myself to not scratch them because I know it’s some sort of referred sensation and scratching will not do any good. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/49 "2018-03-13T23:01:50Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I don’t know if the reality of it is not fun in the form you have, but I always imagined it would be really cool to see colors when you hear music. > > [List of people with synesthesia - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_with_synesthesia) I have the really boring synesthesia of some numbers and letters having colors (but not literally) but the music/color one reminds me of my favorite part of **The Phantom Tollbooth** when Milo conducts the sunrise. A crook of his finger and the piccolo plays a thin shaft of lemon-yellow light. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/50 "2018-03-14T00:19:58Z")
My sibs (-1) all have white blond hair, light blue eyes. We have white eyelashes, also. That’s weird, but what was really strange is the one brother who is a bright red ginger. My Daddy had blondish hair, he said is beard was red. We never saw it but once when he had surgery and it was several days before he could shave. It wasn’t nearly as red as us kids wanted it to be. We pictured a cherry red long beard. My Mom had dark hair and eyes. You would’ve thought she wasn’t our Mom. But we had a bunch if cousins with similar coloring on Daddy’s side of the family. Of my 3 kids, 2 are blonds. My middle daughter is dark haired with hazel eyes. Her complexion is very pale though. My grand-kids are all mixed up. I have one who maybe closer to my coloring than the rest, and I red-head with brown eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/51 "2018-03-14T01:23:17Z")
> [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](#): > > I often sneeze when starting to think about 1 particular sexual fantasy. > > [Sexually induced sneezing - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexually_induced_sneezing) I knew a man who sneezed when he thought about nuns. I believe it was a sex thing 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/52 "2018-03-14T02:57:06Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Occasionally the left side of my face goes numb. It lasts several days. I have asked many doctors about it. No one has ever answered with more than a ‘hmmmm’. Nobody brought up Bell’s Palsy? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/53 "2018-03-14T13:04:31Z")
I have no sense of smell. I can detect fumes like ammonia or gasoline if they’re concentrated enough, and at that level I’m no doubt losing brain cells. 🙂 Also, I will occasionally get a sharp stabbing pain in my head and if I look around, I’ll see that someone is smoking nearby. I wouldn’t call that smelling it though. I also get the ocular migraine (sparkly spot in my vision which expands causing blindness in one eye). It almost always happens right after I’ve been to the gym and lasts about half an hour. Another visual phenomenon I get is golden spots flying around my peripheral vision for a few moments. This one almost always happens in the shower. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/54 "2018-03-14T15:50:59Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Nobody brought up Bell’s Palsy? A few years ago I had a case of what I called “reverse Bell’s Palsy” because the symptoms seemed to be the opposite of what Bell’s Palsy was supposed to be: the muscles on the left side of my face were _clenched_, and my lip was curled up in an uncontrollable sneer. I went to a couple of different doctors, and they didn’t seem to know what was up, just that it was related to Bell’s, they said. One prescribed me some muscle relaxers (Zanaflex), which allowed me to sleep some; after a couple of days, the muscle clenching had become quite painful. It went away on its own after a couple of weeks. No idea what it was, or where it came from. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/55 "2018-03-14T16:16:03Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Nobody brought up Bell’s Palsy? No Bells, because it intermittent at best. My face doesn’t contort or clench. Just feels numb. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/56 "2018-03-14T17:20:13Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Not a complete oddity, but I’ve only read about it: > > A few years back I was reading a book or something along those lines (IOW, not doing much) and I noticed what appeared to by a little red bump on my skin. It itched like mad (I assumed it was a bug bite) and after about a half hour of scratching it, I finally got up and put some cortisone or benedryl on it. A few minutes later, another one on my neck and this continued until I finally told myself 'stop scratching". > Happened a few times a week, I didn’t think much of it. > > Not having any idea that it was related, I started noticing that any time I got any kind of a scratch, it turned into a big welt. So, if I scratched an itch on my neck, someone would probably say ‘what happened to you? Get mauled by one of your dogs?’. Even just scratching my arm or leg or torso would leave a huge red mark. > The oddest thing though is that that giant red mark would itch, which would make me scratch it more and if I did that I’d break out in hives. Not a lot, mind you, but a handful of them around that area, but always a bunch more in other random spots on my body. > > Fast forward a few months, I was getting some allergy shots and happened to see the doc in a hallway and said ‘watch this’ and ran my fingernail along my arm. As usual, giant welt and I mentioned to him that I’d break out in hives if I kept doing it. He took a quick look and said ‘dermatographia’. > And that’s exactly what it is. No ‘cure’ for it, in some people it stops happening after a few months/years, so far, not for me. > The only thing I can really do is take antihistimes to keep it somewhat under control and I’ve gotten really good at not scratching any exposed skin (ie neck, face etc) when I’m in public. > [This](https://img.medscapestatic.com/pi/meds/ckb/36/62336tn.jpg) is a good example of what happens if I get scratched. It’s not me, but a good picture. Just something like reaching in to a box and catching a staple or even scratching an itch results in this. > > [This](https://www.mayoclinic.org/-/media/kcms/gbs/patient-consumer/images/2013/08/26/10/44/ds00755_im02553_mcdc7_dermatographiathu_jpg.jpg), also not me, is what happens when I’m not concerned or not thinking about it and scratch one area for a while. > > And, yes, I can write on my skin. My penmanship is awful and the antihistamines help, but I can do it. **allthegood** has that too. One of her other boyfriends used to do things like write his initials on her. It would just be superficial scratches but her skin would do _that_ and it would look like he’d freaking branded her, for a little while. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/57 "2018-03-14T18:02:56Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Occasionally the left side of my face goes numb. It lasts several days. I have asked many doctors about it. No one has ever answered with more than a ‘hmmmm’. I had a boss with Bell’s Palsy. The left side of his face would just suddenly melt. His first clue would be the looks on other people’s faces. He said he’d been a preemie, and the 7th cranial nerve was too close to the wall of his skull. The slightest inflammation would cause it to swell and bump up against the skull wall. This could cause varying level of paralysis depending upon how smooshed it was and for how long. His face was often half-numb, but occasionally the muscle control just went. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > Not a complete oddity, but I’ve only read about it: > . . . > > Fast forward a few months, I was getting some allergy shots and happened to see the doc in a hallway and said ‘watch this’ and ran my fingernail along my arm. As usual, giant welt and I mentioned to him that I’d break out in hives if I kept doing it. He took a quick look and said ‘dermatographia’. > And that’s exactly what it is. No ‘cure’ for it, in some people it stops happening after a few months/years, so far, not for me. > . . . I had that as a teenager, although I never got full-blown hives from it. Just welty lines exactly where my nail had been. Now I just get long red streaks. > [@Ambivalid](#): > > . . . not only do I get bone-chillingly cold to the point that I cannot warm up, I _simultaneously_ feel overheated and break out in freezing cold sweats (I know that sounds literally impossible but it’s not, I promise you). > . . . I get that late at night when I haven’t been sleeping enough. I’ll get all wrapped up and get under the covers only to wake an hour later dying of heat. As a woman approaching 50, I’ve been joking that it’s reverse hot flashes. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > My sibs (-1) all have white blond hair, light blue eyes. > . . . My brother and I were both born blue-eyed tow heads although our hair has gone dark-blond to light brown over the decades. My Mother is part African, with wiry chocolate-brown hair and dark brown eyes. In the Summer she tans at the mention of sun, and many times people mistook her for our nanny. ---
**Author:** ![arles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71c47a/32.png) [@arles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arles)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/58 "2018-03-14T21:34:18Z")
Some of you have much more interesting causes of sneezing. Alas, I have the boring form of Photic Sneeze Reflex (sneezing at the sun). According to Wikipedia, up to 1/3 of people have this condition - a statistic I don’t believe. When I was a child I was teased nearly every morning. When the school bus reached the top of the hill and the bus was suddenly in the sunshine I would sneeze - every damn morning. And the other 30 kids on the bus would laugh. I don’t think I have ever seen (or heard) someone else sneeze at the sun so I disbelieve the 1/3 Wikipedia statistic. I am usually able to anticipate it and close my eyes to prevent it. But not always, now I am only laughed at by friends when at the movies in the dark when all of a sudden the screen goes bright white and I end up sneezing. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/59 "2018-03-14T22:18:14Z")
> [@arles](#): > > Some of you have much more interesting causes of sneezing. Alas, I have the boring form of Photic Sneeze Reflex (sneezing at the sun). According to Wikipedia, up to 1/3 of people have this condition - a statistic I don’t believe. When I was a child I was teased nearly every morning. When the school bus reached the top of the hill and the bus was suddenly in the sunshine I would sneeze - every damn morning. And the other 30 kids on the bus would laugh. I don’t think I have ever seen (or heard) someone else sneeze at the sun so I disbelieve the 1/3 Wikipedia statistic. I am usually able to anticipate it and close my eyes to prevent it. But not always, now I am only laughed at by friends when at the movies in the dark when all of a sudden the screen goes bright white and I end up sneezing. I would have guessed it was considerably higher than 1/3. I would have put it more towards ‘most’ people. I thought sneezing when you walked out into the sun was pretty common. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311/60 "2018-03-14T22:26:33Z")
> [@arles](#): > > I don’t think I have ever seen (or heard) someone else sneeze at the sun so I disbelieve the 1/3 Wikipedia statistic. 😕 I too thought most people sneeze at the sun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-happened-to-me-medical-oddities/810311.md?page=4)