20 Very Strange Medical Conditions

Imagine the annoyance of chronic hiccups. When Chris Sands, of England, was suffering from nonstop hiccupping, he would hiccup for 14 hours straight.

BBC News reported in 2010 that doctors found a tumor in Sands’ brain they believed was the cause of his horrible hiccups. Sands reportedly recovered after the tumor's removal. 

The condition, which is mostly found in females, is defined as having uncontrollable genital arousal. It’s not linked to sexual desire or sexual stimulation, and a woman can often have multiple orgasms that do not relieve the tension.

People who have cold urticaria develop itchy hives when exposed to low temperatures. The condition is most commonly found in young adults, and symptoms can range from mild to quite severe.

When young Rhett Lamb of Florida would stay awake for nearly 24 hours, his mother knew something was wrong. After medical tests, it was discovered he had a rare case of Chiari malformation.

"The brain literally is squeezed into the spinal column" affecting vital functions, said Dr. Marie Savard of ABC News. Rhett had a surgery that doctors helped would improve his sleep within a year of the operation. 

Actors may spend extensive time training when they have to adopt a foreign accent, but what if you couldn’t help it? In 2016, Lisa Alamia of Texas woke up after jaw surgery and found herself speaking with an English accent. Alamia’s doctor diagnosed her with “foreign accent syndrome,” which most often occurs after a stroke or some sort of brain injury.

A broken heart can be emotionally painful, but can it also be a physical ailment? A grandmother in Texas, Joanie Simpson, was hospitalized due to “broken heart syndrome” after the death of her dog.

Symptoms of the condition, also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, include shortness of breath and pain.

Hematohidrosis is a very rare condition whose sufferers sweat blood. A 21-year-old Italian woman with the disorder said that the bleeding would become more intense when she was stressed, and it could last up to five minutes. 

Sara Geurts is a young woman from Minnesota who was born with dermatosparaxis Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which means she has no collagen in her body. As a result, she has delicate, wrinkled skin all over. Unfortunately, there is no cure. The syndrome affects roughly 1 in 15,000 people.

Kleine-Levin syndrome is also known as "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome." As the name suggests, the ailment is marked by the constant need to sleep. 

Gloria Ramirez was known as "The Toxic Lady." She died in 1994, but gained infamy when a half-dozen hospital workers grew sick after working with her. Officially, Ramirez passed from kidney and heart failure due to cervical cancer, but there are no answers for the workers’ claim that Ramirez’s body gave off toxic, ammonia-like fumes that made them all ill. 

People who suffer from Alice in Wonderland syndrome experience changes in their visual perception. For example, some believe their body parts look bigger or smaller than they actually are.

They also see wiggly lines where straight ones are, the movement of objects that are actually still and distorted faces. Doctors believe that AIWS may be related to migraine headaches, since symptoms usually occur before, during or after one.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is an extremely rare condition that affects about 1 in 2 million people. Simply stated, the condition turns muscle into bone, and there is currently no cure.

People who have aquagenic urticaria experience hives after coming into contact with water. The exact cause is unknown, but scientists believe it may have to do with an allergy to something in the water, or an interaction between water and a patient's skin, creating a "toxic material."

This rare and terrifying condition, also known as Dr. Strangelove syndrome, is when a person’s limbs seem to act on their own. The syndrome is a neurological condition, which some people develop after trauma, a stroke or a tumor.

Karen Byrne of New Jersey developed the condition after having surgery to treat her epilepsy. She reported that her left hand would act of its own, doing things like undressing her and stubbing out her cigarette.

Not for the squeamish, one of the symptoms of Morgellons disease is having the sensation of bugs crawling under the skin. 

It’s also accompanied by sores, a stringy substance on the skin and severe fatigue.

Stendhal syndrome is named after the 19th century French author Stendhal, who described feeling completely overwhelmed after viewing Renaissance masterpieces in 1817.

The condition is believed to be a psychosomatic illness that causes confusion, fainting and quick heartbeats in people who view incredible paintings and sculptures. There’s an ongoing debate over whether it actually exists, but some people have reportedly been hospitalized as a result.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair! Wait, are you eating it?”

Rapunzel syndrome is a very rare intestinal condition where people ingest their own hair. In 2017, 16-year-old Jasmine Beever of the U.K. died from Rapunzel syndrome. The illness is often caused by the psychiatric disorder, trichophagia.

Retired husband syndrome is found in women who experience stress after their partners stop working. Italian researches revealed that with each year the husband stayed home, the wife’s symptoms of stress, depression and sleeplessness only increased.

Dysegeusia is a condition in which a person will experience a metallic or foul taste in their mouth. Sometimes, it can come with “burning mouth syndrome” which is when a person feels as if they’ve just burned their mouth.

"Laughing sickness," or Kuru, was apparently common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea in the 1900s.

One of the symptoms of the disease is sudden bursts of laughter.

When people who died from the "the laughing sickness" were tested, researchers found that death was caused by holes in their brains, which they called "Swiss-cheesing." It was discovered that the disease was transferred because of a village custom in which people would eat their family members after their death.