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The study of medicine is driven by what we understand. Medicine is an exact science, so when we hear things like “Stone Man Syndrome” or “Alien Hand Syndrome” we begin to get a bit skeptical. But I can assure you those conditions and many more are 100% real and they even have real science to back them up. Keep reading to find out the rarities of medicine and how they affect the people who have them.
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome
Although the name might suggest a whimsical undertone, in reality, it can be quite difficult to manage for the people with this condition. The condition involves symptoms of disproportionante visual perception; in other words, people see things as different sizes than they actually are. For example, a person with this condition might have trouble realizing the actual size of their arm or their leg, faces appear distorted and this often can cause migraines that further affect the patient. This condition is usually brought upon by brain tumors, temporal lobe epilepsy, and psychoactive drug misuse. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this condition but there are several treatment options to diminish its effects.
Congenital Insensitivity to Pain
When we think about pain, it’s not usually something that we recall very fondly. Many of us wish that we could do away with pain altogether. But in reality pain is an important stimulus response that keeps us away from harm. Congenital insensitivity to pain is a rare genetic disorder that causes the carrier to not be able to experience pain. This leads most patients with this condition to die early in life because they did not have the ability to recognize dangerous situations. From the moment that these individuals are born, they are unable to avoid life threatening situations because they do not have the pain to warn them.
Alien Hand Syndrome
This one is another strange yet interesting condition. Contrary to what the name suggests, this condition has nothing to do with aliens and instead has everything to do with motor functions. Alien hand syndrome is when one hand is not under the control of the mind and the person no longer has a say in how it moves. It is caused by tumors, aneurysms, strokes, and can even occur as a complication of neurosurgery. Patients with this syndrome report their hand (or sometimes even leg) jerking and moving without them wanting to. Kinda reminds me of Thing from the Addams Family!
Stone Man Syndrome
Also known as fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a condition that involves muscles progressively turning into bones. It’s a very serious disease that unfortunately has no cure and most poeple who are diagnosed end up in need of life care. That being said the condition is extremely rare with it only affecting one in every two million people. Nevertheless, the condition is extremely painful and comes with reduced mobility, joint swelling, tissue swelling and much more.
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