Health issues that can make your life hell

If You Think Your Life is Bad…

…wait until you learn about these five health issues that make some people’s lives more than miserable. Although it may sound like these diseases are made up, they are not.

Here they are, in no particular order.

Trimethylaminuria

Trimethylaminuria is a metabolic disorder that causes those with it to give off an extremely foul fish odor. The odor is so strong that no amount of deodorant or perfume or showering gets rid of it. The odor results from the body’s inability to break down TMA or trimethylamine. So it builds up inside and is emitted from the affected individual’s breath, urine, sweat, and bodily secretions. Stinking like a fish sounds funny, but it’s serious and can cause affected individuals to suffer work-related, social and psychological trouble. No cure yet exists. The best way to deal with the disorder is by consuming foods that do not convert into TMA, which is difficult since so many common foods do.

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy

Imagine experiencing hot, searing pain continuously and you will have a better idea what it’s like to live with the nerve disorder called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Along with the pain, sufferers describe swollenness, excessive sweat and skin that feels like it is on fire. These extreme sensations usually follow an injury, surgery, stroke or other type of harmful event. An improperly functioning sympathetic nervous system is believed the reason for the trouble. In some cases, the disease disappears unexplainably. Other times, sufferers need years of intensive treatment. Sometimes they even need to be put into a Ketamine coma so that their pain connections can reset. This treatment is expensive and extreme, but works.

Harlequin Ichtyosis

As far as newborn baby problems go, Harlequin Ichtyosis is a biggie. This genetic skin disease is congenital, meaning it is present at birth, and causes the development of thick scales on the skin that harden into the shapes of diamonds. Deep cracks separate the scales that can appear anywhere on the body. These scales rob the skin of its protective ability, and newborns can suffer uncontrollable water loss, trouble with body temperature regulation, and difficulty fighting infections. Survival rates for babies with Harlequin Ichtyosis are dismal. Few reach their teenage years, and even fewer reach adulthood.

Polyglandular Addison’s Disease

When stressed, your body produces adrenaline, a hormone that prepares the body’s organs to effectively deal with whatever actions are necessary to end that stress. The few people diagnosed with this hormonal disorder are not able to produce this important “fight or flight” hormone, so any type of stress, no matter how minor, can cause organ shock and failure, and critical illness.

Morgellons Disease

This controversial disease is best characterized as a skin disorder with symptoms including intensely itchy skin sores, a feeling of insects crawling on or under skin, fibers/threads on or in the skin, pain in the joints, vision problems, extreme fatigue and memory/concentration problems. Further investigation will hopefully determine the cause of this mysterious skin disorder, and whether the symptoms are part of a different health problem like mental illness or Lyme disease, or whether Morgellons Disease is instead its own specific condition.

Hopefully after reading this, your life doesn’t seem so bad after all!