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From the story of a man whose seizures were triggered by doing Sudoku puzzles to the report of a woman who suffered a painful reaction to a snake bite a whopping 50 years after she was bitten, the medical literature is full of unusual cases.
What can physicians learn from a single patient's case? There are many reasons doctors publish case reports: A patient may demonstrate an unusual connection between a symptom and a disease (such as the 10-year-old boy whose earache was due an intestinal problem), or a case may lead to a better understanding of a common condition by highlighting a rare symptom that the condition can cause. (This was true, for example, in the case of man who had a stroke and started giving away all of his money to strangers.)
Some cases may bring attention to an emerging problem that could become increasingly common as societal trends change (for example, a newly popular weight-loss supplement leading to liver damage).
Case reports are often meant to help other doctors avoid a misdiagnosis or offer better treatments for their patients. But for people who aren't health care providers, the cases also make for interesting reading. Over the years, Live Science has covered a great many of these reports, often because we find some intriguing science at the heart of the case or because the case illuminates a rarely seen corner of medicine. And sometimes, we just found the case so interesting or odd that we had to tell you about it.
Here on this page, we've rounded up the gripping tales, thought-provoking findings and sometimes just-plain strange cases we've written about.
The Schistosoma parasite is common in many parts of the world. But developing a "calcified bladder" as the result of such an infection is not so common.
A fuzzy little caterpillar may look harmless, but if it crawls on your skin and you're allergic to it, you may be in store for stinging pain and hives.
Here's what happened when, after years of failing to find help for his painful ulcerative colitis, a man tried swallowing 1,500 parasitic worm eggs.
Sunburn or a little dehydration can be problems after a day at the beach, but so can tiny fish jaws stuck in your eye.
After surviving being trapped in an avalanche, a young man suffered from seizures, but only when he did Sudoku puzzles.
Painting became impossible for an artist who broke his right arm. Then he learned to paint with his left hand, and he could do it just as well as he had with his right, despite his Parkinson's disease. This left his doctors mystified.
People who suffer strokes have been known to experience a variety of psychological or behavioral changes. But the case of a man who developed "pathological generosity" gave researchers new insights into where altruism lives in the brain.
Cases with food or drinks as the source of the problem:
When a heart attack struck a healthy 26-year-old, his doctors linked the event to his daily habit of consuming energy drinks.
Eating ice pops can lead you to test positive for a fungal infection.
A teen girl developed hepatitis after drinking several cups of green teadaily, for months.
A man who ate raw meat was discovered to have a 20-foot-long tapeworm in his intestines. It likely lived inside him for years before causing problems.
For one 31-year-old woman, heart problems might have had something to do with her habit of drinking soda — and only soda — for about half her life.
Soy sauce is best consumed in moderation, discovered a man who fell into a coma for a few days after drinking a quart (0.9 liters) of the condiment on a dare.
Cravings for certain foods can be common during pregnancy, but watch out when a craving for baking soda strikes.
A 37-year old woman developed severe psychosis after eating gluten. One doctor said the difference between her typical personality and her behavior after she ate gluten was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Cases of people who tried alternative medical remedies:
It's well-known that symptoms of depression can strike seasonally, in people with seasonal affective disorder. But for one woman, it was obsessive-compulsive disorder that seemed to return each winter.
One Ph.D. student's psychosis — which led to repeated hospitalizations and even to her being jailed — turned out to be an incredibly rare complication of celiac disease.
Cases in which an X-ray helped to solve a mystery:
Kids put a lot of strange things in their mouths, and sometimes this means they need surgery.
When doctors looked at one X-ray, they thought they saw a hairpin in a little girl's windpipe. But surgery revealed a much more dangerous object.
In one unusual case, doctors didn't figure out what caused a woman's stroke until an X-ray revealed an object stuck in her chest.
Hiccups that just won't stop are usually caused by an infection, or are a side effect of medication. But for one man, something else turned out to be the culprit.
When experienced neurosurgeons refer to a problem they see on an X-ray of your brain as "mega giant," you know it's serious.
A bite from a venomous snake doesn't always cause an immediate reaction; in fact, one X-ray showed how such a bite can lead to trouble decades later.
One little girl's case showed why pediatricians know that if there is a marking on the skin of a child's lower back, they need to investigate.
The case of a man who had skin problems from taking a popular supplement called kava kava showed why patients should tell their doctors if they are taking herbal medicines.
Caterpillars may look cute, fuzzy and pretty harmless. But they're not harmless if you're allergic to them and one decides to saunter across your skin.
Cases with rare gastrointestinal issues:
A man who had a seizure in his sleep wound up finding his dentures, eight days later, in an upper part of his gastrointestinal tract.
It can really hurt when an organ that is usually a more-or-less straight tube twists up like a corkscrew.
Having your intestines teeming with parasitic worms might sound like a bad thing, but that's not always the case.
One young boy suffered from hearing problems and ear pain for years before doctors realized the problem was in his gut.
Passing gas might not be attractive to most people. But one man's caseproved people find a wide range of things hot.
Cases of problems from drugs or alcohol:
Marijuana has a reputation as being a pretty harmless drug. But a pair of reports suggested the drug can cause deadly heart problems.
The so-called "synthetic marijuana," which is not really marijuana at all, but rather is made of synthetic compounds, may cause a whole range of strange behaviors.
Almost any part of the body can become infected, including armpit hair.
A man in the United Kingdom experienced a very rare complication of the polio vaccine, which he'd received as a kid: He never cleared the virus from his body.
The bacteria that cause Legionnaires' disease usually spread by water, but it turns out the germs can spread directly from one person to another.
In an unusual problem linked to a tattoo, a 21-year-old man in Iran developed a permanent semi-erection after getting a tattoo on his penis.
A young woman who was having abdominal pain was repeatedly told that her symptoms were due to her obesity. However, she later learned the real reason for her symptoms was a cyst.
A man who was taking antibiotics for a tonsil infection developed an unusual condition called "baboon syndrome."
A man in Missouri was diagnosed with "serotonin syndrome," because the condition is a known side effect of a medicine he was taking. But he turned out to have a much more serious disease: rabies.
Doctors in Poland gave probiotics to a newborn who was thought to have an infection. But the probiotics wound up causing more problems.
Three people who received organ transplants from the same donor all developed serious brain problems shortly after their operations, due to a parasite.
A woman who was taking a drug for leg cramps wound up sleepwalking, and overdosing on the medicine while she was sleepwalking.
A woman had oral surgery to place a dental implant for a missing tooth; she started having other problems two years later, when the implant migrated to a strange place.
