The human body is full of mysteries. The more we try to understand it, the more we are awed by the strange phenomenon occurring inside our very own body. A slight imbalance in any of these phenomena can cause strange medical conditions like hyperelastic body and hearing the movement of our own eyeball. In this article, we have compiled a list of 18 such strange medical conditions which you wouldn’t believe are real.

1 Tourette’s Syndrome with coprolalia

People suffering from Tourette’s syndrome with coprolalia utters curse words along with a physical tic. Both these actions are uncontrollable and involuntary.

Tourette’s syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder in which the patient suffers from numerous motor tics such as eye blinking, sniffing, throat clearing, and at least one vocal tic. Coprolalia is the uncontrollable utterance of socially inappropriate cuss words. People with Tourette’s syndrome do not always have coprolalia, and vice versa. Only 10% of people suffering from Tourette syndrome also suffer from coprolalia.

People suffering from Tourette’s syndrome with Coprolalia yell obscene words or phrases along with some physical tics such as rapid blinking and throat clearing. They can’t control any of these actions. Most people are unaware of this medical condition. Hence, the sufferers are often stigmatized and considered as social misfits.(1,2)

2 Dermatographia

Dermatographia is a skin disorder due to which welts appear on the skin surface when the skin is scratched. These marks usually disappear within 30 minutes.

Dermatographia is a condition also known as skin writing. When people suffering from dermatographia scratch their skin lightly, the scratches reddens and turns into a raised wheal similar to hives. The skin returns to its normal appearance within 30 minutes. But in some extreme cases, the red itchy welts can last for a few days. The welts occur due to the histamine released by mast cells on the surface of the skin.

Apart from scratching, dermatographia can be induced by stress, tight clothes, watches, friction from glasses, infection, heat/cold or due to pressure from any external source on the exposed skin. It is usually treated by antihistamine along with some other drugs.(source)

3 Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a group of different genetic connective tissue disorder which is caused due to defective collagen or collagen deficiency. It causes hyperelastic skin, hyper-flexible joints, deformed fingers, and many other painful defects.

In the human body, collagen helps to maintain the physical strength of tissues and thus saves them from deformation. But the absence of collagen will make these tissues elastic causing Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. It affects joints, skin and blood vessels making them hyperelastic. Furthermore, EDS can sometimes result in life-threatening complications like aortic dissection. EDS is often extremely painful too. Due to hypermobility of various joints and other body parts, sufferers can face problem in executing simple work such as turning the door knob.(source)

4 Tinnitus

Tinnitus is a medical condition in which a person hears a constant ringing sound in his/her ears or head 24 x 7, even when there is no external sound.

People suffering from Tinnitus hears a constant ringing sound in their ears. The ringing sound appears to be coming from one or both ears. In some cases, sufferers may hear clicking, hissing or roaring sound instead of ringing. Moreover, some sufferers can even hear music or unclear voices in their head. The sound heard due to Tinnitus varies in pitch from person to person.

Tinnitus occurs due to noise-induced hearing loss, ear infections, brain tumors, emotional stress, heart disease, head injury or earwax. Therefore, people suffering from Tinnitus are advised to keep away from loud noise. The effect of Tinnitus can be lessened by talk therapy, sound generators, and hearing aid. For now, there is no effective medication to cure this disorder.(source)

5 Akinetopsia

Akinetopsia is a neuropsychological disorder due to which the sufferer cannot perceive the motion of objects but can still see acutely and recognize objects normally.

Akinetopsia is commonly known as motion blindness. Some patients describe akinetopsia like this: “Everything seems to be frozen in time only to jump ahead in time and freeze again”. It is similar to pausing a cinema reel for some moments and then fast forwarding it and pausing it again. People suffering from the higher degree of akinetopsia are unable to recognize and differentiate any motion. They can say things like “he was standing right beside me but now he is suddenly standing right across the room”. Such people can only recognize the new position of object or people but cannot view the motions like running or walking. Today, there isn’t an effective treatment or cure for akinetopsia.(source)

6 Body Integrity Identity Disorder

Body Integrity disorder is a psychological disorder in which a person feels like a part of their body like a hands or legs is not their own. They believe that removing that body part will make them feel normal.

Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), also known as Amputee Identity disorder, is a psychological disorder. People suffering from this disorder suddenly feel the urge to remove a healthy limb from their own body. They feel that a certain limb is not their own and being disabled would make the person complete.  Consequently, they might try to amputee the healthy limb. Sometimes the urge to remove a part of the body is so strong that the sufferer tries to damage a particular part of the body fatally. In one such case, a woman once blinded herself as see felt that the eyes were not her own.(source)