An American woman who had been removed from liver transplant waiting lists for trying to conceal an alcohol addiction recently became the first to be diagnosed with urinary auto-brewery syndrome, with alcohol being produced naturally in her bladder.

When the 61-year-old unnamed woman showed up on the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s liver transplant waiting list, she had already been kicked off other transplant lists for her alleged drinking problem several times, and it looked like the same was going to happen this time around. Multiple urine tests showed that there was ethanol in her urine, but the patient kept denying that she had a drinking problem. Right when they were about dismiss the woman once again, a deeper investigation showed that her urine had no ethyl glucuronide or ethyl sulfate – the metabolites of ethanol – which was weird for a person who had consumed alcohol.

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An 83-year-old woman from Ukraine was pronounced dead at her home by both paramedics and police, last week, but 10 hours later, after her family started making preparations for her funeral, she showed signs of life and has since made a full recovery.

Paramedics first consulted Ksenia Didukh, an 83-year-old retired nurse from the Ukrainian town of Stryzhavka, at her home at around 6am, on February 17. This was to be one of three visits they paid the woman that Sunday, a day they’ll likely never forget. After that first visit, they concluded that the octogenarian was agonizing and basically on death’s threshold, so they so no point in taking her to the hospital. The family agreed, and later that day, the doctors’ prognostic was confirmed. Ksenia stopped breathing, and paramedics were once again called, along with police, to confirm the woman’s death.

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A Polish man who was allegedly blind for twenty years, miraculously recovered his vision after being hit by a car while crossing the street.

Until a couple of years ago, Janusz Goraj, from the city of Gorzow Wielkopolski, was completely blind in his left eye, and could only discern shadows and light with his right one. He had lost his eyesight 20 years ago, as a side-effect of severe allergies, and had become accustomed to living in almost total darkness. But one day in 2018, a miracle happened. Janusz was crossing the street on a crosswalk when he was violently hit by a car. He hit his head on the car’s hood as well as on the asphalt as he fell. To make matters worse, he also damaged his hip, and ended up needing surgery on it. But little did he know that the accident was a blessing in disguise.

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A recently-published study detailed the bizarre case of an Italian woman who grew eyelash-like hairs inside of her mouth multiple times.

The unnamed woman reportedly visited doctors about her condition over a decade ago, when she was just 19-years-old. She visited doctors and complained of hair growing out of her gums, which had only been documented a handful of times in medical literature. Testing revealed that the young woman also had ovarian cysts, and she was later diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a relatively common hormonal disorder. Women suffering from PCOS tend to produce more testosterone than normal, of which a condition called hiruitism – increased growth of hair on the body – is a known side effect.

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A Las Vegas limb-lengthening clinic has been getting a lot of attention online this week for offering people the chance to add a few inches to their stature through minimally invasive surgery.

The LimbPlastX Institute charges up to $75,000 to add up to six inches to patients’ height, a hefty price that many are more than willing to pay to overcome their height complex. Dr Kevin Debiparshad, a consultant at the clinic, said that 30 men sign up for the life-changing procedure in 2019 alone, with even more procedures lined up for 2020, especially after the recent media exposure. The procedure surprisingly lasts only 1.5 hours and involves incisions into the leg bones and the insertion of a special stretching device. The full results are only visible after about a year.

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It’s not every day that you hear about teenage girls turning to plastic surgery to make themselves look more youthful, but then again, not many 15-year-olds look like their grandmothers.

The story of Xiaofeng, a young girl from Liaoning, China, who suffered from a rare medical condition that left her looking like a woman in her 60’s, first made news headlines in December of last year. Media outlets throughout Asia wrote about how the first symptoms of the incurable condition known as progeria appeared when Xiaofeng was just one-year-old, and how by the time her teenage years rolled up, she looked like an old woman. Her saggy skin made her the target of cruel kids at school, and the constant abuse made her decide to quit her studies. The sad story melted the hearts of millions, many of which donated money for a surgery that could help the poor girl look her age.

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Just three months after undergoing a bone marrow transplant to treat his acute myeloid leukemia, a Nevada man was shocked to learn that his DNA had been replaced by that of his donor.

For years ago, Chris Long, who happens to be working at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department in Nevada, was suffering from acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes and needed a bone marrow transplant. He was lucky enough to find a donor, a German man that he had never met and with whom he only exchanged a few messages before the surgery, but he had no idea that in a few months time he would turn into his donor, sort of. As soon as Chris’ work colleagues heard that he was undergoing a bone marrow transplant, they decided to “swab the heck out of him” to see how his DNA changed. And it’s a good thing they did, because the changes were fascinating.

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A 46-year-old man who reportedly spent the last three decades of his life with his face pressed against his thighs, after being diagnosed with a rare condition called ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Luckily he is now able to stand straight again after undergoing  life-changing surgery to fix his hunched back.

Li Hua was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis when he was only 18-years-old, and over the years his condition worsened to the point where he literally became a “folding man” with his face pressing against his thighs. Mr Hua’s family, who hails from the city of Yongzhou in Central China’s Hunan Province, did not have the money required for treatment, but his case became so severe that it attracted the attention of Professor Tao Huiren, head of spinal surgery and orthopaedics at Shenzhen University General Hospital. He had treated people of ankylosing spondylitis before, but had never seen such a severe case. Still, he took it upon himself to help Li stand up straight again.

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Inserting long, plastic tubes through their oesophagus to induce vomiting has been an unhealthy trend among Chinese girls for a while now, but a 22-year-old woman recently became the first to accidentally swallow her vomiting tube.

Xiao Lu, a 22-year-old girl from Guangzhou, reportedly went to a local hospital on December 3 and told doctors there that she had accidentally swallowed a drinking straw. The object was too deep to reach, so doctors ordered an upper gastrointestinal tract radiography, which revealed a long thick tube in the the woman’s oesophagus. The foreign object measured about 1.9cm-wide and 30cm-long, which made it too thick and too long for a drinking straw, so the doctor pressed the woman for answers.

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Every once in a while, a health trend so unbelievably crazy comes along that it leaves us wondering if it’s nothing more than a parody. “Perineum Sunning”, or exposing your ‘back door’ to direct sunlight for a few minutes every week is one such trend, and unfortunately it’s no joke.

Did you know that exposing your butthole to direct sunlight for just 30 seconds every day is the equivalent of a full day of sunlight exposure with your clothes on? At least that’s what Instagram “healer” Metaphysical Megan claims in one of the viral social media posts that catapulted perineum sunning to health craze level. It also allegedly gives you more energy than chugging several cups of coffee and improves sleep, among other health and spiritual benefits. However, many medical experts warn that this bizarre practice can be dangerous, as the perineum area is particularly sensitive and exposing it to direct sunlight without protection could increase the risk of skin cancer.

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Doctors at a hospital in south-eastern China’s Fujian Province recently reported the unusual case of a man whose non-stop coughing had apparently been caused by a leech attached to his throat.

Last Friday, the unnamed man arrived at the Wuping County Hospital in the city of Longyan complaining of almost non-stop coughing over the past two months. He had become increasingly worried about his condition after coughing up phlegm and blood, so he finally decided to seek medical attention. Doctors at the hospital’s respiratory department initially recommended a CT scan, but when that didn’t reveal anything, they decided to try a more invasive procedure called “bronchoscopy”, which allowed them to inspect the patient’s air passages with a small camera. That’s how they found a leech living in his throat.

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Remember that story we ran a few months ago about a man who claimed he cured his terminal cancer with a cheap dog deworming medicine? Well, apparently it recently went viral in South Korea and stocks of the antiparasitic medicine have been depleted.

Back in May, the story of Joe Tippens, an Oklahoma man who allegedly cured his terminal with the help of a $5 dog deworming drug called fenbendazole, went viral. Doctors said the cancer had spread everywhere in his body and he only had about three months to live, but today he is cured and he credits the veterinary medicine for the miracle. The news made headlines all around the world, but it really made a big impact in South Korea, where stocks of fenbendazole have evaporated due to people buying it as a way to prevent or cure cancer.

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A Chinese woman whose violent coughs reportedly resulted in 10 fractured ribs was shocked to hear that her bones had become fragile due to her excessive sunblock use, which caused a severe vitamin D deficiency.

The 20-year-old woman from Zhejiang province, in eastern China, first started experiencing coughing episodes after pulling out a straw mat to sleep on to combat heat during the night. She started coughing that very night, and although her doctor first diagnosed her with a case of allergic asthma, the violent coughs soon revealed an even bigger health concern. After a few days, after particularly violent coughing fits, Xiao Miao (a pseudonym used by Chinese media) experienced severe pain in the left side of her chest, which investigations revealed was caused by several broken ribs.

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From actual snake oil to music therapy, over the years humanity has come up with all sort of bizarre treatments for chronic pain. One of the strangest ones you might have never heard of before is gold thread acupuncture, where tiny gold threads are implanted in the human body.

Gold thread acupuncture has long been used in Asian countries to treat various types of pain. The procedure is usually performed by a person with no medical training and involves the permanent implantation of tiny threads of gold in painful areas of the body, using acupuncture needles. Apparently, the insertion of these sterile pieces of gold is believed to result in continuous stimulation inside the body, and pain relief. There is no evidence that this alternative pain relief treatment actually works, but doctors have reported several complications related to the procedure.

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A 24-year-old Chinese man who visited a hospital to complain about sharp pain in his right ear was shocked to learn that he had an entire family of cockroaches living in his ear canal.

Identified only as “Mr. Lv”, the young man arrived at Sanhe Hospital, in Guangdong Province, southeast China, last month, complaining of sharp pain in his right ear, and a sensation like something was crawling and scratching in his ear. Dr. Zhong Yijin, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist at the hospital examined the man’s ear canal and was shocked to see a full-grown German cockroach and over 10 of its offspring running around.

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