Strange syndromes!

There are a few health conditions that look strange but serious. The people who 'feel' some of these things should consult a qualified medical doctor for a better diagnosis and management of these conditions. Now let us know what they are ....

Uncombable hair syndrome (UHS)

It is a rare structural anomaly of the hair with a variable degree of effect. It is characterized by hair that is silvery, dry, frizzy, wiry, and impossible to comb. It was first reported in the early 20th century. It typically becomes apparent between the ages of 3 months and 12 years.(1,2).

Human Werewolf Syndrome

Hypertrichosis, also known as the Werewolf Syndrome, is characterized by excessive hair growth anywhere on a person’s body, including the face. The hair growth is so thick that the person would resemble a werewolf. 

Auto-Brewery Syndrome: 

Auto-Brewery Syndrome, also known as the Gut Fermentation Syndrome, is a strange medical condition where a person experiences intoxication from alcohol through “abnormal gut fermentation” in the small intestines caused by an overgrowth of specific types of fungus. The gut produces alcohol out of regular food and drinks containing carbohydrates, yeast, or bacteria that thrive in that part of the body.

Cotard Delusion is a specific nihilistic delusion named after Jules Cotard, a French neurologist, who first described the condition, which he called le délire de négation (negation delirium), in 1880. The affected person holds the delusional belief that he or she is already dead, does not exist, is putrefying or has lost his or her blood or internal organs.

It is most frequently observed in patients with psychotic depression or schizophrenias and is managed by focusing on the treatment of the underlying disorder. It can also secondary to a traumatic brain injury.

Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) 

It is a common condition among people with serious vision loss characterized by temporary visual hallucinations. CBS is not due to a psychiatric condition, symptom of dementia, or other any other disease.(3) Rather, it is a condition specifically related to pathological vision loss. This is more common in individuals with macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. 

Fregoli Syndrome (or delusion) is the delusional belief that a familiar person (usually a “persecutor”) is following the patient, and repeatedly change their appearance and appear in the person's life. (4) When interacting with strangers, the individual may believe that strangers are in fact the “persecutor.”

Capgras Delusions, named after a French psychiatrist who described the illusion of doubles, is a delusion of misidentification. A person will have a delusional belief that an acquaintance, usually a spouse or other close family member, has been replaced by an identical looking impostor. An example would be a patient who thinks their mother and father have each been replaced by an imposter.

Pica

People with pica compulsively eat items that have no nutritional value. These items could be as harmless as ice and be as toxic as dried paint, chalk, and pieces of metal. This disorder occurs most often in children, pregnant women, and people with intellectual disabilities. It is said that the unusual cravings may be a sign that the body is trying to replenish low nutrient levels.

Several steps may be taken for proper treatment, such as laboratory tests to see which nutrients are lacking. If it stems from a psychological problem, a psychological evaluation may be done.

Walking Corpse Syndrome

The Walking Corpse Syndrome is also called the Cotard’s Syndrome, a neuropsychiatric disorder related to depression. This syndrome makes people believe that they are dead or missing their soul, organs, blood, or specific body parts. This syndrome is usually a symptom of another psychiatric condition rather than a disease on its own.

 Foreign Accent Syndrome

Foreign Accent Syndrome stems from a damage in the part of the brain associated with speech. This happens when a person suddenly wakes up speaking in a different accent. It is commonly caused by stroke, trauma, tumors, and other neurological conditions.
The most common treatment would be speech therapy to help a person bring back their normal speaking ways.

Congenital Insensitivity to Pain

This disease is present from birth, which inhibits the ability to perceive physical pain. It is caused by mutations in specific genes, particularly in an autosomal recessive pattern, which is two inherited gene mutations, one from each parent.

People with this condition can feel the distinction between a sharp and a dull object and something cold and hot. However, one cannot sense that a hot beverage is already burning their tongue.

Stoneman Syndrome

Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), or the Stoneman Syndrome, is a rare condition wherein the body’s connective tissues slowly turns into bones. It affects 1 in 2 million people and is caused by a gene mutation. The condition usually starts from the shoulders and neck, making its way down to the legs. A second bone grows over the first one in a process known as heterotopic ossification (HO).

Surgical efforts to remove the second bone might trigger immense bone growth because of the invasiveness of the surgery. A person with this syndrome can lose mobility after a minor accident, as bone growth is stimulated.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS)

This neurological syndrome is also called the Todd’s Syndrome. This usually presents migraines that can distort a person’s body image, including the size of the head, hands, and feet. Patients can also experience hallucinations and the feeling of time passing by either slowly or quickly.

Alien Hand Syndrome:

It is the misattribution and belief that one's hand does not belong to oneself, but that it has its own life. The individual has normal sensation but believes that the hand, while still being a part of their body, is acting autonomously, having “a will of its own.” In effect, afflicted people lost the “sense of agency” associated with the purposeful movement of the limb while retaining a sense of “ownership” of the limb. Sufferers will often personify the alien limb, believing it to be “possessed” by some spirit or an entity that they may name or identify.

Ekbom Syndrome

A woman, age 77, complained to doctors of an infestation of bugs underneath her skin and crawling around inside her. She also imagined bugs on the surface of her skin. There were, of course, no bugs. Ekbom syndrome, or delusional parasitosis, is the belief that one is infested with bugs, worms, or other parasites. People with this delusion usually seek medical attention rather than psychological treatment, since they consider their imaginary infestation to be real and in need of a cure. (Morgellons “disease” is a specific subtype of Ekbom syndrome, which causes people to believe that they are contaminated with fibers, dirt, or other substances.)

Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome

The Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome is an extremely rare condition wherein a person goes through a rapid appearance of aging beginning in childhood. It occurs in 1 in 4 million.

Alkaptonuria

Alkaptonuria, also known as Black Urine Disease, is an inherited disorder that results in a build-up of a chemical called homogentisic acid in the body, staining the tissues dark. In addition, the condition prevents the body from entirely breaking down two amino acids called tyrosine and phenylalanine that are responsible for body pigmentation. 

Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome

Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS), also called the Persistent Genital Arousal Syndrome (PGAD), causes people to live perpetually at the brink of an orgasm. The sensations are partially relieved through orgasm but may return suddenly within a few hours. PSAS can lead to constant physical pain, stress, and psychological difficulties due to an inability to carry out everyday tasks.

Reduplicative Paramnesia

Reduplicative paramnesia consists of the delusional belief that a place or location has been duplicated, in that it exists in 2 or more places simultaneously, or that it has been 'relocated' to another site. It is basically the delusion of doubles of the Capgras syndrome, only that is does not refer to a person but to a place.

Folie a Deux

A young woman grew up hearing her parents tell a story of the wonderful experience they had in Florida when they were first married. They stayed at a hotel with “a big pink flamingo.” During their visit they went on an air boat ride in the Everglades. They saw alligators, and the critters swallowed whole, raw chickens that the air boat captain threw to them.

As an adult, the daughter thought it would be fun to visit Florida, stay in the same hotel, and take the same air boat ride. Her parents couldn’t remember the name of the hotel with the big pink flamingo, but the daughter thought she might be able to identify the hotel from family photos.

The photographs only added to the mystery. They showed that her mother had stayed at a hotel in Florida, and had been on an air boat ride—but with another man. Who was this strange man in the photos, and where was her father? The mother confessed that the man was her first husband, whom she had divorced before the daughter was born. The daughter had never been told about the first marriage. But why did the daughter's father—her mother's second husband—also tell the story as if he had been there?

The answer is a condition known as folie a deux. A delusion that originates with one person is transmitted to another person, as if the delusion were contagious. The second person becomes “infected” with the delusion and believes it just as strongly as the person who originated it. Folie a deux requires an intimate or insular living arrangement so that constant exposure to the delusion causes it to spread.

Khyâl Cap

Khyâl cap or “wind attacks” is a syndrome found among Cambodians in the United States and Cambodia. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V), common symptoms are similar to those of panic attacks, including dizziness, palpitations, shortness of breath, and cold extremities, along with symptoms of anxiety and autonomic arousal, such as tinnitus and neck soreness.

These attacks are centered on khyâl, a wind-like substance, rising in the body and the blood, causing a range of serious effects. They may occur without warning, and these attacks usually meet the criteria for panic attacks. A study in Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry found that Cambodian refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder often complain of these attacks. It involves a great fear that death might occur from bodily dysfunction.

Khyâl cap is an example of a cultural syndrome, or a syndrome that tends to co-occur among individuals in specific cultural groups, communities, or contexts.

Kufungisisa

Another cultural syndrome in the DSM-5 is Kufungisisa, or “thinking too much.” It is found among the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

In many cultures, “thinking too much” is considered to be damaging to the mind and body, causing specific symptoms like headaches and dizziness. Kufungisisa involves ruminating on upsetting thoughts, particularly worries. As a cultural expression, it is considered to be causative to anxiety, depression, and somatic problems (e.g., “my heart is painful because I think too much”). As an idiom, it is indicative of interpersonal and social difficulties.

“Thinking too much” is a common idiom of distress and cultural explanation across many countries and ethnic groups, including Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America, and among East Asian and Native American groups.

Clinical Lycanthropy

Clinical lycanthropy involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into an animal. It is often associated with turning into a wolf or werewolf; the name of the syndrome originates from the mythical condition of lycanthropy, or shapeshifting into wolves.

People with clinical lycanthropy believe that they can take the form of any particular animal. During this delusion or hallucination, affected individuals can act like the animal. For instance, people may act like wolves and be found in forests and wooded areas. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences labels clinical lycanthropy as a type of delusional misidentification syndrome.

Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder

The separation from oneself, one’s surroundings, or both describes the altered state of depersonalization/derealization disorder. Patients who have this disorder feel they are observing themselves from outside their own body. They may also believe that things aren’t real, as though their surroundings are distorted or time is speeding up or slowing down.

One or both of these tendencies can lead to depersonalization/derealization disorder. Symptoms must be persistent to qualify for a diagnosis because, according to Psychology Today, it is normal to feel this way briefly due to side effects of medication, recreational drugs, or some other physical or mental health condition.

Diogenes Syndrome

The compulsive hoarding of rubbish and seemingly random items is the main feature of Diogenes Syndrome, which is found mainly in the elderly and is associated with progressive dementia. Other characteristics include extreme self-neglect, apathy, social withdrawal, and a lack of shame.

The syndrome is a misnomer, as it is named after the Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope. Diogenes was a Cynic who, according to the philosophy he helped found, rejected the desire for wealth, power, and fame, choosing to live free from all possessions. He found virtue in poverty, slept in a large ceramic jar, and sought social interaction.

Stendhal Syndrome

Those with Stendhal syndrome experience physical and emotional anxiety as well as panic attacks, dissociative experiences, confusion, and hallucinations when exposed to art. These symptoms are usually triggered by “art that is perceived as particularly beautiful or when the individual is exposed to large quantities of art that are concentrated in a single place,” such as a museum or gallery, according to Medscape. However, individuals may experience similar reactions to beauty in nature. This syndrome is named after a 19th-century French author who experienced the symptoms during a trip to Florence in 1817. Stendhal syndrome may also be called hyperculturemia or Florence syndrome.

Apotemnophilia

Also known as body integrity identity disorder, apotemnophilia is characterized by the “overwhelming desire to amputate healthy parts of [the] body.” Though not much is known about it, this disorder is believed to be neurological. Those affected may attempt to amputate their own limbs or damage the limb so that surgical amputation is necessary. Apotemnophilia may be related to damage to the right parietal lobe in the brain. The condition is challenging to treat because people experiencing it often do not seek treatment. However, both cognitive behavioral therapy and aversion therapies can be attempted in order to treat apotemnophilia once treatment is sought.

Phantom vibration syndrome

If you feel your phone vibrating but there's no one there, you're not alone.

Ever felt your phone buzz in your pocket, then pulled it out to find no text, no call, no notification? You might be experiencing ‘phantom vibration syndrome’– and you’re not alone. According to one study, 9 out of 10 undergraduates said they had experienced the phenomenon in the last week or month.

Scientists aren’t exactly sure why these tactile hallucinations happen to so many of us. One leading theory is that our excessive smartphone use, and our creeping sense that we should be constantly available, have conditioned our brains to overinterpret sensations such as clothing moving against our skin. On the plus side, most people don’t find the phantom signals bothersome (5).

This beautiful two-year-old named Mehlani Dickerson has "big beautiful" eyes as a result of the rare Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome, which has given her those cute, cartoony eyes.

This syndrome is mainly an eye disorder, the girl was diagnosed when she was just one week old. Her iris did not form properly when she was a fetus in the womb, so her pupil is larger than normal.

Unfortunately this syndrome, if not treated, can make the eyes sensitive to sunlight, so little Mehlani always has to go out with sunglasses, if not treated it can cause long-term problems such as partial blindness, glaucoma , cataracts among others.

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Paris Syndrome: The term "Paris Syndrome" indicates an uncommon psychosomatic pathology that mostly affects Japanese tourists visiting the French capital.

It was recognized in 1986 by Professor Hiroaki Ota, a Japanese psychiatrist expatriate in France.

This disorder can be considered the exact opposite of Stendhal Syndrome: the affected person experiences a profound feeling of discomfort and disappointment at the sight of the city, to the point of feeling ill and entering a state of confusion that can lead to delirium and fainting.

The cause of this is attributable to the "plastic" vision given to Paris in Japan, which would lead some visitors with extremely high expectations to feel severe discomfort once they see reality with their own eyes. In Japan, Paris is often portrayed as an idyllic land, the stereotypical city of beauty and love; in reality, like all large metropolises, it is a chaotic and in some places dangerous city, with banlieues often left to their own devices.

The symptoms of the syndrome are persecutory delusions, derealization, depersonalization, anxiety, tachycardia and sometimes skin irritation due to stress.

It is hypothesized that, each year, between 20 and 24 people experience this rare psychosomatic disorder. To deal with this eventuality, the Japanese Embassy in Paris has set up a telephone line available 24 hours a day to provide psychological support to Japanese tourists affected by this syndrome.

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Third man syndrome.

Footnotes:

1. Hicks J, Metry DW, Barrish J, Levy M (2001). "Uncombable hair (cheveux incoiffables, pili trianguli et canaliculi) syndrome: brief review and role of scanning electron microscopy in diagnosis". Ultrastruct Pathol. 25 (2): 99–103. doi:10.1080/01913120117514. PMID 11407534. S2CID 25846825.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b "Girl With Uncombable Hair Syndrome Rocks Her Rare Condition With S.... Parents.
3. • Charles Bonnet syndrome—elderly people and visual hallucinations (B...

   4. Beautiful Distortions: Fregoli Delusion in Kaufman’s Anomalisa

   5. https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/phantom-vibration-syndrome/?ut...