The truth about HeLa cells. These cells grow and divide constantly and are used in all sorts of medical research to discover cures for cancer and other diseases. They were originally harvested from a woman named Henrietta Lacks who had cervical cancer that was fatal. She died in 1951. Her family didn’t know that her cells were even being used until recently. These cells were basically stolen from Henrietta by a doctor and he made millions from them, and Henrietta’s family never knew. Once they found out, they finally settled with a biotech company for an undisclosed amount. This woman has basically saved so many of us, and we all owe her so much.

KweenBee1986 , Fayette Reynolds M.S./Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

The first doctor to suggest hand washing before surgery was laughed at repeatedly by his colleagues.

thedoc617 , Ketut Subiyanto Report

POST

View more comments

A scary number of people wind up with vertebral artery dissections and strokes from chiropractic cervical manipulations. How do I know? I've seen several perfectly healthy women in the prime of their lives as organ harvests in my OR.

AlternativeSolid8310 , Pixabay/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

We got to modern medicine by grave robbing, crime, and accidents. it wasn't always legal to be a doctor.

AvocadoPizzaCat , Artem Maltsev/Unsplash Report

POST

View more comments

A fertilised egg can fail to develop normally and grow into a malignant tumor. It's called a molar pregnancy and I'd be very interested in what the "life begins at conception" crowd has to say about it.

Paladin2019 Report

POST

View more comments

The health of your teeth, or lack thereof, can cause heart disease. The bacteria that infect the gums and cause gingivitis and periodontitis also travel to blood vessels elsewhere in the body, where they cause blood vessel inflammation and damage.

If you are diabetic, and don't know it--or do, but have problems controlling your sugars, it can severely harm your teeth. On the flip side? Having bad teeth can severely affect your blood glucose as a diabetic. It can become a s****y cycle.

And yes--mentioned earlier, but if you get an infected tooth, that infection can travel to the brain or blood very fast.

And yet, teeth are still considered "luxury bones," with maintenance, cleaning, and dental care hardly ever being covered by insurance.

Pinkatron2000 , Anna Shvets/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Chest compressions are violent. Just let your 91 year old grandma go.

Shomer_Effin_Shabbas , Martin Splitt/Unsplash Report

POST

View more comments

A study by Johns Hopkins in 2016 cited that medical errors are probably the 3rd leading cause of death in the USA, following heart disease and cancer.

Errors were: Wrong Diagnosis. Incorrect dosage or wrong meds. Surgery errors and the biggest, poor communication between staff.

It is also thought that this study is also correct in the UK and EU.

LegalAdviceHope , Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Not necessarily a medical fact, but a reality check: Doctors don't have everything figured out, they are just human like the rest of us. Just like how us software developers search Google to troubleshoot something when we are stuck, they do too. Shows like Dr. House portray doctors as this infallible walking medical encyclopedia. It's all fiction. So, always be open to getting a second opinion if something isn't working.

hunnilust Report

POST

View more comments

That your body fights off 10,000 events that would cause cancer daily.

ScaredVacation33 , National Cancer Institute/Unsplash Report

POST

View more comments

Cat scratch fever is real, and can be deadly. I know someone who spent 2 weeks in hospital from it and it was his cat.

lespaulstrat2 , Александр Бойко/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Chainsaws were originally invented for childbirth.

Vibrators were invented because doctors were manually massaging women to hysterical paroxysm (orgasm) to cure their “hysteria” and they got too lazy to do it by hand.

NoDanaOnlyZuuI , Pixabay/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

The man who developed the pap smear did so with the help of his wife, who received pap smears almost daily for 21 years.

>Volunteering as an experimental subject: For 21 years, Mary allowed her husband to sample her cervical cells and vaginal fluids almost daily, which he would then smear on glass slides and examine under a microscope.

PerAsperaAdInfiri , National Cancer Institute//Unsplash Report

POST

View more comments

There are so many wild things living in the microbiome of a human's skin. Demodex are a great example; little mites that live near human hair follicles. They look horrific and they feed off of sebum, sweat, dead skin etc.

Many things are localized too; the things living in your eyelash follicles are not the same as the ones living on your elbows. We're a whole universe, and even our skin is colonized by bizarre little f*****s

Edit; a lovely little quote I found online, about Demodex

"When you sleep, the mites come out of your skin’s pores, mate, then go back into your skin to lay eggs."

Sexy.

no0neiv , Jenna Hamra/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

There is no cure for rabies unless you catch it immediately and get injections. Once symptoms show it is too late and the person will die .

ChrisShapedObject , National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/Unsplash Report

POST

View more comments

80% of amputations are due to diabetes.

Watch your health, people.

314159265358979326 , Anna Shvets/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

That your immune system can go rogue and just randomly start eating things you need to stay alive when there's no foreign invaders to fight against.

anon , Diana ✨/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

When you die, the bacteria that used to help digest your food, now digest you….

EssKayAarr , CDC/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

That doctors don’t know everything and you can go years without getting a diagnosis while being in unspeakable pain. I’m going through this right now.

19 months of this. I can’t handle another few more. How can something that hurts this bad and feel like a broken rib not show up or be known after almost two years of tests? At the end of my rope here.

impreprex Report

POST

View more comments

At any moment anyone can just randomly drop dead from a brain aneurysm. It’s more or less common for certain people, but it can literally happen to anyone at any age at any time.

ShadoOwEd , MART PRODUCTION/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Cold sores can cause inflammation of your brain. It’s called herpetic encephalitis and is likely to cause permanent brain damage even with treatment. It can also be caused by shingles, so getting the shingles vaccine is more important than you think.

UnapologeticAberrant , Anna Shvets/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

When you have surgery and your organs have to be scooped out to access something else, they don’t put them back where they were. They just kinda put it all back in and our organs just shift back to where they were. I learned this fact when I went to stand up after having a csection.

hotmama1230 , Europeana/Unsplash Report

POST

View more comments

ADHD symptoms are heavily influenced by estrogen levels, and yet ADHD was not studied in girls/women until 2017.

Pandaplusone Report

POST

View more comments

Not sure how unknown it is, but at any given time without warning your uterus can just fall out. And unless it’s fully dangling outside of you, the doctors will just tell you to try to shove it back in there.

cherinoia , Nadezhda Moryak/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Can I give two? They’re disturbing to me.

1)The prevalence of middle ear infections in children from 0-6 y/o.

Please don’t ignore this. Have hearing tested annually, the impact on schooling, speech, milestones etc. is not to be taken lightly.

2) Untreated hearing losses, under stimulated brain possibly leading to accelerated risks of early onset memory loss, dementia etc. The worse the hearing the higher the risk. Just get your hearing tested annually, you’re never to young for a hearing loss man.

MicIsOn Report

POST

View more comments

Oxygen poisoning is a thing. Too much O2 in your body can kill you. 


But don't worry, you won't die from breathing too hard. It's mostly an issue for divers and other people who breathe pressurized breathing gases.

24benson , Pixabay/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Not a human example (probably), but sometimes cows, goats and other animals get pregnant but instead of giving birth to a normal lamb/kid/calf it gives birth to an *"amorphous globosus"*, a spherical mass of flesh with an outer layer of skin with hair or fur, and the inside a jumbled mess of guts and tissues and sometimes teeth. They never have brains or spinal cords though, so they're always stillborn and nonviable.

Heroic-Forger , Matthias Zomer/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Everyone who's had to deal with a brand new baby's had to deal with it, but a baby's first poop (meconium) is very thick and sticky and hard to wipe off. What most people don't know is what it's made of.

Around halfway through a pregnancy, a fetus develops hair called lanugo all over their body. They shed most to all of it before they're full term. That hair is shed directly into the amniotic fluid, which is then ingested by the fetus, and (hopefully) stays in their intestines until birth or right after.

So, basically, fetuses eat their own hair, and since amniotic fluid is swallowed and excreted, you could say they're swimming in their own pee.

Also, chainsaws were invented for childbirth.

ChaoticForkingGood Report

POST

View more comments

Some hospitals allow medical students to practice on patients who are under anesthesia. Without the patient's knowledge/active consent.

It is completely f****d up. They hide technical consent in overly broad terminology in the papers you sign when you go in for an operation.

They argue that they do it this way because it is hard to get volunteers for students to practice very invasive internal exams.

dirtymoney Report

POST

View more comments

Sepsis is a horrible way to die . Seen it never wanna see it again . Poor bastard had horrible death and nothing could be done about it.

anon Report

POST

Terri Robinson

Terri Robinson

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago (edited)

• Report

My mom died from sepsis from a bedsore on her tailbone/butt area. I had to 'call it' when she coded...it was not easy, but the right thing to do. Her body was literally failing itself.

38

38points

reply

NoName

NoName

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

❤ I feel weird liking your comment. I can't even imagine. I'm very sorry you had to do that.

10

10points

reply

Load More Replies...

Maggz Bennett

Maggz Bennett

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

*hugs*

3

3points

reply

Barong

Barong

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

By brother had sepsis not that long ago. Minor sor that got worse in just a day or two but looked necrotic. Fortunately he knew a surgeon who told him to get to the hospital ASAP. Within a few hours they got him IV antibiotics and excised the infection tissue. He survived but it could have gone the other way very quickly. Don’t wait if you see something like this. Get help immediately.

5

5points

reply

marianne eliza

marianne eliza

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

Humans are kinder to their old and/or ailing pets than we are to other humans.

4

4points

reply

talliloo

talliloo

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

i'm still here because my son was stubborn and forced me to go to the e.r. only to be diagnosed with sepsis following an outpatient procedure. he came over to check on me and apparently i was not making sense and had a raging fever. was in hospital for over a week. dr later said an hour or two more and they probably wouldn't have been able to do anything for me. normally i would have brushed it off as something just following a procedure but not any more.

2

2points

reply

ElfVibratorGlitter

ElfVibratorGlitter

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

🤗 glad you listened to your son.

0

0points

reply

Load More Replies...

Sarah

Sarah

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

My Mum died from this. Mum had a kidney stone and needed day surgery to remove. Unfortunately the surgery released toxins and she took a week to die in pain.

2

2points

reply

Ingrid Smith

Ingrid Smith

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

my sister has sepsis from a kidney infection. It was so scary. She was in the hospital for weeks and barely remembers any of it. My husband at one time had active covid, respiratory failure, kidney failure, and sepsis. Somehow he survived it after a long coma.

1

1point

reply

Wielder of Yielder

Wielder of Yielder

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

I really, really, really wish you hadn't shared that. Now my dad's death hurts my heart much, much worse than it did before. Fortunately for me, I only caught the first sentence of your post before panic-scrolling down past it, but that sentence was bad enough. The understanding that my dad died relatively peacefully has been one of the only things that have comforted me a little since I lost him in November of last year. ... I guess I should've known better than to read this page.

1

1point

reply

Lee Stone

Lee Stone

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

Sepsis is a spectrum. Some people develop it and lose all their limbs, some people develop it and barely show any symptoms at all. It's a very treatable condition for most though.

1

1point

reply

Matt

Matt

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

Took my sisters husband out in hours

1

1point

reply

Lorraine Woollands

Lorraine Woollands

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

My partner died from sepsis two years ago, he was a diabetic and had big ulcers on his legs due to lymphoma and other things

0

0points

reply

Becca Cliff

Becca Cliff

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

It's so common, too. People can learn the signs and get right to a hospital.

0

0points

reply

One legged Steve

One legged Steve

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

My foot and lower left leg were amputated due to bone infection and sepsis. My Podiatrist saved my life and I found out that I was just a few hours from death. Sepsis had me visually hallucinating. I spent 27 days recovering and was given IV antibiotics round the clock.

0

0points

reply

~Just-A-Black-Cat-Lover~

~Just-A-Black-Cat-Lover~

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

What is it?

0

0points

reply

tee-lena

tee-lena

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

When an Infection goes too long it can go Septic. It means you're dying. It hurts to your very soul and it's agonizing. There are things you can do for a patient before it gets this bad but euthanasia is stupidly not allowed. I've been septic in the hospital and they gave me strong pain meds. It doesn't touch the pain. I've got fibromyalgia so it might have been worse for me, I'm not sure but I never want it again

5

5points

reply

Load More Replies...

~Just-A-Black-Cat-Lover~

~Just-A-Black-Cat-Lover~

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

Ouch! Im sorry!

0

0points

reply

ElfVibratorGlitter

ElfVibratorGlitter

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

You can also get sepsis really quickly if your bowels rupture.

2

2points

reply

Lee Stone

Lee Stone

Community Member • points

posts

comments

upvotes

FollowUnfollow

2 months ago

• Report

Sepsis is an overaction of the bodies immune processes that results in inflammation throughout the body. Essentially, you get an infection and your body's own responses causes terrible damage.

0

0points

reply

View more comments

The eyelash mite lives mainly on the human eyelash and is an 8 legged parasite that eats skin and oil. They stay hidden in the hair follicles during the day and emerge at night to eat, lay eggs and excrete waste. And that is why you should wash your face in the morning.

RandomNameGenFail003 , Kush Kaushik/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Prions.

Edit- prions are misfolded proteins that cause other proteins to misfold in your body and it causes cell death. They affect the brain and aren't curable. They are also extremely hard to destroy. A few prion diseases are:

Mad Cow Disease

Kuru

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease

Fatal Familial Insomnia (nightmare fuel)

Chronic Wasting Disease.

stilettopanda Report

POST

View more comments

Your tonsils can turn against you and hurt your immune system. I had mine taken out at age 21 after an abscess nearly killed me.

Buckmeg Report

POST

View more comments

When you get a kidney transplant, unless your original kidneys are diseased, they just lEAVE THE OLD ONES IN THERE. OLD DEAD KIDNEYS JUST CHILLING

also- fallopian tubes are not connected to ovaries. they just float in the general direction of the ovaries and do their best to vacuum up eggs as they get popped out (kind of like a pimple bursting) out of ovary pores? so the eggs just get popped wherever and you gotta cross your toes and hope your weird little vacuum tubes are aiming right that day???

fleatsd , Europeana/Unsplash Report

POST

View more comments

There's a certain part during the cremation process where the meat is perfectly cooked.

nexxai Report

POST

View more comments

Poop can come out of both ends.

anon , Vie Studio/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

If your immune system figures out you have eyes you will go blind.

Ketil_b , Pixabay/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

Humans have both light meat and dark meat due to type 1A and type 2B muscle fibers. However, humans are lean and not very calorie dense, so if you're already starving cannibalism doesn't do much good.

SailorVenus23 , Samer Daboul/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

In canada and the states, doctors and residents are allowed to perform gynaecological exams on women under general anaesthetic, in order to provide students and residents with experience performing pelvic exams. this is typically not disclosed to the patient, and is justified as being part of receiving treatment at a teaching hospital.

king_eve Report

POST

View more comments

Lots of things we know about resuscitation, trauma surgery, emergency medicine etc, were learned through gruesome vivisective experiments on WWII prisoners of war. Basically, every life saved now was paid for by a PoW tortured to death in a camp.

SillyTalks Report

POST

View more comments

In the 70’s they thought babies didn’t feel pain so they preformed surgery without anasteisa.

wetlettuce42 , Stéf -b./Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

I just learned about SJS, where you get an adverse reaction to a medication by your skin falling off. It happens at seemingly random too, but some medications are more prone to cause it. Fun stuff.

FroggiJoy87 Report

POST

View more comments

If you sever your spinal cord you can get a condition called priapism (erection that doesn't go down). Treatment is draining the blood via syringe from the erect penis (or rarely, leeches).

Blackdomino Report

POST

View more comments

I think you can get a tooth infection and it spreads to your brain n you go bye bye.

CalmLykEhBomb , cottonbro studio/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

That the father of gynecology was a sadistic f**k that did horrific things to enslaved women.

writekindofnonsense Report

POST

View more comments

All smells are particulates. When you have the displeasure of walking into a recently used bathroom and smell the smells the last person left, you can rest easy knowing that their are tiny microscopic particules of their stools now firmly implanted in your nose. And in your mouth if it was open. You're welcome.

MusicalChefIrie Report

POST

View more comments

If the anesthesiologist f****d up you wouldn't know

edit:
since everyone is sharing their story i'll share mines. i was diagnosed with bladder cancer early 2022 with signs i ignored late 2021. between april 2022 - june 2023 i went through 5 surgeries to remove the tumors in my bladder. they kept coming back.

mentally preparing myself for the first trans-urethral resection, pre-op nurse just straight up told me if the anesthesiologist f****d up i wouldn't know..or wouldn't feel anything if s**t hits the fan. what a f****n pep talk huh? hahah.

christmas 2023 i was finally clear. i still go to chemo (doublet therapy?) and see a catheter :( for gemcitabine/docetaxel.

airforkjuan , Anna Shvets/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

The beginning of birth control was originally an experiment and was wildly irregulated.

Newkid92 , cottonbro studio/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments

The ovaries and fallopian tubes are not connected, so when an egg is released the fallopian tube sucks it up like a straw. Ladies, this also means that any seamen that makes it to the fallopian tubes have an open door into your abdominal cavity.

OpheliaBalsaq Report

POST

View more comments

The placenta that is found in humans and other live-birth mammals came about from a distant common ancestor being infected with a virus some 150-200 million years ago, and evolution doing its thing. If this infection didn't happen, we'd still be laying eggs.

Tired_Lambchop111 , Leah Newhouse/Pexels Report

POST

View more comments