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“Lived Like This Until 21”: 50 Times People Found Out Their Bodies Were Different From The ‘Norm’
Many of us are so used to how we perceive things that we barely think about how things could be different, on a sensory level. But here’s the rub: the way we see, hear, and interact with the world in our day-to-day lives can be very different from how others experience it. Sometimes, it takes a doctor’s appointment, a random test, or an objective outsider’s comment to make us realize that something’s very different about our bodies.
Some of the braver members of the AskReddit community opened up about their personal biological quirks that they were stunned to learn about, from suddenly realizing that they’re color-blind to having rare allergies and more. Keep scrolling for their stories.
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#1
I was 22 when I found out I barely had a sense of smell. Random allergy test for something else flagged up some weird lactose intolerance thing that knocks the smelling device in my headholes on its a**e when I eat dairy. Gave up dairy for a few weeks. Turns out the world f*****g stinks, and life without cheese or milky delicious cereal isn't worth living. No regrets.
[eats large piece of cheese].
#2
I didn't know until I was in my twenties that people had different faces, unless there was something usual like a really big nose or a scar. Turns out I have me some face blindness. When I was working in a grocery store around 2000, I saw this woman walk in. I thought she was really cute, so I watched her as she shopped in the produce section. It wasn't until she came up to me a greeted me that I realized she was my then live-in girlfriend. Once I learned there was something called face blindness, it kind of changed my life.
#3
I thought music has colours for everyone until I realised no one understands what i'm talking about. 10 years later I discovered there's actually a name for it - synaesthesia. Thanks, criminal minds :)
Everybody has their biological and behavioral quirks; there’s no way around it. But they can be a real nuisance. Someone might feel self-conscious that their ears are a certain shape or that they constantly sneeze whenever they get near cute and cuddly animals. Someone else might find it exhausting that they can’t dine out with their friends as often as they’d like due to their numerous food allergies. Or someone’s still shocked that they’re actually color-blind and literally see their environment differently from most other people.
It can be emotionally taxing dealing with all of this. And nobody’s dismissing the impact of these biological quirks. However, reframing how you view them can reduce some of that anxiety you feel. For instance, instead of seeing your color blindness as a ‘burden,’ you could try to see it as something of a superpower or cool mutation.
On the other hand, instead of focusing on your uniqueness, you could go the other way and look for commonality. There are likely millions of other people around the globe with similar genetic mutations as you. There’s strength in finding a community that can support you.
#4
Period pains that no otc d***s would touch and that kept me home from school several days every month.
I was just told it was the curse of being a woman and that periods are supposed to hurt.
Turns out I have endometriosis and the pain was caused by internal bleeding every period.
Thanks mom.
Mason Kronol 2 weeks ago
My periods got so much better but not great after I got on the pill at 16. I think people need to talk more about period control, not birth control. It can be both. When I was around 40 I was surprised that there was only 1 person who would give an IUD to a woman who had never had children. Even though my neurologist suggested it, I knew the risk and my husband and I didn’t want kids. A vasectomy would be $4k the IUD was free. Luckily for my 2nd one I found a new one and she’s great. It it has been so great. I get some occasional spotting every few months or some cramps. Unfortunately it’s true Covid did mess with my periods and cause more periods but still not like I had in my teens thru 30s. No girl or woman should have to suffer when there are so many options. Get a second opinion. I wish I would have been brave enough when I was younger.
Mabelbabel 1 week ago
When my daughter was 15(she's now 18, so this was fairly recently), she'd had two years of her periods getting heavier and longer. She was bleeding 2 weeks every month, with maybe 5-10 days in between. She was having to change tampons every 20 min at times. We saw her GP (family doctor, we're in UK), who dismissed it with "You're young, it'll settle." Next GP-young people complain so easily, it's meant to be sore" Third GP in the practice "I don't put girls under 18 on birth control because it'll encourage them to have sex" We changed practice then, and our new GP immediately sent her for review and a scan, then prescribed birth control which is helping, along with iron, because she was anaemic at this point. It's so hard to advocate when so many doctors remain dismissive and uncaring.
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Surly Scot 1 week ago
23yrs of agony before i finally evicted my uterus. No doctor would help me in the UK or USA, finally found an OBGYN who would believe me. When she got inside she was astonished at how bad it was. Endometriotic cyst on left ovary, endometriotic adhesions spiderwebbing all through my pelvic region and had started growing onto my bowel and bladder, pelvic adhesion disease where my left ovary and whole left side of uterus were 'glued' to the pelvic wall - so everytime I turned to the right my body was tugging on my reproductive organs. Periods were agony, on the floor screaming, eyes rolling back in my head, fighting to stay conscious. Doctors need to stop dismissing women's pain as everyday issues.
Disgruntled Pelican 2 weeks ago
Thought it was normal to be passing out at 12 and bleeding for 2+ weeks at a time without ever knowing when it would start again because my mom went through the same thing. Nope. Basically ALL the women on my mom's side have endometriosis. No one started talking about it until I had a laparoscopy a couple years ago and a hysterectomy over the summer.
Stephanie Barr 2 weeks ago
When my 14-year-old daughter was in so much pain she threw up, she went right to the doctor.
Upstaged75 2 weeks ago
Yup. Same here. Took years of suffering before a doctor would take me seriously. By that time it had destroyed both my tubes. I don't want kid anyway, but I would have been devastated if I did. :(
Dawnieangel76 6 days ago
I had 2 heavy, painful periods a month for 20-odd years. I saw dozens of gynes and NOBODY was ever able to figure out why, nor how to fix it. I already have pernicious anemia that sure as Hell didn't help! I finally hit early menopause earlier this year, and all the hot flashes in the world are worth not having to buy & carry around dozens of ultra tampons & pads to backup the near constant flow...ingesting way too many ibuprofen & Tylenol to try & even take the edge off the pain.
Gracie Mae 1 week ago
THIS! Same thing & didn't find out until i was in my 30s--thankfully a complete hysterectomy took care of that!
Mistletoe 1 week ago
We had that special talk in junior high that only the girls went to. I remember the guy in the film saying you'll have mild discomfort. Two years later I finally start my period. Wham!!!! That was no mild discomfort!!!!!! Lived with my dad and didn't hang out with any girls so had no idea it wasn't normal. I just figured a male doctor has no clue. When I went to college I found out it wasn't normal. Many years later I finally had surgery. Wow! What a difference!!
Robin Roper 1 week ago
In reality, OPs mother normalized the pain because doctors normalized the pain; there was very little research. It's gotten some better but still there are many doctors who are uninformed.
Ovata Acronicta 1 week ago
33. Periods have gotten worse, markedly so over the past year. Gyno thinks it's endo and I don't really disagree. We'll find out in Feb.
detective miller's hat 1 week ago
I had to suffer through the same from age 12 - 18 because my parents were convinced putting me on the pill would "encourage me to have sex." Went on the pill when I went away to college, and BAM no more unbearable pain every month.
Bored Trash Panda 1 week ago
I feel ya. I have endo and it freaking sucks. Most months I can manage it cause I have been living with it for so long, but sometimes with a bad flare up it knocks me on my a*s and I can't work. All of my bosses are women so they understand thankfully.
BookFanatic 1 week ago
I was so lucky to have an understanding mom. She and my grandma both had endometriosis in their teens and twenties. So when I started complaining, she took me right to the doc. Was on BC for a few years, worked like a charm.
Greenmantle 2 weeks ago
My friend had bad endo and got an ablation. It has made a massive difference
Bored Trash Panda 1 week ago (edited)
It grows back usually, sometimes worse. Had my surgery for it in 2021 and it came back within a year and is now worse. There is no cure for it.
Load More Replies... WindySwede 2 weeks ago (edited)
According to the bible, modern medicine said something different. (Weird... /s)
Shannon Donnelly 1 week ago
Don't ever speak for someone else's experiences. EVER!!
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#5
My science teacher held up a color blind test, the one with all the colored dots, and everyone in class is yelling out the answers and I'm looking at them like the guy at the beginning of Ghostbusters getting shocked and wondering how the girl is getting them right. This cleared up a lot of confusion with my crayons.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 2 weeks ago
Ishihara Test. Me too in Primary school. Greens and browns mainly.
#6
Being born with only one ear and a few other issues with my face. Potential diagnosis of mild Goldenhar's. I thought it was the best thing ever and totally normal until I got to school and tried to make friends. Nobody likes the ugly freak. Had a new ear created in 2001/2002 by the wonderfully renowned Dr. David Matthews of NC. It failed and had to be removed. They never learned why. I've since accepted it and no longer give a f**k what others think about it.
ChimeraBubbles 2 weeks ago
People are so cruel to others with facial difference. I don't think making disabled people the villians in films for over a century has helped! The concept of 'disfigured' = evil is as old as time. Glad this person has learned to ignore others, as a physically disabled person myself I know that's not easy.
According to Enchroma, there are a whopping 350 million people who are color-blind on our planet. Though this is far from the majority, it’s such a large minority that you never have to feel alone with your condition if you get diagnosed with it. Literally a third of a billion other human beings know what you’re going through and can potentially guide and support you. That being said, it’s still not an easy life.
Color blindness affects around 1 in 12 men, as well as 1 in 200 women. 90% of color-blind people admitted that it does affect them at work, while 75% said that they need their colleagues’ help to verify certain colors.
Around half of students with this condition are less interested in drawing, painting, and art galleries. And more than half of color-blind women revealed that they left out of activities like shopping, makeup, and fashion, where color plays a key role. Furthermore, nearly half of all color-blind people didn’t find out about their condition until the 7th grade.
#7
My internal monologue is entirely in song. My mind is a musical and I didn't know that was odd till I was talking to my GF when I was like 25...
#8
Being able to dislocate one of my shoulders at will.
An orthopaedic consultant then told me that I shouldn't do it even if the Queen asked me to. Fortunately that situation has never actually arisen.
#9
I genuinely believed that everyone's hands and feet turned blue in the winter, and hurt all the time during the summer, or in high temperatures.
Turns out I just have Reynaud's Phenomenon.
Ladedah 2 weeks ago (edited)
Mine's not quite that bad. Worst in the spring and fall when temps seem like they should be OK to trust (around 40-60°F), but then my body decides to take it back. Freezer aisles and stores with great air conditioning suck in the summer for the same reason. My husband likes to tease that I have "Dead people feet" when I get bad episodes in the winter. I've found that it's keeping everything else warm (core, legs, arms, head) that solves it more so than putting on warm socks or gloves.
What are some of your biological quirks that you were shocked to learn about, dear Pandas? How did you realize that your life experience is different from that of the folks around you?
How do your biological differences affect your life, whether for better or for worse? What advice would you give anyone who’s shocked to learn that their body works rather unusually? Let us know in the comments!
#10
My best friend got glasses when she was 10. Until that point she had no idea that trees had individual leaves on them, she thought they were just green blobs on brown trunks like you draw when you are a kid.
Edit: To clarify, of course she knew they had leaves, but she just thought they fell from the big fluffy tree blobs. Not sure about if she had climbed a tree, maybe she was just too busy playing to make the connection.
David Paterson 2 weeks ago
My first words after getting my first pair of glasses "I can see every leaf on that tree".
#11
The constant ringing in my ears. Took me years to realise that not everyone experienced it and it was actually tinnitus.
Kira Okah 2 weeks ago
Tinnitus has two types - internal and external. Referring to the direction that the sound seems to come from. Internal ringing sounds like it's a sound inside your head, commonly caused by illness or stress. External ringing sounds like an environment sound, commonly caused by ear damage from external factors. I have the former, caused by stress.
#12
Hypermobility - apparently it freaks people out if you stand with your knees bending the wrong way.
Nadine Debard 2 weeks ago
Hypermobility can be a sign of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome which affects connective tissues.
#13
Turns out its not normal to have constant feeling of fight or flight due to anxiety.
#14
Food would routinely be very hard to swallow.
Often would get stuck and involve either throwing it up or forcing it down with other food or water.
Lived like this until 21.
Turns out I had eosinophilic esophagitis. It's basically a constriction of the esophagus due to allergic reactions that are more or less permanent without treatment.
I sought after medical help, upon my first endoscopy the scope found my throat to be 7mm in diameter.
A normal one is 20mm for comparison. I've since had upwards of 10 dilatations to achieve a normal status of 15mm.
All is well now.
Amanda Bednorz 2 weeks ago
This runs in my family. My dad, my brother & myself all have it. None of us has really done anything about it other than chewing our food very carefully & we make sure to have lots of water with us while eating.
#15
I didn't realize people breathed through their noses till I was 18. I thought they were just there for occasionally smelling things. Turns out I had a severely deviated septum.
Huddo's sister 2 weeks ago
I don't breathe through my nose well, sometimes not at all. Depends how blocked my sinus' are. I'm allergic to so many things...
#16
The two little toes next to my big toe are connected part way up. My mums are the same. Didn't know it was weird until i bought toe socks when i was about 10 and they really hurt my toes so i told my dad and he was just like yeah you and your mum are actual freaks.
#17
My friend has a 3-inch tail, he didn't seem to think that was abnormal until I told him no one else has tails.
Veronica Monell 2 weeks ago
This reminds me of the movie Shallow Hal! Jason Alexander's character (George from Seinfeld for anyone wondering) has that and you see it at the end of the movie.
#18
For decades I just sort of assumed everyone's head would fill up with these terrifying, violent scenarios that would make you feel like a terrible person. It was either that or I was a psychopath. I figured everyone felt the need to do stupid little things like me, but it turns out saying a made-up prayer in your head every time you have a violent intrusive thought to keep yourself from going to hell is abnormal.
I found out much later that OCD wasn't always just counting steps while wanting everything neat and tidy.
(edit): To anyone reading or commenting here, now thinking they have OCD or any other related illness - trust not what you read on the internet to give you a diagnosis. Take what you've read and written here and think long and hard; if you still feel that my experience fits your symptoms, talk to your doctor, male an appointment with a therapist or psychiatrist and be open and honest about what you experience. Leave it to experts who are sitting in front of you to diagnose what you're experiencing.
#19
I never thought much about the weird yellowish lumps I'd sometimes find in my mouth until I realised they were tonsil stones and not everyone gets them.
#20
I thought everybody got itchy and bumpy in the cold. Then a friend told me my face was terribly swollen. I was diagnosed with "Cold Urticaria". I am literally allergic to the cold. And I live in Michigan.
Spirited7Wolf 2 weeks ago
My brother had that! Even eating a popsicle would turn his lips blue 😬
#21
Grew up with PCOS. I thought everyone had periods once every 2 or 3 months which would completely flatten them. I'm talking 10-12 days of pain so bad you can't get out of bed.
whineygingercat 2 weeks ago
Try no period for 6-8 months, then hemorrhaging for 59 days, with a bonus of MASSIVE blood clots. That was my life from 8th-12th grade.
#22
Even though I have a year long tan thanks to genetics, you could still see all my veins across my whole body. I looked like a human road map. I also shook a lot.
It wasn't until someone mentioned how weird it was that I went to the doctor about it.
Turns out I had been severely deficient in many nutrients for years.
Ladedah 2 weeks ago (edited)
Are we talking about livedo reticularis? Or is it something else? I've had livedo reticularis my whole life, so I'm assuming it's idiopathic in my case. Anything less than 80°F and it's a wee bit embarrassing. I'm super pale though, so getting a bit of a tan seems to help disguise it in my case.
#23
I didn't know it wasn't normal to start daydreaming during a test or have periods of time when you got hyper-focused to the point of shutting the world around you out.
Until I started studying to become a special education teacher. Then it was like, "Huh... imagine what my life would have been like if someone had actually diagnosed my ADHD while I was still in school...".
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 2 weeks ago
I do that all the time and I don't have ADHD. I just like shutting the world out and can do it very well.
#24
Getting an itchy mouth after eating chinese. I figured it was part of the whole "hungry one hour later" thing. Turns out I'm allergic to soy.
Dumb teenager 2 weeks ago
Makes me wonder if I’m slightly allergic to pineapple. I figured it was just really acidic
#25
I thought everyone had tiny red bumps on their shoulders and arms. Turns out I have keratosis pilaris.
George Costanza 2 weeks ago
It's fairly common. Not everyone, but a decent percentage of the population has it.
#26
Occasional crippling headaches where any light or sound would destroy you and sometimes you throw up but to feel better you take a 4 hour nap in the middle of the day. Legit thought all that was normal. In other news, migraine specific prescription pills are a godsend.
whineygingercat 2 weeks ago
Even better when one eye feels like it's about to explode, and dear lord I wish it would. It might give me some relief
#27
I have anosmia (can't smell). When I was younger, I just thought that I was being stupid when people said "ohh, can you smell that?" and I couldn't. However, now I'm older, whenever someone asks if I can smell something I just can't. It became pretty obvious when a manure truck drove past me and a friend one day and I had no reaction.
A Very Glittery Moth Indeed 2 weeks ago
Most of the time i can’t really smell things. I can smell manure and stuff, but not urine, sweat or flowers that are supposed to smell.(and probably more) I can smell perfume. 🗿
#28
That only using the phone on one side was completely normal, and everyone picked a side.
Turns out I'm just deaf in the other ear. Explains why headphones never worked properly for me.
Nikki van Reenen 2 weeks ago
I had a car accident and went deaf in my right ear (the ear I used for the phone). For ages afterwards, the phone would ring, I would pick it up and put it to my right ear, say hello and nothing. So I'd put the phone down.
#29
Looking at the sun makes me sneeze. I know it happens to a lot of people, but I thought it happened to everyone.
#30
Getting blisters under your tongue.
It suddenly started when I was 21 - I'd get little blisters that would burst and give me a really horrid taste in my mouth for a couple of seconds. Then it would be fine, and a day or so later a new blister would pop up. It was irritating, but I thought it was like mouth ulcers, nothing serious. I went to the chemist after a couple of weeks and asked if mouth ulcer stuff would work on the blisters - she told me what I was experiencing wasn't at all normal and to go to my dentist.
Turned out, I had the teeniest tumour you've ever seen in your life growing under my tongue. Its location had interfered with a mucus gland and that was causing a build up of mucus to form little blisters and then burst, hence the rancid taste.
It was caught obscenely early because of the mucus build up. If it had went undetected for a longer time, I could have needed more extensive treatment. If it had went on long enough, the cancer could have even spread to other parts of my body and put me in real danger. As it was, once they removed the tumour, that was me cancer-free. It was no more traumatic for me than a trip to the dentist. I'm pretty lucky.
So, feel pretty lucky to have had my little mucus blisters giving me a heads up.
**EDIT:** So, I've apparently sent a lot of people into a bit of a panic by making them think getting oral blisters means they've got cancer. Sorry about that, folks. No panic was intended in the making of this post.
I got blisters because the tumour grew in a way that interfered with a mucus gland. Blisters aren't actually a common symptom of cancer, so if you're getting oral blisters, please don't panic. My case was unusual, and you're probably fine.
I am not a medical professional however, so if you're concerned I encourage you to get checked out by your dentist. Even though you're probably fine, better safe than sorry, right? And getting checked out will help put your mind at ease.
For anyone concerned about mouth cancer, here's a list of the most common symptoms to look out for.
FoxEcoLimaIndiaCharlieIndiAlfa 2 weeks ago
I'm curious if they actually tested said tumor for cancer cells. So many people hear the word tumor and assume they have cancer but many tumors are benign, meaning non-cancerous. The only way to know for sure is to have the mass tested.
#31
My friend has no mind's eye. He can't picture things in his head.
He didn't know this was unusual until he saw a documentary on it on the BBC earlier this year. He never understood why books had so much descriptive stuff in them and thought 'picture this' was just a phrase.
#32
I have visual snow, which is sort of TV-like static that overlays your vision. AFAIK, I've had it since birth, or if not I developed it at such a young age that I don't remember a time when I didn't have it. I thought that everyone's vision was the same as mine until I was in my mid-teens.
Ladedah 2 weeks ago (edited)
I didn't hear about this term until a year or so ago. I, too, thought it was normal. My mind ignores it most of the time, but the second I remember (such as right now) I can see it again. I've had it as long as I can remember, too. I always thought that it's just visible dust (but very tiny, not like the dust motes you see in a beam of sunlight) or particles suspended in the air and reflecting light... It's almost like adding a really fine grain to a clear picture in photoshop. But I can see them in the dark, too. When I was little, I would wave my arms around in the dark at bedtime and it would seemingly swirl like its moving with the wind.
#33
I have scoliosis - not bad enough to be immediately noticeable, but because I'm so aware of it I know that one half of my ribcage sticks out more than the other and one of my shoulders slopes while the other is at an almost 90 degree angle.
I didn't realise there was anything wrong until I was in Year 9 at school and one of the girls in the changing room called me hunchback of Notre Dame.
HTakeover 2 weeks ago (edited)
Middle school P.E. had quarterly checks for scoliosis. Is that not a thing anymore? Edit: I did a little digging and it's still a thing, but doesn't seem to be as widely done as in the 80s & 90s. But maybe that's anecdotal. Utah and Texas have formal guidelines for schools. The national scoliosis board has a map of which states have programs, which is a little over half, but I didn't go digging into how widespread those programs are.
#34
I get panic attacks and twitch uncontrollably if someone goes too close to my right ear, or if there is a particularly loud sound or even a high or low frequency noise on my right side. Turns out I have Hyperacusis, and many people I know still think I'm making up and just being a wimp.
Debby Keir 2 weeks ago (edited)
I'm partially deaf - ie one ear has nerve damage, and the other a bit of age related loss. I had Meniere's syndrome for many years (now burned out but causing the deafness) and also have very annoying tinnitus. Lately I've been 'jumping' at some sounds - a brain shock type of thing and can't think for a moment - and now been diagnosed with hyperacusis too. Deaf and hyper hearing!
#35
I thought it was normal to sneeze after drinking beer. Turns out I have an allergy. I do not drink any less after figuring that out.
UncleJohn3000 2 weeks ago
"What causes your sneezing?" "Beer." "What are you taking for it?" "Beer."
#36
When I would sing, hum or even talk loud my eyes would vibrate and turn 45 degrees. I had superior canal dehiscence. Also was able to hear my eyes moving in my sockets as well as the blood whooshing through my arteries/veins in my neck.
#37
This is being buried because I'm late to the thread but, I was born 2 and a half months early and because of this I formed a hole in the abdomen wall that separates my ball sack and my stomach. Well a small pocked of fluid had formed in the hole not letting it close.
I grew up with this and didn't think anything of it. It would only hurt it I would sneeze, and I didn't do that, that often so I didn't worry.
Well fast forward to when I was 18. I was getting my before college physicals and the doctor saw it and said, "Well that shouldn't be there" and we scheduled the surgery to fix.
3 Days after I had my HS graduation I was getting ready for the surgery. It was suppose to only take 45ish minutes, but it ended up taking 2 and a half hours because of how bad it was.
Apparently the pocked that formed was fused with everything and was a b***h to separate. On top of that my small intestine had started to fall into the pocket. I was told by the doctor that if we had let it go another year I would be dead because my small intestine would have kinked and burst.
tl;dr: Born with a hernia never got it fixed. 18 years later got it fixed. Almost died from waiting that long.
#38
I have a bifid uvula. Kind of looks like a ballsack. I thought for the longest time that's what everyone's looked like because, well, how often do you look at other people's uvulas? I can remember as a kid watching the intro to Rugrats where it zooms out from Tommy Pickles crying and you see his and thinking it was weird that they drew it like that, but then I figured some cartoon characters also have 4 fingers so that must just be how they are drawn. I found out my uvula is weird when I was in high school.
Dave Walters 2 weeks ago
I was convinced I knew what an uvula was but started to get quite concerned the more of this post I read. Turns out I was way out!
#39
I can make both my calves painfully cramp just by flexing my foot a certain way. Works every time. Like a Charley Horse on command. And if I hold it long enough (20-30 seconds) the pain will start to kind of ease, at which point I can briefly make it cramp by pointing my foot instead.
Apparently this is not normal.
#40
I am 32 and thought that everyone has a torus palatinus. I recently asked my sister (who is a doctor) to look at the roof of my mouth as there was a sharp bony part on the lump in the roof of my mouth. I was astounded to find out that not only was the sharp bony part abnormal, but that the whole lump on the roof of my mouth is only shared by a small minority!
Amanda Bednorz 2 weeks ago
I thought everyone had deep cuts in their tongue (bc that's how you taste stuff) until I was like 15. Turns out I have "Geographic Tongue" & it's kinda rare & pretty cool
#41
I can not for the life of me feel low/high temperatures as long as it is not pain.
i can put my hand on an (apparently) really hot radiator and don't feel anything, as long as i am not burning myself.
I realized i wasn't normal when I went to a mountain lake with some friends, and jumped in the "ice cold" water, and telling them it was fine.
#42
I occasionally have vivid hallucinations; normally they're benign, but every so often I see thousands of ostriches around me. I never realized it was abnormal, until I climbed into the ostrich cage in a zoo because I thought they were all just hallucinations. After I hit one of the ostriches to try and prove it was a hallucination they told me I'm no longer allowed to return to that zoo.
#43
I have a thing called dermotographia where basically my skin swells whenever you scratch it. I used to think this was normal and just draw things on my thighs and they would swell into pictures. It wasn't until I was like 11 that i realized that other peoples' skin didn't swell up like that when they got scratches. Still pretty cool though cuz its like a non-permaneant notepad on my body since the swelling goes away after about 15 minutes.
#44
I'm double jointed and I thought everyone had the same rage of motion. I hurt my friends hand in elementary school because she said she couldn't get her thumb to touch her wrists, and I was convinced she just didn't try hard enough.
#45
I got stung by fire coral for the first time. Same type of sting as a jellyfish. Well, it was just three little bumps that pussed a little, and was itchy. Took a few months to heal. I thought it was a completely normal reaction.
Fast forward 6 months, a dive buddy gets stung, and i was like oh dont worry, it'll just be annoying and pussy for a little bit. No worries. But for her, it was nothing worse than an ant bite.
Fast forward another 3 monts, i get stung again, this time a larger surface area. Turns into an oozy mess over the weekend.....turns out, im super allergic to Cnidarian stings.
Huddo's sister 2 weeks ago
My family is allergic to mosquito bites. They are 2-3x bigger than most people get. I haven't been bitten by one since my early teens though, because I take vitamin B every day. Didn't know that was why until a couple of years ago.
#46
Not me but a cousin of me asked me if it was weird his third nipple was turning red.
Debby Keir 2 weeks ago
My significant other has one in his armpit and is terrified of being burnt as a witch/warlock.
#47
My wife has no proprioception. Like, she can't do that thing where you close your eyes and touch the third toe on your left foot without having to think about where it is.
The afternoon she figured out that I could do this was really fun with me closing my eyes and her being amazed that I could just TOUCH MY NOSE without having to grope around for it.
Karen Reeves 1 week ago
Spatial awareness is a thing! I had a slight stroke about 14 years ago, and since then I knock into things constantly. Always got bruises on my arms and legs from bumping into things! Makes me super cautious when going up and own stairs though!
#48
I can move the toe next to my big toe on it's own. It just looks like a little worm head-banging.
#49
My facial tics.
Ever since I was a little nipper I've always scrunched my nose and flared my nostrils. My parents just said it was a habit.
It wasnt until I was just browsing wikipedia that I discovered I have torettes.
JP Doyle 2 weeks ago
Oh yeah, fellow Touretter here. The most annoying part of getting diagnosed is we can stop or symptoms completely for a very limited period. I hated going to the doctor and every time they tried to see my tics I unconsciously suppressed them.The irony is that when we got home the suppression wore off and my tics came back 10x worse. It wasn't until I was 17 and my Da saw a little one inch side bar in the newspaper that listed 10 symptoms and I had 9 of them that we had a clue about what was going on.
#50
I didn't know what circumcision was or that I was circumcised till I was 18 when I came and used public showers in the UK.
Renée Parry 2 weeks ago
I had asked my first boyfriend if he was circumcised, he replied with you have seen it! That didn't answer my question.
What do you think ?
Littlemiss 2 weeks ago (edited)
Interesting post, each time I read these I discover how odd I really am.
A. HAM 1 week ago (edited)
Alright, here’s my oddity. And please, if you’re like me, let me know. I’M ALLERGIC TO MY OWN POOP! Every single time I poop, I have a full on allergy attack. Every. Single. Time. PS, it’s so sexy. Thick, clear mucus pouring out of both sides of my nose, itchy, watery eyes, the works. And, as soon as I’m done, it disappears as quickly as it came on. I’ve yet to meet another person this happens to, so let me know if you’re a freak like me. (Edited to add, it is not an allergy to something in the bathroom. This has happened for the last 40+ years, regardless of the bathroom I use.)
Leah Jay 5 days ago
https://www.marshallindependent.com/uncategorized/2020/07/defecation-rhinorrhea/ It's pretty common
Load More Replies... Ladedah 2 weeks ago (edited)
Dont know what kind of nonsense is going on with this article's commenting function. Three of my comments immediately disappeared and would not reappear until I tried to repost a second time... and then both comments show up at once 🙄
Child of the Stars 2 weeks ago
BP's been glitching all over the place ever since they introduced Premium.
Load More Replies...
BookFanatic 1 week ago
Most of my oddities are hereditary. Like my head tremor. Everyone on my dad's side gets it when they're about 40. My oncology nurse was the first to spot it and was quite concerned until I explained--several times to several different people--that it wasn't a side effect of chemo and it wasn't Parkinson's.
TheForrestGreene (he/they/it) 2 weeks ago
i liked seeing how many others had hypermobility. it was nice knowing im not the only person who can twist both my arms and legs around, or stand on one leg and bring the other foot past my hip, or bend only the first joint of each finger. nice to know its not just me who can freak out my classmates like that
glowworm2 1 week ago
I can lick my elbows. My elbows have hypermobility. I can twist my arm around and it looks weird. I can make my elbows meet at the front of my body. Used to be able to do it from the back too but not any more.
Load More Replies... 
Sadie Dingfelder (ɹǝplǝɟƃuᴉp ǝᴉpɐS) 2 weeks ago
I wrote a whole book about this : the new science of subjectivity! It’s called Do I Know You? Because it’s about how we are often mistaken about other people’s experiences, including the people closest to us!
Surly Scot 1 week ago
Keratosis Pilaris, Cold Urticaria, Latex Allergy, Latex-Fruit Allergy, Heterochromia, Hypoglycemia, Scoliosis, ADHD, oversized lungs, Asthma, Hypothyroidism, flat feet causing knock knees, allergic to all weed/tree/grass pollen in USA, allergic to chocolate (f*ck you universe), severe corn allergy......who do I talk to about getting a refund on this body? I'm a dissatisfied customer and need to leave a 1star review.
Mad McQueen 1 week ago
I taught myself to speed read in grade school. I would read ahead as we were doing paragraphs and get yelled at because I was way out of place. But sometimes when it was just before my turn I learned to back track an when it was my turn I would pronounce everything perfectly. It was basically taking common phrases and scanning sentences for key words then checking the words and breaking them down til I could say it in my head. Then moving on. Loved to read. I can still eat books in few days if given the time. lol.
Sue 1 week ago
I have no patience for videos, except movies. I don't want to listen to EVERY SINGLE WORD.
Load More Replies...
Camilla Koutsos 1 week ago (edited)
ADHD, Autism, PTSD, and hEDS diagnosed in my 50s. Endometriosis diagnosed in my 30s. I can flex my tensor tympani deliberately. My pain threshold is stupidly high, which is good, because I’m always in varying levels of pain. I can bend only the distal joints in my fingers. I have alexithymia.
alf martinez jaume 1 week ago
I have/had a couple of them: Male transient hip osteoporosis and exploding head syndrome. The first one was quite painful but disappeared in a few weeks. As for the second, i experience it two-three times a month: nothing to worry about once you know what it is, but absolutely terrifying the first time it happens.
Sue 1 week ago
I cannot roll my R's. Grew up in Miami & wanted to learn Spanish but was too embarrassed. My granddaughter does it fine. I later found I have a bilateral(?) lisp, so I wondered if that might be why.
Jennifer Clayton 1 week ago
Trying pronouncing the R like itself a D. Try it out loud.
Load More Replies...
Pandamonium Pandas Pandie 1 week ago (edited)
I get sick every month or two, it's always a simple cold but its debilitating. I have athsma so my coughs are really bad where I get pain and am wheezing, and my mucus get so bad it clogs my airways and makes me choke and throw up, like legit. It lasts up to two weeks before I START to recover. It also makes me throw up A LOT, like every day of sickness. I also get nausea and headaches. thought it was normal up until the 6th grade when my mom got very concerned for me. turns out I have an auto immune disorder.
Littlemiss 2 weeks ago (edited)
Interesting post, each time I read these I discover how odd I really am.
A. HAM 1 week ago (edited)
Alright, here’s my oddity. And please, if you’re like me, let me know. I’M ALLERGIC TO MY OWN POOP! Every single time I poop, I have a full on allergy attack. Every. Single. Time. PS, it’s so sexy. Thick, clear mucus pouring out of both sides of my nose, itchy, watery eyes, the works. And, as soon as I’m done, it disappears as quickly as it came on. I’ve yet to meet another person this happens to, so let me know if you’re a freak like me. (Edited to add, it is not an allergy to something in the bathroom. This has happened for the last 40+ years, regardless of the bathroom I use.)
Leah Jay 5 days ago
https://www.marshallindependent.com/uncategorized/2020/07/defecation-rhinorrhea/ It's pretty common
Load More Replies... Ladedah 2 weeks ago (edited)
Dont know what kind of nonsense is going on with this article's commenting function. Three of my comments immediately disappeared and would not reappear until I tried to repost a second time... and then both comments show up at once 🙄
Child of the Stars 2 weeks ago
BP's been glitching all over the place ever since they introduced Premium.
Load More Replies... BookFanatic 1 week ago
Most of my oddities are hereditary. Like my head tremor. Everyone on my dad's side gets it when they're about 40. My oncology nurse was the first to spot it and was quite concerned until I explained--several times to several different people--that it wasn't a side effect of chemo and it wasn't Parkinson's.
TheForrestGreene (he/they/it) 2 weeks ago
i liked seeing how many others had hypermobility. it was nice knowing im not the only person who can twist both my arms and legs around, or stand on one leg and bring the other foot past my hip, or bend only the first joint of each finger. nice to know its not just me who can freak out my classmates like that
glowworm2 1 week ago
I can lick my elbows. My elbows have hypermobility. I can twist my arm around and it looks weird. I can make my elbows meet at the front of my body. Used to be able to do it from the back too but not any more.
Load More Replies... Sadie Dingfelder (ɹǝplǝɟƃuᴉp ǝᴉpɐS) 2 weeks ago
I wrote a whole book about this : the new science of subjectivity! It’s called Do I Know You? Because it’s about how we are often mistaken about other people’s experiences, including the people closest to us!
Surly Scot 1 week ago
Keratosis Pilaris, Cold Urticaria, Latex Allergy, Latex-Fruit Allergy, Heterochromia, Hypoglycemia, Scoliosis, ADHD, oversized lungs, Asthma, Hypothyroidism, flat feet causing knock knees, allergic to all weed/tree/grass pollen in USA, allergic to chocolate (f*ck you universe), severe corn allergy......who do I talk to about getting a refund on this body? I'm a dissatisfied customer and need to leave a 1star review.
Mad McQueen 1 week ago
I taught myself to speed read in grade school. I would read ahead as we were doing paragraphs and get yelled at because I was way out of place. But sometimes when it was just before my turn I learned to back track an when it was my turn I would pronounce everything perfectly. It was basically taking common phrases and scanning sentences for key words then checking the words and breaking them down til I could say it in my head. Then moving on. Loved to read. I can still eat books in few days if given the time. lol.
Sue 1 week ago
I have no patience for videos, except movies. I don't want to listen to EVERY SINGLE WORD.
Load More Replies... Camilla Koutsos 1 week ago (edited)
ADHD, Autism, PTSD, and hEDS diagnosed in my 50s. Endometriosis diagnosed in my 30s. I can flex my tensor tympani deliberately. My pain threshold is stupidly high, which is good, because I’m always in varying levels of pain. I can bend only the distal joints in my fingers. I have alexithymia.
alf martinez jaume 1 week ago
I have/had a couple of them: Male transient hip osteoporosis and exploding head syndrome. The first one was quite painful but disappeared in a few weeks. As for the second, i experience it two-three times a month: nothing to worry about once you know what it is, but absolutely terrifying the first time it happens.
Sue 1 week ago
I cannot roll my R's. Grew up in Miami & wanted to learn Spanish but was too embarrassed. My granddaughter does it fine. I later found I have a bilateral(?) lisp, so I wondered if that might be why.
Jennifer Clayton 1 week ago
Trying pronouncing the R like itself a D. Try it out loud.
Load More Replies... Pandamonium Pandas Pandie 1 week ago (edited)
I get sick every month or two, it's always a simple cold but its debilitating. I have athsma so my coughs are really bad where I get pain and am wheezing, and my mucus get so bad it clogs my airways and makes me choke and throw up, like legit. It lasts up to two weeks before I START to recover. It also makes me throw up A LOT, like every day of sickness. I also get nausea and headaches. thought it was normal up until the 6th grade when my mom got very concerned for me. turns out I have an auto immune disorder.
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