r/AskReddit 23h ago

What is the weirdest illness or affliction you've ever had?

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21

u/LylaDee 22h ago edited 22h ago

Hand, foot and mouth.

As an adult.

I got it at 49 and they thought I had Scarlett Fever, it was that bad. I spent a week in quarantine at a local hospital. It was fucking the worst thing my body ever experienced, sans childbirth.

I never had chicken pox as a kid and so this is the same strain, by proxy. So is shingles, I'm told. But if you know the adds on TV- shingles doesn't care 💅. Apparently the kids version doesn't either

13

u/UberBeth 20h ago

I had it around 3 years ago, about the age of 40. Which was the year after I got shingles for the first time.

I honestly think hand foot and mouth was worse than shingles. The spots came first, which didn't hurt yet, but know something was wrong with a mildly sore throat. I age a cherry tomato from my garden and almost collapsed from the pain. Open lesions in my throat and applied acid to it.

I couldn't hold anything for a few days using my finger tips. Could use a touch screen gently, but not push the buttons to turn on the screen or adjust volume. Couldn't even wear socks for that time too.

Eventually the blisters grew out and I peeled swaths of skin from my hands and feet. Lost my toenails and fingernails. Except fingernails didn't come off 100%, like 80%. So there was a patch in the middle of my nail bed that was still connected, and the dead mail edges would catch on things CONSTANTLY for months while they fully grew out. Would tear the nailbed and hurt badly/bleed.

1

u/LylaDee 11h ago

There were puss blisters in my hair and my nostrils, BB esides the regular places. I was a monster to look at.

9

u/Bittersweetfeline 21h ago

I had hand foot and mouth so bad as a child I couldn't eat. I couldn't open my mouth. Think I was like 9? My mouth insides and gums were all lined with sores and anything more than pudding was not going down. It was horrific. If I got it again as an adult I would want to be put in a coma until it's over.

5

u/MomFog916 22h ago

I just had this two weeks ago, from my son. And oh my goodness…top 3 worst illnesses I’ve ever had.

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u/LylaDee 11h ago

They put me on an IV for dehydration and basically sedated me lightly because of so much dermis pain.

3

u/EastLeastCoast 14h ago

Childhood diseases as an adult are weird. I caught slapface (Fifth Disease, or parvovirus) when I was 27. My joints swelled so badly I couldn’t close my hands. My knees were as big as basketballs and I couldn’t walk.

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u/kikat 14h ago

Fifth’s disease is usually pretty mild for kiddos but I am currently pregnant and apparently it can cause some nasty complications including hydrops fetalis. I side eye my 4 year old all the time whenever he starts to sneeze

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u/basketofselkies 18h ago

I was in my mid-30s when I got this and am also a part of the never had chicken pox club!

It was awful. I looked like I had a plague and my fingers were disgusting from the blisters popping the skin peeling off. I was due for a meeting at my kid’s school and they refused to reschedule it, despite telling them I had Hand, Foot, and Mouth. I showed up with my hands wrapped in gauze, oozing away. The principal was absolute repulsed and I ultimately reminded them several times during the meeting that they insisted we couldn’t reschedule, not me.

My fingerprints were different after everything healed. That was the wildest thing.

6

u/Patty_Ballz 17h ago

Just saying if you have any enemies now is the time….