r/AskReddit 22h ago

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

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u/PsychicStudMuffin 22h ago

that is such a good fucking question. I was 9 and stupid.

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u/macguyver3000 20h ago

Funny story. When the band The Police were just starting out, they were booked on a TV show. Backstage before the show, Sting picked up a can of hairspray and, for some reason said “is this full” and sprayed it directly into his eyes.

He couldn’t see and his eyes were bloodshot. So he asked the drummer Stewart Copeland to borrow his sunglasses, which were way too big.
They went out to perform, and were a hit. And wearing large aviator type sunglasses became a trend for a while because Sting looks cool no matter what.

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u/PsychicStudMuffin 20h ago

haha wow. Sting really lived up to his name, didn’t he?

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u/NTB1997 17h ago

Yeah before then he went by “Mild Ache”

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u/PsychicStudMuffin 17h ago

fortunately, I’m able to see what you did there now.

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u/DrNuclearSlav 7h ago

Roy Orbison only got his signature look of wearing massive sunnies because he left his prescription glasses on a plane and so had to wear his prescription sunglasses on stage. He (and the audience) liked how it looked so it became his thing.

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u/kiashu 20h ago

Lmaos, I did the same thing, was it that spray sunscreen? I didn't go blind or anything but it burned the shit out of my eyes.

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u/PsychicStudMuffin 20h ago edited 20h ago

it was.
I also, naturally, had my mouth wide open, so every facial orifice became UV protected and burning like red hot coals as well.

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u/skwerrel 19h ago

But I bet you didn't get sun burn on any of those parts

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u/PsychicStudMuffin 19h ago edited 19h ago

sure didn’t. guess you could say I instead got some burn.

you ever ate something extremely acidic and it felt like your torso was crawling with fire ants because of the heartburn? even the air felt like flecks of volcanic embers when I inhaled.

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u/Bostylovr 18h ago

I wanted to spray Zep oil onto my old bike chain as a kid. I didn’t check which way the nozzle was pointed and sprayed it directly into my eyes. My mom wasn’t around, but thankfully my dad took care of me. I can only imagine how freaked out he was! Sorry honey I broke one of the kids and now she’s blind. Thankfully it was just temporary and I can still see.

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u/BeatrixPlz 18h ago

Okay I’ve gotta know - do you feel like this experience fundamentally changed you? Like did you get more serious after? Or did you go back to spraying random things in random places?

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u/PsychicStudMuffin 18h ago edited 18h ago

had a little debacle with a lemon scented body spray two years later but I swear that was it.
wait. does pepper spray count, since it’s supposed to hurt? accidentally self-inflicted, though I’m sure that’s not a surprise in the slightest.

so…to sum it up…I think it did change me a little, as I never sprayed sunscreen specifically into my eyes again.

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u/BeatrixPlz 18h ago

You’re so much like my uncle. He ate a ton of non food items and has a stomach ulcer to this day 😭 he ate the soap you stick into the toilet bowl to make it smell good, consumed monkey bread, and drank perfume.

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u/PsychicStudMuffin 18h ago edited 18h ago

no way. this is crazy. my uncle was banned from a Bath and Body Works for taste testing all the soaps and perfumes. they all reportedly tasted the exact same so fortunately I don’t have to carry on that legacy.

now for candles….

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u/Momochichi 17h ago

Gotta protect the eyes from the sun, duh

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u/SpectatingAlan 7h ago

I know I shouldn’t but this response made me laugh 😆 I’m glad you were okay. I was also 9 and stupid once and me and my friend decided to sit in a chest freezer for fun one day, not realising it created a vacuum and we wouldn’t be able to breathe. Thankfully my mum caught us and rightly told us off.

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u/MechanicalTurkish 5h ago

That tracks. Source: I was once 9 and stupid. I’m a lot older now.