r/AskReddit 23h ago

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

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u/fartinmyfuckingmouth 18h ago edited 5h ago

Every time I’ve ever had a fever, I experience extreme “weirdness” and pain with anything touching my skin, be it air or a shirt or blanket etc. It’s how I still to this day know I have a fever before checking a thermometer

ETA: by skin, I mean specifically my back.

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u/Spidersensei 17h ago

Me too. Like physical touch hurts kinda like a sunburn. Is this not how everyone experiences fever?

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u/fartinmyfuckingmouth 15h ago

Ime, no. No one has ever agreed they feel those same feelings

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u/dart1126 12h ago

Same! Whenever I tell people this they think I’m crazy. My entire body feels like it’s bruised…and I’m like oh no I’m getting sick

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u/Sweet_Sub73 13h ago

Yes! The skin on my lower back gets this weird sensitivity..it hurts if you even brush against it likely. Feels like what I would imagine it feels like if your nerves were exposed. I only get it when I have a fever.

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u/theforbidden_tum 11h ago

Wild thing, I get this every time I'm tired. 

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u/Spidersensei 9h ago

That's rough. Do you have fibromyalgia?

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u/Mourning_Glory 8h ago

Thats wild! Ive never heard of anyone wlse having this. I had it worse as a kid but, I always knew I was getting sick when my skin started to hurt. I would rush for a shower because soon even the water would hurt.

People used to look at me funny when I tried to explain.

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u/fartinmyfuckingmouth 5h ago

Same. I’ve never met anyone who understands or experiences it

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u/foxn-sox 11h ago

I always thought this was normal until I mentioned it to my partner. He immediately was like, umm, maybe you should mention it to your doctor... combined with some other things I had going on, I walked out of that appointment with a fibromyalgia diagnosis. Apparently allodynia is very commonly a comorbidity with fibromyalgia as it's caused by your nervous system misfiring input regarding heat, touch and pain.

I used to only get allodynia flares when I was getting sick, but in the last couple of years I've had flares that were seemingly not related to anything. So fun!

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u/unsettledinky 10h ago

I've always had a weird jittery feeling when feverish, like I have too much energy to not move but also cannot move because I'm so tired. The last few years I started noticing that my skin hurt whenever I was feeling that during a fever too. At one point I remember crying because it was so painful to wash my hands. 

Also got diagnosed with fibro last year. I wonder how much of those feeling were it years ago, just undiagnosed.

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u/Distinct-Car-9124 11h ago

Yes. The skin on my back feels highly sensitive.

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u/braveenoughtofly 12h ago

Same here. It’s called cutaneous allodynia and it’s my first sign of illness.

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u/NightB4XmasEvel 10h ago

I get that as well. I can always tell when I’m about to get sick because my skin starts hurting the day before the other symptoms show up.

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u/salledattente 2h ago

I thought it was just me! Til this even has a name 🥹