The human body is amazing and terrifying. We’re told to treat it well and be kind to it, but there are some things you just have no control over. On Reddit, people are sharing disturbing facts about bodies, and if you’re a hypochondriac maybe pass this one over. Because bodies are unpredictable, weird, wild, and gross. They can self-destruct at any moment. A toothache might be indicative of something worse. And did you even know there was a thing called “exploding head syndrome”?
1. Exploding Head Syndrome
“Some people suffer from Exploding Head Syndrome, which causes them to hear a loud bang when they wake up.” —
2. “Locked-In Syndrome”
“If your brainstem (the part of the brain that mediates most motor control for all of the body) is damaged, you can get ‘locked-in’ syndrome. That means you’re fully conscious and aware of your surroundings but unable to move or speak. The only muscles that remain unaffected in most people are the muscles that move they eyes and the eyelids. You’re essentially trapped within your own body with your only way of communication being blinking or moving your eyes. It can be caused by toxins, blockage of the basilar artery which is the main artery of the brainstem, or other brainstem damage.” —
3. Organs
“If you have a surgery where they need to move your organs around they might not function for a day as the body assumes that they are dead.” —
4. Stacked Phalanges
“Not sure if this is by design, but I totaled my car once, almost completely uninjured somehow. Then I looked down to my right hand which I remember jabbing into my dashboard at 55mph. Luckily (unluckily?) only my pinky took the blow. But instead of a floppy-udder full of bone-sand, my pinky was 0.5 inches long. Broke no bones, but instead perfectly stacked my phalanges, or finger bones, INTO my hand. This is fixed by a muscular Russian nurse grabbing your pinky with both hands and pulling very hard. God I wish they gave me more lidocaine.” —
5. Disgusting Noises
“It is always making disgusting body noises. The only reason you are not aware of it is because the ambient noise kind of drowns it out because your ears focus on it. If you go to one of those super-silent rooms that absorb all sorts of sounds, it is a really weird way to reacquaint yourself with your body.” —
6. Rearranging Bowels
“I noticed this after my abdominal surgery. When I turned over in bed my guts seemed to fall from one side to the other. Mentioned to my doc and she confirmed it was my bowels rearranging themselves.” —
7. Toothache
“Well, just this week there was a woman(local) in her late twenties who died of a toothache. She had posted on FB about needing a dentist over the weekend and decided to wait till Monday, Sunday morning she was gone. The infection went to her brain.” —
8. You Never Know
“There are a vast number of ways that your body can malfunction and kill you with little or no warning. An aneurysm can go undetected until it bursts and kills you. Getting hit in the chest just the right way can stop your heart. You can encounter an allergen that never previously provoked an immune response that freaks out your body so badly that you die. You literally just never know if your body will just….die.” —
9. Period Cramps
“Period cramps are essentially your womb suffocating itself. To get the uterine lining out of your womb during your period, your uterus has to contract. Sometimes, when the contractions are stronger, your womb squeezes its blood vessels so tight that oxygen can’t reach them, which sends pain signals to your brain (ouch). But wait, there’s more – this process increases your production of chemicals called prostaglandins, which encourage more contractions of the uterus. There really is no mercy.” —
10. Stomach Acid
“Stomach acid is very powerful, it would burn right though us if we didn’t secrete mucus every few hours.” —
11. Copper
“There’s enough copper in your body to make a pair of headphones.” —
12. Stabbing
“I always thought it was unrealistic how quickly people in movies (always the bad guys/cannon fodder) would keel over and die after being stabbed in the stomach. Then I found out just how fast you will lose consciousness and die if you happened to be stabbed deep enough to puncture your abdominal aorta. Basically it runs down the left side of your spine and, if ruptured, can result in unconsciousness within just a few seconds and death within minutes.” —
13. Heavy Periods
“A third to a half of all fertilized ovum do not result in a viable pregnancy. They are expelled as a ‘heavy period’ instead. Most women don’t even realize that they miscarried.”
14. Brain Injury
“The tiniest injury to your brain can change your entire life. Depending on the part of the brain that gets hurt, you can lose your special/general senses, control over your own body, the ability to produce and/or comprehend language, your memories, your personality, etc. Remember to wear a helmet everyone!” —
15. Cancer Cells
“You develop cancerous cells every day. But your immune system deals with it. EDIT: Usually.” —
16. Saliva
“You make and swallow between 1 and 2 liters of saliva. Every. Day.” —
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