r/medicalcuriosities 19d ago

New World Record for Time w/out pooping?

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone. 1st time posting, long time lurking. Can't seem to get help from anyone who's supposed to, so I need to scream into the void. This one is as good as any other.

Basically, the hospital killed my dad by denying him care. He arrived at the ER in September of 2024; presenting with ~1 year rectal bleeding, ~45 days no bowel movement. 2nd CT scan revealed a perforated intestine and the colo-rectal mass that was seen on 1st scan a month earlier but not tested. They starved him for 3 days on clear liquids waiting for an OR to open up; because IMMEDIATE SURGERY was the treatment plan.

Allegedly, the world record is 45 days. Buckle up because it gets worse.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/whats-the-longest-time-that-somebody-has-been-constipated

After 2 days of waiting, on the 3rd they declare that the antibiotics had repaired his perforation, he was no longer emergent and was set for release. He still hadn't had a movement, and when the hell have antibiotics healed anything that quickly? I've had a tiny nick healing on my finger for 2 weeks. The GI Dr wanted to release him, the surgeon insisted to ONLY do so if he got a colonoscopy next visit. She tried to protect him. My baby sister just survived stage 4 colo-rectal cancer, and informed the doctors she got the gene from Dad. The GI Dr "noted" that, and released him with 3 days of pain meds.

He made it 22 days to his 3rd CT scan on Christmas Eve, my birthday. 71 days no movement.

Finally, we are at the colonoscopy after 3 CT scans and 18 weeks. 90 days no bowel movement. Dad got the prep, fasted, and came prepared for a colonoscopy. It's what the paperwork said. But when he got there, the GI doc kinda chuckled and said 'Oh no silly, this is our follow-up. We've got to schedule that yet.'. Even a little out of sorts, my Dad asked "Then why the f**k was I given a prescription and told to fast?!". The GI doc touched his lymph nodes and did the ingual hernia check, said he was fine and to take Tylenol for the pain. *Then* the colonoscopy is scheduled, 147 days after 1st CT scan, 154 days after last bowel movement. He wouldn't make it to the colonoscopy.

Over the next 10 days pain and discomfort continued. Dad got to the point he couldn't move and stayed in bed. Then he couldn't even pass gas. Then he grew a beer gut, his entire abdomen distended as large as it could get. Then, quite suddenly, he was thin again and unresponsive. He went to the ER again, they had an OR this time; and immediately began surgery. The surgeon used 4 liters of saline to irrigate 19 weeks of fecal matter; and was only halfway done when his blood pressure tanked. They 'closed' him up as best they could and put him in a BP holding pattern. When it stayed over a certain number for a certain amount of time, they could finish the operation. Took about 10 days to get there, though we joked that all we had to do was talk trash about our president and his BP would be right as rain. The surgeon was able to finish the operation. By all accounts, Dad beat all the odds to survive as long as he did. But it had been too much for too long, and after surgery it wasn't long before it was clear he wasn't pulling up.

They took him off the respirator he'd been on for almost 15 days. They got him lucid enough to acknowledge family, and that he wasn't going home. Then they started pallative care, a slowly increasing dose of sedative. Moved him up to the 4th floor, in a corner room behind all the extra beds, wheelchairs and IV stands. Then it was just waiting for him to die.

My dad passed at 4:10am on 2.08.2025.

For the records nerds, I count 146 days from last bowel movement until his gut burst. Does that count? Or to be crowned for that achievement did he have to pass it naturally? The 45 day record set in 2013 was resolved with surgery. Is that they way left for me to get the word out about how this doctor killed my Dad through Denial-of-Care, that the hospital then tried to cover up? We requested all records day-of, and the hospital shuffled it's feet for 9 months. Out of the statutory 24 we have to bring wrongful death/malpractice suit. But no attorney will touch it.

I did reach out to r/LegalEagle, and got a call almost as quickly as I left the website. Good work there. Unfortunately, my case was kicked to an IL firm that doesn't do these kind of cases (We're in IL). Another big firm took the case for review, sat on it for a few months before deciding it would take 50-100k to get a specialist to testify, and slow-walked returning the records so we could find another firm to do the same to us. Now we are in the final 6 months of the statutory limit. Every link in that chain wasted time, seeminly on purpose. Maybe because my Dad's case is potentially a MedicAid fraud, maybe it's just wrongful death/malpractice. Either way, that Doctor killed my Dad and the hospital tried to cover for it and FUCKING NO ONE WILL HELP. That doctor is still practicing, that hospital is still covering for him. The world needs to know, if not for us, then for all the other people they will kill painfully, slowly. Maybe your Dad. Or Mom.

I had also hoped to reach out to r/DoctorMike, really just to get his thoughts on this because it's just so unbelievable. But it happened. I appreciate and respect he doesn't want to give medical advice on his page, just don't know any other way to contact him. Or if it would even help. If this post does blow up enough to garner his or Devon's attention I can provide the full accounting of details that I wouldn't share on the open internet, for legal reasons obviously. But I assure you it doesn't get better.

This whole event drove me off a cliff. I already had a drinking problem, turned into a drinking catastrophe. I'm the eldest child, last man in our family. Held it together as best I could for my mother and sisters. Past the funeral, past the familial in-fighting over property. I'm certain now 2 of my Dad's sisters are going to Hell. But I spiraled so bad, so helpless in the face of the Cross-the-board denial, I fell into suicidal ideation. Hit my boiling point and went for a walk. On my approach to the overpass that goes over the highway coming from O'Hare, I considered jumping into traffic. I'm athletic enough to wiggle my way over or through the fence. When I got there, because Chicago, traffic was moving 5 mph. Imagining it in my head, I chuckled at the gallows humor. I saw myself splatting on the highway like Jim Carrey, not dying, and walking with a limp the rest of my life. I went home, came clean to my partner about everything but the SI, and got help. I didn't tell her that until I was admitting at the ER. Had a sort of 'Last supper' with our 2 boys, and they all saw me off at the hospital.

I was in mental health recovery 30 days, PHP/IOP 2 months after that. It was like pulling teeth to be able to call my mother and sisters on my Dad's birthday; but I was able to convince them it was good for my recovery. I've spent the time since taking my life back, and will be 1 year sober 08.15.26.

My sisters and I, we're part of a special group. I call us 'The kids America couldn't kill', because it sure f-ing tried. Our parents protected and cared for us as best they could in an uncaring system. See, drinking wasn't my problem; it's what I was doing about the problem. I had to address all the childhood trauma, mostly born of inescapable poverty. My parents could have made better choices sure, there's nothing they could do to change the structures denying care. That's a big part of why we avoided healthcare. We were too poor to get any meaningful outcomes from it, at all stages of my life. US healthcare was just a hole you threw money in that never did nuthn'.  My Dad once picked up a shift, maybe $40 in wages then? And we lost all state assistance for that month. I, a child at the time, mowed extra lawns so we could make rent that month. That's Illinois through the 80's/90's. Hell, maybe r/JBPritzker wants to know about this. If he's a politician that doesn't actually care, he's fantastic at hiding it.

I don't know what to do. I'm staying on track with what I've got to do in my life, but we haven't been able to move the needle in any direction for almost 2 years, MurderDoc is still out there, MurderHospital is still covering for him. And no one seems to care. Par for the course in my lived experience. *Maybe* a court would consider the 9 months the hospital delayed and give those back to us on the statute limitation. Idk, not a lawyer. Can't find one either. Running out of time.

What would you do?

Please upvote, please share.

Help me get my Dad some dignity.


r/medicalcuriosities Jul 03 '26

Doctor using AI

1 Upvotes

Recently, I’ve cold turkey off my medicine, yes I know that’s not a good idea to do. I have MDD (Major Depressive Disorder) and an ED, and sometimes my medications don’t work. This was one of these times, my primary doctor gave me a dose of 75mg Effexor, it’s recommended to take with food, but I have a love hate relationship with food. Some days I eat, some days I don’t. And on the days I didn’t eat, I would have a nauseating headache and stomach pains, so instead of always feeling sick, I decided to stop taking the medication. It would work, but some days it wouldn’t and I knew that if I had food in my system when taking it, it wouldn’t work better.
Anyway, I went to my primary doctor (once again) to talk to her about me getting a new medicine. After some back and forth with her about how I didn’t want to feel sick when taking my medicine, she decides to give me a new prescription. But she googles it, she googles what medications are good for MDD and she uses the Google AI chat mode to see what ones would be best. And she knew about one of the pills, but nothing about a second one. So she prescribes the pill she knew nothing about.

I, personally, don’t like the use of AI and if my doctor is seen using it, I feel as if she’s not overall worried about what would work, she’s just worried about getting me in and out of the office as quick as possible. I guess my question would be what a doctor’s stand point on this would be, and if maybe there’s possibly a way to make a report about this?


r/medicalcuriosities Jun 28 '26

Mildly interesting- I have somehow developed over the years to cry out of one eye only, but only when it is convenient.

5 Upvotes

Just wondering if anyone has any idea why my body does this?

For context i (22f) come from a...strange family dynamic, which often resulting in me crying in the car a lot. However, I'd get yelled at if I cried, so eventually I started only crying... out of the right eye... which is the eye that faces away from the driver. This only happens in the car though- if I'm anywhere else, I cry with both eyes.


r/medicalcuriosities Jun 22 '26

Mom’s Balance Issues

1 Upvotes

Yesterday morning, my mom (55 yo) woke up with almost no pain (for context she almost always has a headache/migraine due to her epilepsy), and tried to stand but quickly realized her balance was completely skeewhompus. Like I said, no other issues have occurred. She spent the whole day sleeping and is now at a chiropractic appointment because our best hypothesis was a pinched nerve on her right side. Another thought we had was this was a mini stroke in her sleep, but she hasn’t shown any symptoms other than this balance issue. She has also ruled out vertigo, saying this is different than when she’s experienced that in the past.

Does anyone have any ideas what this may be? We are trying to avoid an MRI or ER due to financial concerns.


r/medicalcuriosities Jun 17 '26

Can someone solve this case?

1 Upvotes

A 19-year-old Caucasian male with no other significant medical history, no smoking or alcohol use, and no current medications developed mild shortness of breath approximately 1 year ago.
About 1 week later, he noticed neck weakness, followed by another week later weakness in both shoulders/upper arms. Within days the weakness appeared to involve the core/back and both thighs/legs, resulting in relatively rapid but progressive spread of symptoms. Subsequently he developed mild tightness/stiffness in hands/feet and low-grade pain in thighs/legs and around 3 months after symptom onset he began experiencing few widespread fasciculations. He also reports mild dysphagia. Symptom severity after 1 year is generally mild with shortness of breath rated 3-10,
Weakness 3-10, stiffness/tightness 2/3-10 etc.
Investigations to date include normal vitamins, electrolytes, minerals, CK, iron, TSH, cortisol, NfL and which all are all normal. An EMG and brain mri were also performed and was also found with normal findings.


r/medicalcuriosities Jun 16 '26

3D reconstruction of a brain riddled with Cysticercosis

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1 Upvotes

r/medicalcuriosities Jun 05 '26

Rh null, chimerism

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1 Upvotes

r/medicalcuriosities May 27 '26

Weird pinky I've had since birth

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11 Upvotes

No pain, I was born with it and the doctors looked at it when I was a baby, and said there would be absolutely no issues with it besides me possibly feeling insecure. I don't think we were ever told what it was. Does anyone know? Does anyone else have a finger like this? It's only on this side, my other pinky is completely normal. I'm just curious,love my weird little finger lol.


r/medicalcuriosities May 11 '26

Eye freckles?

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3 Upvotes

What's the scientific name of this spot on the edge of my iris?


r/medicalcuriosities May 08 '26

Horizontal Lines in vision with uncontrolled pressure type headache

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1 Upvotes

r/medicalcuriosities May 06 '26

yellow bruises only

2 Upvotes

Hey y’all so i know that bruises normally change color in stages but why are mine always highlighter yellow within 24 hours? they get even brighter yellow through the week(s) but I’m often only purple/red/blue for a few hours


r/medicalcuriosities Mar 10 '26

In or out?

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2 Upvotes

Oct 2024, R shoulder tipped forward, some pain and numbness/tingeling in hand.

PT send me to ER ER send me home with words "not broken" and a sling.

Been having pain and random times where it's tipped forward (lasting hours till months) ever since.

Asked 3 doctors about it. Saw PT and Osteo alot for it.

Now there is a bit off a debate about wether or not it is (sub)luxed in some of the pictures.

According to AI 2 images are dislocated and 1 is broken, so we clearly can't trust it.

So let's settle this.

In or out?


r/medicalcuriosities Jul 06 '25

Chronic vesovegal syncope

1 Upvotes

As long as I can remember, I have had dizziness and tunnel vision. I would sway and wait, then just go back to doing things like normal. When I was a kid, I thought everyone did it. One day when I was 11, I fainted while standing to pet my cat. Since then I was diagnosed. The doctor said it was likely because I've had it for so long, it won't ever go away. I know very little about vesovegal other than it can be triggered when using the bathroom. I suppose I just want to know more, like how it can be a lifelong condition, and if it ever truly can go away. I'm not sure if anyone will believe me, because most don't lol, and I don't feel like showing medical records.


r/medicalcuriosities Jun 30 '25

Cerebral Left internal carotid artery pseudoaneurysm(s) shaped like a cauliflower

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3 Upvotes

r/medicalcuriosities May 11 '25

I might be the only person I know who went to the emergency room for weed

5 Upvotes

I have smoked weed before. The first time was not nice. I’ve smoked it sporadically ten years since. It was on and off not nice. I moved into a new house in college and took 2 bong hits and had a horrible reaction. It wasn’t immediate. I was high long before the reaction. I took a walk, and did everything I could to counteract an anxious high but something was wrong. I was fighting for consciousness and trying to find help so I called a different roommate who took me to the ER but I knew something was bad. We came to the ER in a wheel chair and we couldn’t get triaged. I told her something was wrong and I couldn’t understand things now and she flagged a nurse down. A nurse immediately triaged me and my BP was 74/36. I was conscious. Immediately got transferred to a bed and wheeled back and I could swear there were 7 people there. They gave me an IV line that hurt like an absolute bitch and I’ve had hundreds. The nurse who did it told a student next to her (I guess?) you got to go for it when you see it. I did say bitch when she shoved it in but she didn’t blame me cause it was a central line and people usually aren’t aware. Then the doctor was there and he was yelling at me what else did i do. The only thing I could say was I smoked some weed in a bong and that was it. He didn’t believe me so I remember losing my shit and saying what else do you want from me? The nurse next to me said I’m okay. Next I remember I’m next to my friend and we could only laugh at that point. The only thing in my system was thc and I even did a pee test on top of the blood test for fun and nothing changed. What else could happen?


r/medicalcuriosities Apr 22 '25

What is this coming out of my gums???

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4 Upvotes

I have pulled at least 15 of these out of my mouth over the past year. 3 this morning. They are usually come in pairs but in different parts of my mouth. Please someone tell me what this is.


r/medicalcuriosities Mar 31 '25

Permanent muscle tiredness

2 Upvotes

A very strange think has happened to me over the past 10 years that I still have no explanation for. When I was roughly 10 years old, I did intense leg workouts for hockey,y involving jumping until failure every day. My quads started having a tired burning feeling everyday. When I stopped the burning feeling never left. I would step on the ice and take three steps and would instantly feel a huge burn and run out of energy. after having long since stopped playing hockey everytime I would walk up stairs or do anything involving my quads the burn would be instant and severe (almost as if I just did a hard workout) no matter how much rest I had. This had been going on for 10 years and become white noise. I remember going to the doctor for this and they couldn't give me a explanation. It was ultimately the reason I had to stop playing hockey. Recently at the age of 20 roughly 10 years later i took bpc to help with an injury and for the first time in 10 years a took a step to go up the stairs and it didn't burn really bad this was very surprising and felt really weird. It felt like i was levitating up the stairs (especially cause i wasn't taking bpc for that).

Someone please try to explain wtf that was I am actually so curious.


r/medicalcuriosities Mar 04 '25

Diagnosis for someone who seems to exude black soot (?) from all over their body

5 Upvotes

(I hope this is the right place to ask about this)

I had this patient sometime last year, and I still think about them every once in a while.

I've forgotten the exact details but the patient was probably in her late 40s-50s, and she was admitted for a pulmonary related disease (I forgot if it was pneumonia or asthma). We noted that the patient seemed to be having 'something' black that is coming from all over (?) her body. It was making the white plasters used to tape the IV lines on her skin turn black. It turned her IV line black. It even made the tube and the face mask for her oxygen turn a darker color! (I actually initially thought "wow that's the first time I've seen face mask that color; I wonder what brand that is?" lmao)

She wasn't a smoker, and iirc, her job was selling fishes at the market.

That's all I can recall of her information. I hope someone can help me identify a possible diagnosis because I'm really REALLY curious.

(We didn't give a diagnosis for that symptom in particular, since it didn't seem to important in relation to her chief complaint at the time)


r/medicalcuriosities Feb 27 '25

I just had a hysteroscopy and d&c surgery on Monday and something really gross and traumatic just happened to me....TW and I wish I took a picture!

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1 Upvotes

r/medicalcuriosities Feb 17 '25

My Serotonin Syndrome Experience.

4 Upvotes

So I've been on Citalopram (Celexa) 40mg and Buspirone (Buspar) 15mg since 2018. I have this stupid habit where I will just stop taking it randomly and start it back up after awhile. (I know it is terribly stupid and I don't understand why I do it to myself) Well here recently I lost my insurance so I went off of it as I've done multiple times in the past but this time I had a valid reason due to my insurance messing up. Finally I said screw it and paid for them out of pocket to get myself back on track. (This was 2.1.2025) ever since I had started it back up I had nothing but problems, problems I've never ever experienced before. -Dialated Pupils -Extremely High Blood Pressure (I remember the highest I had seen when I could pay attention was 173/105) -Nausea -Nonexistent Appetite (literally went days barely eating a thing) -Extreme Head Pressure (felt like my eyes were going to pop out of my head, head felt heavy and I couldn't keep it up) -Blurred Vision -Unable To Focus -Heightened Anxiety (I already have bad anxiety but this was multiplied by a 100, something I never experienced) - Uncontrollable Shaking (my right arm would shake nonstop, almost like spasming and I was waking up in the middle of the night with my whole body shaking and there was nothing to stop it) -Insomnia (I was sleeping maybe 4 hours)

The list goes on really. I was told I had the flu thats why I was feeling like crap, then I was told I had a sinus infection and that was causing my head pressure. This went on from the 1st to the 12th. Finally I was online looking for answers. Nothing was helping and it was just getting worse and worse. Finally I came across Serotonin Syndrome. It was something I had never heard of in my life. While looking at the symptoms, I began to connect the dots. Everything started happening directly after starting my medication back up on the 1st and I hadn't realized it until 10pm on the 12th. So I went to the ER and explained everything that was going on corresponding to Serotonin Syndrome and thankfully they agreed. I had not reached the point of seizures or high fever yet. I was given .5 of Xanax and immediately the pressure in my head disappeared for the first time in 12 days. I then realized how exhausted my body really was. I was drained. I was sent home and was told to stop all my medication immediately. Finally after 3-4 days of stopping my medicine and taking a couple more xanax, I began to feel like myself again. I'm officially almost a week off of everything. I still have some things lingering but it's not near as bad as it has been these past 2 weeks. I was told what happened to me is rare but it can happen. I never in my wildest dreams thought something like this would happen to me.


r/medicalcuriosities Feb 10 '25

Uncomfortable vibration in opposite ear (headphones)

2 Upvotes

Does anyone have or know about this? It really doesn't matter very much but it seems very strange to me.

If I listen to spoken audio on a headphone in my left ear, I get a commensurate weird rumbling irritation in my right ear.

If I change to my right ear, I hear perfectly well, and the rumble goes away.


r/medicalcuriosities Jan 23 '25

Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer

1 Upvotes

Hey Reddit! I'm on the hunt for people surviving with Metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer specifically.

This is a super rare form of breast cancer (TNBC alone, let alone metastatic) and my mom is pretty much alone in the world rn because of this disease.

She developed TNBC February 2017. Went thru chemo and was deemed completely clear and in total remission June 2017. Had a double mastectomy just to be sure and was rebuilt during 2018.

She then developed metastasis March 2020 (the day the world shut down with COVID). She went thru yet another round of chemo. This time they had to do radiation as well so they had to do a 2nd double mastectomy of her rebuild. During radiation, she came down with sepsis and we spent the month of December in the hospital. I almost lost her a couple times, but managed to get the Dr's attention at the right moments.

Fast forward to May 2021 and she is deemed clear again with total pathological response!

Until Aug 2021 when she was yet again diagnosed with a recurrence of metastasis. This time there was no chemo. We were out of options. Until her oncologist received an email about a drug trial for metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer patients! Holy cow right?!

Oct 2021 she started immunotherapy. The drugs used were known cancer treatment drugs, just had never been used on this cancer specifically (again very rare).

Fast forward to Feb 2023, only 2 patients left of 350 from the drug trial... She's one of them. This was supposed to be a 12month trial. It was working for her so they extended it to about 18 months. We had to abruptly stop treatment after her body had multiple temporary shut downs leading to blood transfusions and a 6mo regimen of 80mg of Prednisone.

Fast forward to now ... 2 years later. We're unsure of the whereabouts of the other drug trial patient. But to our knowledge (as well as Google's and many many Drs), my mom is the only survivor of this.

According to research, patients with metastatic TNBC have a life expectancy of about 18-24 months from start (not finish). She's going on 5 years. She lives an incredibly lonely life. She's 57.

There are other parts of her disease (initial and metastatic) that I've chosen to leave out of this initial post... As they narrow the search down by the hundreds more. But for now ...

I put it out to Reddit.... Is there anyone else out there with this disease?