18 ms·

In hospital for 34 years

75 points by fern12 9y ago

spraak 9y ago
Creepy! It makes me wonder what other ailments people may currently have for which their isn't yet technology to discover. Had they done an Xray of Nellis they surely would have seen the needle, I'd imagine.
- ars 9y ago
  > for which their isn't yet technology to discover Without a doubt there will be a ton of DNA based issues. Right now we know just a tiny number of them, and usually only when the issue is a single change. At some point we'll have the computing power to detect issues caused by two mutations at once, then 3, and so on. We would need massive quantities of data: Full genome analysis, and a full medical description in a computer readable format. So expect a DNA drive at some point in your future: Hopefully anonymized, and even more hopefully optional. (Anonymized is pretty likely - but optional, well, that one we'll see - I suspect at some point you will be required to submit data in order to receive health insurance, so technically optional, but not practically.) 2: Chemically induced issues. (What chemical specifically I obviously can not say.) I suspect we more or less know all the single-chemical issues. But issues caused by chemicals that act synergistically are much less likely to be known. 3: Various parasites and other types of mutualism (Commensalism, Amensalism).
  - lewispb 9y ago
    We’re having such a drive in the UK, and my wife is working on the project. It’s called 100,000 genomes and aims to sequence the whole genome of 70,000 patients with rare disease or cancer (the other 30,000 genomes are from tumors), and their families. The ethics of consent and the possibility of incidental findings are all being taken into account.
  - mnw21cam 9y ago
    In terms of finding issues caused by multiple mutations, it isn't so much a case of not having enough computing power - instead, it is about having enough patients with the same condition that gives enough statistical power to say for sure that these variants are the cause. Humans are extremely variable. If I do whole-genome sequencing on a random person, I'll find probably 3 million places in their DNA where they differ from the average Joe. 90% of those are common variants, and we can filter those out because we know they are common, but that still leaves on the order of 300,000 variants that are rare, the vast majority of which cause absolutely nothing. We already diagnose conditions caused by two mutations - they are called compound heterozygous, because there are two heterozygous mutations, one on each copy of a particular gene, therefore clobbering both copies and causing disease. We have very very few conditions where we know that mutations on multiple genes are required for disease - they are simply too hard to look for, as we don't have enough people in the world to get the statistical power.
ggg9990 9y ago
Reminds me of the recent recommendation to not use metal barbecue brushes as the bristles can get on the food and lodge in one's throat, leading to debilitating disease and death.
13of40 9y ago
Stumbled across this while looking for similar cases: https://www.wired.com/2009/06/revealed-britains-wwii-poison-sewing-needle-bomb/ https://www.wired.com/2009/06/revealed-britains-wwii-poison-...
justboxing 9y ago
Kinda ironic, that her last name is Steel(e).
- coupdejarnac 9y ago
  No, it's coincidence. Irony would be when you expect her name to be Ms. Soggy-Noodles, but it turns out to be Ms. Steele. But, yeah, steel is rather iron-y, so I'll give you that.
  - foota 9y ago
    You wouldn't expect someone to have the same name as the thing in their heart though, would you?
    - saltedmd5 9y ago
      Something isn't ironic just because you wouldn't expect it, something is ironic because it is the inverse of expectations. Like if her name had been Lady Smallheart.
bufferoverflow 9y ago
Just over two months ago I got myself a mysterious sickness, and it's puzzling doctors. I've been in bed most of the time, between visiting hospitals. I have constant dizziness, borderline fainting (but never faint), weakness/fatigue, lots of gas (burping), ringing in my ears, dry skin, I'm losing weight despite moving very little, slow metabolism probably. I randomly get better when I can walk around for a few hours. I also get bad "attacks" when my mouth gets dry, heart races, I can't get up, and I generally feel like I'm dying, but it passes in ~10 minutes. I had multiple blood tests, which are nearly perfect, except glycated hemoglobin, which is slightly elevated, but not at the diabetes level. I had gastroscopy, X-rays, and head MRI, two EKGs, echocardiogram, all normal. I'm finishing some heavy antibiotic treatment, which seems to have done nothing. It's all very frustrating, my symptoms fall under so many diseases/conditions, it's extremely hard to pinpoint even with modern medicine. It can be anything from sleep deprivation, dehydration, panic attacks to more serious things like heart infection, arythmia, tumor, cancer, vestibular apparatus disorder, etc. Diagnostics is still very very hard.
- Tehnix 9y ago
  Moving will have very little affect on your weight loss compared to the amount of calories you are eating. Also, it’d be a high metabolism that’ll cause weight loss, not a slow/low one. Not that this helps, but it’s worth having the basics straight, on the off chance it helps in any way :)
- shamaku 9y ago
  Stress?
  - bufferoverflow 9y ago
    We thought of stress, but my life is actually quite great by most metrics - I don't have to work, great family, I was doing sports, eating decently well.
    - reinhardt1053 9y ago
      I would suggest investigating more the "eating well" part, you might eating something that you believe it's good for you but it's actually killing you.
ragesh 9y ago
I feel immensely grateful for being alive at a time when something like this could have been diagnosed (if I may be allowed a pun) in a heartbeat, but at the same time I cannot help but wonder about the ailments that our machines cannot see and our knowledge cannot diagnose yet.
ladberg 9y ago
I'm insanely curious how so many people managed to lodge needles in their heart and either not know it was there or not know to have it looked at.
- no_protocol 9y ago
  It seems like a needle piercing the skin between two ribs to a distance of at least 2-3 cm could become lodged in tissue inside and be pulled in completely when the rib cage expands on the next breath. Once the needle is inside the body, anything goes. The heart is only approximately 3-4 cm from the skin. The heart's beating could grab the needle and pull it even farther in. A web search brings up several instances. This one [1] at least seems to somewhat confirm my intuition. [1]: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Docs-use-magnet-to-pull-out-needle-from-mans-heart/articleshow/5121654.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Docs-use-magnet-to...
chrthrowaway 9y ago
I have been to more than a dozen doctors over the past 4 years and nobody has been able to diagnose what's wrong with me. I have the following symptoms: - Constant phlegm in throat and upper airways (This is the most annoying). - Fatigue - Low-quality sleep - Phlegm increases after eating and during exercise and causes me a runny nose I am in my mid 20s, used to smoke, quit ~5 years ago, I have a deviated septum. I have been through the following treatments and diagnoses: - H.Pylori diagnosis – Negative. - Treatment for GERD – No improvement. - Treatment for LPR and Chronic Bronchitis – Caused me breathing problems. - Treatment for anxiety – No improvement. I feel hopeless of ever living normally again, I can't exercise because phlegm keeps running up my nose and throat, I can't eat outside because I have to use an obscene amount of tissues. I've seen multiple ENTs, gastroenterologists, and respiratory system physicians. Once I looked closely at "modern" medicine, it seems to me that it's not very modern per se.
- cc81 9y ago
  Crohns? It can in rare cases affect the nose/throat and fits with the fatigue. However I assume the gastro would have noticed it. No allergies?
  - chrthrowaway 9y ago
    One of the gastros (my favorite) was a woman who methodically went step-by-step diagnosing, asking for tests, and giving preventative treatment (when applicable) for everything below the esophagus, she didn't suspect Crohn's at all. Early on, crohn's was a hypothesis I had but I quickly moved on because there's very little evidence to support it in my case; and a colonoscopy isn't something I'd accept based on very little evidence. The ENT told me "If you don't get better with the gastroenterologist, we can consider a septoplasty" but he was kinda skeptical that a deviated septum alone would cause this amount of phlegm. Regarding allergies, the respiratory specialist rejected it. And over the course of these treatments, I self-prescribed Claritin (which didn't do anything), followed by Zyrtec (nothing either) to rule out allergies. Also, this is consistent, not seasonal, and not food-related, the latter which I have controlled for.
- sageabilly 9y ago
prbuckley 9y ago
This story reminds me of the dangers of metal grill brushes. Public service announcement, don't use a metal brush to clean your grill. The metal strands can breakoff and if they get lodged in your food and accidentally swallowed it causes serious health issues and surgeons have a very difficult time removing them. These brushes are actually outlawed in Canada but not in the USA. Here is an article on why they are dangerous if you want to know more... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grill-barbecue-metal-brush-dangers/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grill-barbecue-metal-brush-dang...

75 points by fern12 9y ago

Creepy! It makes me wonder what other ailments people may currently have for which their isn't yet technology to discover. Had they done an Xray of Nellis they surely would have seen the needle, I'd imagine.

ars 9y ago
> for which their isn't yet technology to discover Without a doubt there will be a ton of DNA based issues. Right now we know just a tiny number of them, and usually only when the issue is a single change. At some point we'll have the computing power to detect issues caused by two mutations at once, then 3, and so on. We would need massive quantities of data: Full genome analysis, and a full medical description in a computer readable format. So expect a DNA drive at some point in your future: Hopefully anonymized, and even more hopefully optional. (Anonymized is pretty likely - but optional, well, that one we'll see - I suspect at some point you will be required to submit data in order to receive health insurance, so technically optional, but not practically.) 2: Chemically induced issues. (What chemical specifically I obviously can not say.) I suspect we more or less know all the single-chemical issues. But issues caused by chemicals that act synergistically are much less likely to be known. 3: Various parasites and other types of mutualism (Commensalism, Amensalism).
- lewispb 9y ago
  We’re having such a drive in the UK, and my wife is working on the project. It’s called 100,000 genomes and aims to sequence the whole genome of 70,000 patients with rare disease or cancer (the other 30,000 genomes are from tumors), and their families. The ethics of consent and the possibility of incidental findings are all being taken into account.
- mnw21cam 9y ago
  In terms of finding issues caused by multiple mutations, it isn't so much a case of not having enough computing power - instead, it is about having enough patients with the same condition that gives enough statistical power to say for sure that these variants are the cause. Humans are extremely variable. If I do whole-genome sequencing on a random person, I'll find probably 3 million places in their DNA where they differ from the average Joe. 90% of those are common variants, and we can filter those out because we know they are common, but that still leaves on the order of 300,000 variants that are rare, the vast majority of which cause absolutely nothing. We already diagnose conditions caused by two mutations - they are called compound heterozygous, because there are two heterozygous mutations, one on each copy of a particular gene, therefore clobbering both copies and causing disease. We have very very few conditions where we know that mutations on multiple genes are required for disease - they are simply too hard to look for, as we don't have enough people in the world to get the statistical power.

ggg9990 9y ago

Reminds me of the recent recommendation to not use metal barbecue brushes as the bristles can get on the food and lodge in one's throat, leading to debilitating disease and death.

13of40 9y ago

Stumbled across this while looking for similar cases: https://www.wired.com/2009/06/revealed-britains-wwii-poison-sewing-needle-bomb/ https://www.wired.com/2009/06/revealed-britains-wwii-poison-...

justboxing 9y ago

Kinda ironic, that her last name is Steel(e).

coupdejarnac 9y ago
No, it's coincidence. Irony would be when you expect her name to be Ms. Soggy-Noodles, but it turns out to be Ms. Steele. But, yeah, steel is rather iron-y, so I'll give you that.
- foota 9y ago
  You wouldn't expect someone to have the same name as the thing in their heart though, would you?
  - saltedmd5 9y ago
    Something isn't ironic just because you wouldn't expect it, something is ironic because it is the inverse of expectations. Like if her name had been Lady Smallheart.

bufferoverflow 9y ago

Just over two months ago I got myself a mysterious sickness, and it's puzzling doctors. I've been in bed most of the time, between visiting hospitals. I have constant dizziness, borderline fainting (but never faint), weakness/fatigue, lots of gas (burping), ringing in my ears, dry skin, I'm losing weight despite moving very little, slow metabolism probably. I randomly get better when I can walk around for a few hours. I also get bad "attacks" when my mouth gets dry, heart races, I can't get up, and I generally feel like I'm dying, but it passes in ~10 minutes. I had multiple blood tests, which are nearly perfect, except glycated hemoglobin, which is slightly elevated, but not at the diabetes level. I had gastroscopy, X-rays, and head MRI, two EKGs, echocardiogram, all normal. I'm finishing some heavy antibiotic treatment, which seems to have done nothing. It's all very frustrating, my symptoms fall under so many diseases/conditions, it's extremely hard to pinpoint even with modern medicine. It can be anything from sleep deprivation, dehydration, panic attacks to more serious things like heart infection, arythmia, tumor, cancer, vestibular apparatus disorder, etc. Diagnostics is still very very hard.

Tehnix 9y ago
Moving will have very little affect on your weight loss compared to the amount of calories you are eating. Also, it’d be a high metabolism that’ll cause weight loss, not a slow/low one. Not that this helps, but it’s worth having the basics straight, on the off chance it helps in any way :)
shamaku 9y ago
Stress?
- bufferoverflow 9y ago
  We thought of stress, but my life is actually quite great by most metrics - I don't have to work, great family, I was doing sports, eating decently well.
  - reinhardt1053 9y ago
    I would suggest investigating more the "eating well" part, you might eating something that you believe it's good for you but it's actually killing you.

ragesh 9y ago

I feel immensely grateful for being alive at a time when something like this could have been diagnosed (if I may be allowed a pun) in a heartbeat, but at the same time I cannot help but wonder about the ailments that our machines cannot see and our knowledge cannot diagnose yet.

ladberg 9y ago

I'm insanely curious how so many people managed to lodge needles in their heart and either not know it was there or not know to have it looked at.

no_protocol 9y ago
It seems like a needle piercing the skin between two ribs to a distance of at least 2-3 cm could become lodged in tissue inside and be pulled in completely when the rib cage expands on the next breath. Once the needle is inside the body, anything goes. The heart is only approximately 3-4 cm from the skin. The heart's beating could grab the needle and pull it even farther in. A web search brings up several instances. This one [1] at least seems to somewhat confirm my intuition. [1]: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Docs-use-magnet-to-pull-out-needle-from-mans-heart/articleshow/5121654.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Docs-use-magnet-to...

chrthrowaway 9y ago

I have been to more than a dozen doctors over the past 4 years and nobody has been able to diagnose what's wrong with me. I have the following symptoms: - Constant phlegm in throat and upper airways (This is the most annoying). - Fatigue - Low-quality sleep - Phlegm increases after eating and during exercise and causes me a runny nose I am in my mid 20s, used to smoke, quit ~5 years ago, I have a deviated septum. I have been through the following treatments and diagnoses: - H.Pylori diagnosis – Negative. - Treatment for GERD – No improvement. - Treatment for LPR and Chronic Bronchitis – Caused me breathing problems. - Treatment for anxiety – No improvement. I feel hopeless of ever living normally again, I can't exercise because phlegm keeps running up my nose and throat, I can't eat outside because I have to use an obscene amount of tissues. I've seen multiple ENTs, gastroenterologists, and respiratory system physicians. Once I looked closely at "modern" medicine, it seems to me that it's not very modern per se.

cc81 9y ago
Crohns? It can in rare cases affect the nose/throat and fits with the fatigue. However I assume the gastro would have noticed it. No allergies?
- chrthrowaway 9y ago
  One of the gastros (my favorite) was a woman who methodically went step-by-step diagnosing, asking for tests, and giving preventative treatment (when applicable) for everything below the esophagus, she didn't suspect Crohn's at all. Early on, crohn's was a hypothesis I had but I quickly moved on because there's very little evidence to support it in my case; and a colonoscopy isn't something I'd accept based on very little evidence. The ENT told me "If you don't get better with the gastroenterologist, we can consider a septoplasty" but he was kinda skeptical that a deviated septum alone would cause this amount of phlegm. Regarding allergies, the respiratory specialist rejected it. And over the course of these treatments, I self-prescribed Claritin (which didn't do anything), followed by Zyrtec (nothing either) to rule out allergies. Also, this is consistent, not seasonal, and not food-related, the latter which I have controlled for.
sageabilly 9y ago

prbuckley 9y ago

This story reminds me of the dangers of metal grill brushes. Public service announcement, don't use a metal brush to clean your grill. The metal strands can breakoff and if they get lodged in your food and accidentally swallowed it causes serious health issues and surgeons have a very difficult time removing them. These brushes are actually outlawed in Canada but not in the USA. Here is an article on why they are dangerous if you want to know more... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grill-barbecue-metal-brush-dangers/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grill-barbecue-metal-brush-dang...