26 of the Rarest Diseases Encountered by Doctors

Unless you’re under the care of Dr. Gregory House, chances are when you go to the doctor, it’s going to be for something they’re thoroughly familiar with. Medical dramas, in search of the latter word, make it seem like every other patient that’s wheeled into an ER turns out to have a condition pulled from the least-worn pages of a medical textbook. In real life, however, you’re more likely to have a year-one, day-one sort of diagnosis.

Of course, these rare conditions aren’t made up, and they do happen. It’s just usually a once-in-a-career encounter, rather than once a week at 7 p.m./6 p.m. Central. Since walking into a hospital and asking doctors “What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen here?” is generally frowned upon and highly disruptive, someone instead went to Reddit to ask them during their off-hours. 

Here then are some of the rarest and weirdest diseases Reddit doctors have ever seen, including one that’s oddly reminiscent of Gatorade commercials.