February 16, 2010

Funny (?) medical diseases

Some medical diseases with funny names (not necessarily outcomes) are:

Chinese Restaurant Syndrome
(allergy to MSG, monosodium glutamate)

and

Licorice Intoxication
(for those of you who appreciate this kind of stuff: licorice disables an enzyme that converts cortisol --> cortisone, so you have lots of cortisol around. This excess cortisol binds to the aldosterone receptor. The effects of this are similar to aldosterone (except more) and increase sodium and water retention, increase blood pressure).

and

ACHOO syndrome
(Autosomal Dominant Compelling Helioophthalmic Outburst Syndrome)
which affects somewhere around 10-20% of all people and means that you sneeze when you look at bright lights (like the sun). Sneezing in response to photons (light particles).

pretty cool name, though, right?

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