i need a disease please help me get one ;(

[lizzy-chan.livejournal.com]

this year the book i'm writing is about someone who is mistaken for having a terminal illness but really doesn't
so in short he is going to live like he is going to die

it needs to be something that can be easily confused with nothing at all.

it needs to have mild, little to no symntoms so that you can think you have it but not

help?

Comments

[dreadpirateandi.livejournal.com]

You might have a hard time with this, since one of the main traits of a terminal illness is that, you know, it has symptoms. That kill you.

However, if he is convinced that he has whatever disease it is, his brain might idiopathically cause some symptoms to appear. For example, if he believes he has leukemia, that certainty might cause him to notice fatigue, malaise, weakness, bone or joint pain, or other common symptoms thereof, even if they're not actually symptoms of anything.

[lizzy-chan.livejournal.com]

well yeah, he has to have symptoms just ones that can be easily confused for something that they''re not...

but i do love the idea of the brain making him think he has something cause he thinks he does, seems like him lol

thank you

[angelkitten13.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for.....

The doctors thought my friend had inflammatory breast cancer. She found a lump in her breast and it hurt. They did some testing and prepared a plan of attack--that included her cutting her hair to be made into a wig for the inevitable chemotherapy--while they were waiting for test results to come back. Turns out...it wasn't breast cancer. It was a staph infection. It was systemic but there was also the lump where the infection had gathered. She'd never have known if she hadn't found the lump or had pain.

[dear-fake.livejournal.com]

I don't know if this helps at all but sometimes when you have headaches that can't be explained people assume it's a brain tumor.

It happened to me and I had to get several CTs until they noticed there was nothing wrong in my skull at all. The real reason is something with my muscles but from what the doctor who discovered the real problem told me it could've just been a chronical migraine.

[snapdragon68.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with this. I would get a lot of headaches so they had to do multiple tests before deciding it was not serious. I hope you find something the story line is a great idea.

[lizzy-chan.livejournal.com]

hmm, i bet i could spin that, chronic migrans hu?

thanks

[beckyo.livejournal.com]

Best subject line ever. *giggles*

[cloverdew.livejournal.com]

Immediately when I read this, I thought of Last Holiday (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Holiday_(2006_film)).

[nebulosity.livejournal.com]

Lupus? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_lupus_erythematosus#Common_symptoms_explained)

It's deadly but doesn't show very many visible symptoms.

I think.

Anyway, that's an idea.

[syntheticjesso.livejournal.com]

Pfft, it's never Lupus.

[nanogirl08.livejournal.com]

But House thinks it is...nearly every time.

[syrensix.livejournal.com]

Its not Lupus!!!

God, i love that show.

[nanogirl08.livejournal.com]

me too. can't wait to watch season 5...although that may or may not be after nano. :)

for obvious reasons

[mistakened.livejournal.com]

Damn, you beat me to it.

[lizzy-chan.livejournal.com]

heh, this whole line of comments went trought my head from the moment i saw lupus, then i came back to find it materialised in writing lol

[dreadpirateandi.livejournal.com]

Damn you, that's exactly what I was going to say. And then I scrolled down a little more and realized I'm not as original as I thought I was.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Sounds a bit like the old Jerry Lewis movie, "Living it up."

[syntheticjesso.livejournal.com]

Watch House, especially the episodes where they think the patient has some horrible disease, but it turns out he swallowed a toothpick or has a tapeworm or something.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

HIV tests have a small but definite false positive rate. And the initial symptoms for HIV are flu-like symptoms for a week or so.

[sweetspaci.livejournal.com]

I was going to say this as well, or anything that can have a false positive result...

[technicolornina.livejournal.com]

I was also going to say this.

[syrensix.livejournal.com]

I was about to suggest Lupus as well. Or watching House.

Lupus has a baziollion possible symptoms, and no easily definable test results. Lupus can be really really slow though, and one can live with it for a long, long time, possibly dying a natural death of oldness. My old Doc thought i had it - Its never Lupus!

A tumour? A blood vessel about to pop at any time? A horrifying case of medically oriented OCD? A bonk to the noggin that convinces MC that they HAD a dianosis of something dread? (that would be toally embarassing later, yo)

[hendrikboom.livejournal.com]

My wife the doctor suggests cat-scratch fever which causes enlarged lymph glands in the area where the scratch occurred. It is easily confused with a lymphoma.

[viciated-wilkin.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest Multiple Sclerosis.
It's a terminal disease and can run very rapidly in men.
A lot of symptoms can be confused with other things.