‘I can withstand the venom from the world’s deadliest snakes.’ Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook II, Steve
‘They call me the Ice Man.’ Wym is a world record holder in enduring extreme cold … Wym Hof can spend nearly two hours in ice. ibid.
It may be that Wym’s special breathing technique could help people with auto-immune disease to suppress the immune response that’s causing their illness. ibid.
‘I have half a brain … I was having seizures every three minutes …’ Brain plasticity: the remarkable ability of the brain to adapt and reorganize itself.’ ibid. Jodie
Fear: We’re hardwired to respond … a man who has completely lost his ability … Jordy was eventually referred to a specialist and diagnosed with a rare condition … He could no longer produce adrenalin … Jordy’s entire fear response has broken down. ibid.
‘I had the world’s loudest scream.’ ibid. Jill Drake
Narcolepsy: She [Lucy] loses consciousness without warning up to fifty times a day. And frequently loses control of her muscles … caused by her immune system misfiring.’ ibid.
Timothy is the only person who can claim to have been cured ... from HIV … First HIV then blood cancer … A stem cell transplant from someone who is immune from HIV. ibid.
A man who awoke one morning with an astonishing talent … ‘I woke up and I could suddenly play the piano … I struck the bottom of the pool’ … treated for severe concussion. Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook III
The brain affects the personality. ibid.
An astonishing talent: he can recognise just about every face he’s ever seen. ibid.
‘I can see colours that nobody else can.’ ibid.
‘I don’t feel pain.’ ibid.
‘People had no expected that a single gene can control all pain sense in humans.’ ibid. doctor
Joy Milne can smell things that other people can’t … Parkinson’s had an odour and Joy could smell it. ibid.
‘I am able to remember every day as if it were yesterday.’ ibid. Tracey Fitzgerald
‘I’ve run through three days and three nights without stopping.’ Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook IV
He has no ordinary voice: ‘I can sing two notes.’ ibid.
Both hearts would work together to pump blood around her body. ibid.
‘I can bend in ways that no-one else can.’ ibid.
In Paul’s form of EB one of these key proteins is damaged – Collagen 7. It means the basement membrane doesn’t hold the layers of Paul’s skin as it should … A faulty gene. ibid.
Masked cell activation syndrome: Bryn’s masked cells were producing too much histamine and causing inflammation when it wasn’t needed. ibid.
‘I have a sickle-cell disease but I’m not sick.’ … High levels of … a special type of haemoglobin. Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook V
Twins: but this had been no ordinary pregnancy, because Claire has two wombs. ibid.
Leah has a very unusual condition that affects how her body grows … segmental overgrowth. ibid.
Henrietta’s cells were different … [after death] they did not continue to die off … Each cell dividing every twenty hours … Human cells that appeared to be immortal. ibid.
Tim has a condition that makes his bones super-dense, in fact one and a half times stronger than granite. ibid.
Louise’s sense of smell stopped working after she caught a smell … ibid.
She finds it almost impossible to navigate the world around her. ibid.
A man who invented a new medical procedure in order to save his own life … When he was told he needed life-changing heart surgery he decided to take matters into his own hands … Marfan syndrome: his body is deficient in a protein called fibrillin … Approach the problem as if it were an engineering project … Make a special sleeve to fit around the aorta. Incredible Medicine: Dr Weston’s Casebook VI
One tiny change in a single gene … Alkaptoneuria … The cartilage starts to harden … These [drug] trials are still ongoing. ibid.
She has an incredible response to warm temperatures … She feels as if she’s in the middle of a fire … An extreme form of what is known as neuropathic pain. ibid.
Brittle bone disease … The [embryonic] treatment had been a success. ibid.
Suddenly completely collapsed … Multiple Sclerosis … If patients are given this treatment the stem cells will build a new health immune system. ibid.
James has a condition called synaesthesia. ibid.
In America fourteen people die each day waiting for a kidney transplant. Meanwhile, the black market organ trade is thriving … Desperation drives this illegal trade in human spare parts. Underworld Inc s2e3: The Organ Trade, 2015
‘People are watching you all the time.’ Pumping Iron, 1977, movement instructor
Gold’s Gym, Venice, California: where many of the best bodybuilders in the world come to train. ibid.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 28 years old, 6’ 2’’, 240 pounds – Mr Olympia for the past five years. He is preparing to defend his title this year for the last time. ibid.
‘I’ve not been beaten for the last seven years.’ ibid. Arnie
‘It’s as satisfying to me as coming is.’ ibid.
Lou Ferrigno, 24 years old, a former sheet metal worker: Mr America and twice Mr Universe … Lou is the largest bodybuilder ever. ibid.
‘I don’t have any weak points.’ ibid. Arny
Thanks to the internet hypochondria is on the increase and affects a surprisingly large number of people up and down the country. For those who are abnormally anxious about their health it’s a very real and very trying condition … It’s estimated the NHS spends around £2 billion a year on the worried-well. The House of Hypochondriacs, Channel 4 2015
Some weeks Angela’s worries are so bad she visits her GP every day. ibid.
In New York a man is struck by lightning and turns into a musical genius. Can our brains be rewired? Weird or What? s3e9: More Medical Mysteries, Discovery Science 2017
Gloria Ramirez February 19th 1994: advanced cancer … ‘there was an oily sheen on her body, kind of a garlicky smell’ … Gloria’s blood is full of strange crystals; it also has a weird odour. Somehow Gloria’s blood reeks of the hazardous chemical ammonia … Suddenly nurse Susan King is overcome with nausea; before Marie can react she also blacks out … Whatever it is it’s coming from Gloria … She tragically dies … 23 of the 37 ER staff have bizarre and frightening symptoms … Diomethyl Sulfoxide [DMSO]: the key is a home remedy Gloria was using … At the time the area was the Meth capital of the world … ibid.
Tony Cicoria: Not only can he play music, he discovers he can write it. ibid.
Calvino [Inman]: The tears of blood return … He begins crying blood for hours … Today, doctors still don’t have a cause or a cure for Calvino’s mysterious bleeding. ibid.
The world of extreme bodybuilding – a subculture of people who push their bodies to the limits of human capacity. But just how far were they prepared to go? And was I prepared to go there too? Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends s3e4: Bodybuilding, BBC 2000
Sepsis: One of Britain’s biggest killers. Poor treatment is causing thousands of preventable deaths. Panorama: Why Mum Died: Britain’s Sepsis Crisis, BBC 2017
Sometimes called the Silent Killer, Sepsis is triggered by an infection. The body’s immune system overreacts and can lead to multiple organ failure and death. ibid.
The picture that emerges is of a post-code lottery. ibid.
The implants that put patients at risk. Millions of people in the UK have a medical device inside them. But these products aren’t always adequately tested. We reveal how potentially dangerous devices get inside our bodies. And how our secretive system of regulation fails to protect patients. Panorama: The Great Implant Scandal, BBC 2018
Every day you take 23,000 breaths. Your heart beats 100,000 times. You effortlessly fight off billions of bacteria and viruses. And repair potentially really serious injuries. And on top of all that you’re capable of more complex thought, action, and emotion than any other animal on the planet. But behind this familiar story there’s a new understanding of what it means to be human. The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Exposed I: Grow, BBC 2017
Human growth is a slow and magical process. We start out as a single cell that multiples into a mass of tens of trillions. And by the time we are born those cells are organised into around 78 different bodily organs. ibid.