A Visit to Dr. Trivia's Medical Office Quiz

Answer: Amputation

Sufferers from body integrity identity disorder, aka BIID, are convinced that one of their body parts, usually an arm or leg, does not belong to them. The limb seems alien to them and most are able to show the physician exactly where their limb starts and the perceived fake limb starts.

At the beginning of the twenty first century, there was still no cure for this disorder except for amputation. Following the amputation, the vast majority of patients feel infinitely happier. It should be noted that sufferers are not insane and most neurologists believe that they may be missing a part of their body image map in their brains.

Answer: They become unable to move.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive occurs when a healing body is unable to stop healing itself and keeps growing new connective tissue and bone until there is no room for more. Once a bone breaks, new bone is produced until the body is basically turned into a giant bone. Within a few decades the patient is unable to move at all and new bone growth occurs until death.

At one time, this was a common disorder seen at carnival freak shows.

Answer: Brain

Pseudobulbar affect (PBA) is a medical condition that is usually a side effect of a brain injury. The main symptom of the disorder is sudden, uncontrollable episodes of laughing or crying. It is often seen in patients who have had a stroke, traumatic brain injury or progressive disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). Treatments for this disorder are varied, as is their effectiveness.

Answer: Eyes

Charles Bonnet Syndrome is found in adults who are gradually or suddenly going blind. When the brain is not able to receive visual stimulation, for whatever reason, it will sometimes stimulate itself. Sufferers of CBS experience vivid hallucinations, usually of small objects such as birds and flowers, and the hallucinations are pleasant as opposed to frightening.

The person is aware that they are having an hallucination and they are not insane.

Answer: Pica

Sufferers of pica have an undeniable urge to eat non-food items such as hair, dirt, and metal. Sufferers of this disorder may eat thousands of objects that are not expelled but rather build up in the digestive tract. Possible causes for this disorder are pregnancy, mineral deficiency, or stress. Digestive blockage may occur, as can Toxoplasma from the ingestion of animal feces in dirt, or lead poisoning from eating old paint.

There was no known cure for this disorder at the time this quiz was written (2015).

Answer: Feel pain

Pain is a physical response to injury and is necessary to help deter pain and suffering. Many of the people born with this mutation die early in life as a direct result of injuries which could have been treated had the sufferer noticed their injury. This congenital mutation leaves them unable to feel pain, they often die early deaths as a result of treatable injuries that they simply fail to notice.

It should be noted that this disorder is very rare but, interestingly, in the Swedish village of Vittangi, over 5% of the population suffers from the disorder.

Answer: False

Cronkhite-Canada syndrome is a very rare disorder that involves the loss of taste, rapidly growing intestinal polyps, hair loss, and nail-growth problems. It is a disorder that is hard to treat because the polyps block absorbtion of medications. Fewer than 400 cases have ever been reported, the cause is unknown, most patients are of Japanese descent and most are male.

Answer: Skin

Epidermolysis causes the sufferers skin to slough off at the slightest provocation. Known as the Butterfly Disease, sufferers become covered in open wounds and painful blisters as their skin keeps falling off. A change in temperature, the touch of a hand or the wearing of clothing can all cause fatal damage.

Many patients appear as if they are covered with third degree burns. The basic disorder is a lack of collagen production.

Answer: Goiter

Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune disorder that will sometimes cause growth or shrinkage in the thyroid gland. Hashimoto's disease is one of the most common causes of goiter alongside a lack of iodine. At one time goiters were fairly common and their cause was unknown.

Other signs of Hashimoto's disease include constipation, loss of hair, slowed heart rate, puffy face and fatigue. This is a treatable condition that is much more common in women and usually shows up in middle age.

Answer: Converse

Patients with Broca's Aphasia can do most things, such as reading, writing, jumping, growing fingernails, and hearing music. What they cannot do is talk in a coherent manner. They can speak, but cannot form words. The condition is the result of an injury to the Broca's area of the brain.

They lose the ability to control what their mouths are saying and are rendered incapable of saying what they are thinking. Some patients are aware they are just making noise, while others also lose the ability to understand that they aren't saying what they intend to say.