I was recently browsing through the book store and a book I saw reminded me of an extremely popular list we published last year. Thus, I decided to do this second list of medical myths. These are all misconceptions commonly heard by doctors and it puts an end to them once and for all – or at least I hope it does! Be sure to add your own favorite myths to the comments.
Most of us probably know at least one or two people who claim to be walking around with a contact lens stuck permanently behind their eye. They will usually use a fear of having their eyeball popped out to retrieve it as the main reason they have just left it there. Well here is the good news for those of you who think you may be suffering this annoying side-effect to contact lens wearing: it is impossible for a contact lens to get stuck behind your eye. There is no cavity behind the eye for it to go. So if you think you have lost your lens – the most likely places to find it are either tucked into a ball in your eyelid or on the bathroom floor where you drunkenly tried to remove it!
This is one for the women (and one the men may want to skip). It is surprisingly common for women to visit the emergency room because their tampon string fell off, and they can’t find their tampon. In almost every case the investigating doctor will find nothing inside. The reason for this? There is nowhere for it to go. The walls of the vagina are closed together until something is put between them (in this case a tampon). At the top of the potential space created in the vagina by an object is the cervix. If a tampon is missing, it is probably because you forgot you removed it.
Rumor has it that you can catch the flu from a flu shot. Well – rumor be damned – you can’t. Flu shots are made of viruses that has been deactivated or killed. Despite the virus not being alive, your body is still able to recognize it for what it is and try to do something about it. Having said that, recently there was a case of enormous quantities of swine flu vaccine being recalled because the lab forgot to deactivate the virus. Oops.
Pulp Fiction – the brilliant film – unfortunately perpetuates a myth: that you can inject a person directly into the heart in order to provide them with drugs as quickly as possible. In the case of the film it is a shot of adrenaline after a drug overdose. Unfortunately it is entirely mythical. Doctors never, ever inject a person directly into the heart – adrenaline is delivered in the case of heart attack, but it is delivered directly to a vein. Also, adrenaline is not used to treat heroine overdose – narcan is. The closest that doctors come to putting a needle near your heart is when they insert it into the surrounding sac to remove excess fluids.
The myth goes like this: the older you are, the less sleep you need. But it is just that – a myth. In fact, the rate of sleep needed is fairly constant throughout our adult life, but once we get over the age of sixty-five we need a little extra sleep. The most likely reason for this myth is that old people can have more difficulty getting to sleep and this reduces the overall quantity taken. But it is inability to sleep which is the problem here – not a lack of need.
Too many are the number of kids berated everyday with the warnings against eating too much chocolate or greasy food: “you will get acne!” In fact, there have been very carefully done scientific studies that show an extremely low probability of acne being caused by either of these things. One such test fed a control group chocolate with no chocolate in it, and the other group got chocolate with ten times the usual. No changes occurred in either group. But don’t forget: too much of either will make you fat.
This is a myth that at least has some basis in real observations. The belief that the heart stops when you sneeze is false – utterly false, but the reason that this myth has come about is that in some cases a sneeze can cause a slightly erratic heart beat. This is merely due to a change in pressure inside the chest.
I bet everyone reading this list has, at least once in their life, cut their finger and stuck it straight in their mouth. This is bad bad bad. The mouth is full of bacteria – it is not a clean environment at all. Sticking one’s finger in one’s mouth after cutting it is an open invitation to infection. Where this weird behavior came from I do not know, but let us hope that we all remember this next time we get a cut.
Ah – yet again we have the movies to blame for this one. Falling asleep after getting a concussion is not life-threatening (in most cases), and you don’t need to slap your children repeatedly in the face to keep them awake if they knock their head (unless they have been naughty). Concussion almost never leads to a coma. But remember – if you or someone you know does have a severe knock to the head, take them to the doctor so they can be sure that everything is okay.
If you have ever had a cold-sore you know how agonizing they can be. And they are extremely contagious so no kissing! But unlike cold-sores, mouth ulcers are not contagious though many people wrongly think they are. So far, the cause of mouth ulcers is not entirely certain – but viruses and bacteria have been ruled out. It is most likely caused by disturbances in the immune system.
what is ulcer btw?
Like a small spot looking thing that grows inside the mouth. I used to think it was stress that caused them.
If you're American, you might know a mouth ulcer as a "canker sore."
It's a bit like a blister in your mouth- it's usually caused by some damage in you mouth needing a little pocket to protect it.
I think the most common causes of mouth ulcers are accidentally biting your tongue or cheek and burning you mouth with hot food and drink.
The most painful but I also find quickest way to get rid of a mouth ulcer is to put salt on it.
an uncer is a break in the skin that stops it from continuing its natural functions…
biting is not necessarily the cause of mouth ulcers. as the list had written, cause is not certain.. i'm always having mouth ulcers since a child.. and i dont bite my tongue or cheeks..
The cause of a precise ulcer may not be known, but the various causes are pretty widely known
Here are a couple of link for you to read up on http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/mouthulcers/the… http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Mouth-ulcer/Pages/Ca…
Maybe you can find the cause of your recurrent ulcers (but maybe you bite you mouth when asleep- just a possibility)
are you stupid…you're on the internet and ask a simple question like that…GOOGLE it dumbass
And where's the social interaction in THAT?
i thought canker sores were caused by consuming a lot of sugar…however that could have been some idea taught to me by my parents to prevent my consumption of the stuff.
And on the sixth day God created man, and man said "First."
Interesting list.
Is it a myth that you could die from hiccups that don't stop?
I recently saw a newsclip of a girl, about 12 years old) who has had the hiccups for I believe 5 years. Obviously, they have not killed her.
I believe there was a girl from Australia who had the hiccups for 6 years, she's still here. I would imagine they might take a toll on the body, but not that extreme.
Some guy in the UK has had hiccups for years and a while back they found out it was caused by a brain tumour, last I heard he was heading to Japan to get treatment. I haven't heard about him in a few months so hopefully it's going well. He seemed like such a nice young man.
yes i heard the japs have been working really hard to save him , in fact they actually plan on dressing as ghosts and hiding in his hotel room so that when he walk in and turns on the light he'll get such a fright his hiccups will be cured . he's in good hands….
Um well actually I found an article on BBC news which said he had surgery in January and was recovering well.
Our very own Callie is going on ten months with the hiccups now I believe.
15 months. Going strong. I'm still here.
ok——
i actually meant to tell you this like…..a couple months ago,and totally completely forgot.
—-this reply, @wal, which i believe will appear after mine.
well, (s)he sounds like a raging dick, and i'd rather eat armadillo feet than give him a dollar, but the vinegar thing—-ok—-i believe it was in the forums you were talking about this, but i cannot remember you mentioning vinegar.
as you know ive been bartending at this casino for years while geting my education, and at least once a week, someone asked for bitters /soda w/lemon. this evidently stops heartburn. i've never had heartburn, so i cant confirm this, but i can tell you after 9 years, no one has told me it didnt work.
people also ask us for bitters and honey and lemon — they say it stops hiccups. i believe that to be either bull*****, or a wives tale which for some unknown reason works on occasion.
this comment (probably after mine) by @wal — well s(he) sounds like a raging dick, and i'd rather eat armadillo feet, than give him/her a dollar, but the vinegar thing may work.
as you know i've been bartending at this casino for years while getting my education, and alot of people have asked for bitters/soda/lemon to stop heartburn. ive never had heartburn, so i cant vouch for the home remedy.
it isnt the only peculiar thing people have asked for to cure something unrelated, ive ever heard of.
a couple months ago this cat asked for something weird — sugar/cran juice — something really random, and the dude sitting at the bar said vinegar worked.
i dont even know why we have vinegar — but 5 people have tried that, at a perfect success rate.
of course, im sure youve tried that, as 15 months is enough time to try damn near everything, but just in case you hadnt, i thought id mention it
hi callie! It's been so long since we've chatted.
It's a myth. Every other story here is either bull***** or has a fundamental misunderstanding of Science. Hiccups are caused by a highly alkaline PH level in stomach acid. Drink some vinegar and shut the ***** up.
Methinks that number 8 may stir up some controversy. Will wait and see (always good debate here).
It's true about flu shots! The problem is that people have flu shots at the time of year when there are lots of colds going around. And most people have no idea what flu is- most of the time when someone says they have flu it's really just a bad cold. Trust me if you can actually get up and walk around and basically carry on your normal life- it's not flu!
Flu comes in many different forms and levels of seriousness.
Yeah i agree. Because not all vaccines use "deactivated" viruses. There are things called live virus vaccines which, go figure, have live and active viruses in them
See i heard from a guy, who knows this guy, who knows this guy, who knows this guy, who knows this guy, who knows this guy, who knows this guy, who knows this guy's cousin, that flu shots have something to brain wash us to shop more during the season.
Methinks that number 8 may stir up some controversy.
I figured the biggest controversy would be over the message in number 2 condoning slapping children in the face for misbehaving. As I fired up the list this morning and saw the higher than typical number of comments so soon, I wondered: ok what is getting everyone stirred up on this one today? So as I go on to read down the list and get to that passage, I thought – and there it is. But no…no one has even mentioned it yet…
A little slap for misbehaving is aright. some disciplines are acceptable, else we shouldn’t have jail… and that would be a pretty bad idea…
most people do feel a little down after they get a flu shot but um duh that is your immune system recognizing the "virus" and reacting to it. you are right if they had the flu they would be doing nothing but laying in bed.
i think it all depends on the type of flu shot given, i read online that some have the activated virus inside, so i guess that would cause the flu-like symptoms, but also it could be an allergic reaction. i've been getting the flu shot for years and years and apart from a little arm soreness i've never had any symptoms.
I hope you do "get some" herpes.
What does it matter if someone says "first"? I don't get the uproar on here. It isn't a big deal. I will agree it takes no creativity and it is very redundant, but at the same time the people complaining about it are just as bad as the person saying "first"! Just my opinion here.
What does it matter if someone says "first"?…people complaining about it are just as bad
Saying “first” is pointless. Complaining about it is not pointless. What’s the point, you might ask? Well, the only thing more lame than one idiot saying “first” is the next dozen or so idiots after that post also saying “first”. I’m betting we haven’t seen much of that here on LV because of the quick diligence in admonishing those who are stupid enough to do it the one time. Yes, new idiots rise to the occasion every so often (more so lately it seems), which makes it appear to be a never-ending unwinnable battle, but believe me, it would be worse if left unchecked. You might still think it’s not big deal. And in the grand scheme of things, it’s not, really. But to a good number of us it’d be annoying as hell. Since you don’t seem to mind either way, you should have no trouble ignoring the situation.
Just offered an opinion. You're right; I could care less either way.
couldn't
No, it is could you *****ing word Nazi. I chose to say I could care less, because I don't care period. You have two choices: you could care less and you could not care less. They have different meanings and the perception is up to the reader so ***** off. I hate *****ing word Nazis.
murpheyslawyer, you are wrong. guestly is right. If you 'could care less' that would mean that you currently care more than the minimum (e.g. not at all). You seem to become very aggressive very fast. Perception is not up to the reader in this case, in fact it is up to the reader in very few cases.
murphey isn't wrong. The fact that he spoke up at all shows that his interest is not at absolute zero. So he COULD care less. Probably not much, though. To say he couldn't care less would indicate that his interest in this subject is on a par with his interest in the rate of rainfall in South Kukumonga.
Watch it!
Love the picture for #2.
What's up Jamie? I thought you would have mentioned the brand new myth "Getting pregnant while watching a 3D *****o even though your husband is overseas and about 18,000 kilometres away from you at the time"….
I'd probably include MSG allergies as a commonly believed medical myth, since decades after the urban legend started there are tons of people who sincerely swear up and down they are allergic, yet such reactions have never been reproduced in numerous double-blind clinical tests. (That and the billion+ Asians who eat it every day with no ill effects.).
Great mention – that appears on another list – one of the food lists I think.
As a side note on MSG – I have friends who cook in chili and bar-b-q competitions – they all use a flavoring product that is primarily MSG – the judges and people that eat their recipes, not one, ever had any reaction – probably because they were not aware it was in the food.
Really? I never knew that. I do know someone who says they're allergic.
It is true, however, that MSG can trigger VERY bad migraines in some people. I suppose that's not really an allergic reaction though.
I’ve been having the MSG argument with a guy at work. He says it’s the artificial MSG that causes all the stuff and not the real version. He also says it’s a migraine trigger for him. I tell him that it’s basically just salt and that the table salt that he puts on everything is way more processed and artificial.
best list this week, no.9 is so…its just…….something tells me i should rather stay quiet….
How bout the myth that u get kooties when u kiss someone? lol
That’s actually true.
There's a vaccine for that now, check out this public service announcement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR42qGEWhWg&fe…
i dont know about sleeping (#6). As i just got past 40 (!) i find that im getting 6 hours or so every night as opposed to about 9 hours when i was 20. Maybe its because i'm not as active as i was and therefore not needing as much sleep…
As for #3, having worked as a mechanic, concreter, and other 'dirty' trades, i am quite sure that licking my wound clean is a whole lot better than letting the superficial dirt get into the cut and infecting it. Still, it's no match for a good antiseptic and a bandage, but when you don't have either handy, i say LICK AWAY !!
More imortantly, spit contains a painkiller more effective than morphine.
no, it doesn’t, it contains water and enzymes….dumb***.
I have two for you:
Getting cold gives you the cold
and
Everyone who is overweight eats like a pig.
I can vouch that the second one is false. I was having real trouble with my weight, and when I kept on putting on weight when I was dieting very strictly under medical supervision, iIt was this which triggered the doctor to test my thyroid and it was hardly working at all! They put me on thyroxine and I stopped putting on weight – as simple as that. Still had, and have, a struggle to lose what I put on then though.
I agree with both of those.
By the way what on earth are kooties?
the "germ" version of an imaginary friend — used by peculiar young american children to justify why they dont want members of the opposite ***** screwing with them during recess.
in a trend that none of these children can anticipate,
the older you get, the more realistic cooties become.
of course, culminating with the contraction of cooties (oka: an std), given to you by those weird girls that you were afraid of when you were 7.
and they say ***** education *shouldnt* be taught — amatures
*shakes head*
although i knew it was BS, all of our elementary teachers embraced the propoganda of cooties. kinda weird at one point.
UH OH!!! You put a picture up of two football players. Tisk tisk. Now you're going to be ripped apart for it. Football will not be tolerated!
Yea, but look at the guys eyes bugging out of his head.
I think No.3 is fairly logical as to where it came from… Vampires!
most of these are incorrect
okay, based on what factual evidence?
Loved th list. This is why is visit listverse everyday… Read all th points, even th tempon one (dont know why, will never use it).
1. Have always been too afraid to use contact lens. Cant put anything inside my eyes. Am happy with my glasses.
2. Have always sucked any cut which i have ever had (only in fingers). Even sucked my girlfriend’s fingers whenever she has nicked it. So this point is fr my eyes only, not fr my girl.
When I first got contacts it took me like an hour to get them in and out. It's really hard to stick your finger in your eye on purpose at first. But you get used to it. You can actually touch the white part of your eye and it doesn't even hurt.
I suck my cuts also. I had a really bad cut on the bridge of my nose once and I'm convinced it was the sucking that made it heal so fast.
What is a tampon by the way? sorry, I asked something like this… weee chocolates and a nice list.
How innocent! Very sweet,
@3 What if you get a cut in your mouth? And besides blood taste good, it kinda has that metal taste.
That would be the iron, kind sir.
Slightly vampire-ish, don't you think?
Very cool list, like the last one
I do have some personal experience with #10 though and although my contacts never got stuck *behind* my eyes, it's definitely possible for them to get stuck somewhere you can't get them. I once had my contact break in two in my eye and one of the pieces got stuck underneath my eyelid in the top corner of my eye and however I tried, it wouldn't come out. After a few minutes I just went to work and it eventually came out by itself, a few hours later.
I hardly wear contacts, but I rather tipsily tried to get a contact lense out once and I was trying for about 10 mins before I looked down and saw the contact on the table- the little blighter must've falled off my finger before I saw it.
i have one of those word-a-day calendars
today's word was 'chantage' — which means blackmail
which i knew
i have scratched that out and replaced it with 'tipsily'
youre awesome trinity
In my defense it made sense in my head! I was tipsy so I did it tipsily.
I now see I also ought to read my posts before pressing send: falled instead of fallen and lense instead of lens does not make me look intelligent- it completely cancelled out the genius of coining a new word!
not really
poeple misspell werds al teh tyme.
as long as i know what youre talking about, i'm ok
you arent turning this in to the professor, after all
coining a new word is tits, whether you used the right tense of the verb 'fall', or not
That's not a new word dude. I'm a Uni student in my twenties, I must say it like, 15 times a week at least.
Who would believe these myths (besides #2cuz it seems that you do need medical experience for that one)
I always though old people sleep more (how isnt that obvious, they get tired more ergo they need to sleep more) and (now my 2 eurocents) injecting something in the heart doesnt seem a good idea cuz its a muscle so its constantly contracting. Plus blood is being pumped quite fastly so you can wait 3 secongs for the blood from the veins to reach the heart.
Sigh. Your lists are usually excellent, but this collection falls well below par. If you run medical facts, perhaps you should check them with a qualified doctor. Like me. I've worked as a doctor for over ten years, many of them in an emergency setting. Point by point:
9) You have never experienced true disgust until you have smelt and removed a retained tampon. It is hideously bad. 'Almost never' probably translates to one time in five, in my experience.
7) The drug of choice in Advanced Life Support during a cardiorespiratory arrest is adrenaline (epinephrine). Narcan (naloxone) will help with respiratory depression due to heroin intoxication, but the drug won't get anywhere unless the heart is beating sufficiently to get it to the brainstem. A 'heart attack' is a myocardial infarction – chest pain due to the heart getting insufficient oxygenated bloodflow. This can sometimes lead to a cardiac arrest, but is not the same thing. It is not very sensible to get adrenaline to someone who has just had a straight-forward heart attack.
3) All animals lick their wounds. As well as removing particles, stings, and mild venom, saliva contains lysozyme, an anti-bacterial agent. Most of the bacteria in the mouth comes from the teeth – human and animal bites frequently need antibiotic cover.
2) Abnormal drowsiness is a red-flag warning sign following head injuries in adults and children. If you let someone sleep after a head injury, you cannot assess this! There are many other warning signs, including fitting, abnormal behaviour, vomiting more than twice, gait problems, fever, and others. I advise parents that they can allow their children to sleep, but should check that their child is rousable at regular intervals.
1) Mouth ulcers are non infective? I guess you've never heard of Diptheria, Coxsaccie A, Vacicella zoster, Actinomycosis, Syphilis, Valley fever, and so on. I agree that most aphthous ulcers are due to minor trauma. But there are plenty of contagious causes. Also, if an ulcer persists for longer than 2 weeks, one should always see a doctor!
Keep up the (otherwise) excellent work!
Fishy, a GP somewhere in London.
thanks for your graphic description for no.9 , i think ill skip lunch…
As I have occasionally have had to do following fishing one out in the A+E department (emergency room).
fishing – Bwah Ha ha
Thank you so SO much for commenting on these so I didn't have to! I also have a medical background, and it was going to irritate me if someone didn't correct these things. A very disappointing list for listverse *shakes head*
Also, as far as vaccinations are concerned, a good point to make is that some people DO become ill after receiving vaccinations. It is correct that it is not due to the person contracting the illness in the vaccine, but it is due to the effects of the body fighting an unrecognized intruder. As far as your body knows, it is fighting the real thing and so your body is under some strain which results in flu-like symptoms.
The mouth also hosts many white blood cells, and as the mason previously stated, it is a reflex so there is a reason for sucking a cut. Just because you may not know the reason, does not mean there isn't a reason. Removing dirt and debris, pulling bacteria away from the open cut and into the digestive system to be destroyed, introducing white blood cells into the open cut, saliva can induce the oxydation of platelets, etc etc.
I had a problem with the concussion one too.
Also, I have had a contact go behind my eye (toward the temple but probably not completely behind). After several minutes it eventually made its way back to the corner of the eye and I was able to retrieve it; twas painful.
Dr. Fish, Thank god for educated sensibility! I too, usually love Jfrater's lists.. but this one was terribly misinformed, and possibly quite dangerous especially regarding the concussion 'myth'! While it may be true that sleep might not exacerbate or in itself cause a 'coma' after head trauma, you (Fishy) are right in that it cannot be assessed properly while pt. is sleeping and adverse symptoms can go unnoticed until it's possibly too late to treat them. People post-head injury must be monitored, it is NOT a myth. (Also, lying flat, without elevating the head as happens in sleeping, can lead to Increased Intracranial Pressure, which again, if patient is sleeping, can have symptoms that go unnoticed. Say good bye to crucial brain tissue if no one recognizes that!).
Be careful with what you say regarding medical stuff JF.. you never know what can happen!
Also, with the flu shots.. it's been my understanding that the *symptoms* following administration of the shot ARE real, that it is the body's immune (histamine) response to the perceived pathogen which causes the 'flu-like symptoms'. Not exactly the same as 'getting the flu FROM the flu shot', but in many pt's eyes, who cares- they're going to get sick either way. (Not all people though, many older, sicker people actually should get the flu/pneumovac shots). It's patient depending really.
My 2 cents.
How f'king DARE YOU contradict the mighty JFrater? He is right, he has always been right, he will always BE right!!
Just kidding, he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about…
Vote my comment down I'm going for the record!!!
Haha. Ok, you can say JF is almighty and always right, but I'm still not going to play doctor with him
With all due respect JF!
You may be a doctor but a logician no
9. I didn't say they don't stay up there if you don't remove them – I said they don't get lost up inside the body.
7. Adrenaline through the heart is not the immediate response to a drug overdose – you don't disagree with me you just explain further.
3. Animals also eat their own *****. Just because brute animals do something doesn't mean we rational ones should.
2. "man other warning signs" – if someone sleeps after a concussion they will almost never go into a coma – that is what I said on the list. The fact that awakeness might be a useful way of determining how badly they are hurt does not contradict what I said.
1. When you kiss someone with dipheria and syphilis etc. do you catch a mouth ulcer or do you catch diphtheria or sylphilis which can have ulcers as a symptom? Furthermore I am excluding from my list viruses that cause blisters such as cold sores as I mentioned in the item. You are referring to things I intentionally excluded. If you bite your tongue and get an ulcer – you can't pass it on to someone else.
Having said that – thanks for the comment even if doesn't really disagree with my initial post
I like how you snuck in "smelt" when you remarked on how bad the vagina "smelled". Then you added, "fishing one out". If this wasn't intentional, it was inadvertently hilarious.
This individual is completely right. What a wrong, screwed up list.
Writer could have at least researched things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracardiac_injecti…
I will still suck my blood from finger its tasty
i heard of a girl who left her tampon in for too long(she apparently forgot about it) and as a result she got really sick , toxic shock or something
Tampons are not healthy to begin with. They're convenient, and for many women, more comfortable. Sanitary Napkins are much better, for a woman's health
Explain?
Tampons can give you a rare illness called Toxic Shock Syndrome which can be fatal if left untreated. And forgetting them is just plain unhealthy.
Sanitary Napkins pose less of a health risk.
A point of trivia about point 4 – Terfenadine (aka Triludan) was a drug commonly prescribed for 'hayfever' (allergic rhinitis). It was withdrawn from the market because in large doses … it could stop the heart! A small number of patients suffered cardiac dysrhythmias. A small number of these proved fatal, so the makers, Aventis, withdrew the medication from sale.
Some FYI trivia – This drug has been re-formulated and is now Allegra (at least in the US).
Allegra is a different drug, Fexofenadine, a third generation antihistamine. The two drugs have some chemical similarities, but are not the same.
Yes…re-formulated, ie not the same. Fexfenadine is terfenadine (Seldane here) with a carboxyl and hydroxyl group added.
Love the list! Trust J to put out a good 1. I had to go with my friend to the hospital for #9 lol. And #4 had me afraid to sneeze as a kid lol.
Re: number 7. I swear when I was in my basic training many a years ago for the British army they taught us to inject a combi pen ( as they were called) straight to the heart in the event of a NBC attack. Obviously different pens for different attacks or chemical agents used. The pens had a needle inside them to administer the drug. Anyone else remember this???
If I'm thinking of the same thing that you are, the pens were to be injected into your leg in case of chemical attack and they contained Atropine which serves as treatment for organophosphate poisoning as well as certain nerve agents.
Speaking of number 7, there is a hilarious scene in "Bringing Out the Dead" (a film about Paramedics in NYC in the 80's). Nicholas Cage and Ving Rhames are partners responding to a heroin OD in a night club. While working on the comatose patient they are surrounded by all of his stoned friends. While Cage prepares to inject the Narcan, Rhames has everyone hold hands in a circle and pray to Almighty God to bring this poor sinner back to life. This they do and low and behold the OD wakes up immediately after the Narcan injection. Of course all of his friends think they've witnessed a miracle. The movie overall is pretty depressing but it does have quite a few classic scenes like that one.
I remember that scene – it was all about timing – they were familiar with the delay from the time of the injection until the reaction – he brought his sermon to the climax just as he knew the dose was going to kick in – I laughed my ass off – here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xU_vcb3kso
Whoa! That was good! I wish I had seen the film. Now, I am going to have to see if our local 2-bit video rental place has a copy.
It really was a great flick. If I remember right this one came out not too long after "Leaving Las Vegas". Nicolas Cage does a great self-destructive personality.
good point – like Sailor Ripley in Wild at Heart
or when he married Lisa Marie and she made him get rid of his comic book collection, now that self destruction.
That it was a Martin Scorsese flick is enough for a lot of people to stay away. He had a rep for putting out very violent, very graphic films at a time before that was accepted by the general public.
Yes do – it’s Martin Scorsese – overlooked buy a lot of people for some reason.
It’s about the strange lives of big city EMT’s.
This reminds me of a story. I am an anesthesiologist, and prior to rolling one pt back to the OR he wanted to say a prayer out loud with his family to help quell his anxiety. While they were all praying, eyes closed, I injected midazolam into his IV, a pre-operative medication similar to Valium. After Amen's all aorund I asked the patient if his anxiety had been alleviated. He groggily reported that indeed he felt much better. A CRNA who had witnessed the event hid a smile while I lauded the power of prayer as I rolled him back for surgery.
With regards to contact lenses, there was a case in 2007(?) where Australian boxer Anthony Mundine nearly went blind in one eye after he cleaned his contacts by putting them in his mouth, and then put them back on his eyes. Silly, silly boy!
That explains a lot about Anthony Mundine! (If any explanation was needed.)
Nice list – glad to see you back Jamie !
i'm glad tampons made this list. the instructions that come in the box make entertaining toilet reading.
Why should the tampon item be something the men might want to skip? Are there people out there who can't deal with the facts of how the body works?
I think a lot of men are afraid of women's sanitary products! The first time my bf had to buy them for me he ended coming home with a cake as well because he didn't want to buy just tampons. I've also seen male shop assistants handle the boxes as if they were picking up a venomous snake.
My boyfriend is better at buying tampons than his mother. He knows exactly what brand and what size, and often comes home with chocolate as well.
Maybe some male shop assistants want to avoid the possibility of a public conversation about sanitary products with a female stranger considering how that might be somehow twisted into or misinterpreted as a form of *****ual harassment, but that still doesn't explain why men might want to skip that item in this list of 10. I mean, merely reading about something on a website isn't going to hurt, is it?
If a guy can't handle reading about tampons, then he's really, really immature and seriously needs to grow up. Really, would anyone have felt it was necessary to say "you might want to skip this if you're a girl" on an item about penises?
I'm afraid you're wrong/confused on the #6 fact.
We spend less and less time in >>>REM<<<<(dream-state) sleep, not sleep all-together. Which is the stage of sleep scientists claim causes the beneficial restorative effects of sleep and the state in which we dream during.
Infants spend the most time in REM, and gradually becomes less and less the older you become.
Now you know.
I spend little time in form of sleep.
I have a very complex form of central sleep apnea…my brain forgets to tell my respiratory system to breathe while I am asleep or under sedation, so I am supposed to sleep attached to a V-PAP machine with a full face mask.
It's uncomfortable. It gets out of sync with my own breathing cycle, attempting to force me into it's cycle. Its noisy….should I continue?
I'll start out the night on the machine, looking like something out of an Ed Wood movie, but it wakes me up about three hours later. Then I'm wide awake for another two to three hours, before I can crawl back into bed for another hour or two…and I'm exhausted ALL THE TIME!
I, for one, take issue with your, we need less sleep theory.
Hi all. Someone requested an old school list from the J meister today – so thanks for making that happen. I thought this was a really good list, made even better by Fishy’s comments which seemed to clarify some points for us.
#10 – I’ve tried contacts a coupla times now with very little success. My eyes have an odd ‘rugby ball’ shape to them which makes wearing contacts very painful even after weeks of use. I was shocked to hear some folks actually get them stuck! I can only imagine how distressing this is.
#9 – Someone said this is a disgusting experience, and someone else said it happens quite regularly, perhaps 1 in 5. I don’t find bodily fluids disgusting – and that’s after sending my trouser snake into some of these places – but those strings do look very flimsy. Have you ever seen a woman pull one of those things out? It’s like dambusters.
#8 – I guess Flu shots arn’t supposed to give us flu, but anyone who has ever had flu knows the ‘death warmed over’ feeling they get when the virus hits – and somehow – perhaps subconciously like a placebo – the minds responds with very real (mild) flu-like symptoms. It’s an illusion, sure; it’s like thought projecting – but our immune system doesn’t know the difference and kicks in the Intensive Care anyway. I don’t like the ‘additives’ they use in some of these shots, such as mercury and squalene – which have always been very dangerous on their own, but these are only in ‘some’ brands.
#6 – My old crotchety mother – the Queen of paranoid persecution – always grumbles that she can’t sleep. I said to her; “well, perhaps you don’t live as active a life as you used to – requiring fewer calories, and fewer hours of sleep?” Now she takes a sleeping pill every night, and just like some other drugs we know, she’s built up quite a tollerance to them. Now she can’t sleep even with the pills – so they prescribe stronger and different varieties. I’d love to hear any tips on this one.
#3 – I always thought saliva was meant to be some kind of anti-baterial agent, but I’d also love to get to the bottom of this one. My guess would be that it depends on what the person has previously eaten – or how long ago they brushed their teeth.
#2 – Alt.Thread: I wish I could slap my kids when they’ve been naughty. Now the only deterant in the UK is a sharp tongue and a sit on the naughty step – which seems to work well in the short term (say, first coupla years).
I had concussion once – my whole body went into shock and I woke up in a hospital being sick. I guess they do try to keep patients awake before they get to hospital so they can interact and find out what’s going on, but sleep is often the best medicine in town.
#1 – My ex had a cold-sore which would flair up a few times a year. She claimed that they were hard to get unless you were somehow predisposed to get them. I dunno, but I have never had them and never got them from her.
Thought provoking stuff!
- why the did you watch a tampon being removed ?seriously id love to know? dam busters ? CLASSIC .
At school we stole a box from a girls bag and covered them in red jelly juice ,jam , sherbet anything deep red we could get our hands on and then decorated the school like a Christmas tree .
I saw my mother doing it when I was 12 or 13 – somewhere around there – I was waiting to take a pee.
Wow. Traumatising. *shudder* Also I have the 'rugby ball' eyes too and could never wear contacts, felt like there was sand in my eyes.
Jesus god!!! not cool…… god bless your tortured soul…..
come on man, admit it-you kept watching and got a stiffy!!
@ Joshi: I didn't get 'stiffys' at that age – I was never a 'sticky out chest' kinda matcho ego man. Long time readers may remember that I was a very late starter. Besides, the big question is, who – WHO? would a) hack off to their own mom? (mother*****ers I expect – ed.), and b) hack off to the sight of huge amounts of blood in the toilet?? (cannibals?). I know you're only foolin' but c'mon – wise it up.
umm…wow about you watching the removal process….I'm all alone when I do and I NEVER watch myself do that. I don't know whether to be grossed out or be impressed.
Maaan, it's just the facts of life – nothing to be afraid of. However, I remember the first time I saw blood in the toilet; I cried buckets! – I thought my mom was seriously hurt! But there ya go. All water under the u-bend now. Besides, it can be helpful for (some) guys to know and appreciate the facts of life too – and I suppose that's a small part of the reason why I'm comfortable with folks talking to me about all kinds of hard-to-talk-about things. They say I'd make a good counsellor…? Maybe I'll do that someday….
The problem with the flushots is that people get a shot from a dangerous recent strain of flu and then later get a normal seasonal flu and then think one of two things:
a) That it doesn't work and they caught THE flu, not A flu, or
b) that the shot itself gave them the flu they contracted.
and as the list points out, generally people just have a cold.
I get you. There are so many different strains of flu that it would be very hard to cure them all or to come up with a fix-all vaccine. Also, as you say, some folks get a seriously bad cold and think it's the flu. The difference as far as I know – (which is very little admitedly) may be that a bad cold leaves you feeling ill for a week but you are still able to move about, while the real flu leaves you totally bed ridden for weeks. I've only ever had the real flu once – ever – and that was awful.
I thought it was tampoon?!?!
thats one of those cork thingys in the side of a barrel, used as a stopper.
real close.
I thought that was a bung hole plug?
youre close again.
webster's dictionary defines a tampoon as
–the stopper of a barrel
–a bung
to bung (v) — to plug up
so……..a bung hole stopper would essentially be
like a stopper hole stopper…..
?
you shouldnt have a hole in your bung in the first place.
and a bung hole plug?
on liquor bottles you can insert a pour spout, which is a bung with a hole in it the liqour pours through the bung hole, and the little bb looking thing inside of "measured" pour spouts floats up after one oz. is poured, stopping any more liquor from being poured. the bb at that point is like a bung hole plug by proxy.
i mean — that isnt what those things are really called, but its the right idea (and it sounds better than 'stopper ball')
"…but those strings do look very flimsy. Have you ever seen a woman pull one of those things out? It's like dambusters."
LOL!! Actually, those tampon strings are surprisingly strong. My boyfriend asked about the chance of it breaking off, so I took out a [clean] tampon and yanked on it about as hard as I could. Seriously, I couldn't even get a tear started in it lol
Love the list.
Never lost a tampon, but did lose a contact (of course…not in the same place..ha)….The contact had become stuck in the upper lid. Took forever for that sucker to come out. I have since had the lasik surgery and have 20/20 vision. Contacts are convenient but painful.
…and boo to you for busting the myth on chocolate. It was the only way to keep the kid from porking down on it. Sigh…gotta come up with something new now.
Nice list, Jamie!
Off topic: Is lasik surgery any good? I head it only works for a number of years and then it's back to wearing glasses. The receptionist at the eye doctors said it lasts maybe 10 years, but the doc said it works for over 30. A difference of opinion there!
I had radial keratotomy (with the knife vs. laser) done on my eyes. This was about 15 years ago.
They said that as you age your cornea has less moisture and will flatten a little (which is why most older people need reading glasses), Since the cuts, either by RK or Lasik, flatten your cornea in the first place to correct myopia, the natural flattening will mean that you will probably need glasses as you get older. They said that I will notice it in my 40s.
I am in my early 40s now and find myself needing cheap drug store reading glasses in bed to read or sometimes at work to look at the screen after a long day. I suspect it will just get worse.
I got RK back in the mid-90s since my work had a relationship with a doctor that made it reletively cheap vs the new Lasik which was very expensive. Now the price has come down considerably, so if you are nearsighted and reletively young, I would highly recommend it. I have loved the past 15 years without needing glasses or contacts. Just do some research on your prospective doc before you go.
My optometrist advised me to wait on Lasik until I went three consecutive years without a significant prescription change. His reasoning was that I could go ahead and have the surgery, but since my vision was still deteriorating, I would probably be back in glasses within 10 years.
I see that others replied but if done early, then you won't notice until you hit 40 or so. I had mine done at 30 and redone at 32. My eyes were so bad they almost couldn't do the surgery right the first time, so they under did them and then did the full correction later. It didn't cost me a thing the second time.
It was worth every penny to wake up in the morning and see my alarm clock without putting on glasses. As a side note, my glasses were as thick as coke bottles. I hated them.
Very interesting list. Nine & ten cracked me up a bit.
And, I'm so glad the hearty doesn't stop for a sneeze
Nice list. I had a girlfriend who worked as an ER nurse at the local hospital. She told me all kinds of examples of people coming into the ER with things inside their body cavaties that they couldn't get out. One guy had a Lux bottle (diswashing liquid) stuck in his rectum. The old shape that was wide at the top, skinny in the middle, and even wider at the bottom. It got stuck in the middle – they could not get the top wide part out of his butt.
The doctors punched a hole in the plastic bottle, let the air out, and out she came. The secret is relieving the pressure!
@vanowensbody: "One guy had a Lux bottle (diswashing liquid) stuck in his rectum."
w..t..f ??
what the hell is wrong with people?
john: "what's up bob?"
bob: "not much, man…how have you been?"
john: "not bad, thanks for asking. what have ya got going on for tonight?"
bob: "well i'm meeting nikki for drinks later, but not for another couple hours"
john: "oh, hell man, youve got enough time to shove a bottle of dishwashing liquid up your ass"
bob: "good idea, i think i have an almost empty bottle of lux in the kitchen"
do we really have to teach our youths to look both ways before they cross the street, never talk to strangers, and try not to jam things up their asses?
good grief, said charlie brown
Good List: – - – - – BUT (there's always a but): It USED to be practice to inject adrenaline into the cardiac muscle – and not that long ago: I've seen it done both in the Emergency Room of two separate hospitals as well as 'out in public' by Paramedics. The fine point (no pun intended) is that the adrenaline MUST hit the Cardiac Muscle – the myocardium and NOT the Endo or Peri – cardial layers.
Secondly: it is still sound pracice that any individual who has been knocked unconscious (concussion or not) for a short period of LOC (loss of consciousness) is ROUTINELY kept 'awake' for four hours following the event – it may not be accurate; but it's still advisable to keep a concussion/KO casualty conscious for 4 hours following being knocked out
No, it isn't. Once someone has been admitted to hospital, there is no benefit whatsoever to keeping them awake. There is a benefit in doing regular neurological observations. A patient needs to be awake for these. Sometimes these observations will be every 15 minutes. Sometimes these will be every four hours. The periodicity will depend on the exact nature of the case. In between these neuro obs, the patient is free to fall asleep if they so wish. For the UK guidelines on the management of head injuries, click here : http://www.nice.org.uk/CG056
DOI: Qualified doctor, 6 months of being a junior neurosurgeon in my past.
@ epanterias – owned hahaha.
Great list Jamie. Have to admit the tampon thing is quite gross – can't imagine putting a foreign object in my body and forgetting about it. Too icky.
You're correct about older folks and total hours of slumber but you should have mentioned that sleep patterns do change as you age. Most of the older folks I know (quite a few of them eh? seeing as how I nearly qualify myself) sleep fewer hours all at one shot. Go to bed at the regular time but wake earlier and more often through the night. The night-time sleep deficit is made up by napping. A skill that I am acquiring myself.
There's a protein in saliva called histatin that kills bacteria and speeds up wound healing.
Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/0807…
Nice find.
See, there's a good evolutionary reason why we suck our wounds.
What about if you try and keep your eyes open while sneezing they will pop out.Also if you masterbate too much you will go blind,hairy palms and turn into a wolf man lol.
I don't think that flu shots give you the flu, but the only time I ever got the flu was the year I got a flu shot. Might be coincidence, but I haven't gotten one since then and I'm healthy come flu season. Also, that's the most I've ever used the word flu in a sentence.
this list has some errors that fishgot clarified very well i just wanted to add a sidenote. Personally eating chocolate actually cause me to have acne i dont know if its a medical fact for everyone but for me at least its really bad
when i first had contacts i did believe that (until a traumatic backstory i dont want to get into) they can get stuck in the back of your eye. What about the myth that if ur hand is bigger than your face u have cancer? oh and on #1 when your wrote "It is most likely caused by disturbances in the immune system," so your mouth has an ulcer when "theres' a disturbance in the immune system!"
I remember some kid when to my neighbours daughter and said 'if your hand is bigger than your face you got cancer' the girl ran in the house crying.The boy did not know is her dad died of cancer when he was 30 and the girl was only 11.So people need to think about making upsetting stuff like that up
.
I was under the impression that this was an old trick to get people to stick their hand in front of their face, then have it smacked into their face as a joke. Of course, I was told it before as a kid without the prank, so I guess the "fact" eventually grew into its own myth.
Use the force, immune system!
I could have used this post yesterday.
Last evening, making dinner, I opened the knife drawer (which is *always* in order, all knives in position with blades leaning at a 45 degree angle downward), and just in a hurry, blindly stuck my hand into the drawer to grab the knife I wanted.
Biggggggggggggggg mistake!
The sharpest knife we own was sitting at a perfect 180 degree angle, and cut my finger to the bone, which I immediately stuck into my mouth. Then, thought better of it, and applied pressure, and did all the "right" things.
But, yeah, why is it that you immediately stick the wounded finger in your mouth?
You wouldn't do that with any other body part.
It's weird, and absolutely a holdover from childhood.
I don't think my parents ever told me to stick my finger in my mouth when I was a kid, but I still did/do it. I rather think it might be leftover animal instinct. Dogs and cats clean their wounds with saliva.. and so do other primates. Whether its good or bad is questionable. Perhaps it isn't good anymore since we now (generally) have much cleaner hands, disinfectants and such. But if you work in a very dirty environment with a open soar on your hands.. cleaning your hands with saliva might be the best idea.
But it feels better when you suck on it. It makes it hurt less, doesn't it?
Yes, it does! Sort of like sucking your thumb made you feel safe and secure as a baby.
Besides, there is a weirdly satisfying taste to your own blood; salty, ancient, tangy with iron…it immediately reminds you of your very basic oceanic roots.
Or maybe that's just me.
…well as the Irish say (sic)
"when yer cut ye thum, stick it up yer bum"
…tell us if that works! : )
Well i got told that if you suck the blood it goes back into your system lol
Wow I hope that isn't true otherwise my blood is full of pigs blood from all the black pudding!
Oh yuck!
I can't…I just can't…but I make a Pavlova to bring tears to your eyes!
I’m sitting at a perfect 180 degree angle right now.
but how sharp are you?
well played, seggie
~curtsey~
no possibility of a pun goes unpunned in my family.
Kudos to the lister for a well-written, enjoyable list!
This isn't a myth, but perhaps interesting anyway: roughly 50% of positive HIV diagnoses are false, as the false positive rate is as high as the rate of HIV positive people who take the test.
Of course, Woyzeck is immune to AIDS.
Of course you are…no one with an ounce of sense would consent to engaging in the exchange of bodily fluids with you.
Consent is a major turn-off for Woyzeck.
P.S. nice list James, glad I don't need to worry about that contact lense that's stuck in my vagina.
jesus woyzeck, youre supposed to tie a string around it before you cram it in your vagina.
and here i thought you were the resident go-to guy about vaginal insertion issues.
I knew someone who had eye problems for years and it later turned out to be multiple contact lenses that had slipped below her eye lid
About #1: I've tried having a contact lens sitting under my eyelid many times and they can also cuttle up in the side of your eye. But I've never once thought it was behind my eyeball! When you've got a misplaced contact lens somewhere in your eye.. YOU KNOW! It hurts like having sandpaper in your eye. And even though it gets easier its not always easy to get the little suckers out of the eyelid.
I read somewhere that there's really no reason for anyone to ever have to go to a hospital to get a tampon out. Most people do it because they're just too afraid to go fishing around in there, but there really is nowhere for it to go.
Tampons should be changed every four hours (I think) to avoid the potential of Toxic Shock Syndrome. That is in the instructions that come with tampons.
The problem is not that tampons get "lost," it is that you cannot not reach it to remove it. The vaginal walls are muscles and they do a pretty good job of holding things in place. If the string on the tampon accidentally gets pushed up into the vaginal c***** far enough that you cannot reach it with your finger, then you may have quite some difficulty extracting the tampon. It isn't the tampon getting lost that is the problem — it is the inability to grasp the string to remove it.
Under the category of things you do not want to know, sometimes if you bear down hard (similar to "pushing" when you are in labor), the vaginal walls will push it down incrementally to the point where you can grab it or the string and remove it. If you can't remove it yourself, you best find someone who can to prevent possible infection.
I once had to suffer the indignity of having my husband fish a contraceptive sponge from me — I couldn't reach it, and he has longer fingers. But it sure beat going to the ER. And he was a champ about it.
you are very lucky you arent married to edward scissorhands
Hehehehe….
OMG – I always put my finer in my mouth if I cut it. Oy – will stop doing that. AND – I also thought that you could get the flu from the flu shot. AND – I thought also that you shouldn't sleep if you get a concusion. Guess I am lucky to be alive.
Great list – thanks!
Don't have time to read the comments, but Nikki Sixx had two shots of adrenaline directly in his heart after a heroin overdose and he died for 2 minutes.
Enjoyed the list very much – Im from the older generation and I seem to need less sleep, anyway when I feel the aches and pains in the morning I know Im still alive.
Enjoyable list!
Now I am relieved for whenever I have my daily sneeze attack, I won't keel over because someone didn't say "Bless you" twenty times.
Maybe it’s just me, but these consecutive posts about fishing out tampoons and the sticking of bloody fingers in the mouth is starting to gross me out.
Don't believe everything you read.
If a guy looks at a naked girl for too long he will turn to stone. Try it, you'll start to harden real soon.
all animals lick their wounds. in some cases it does clean
I know for a fact that #7 is wrong. You may give medications directly into the heart in the case of a dire emergency and you’re unable to find a suitable vein. I’ve had to do this to a patient myself.
Also even though narcan is given for heroin overdose, its completely useless if your heart isn’t beating. So you’d have to give adrenaline to get the persons heart beating AND THEN give the narcan (aka naloxone) afterwards
that myth was busted by a doctor so I wonder if the injection to the heart is a policy thing – for example, perhaps the doctor who busted the myth is in a country where the medical profession avoid it for some reason such as liability. It is interesting that you have done it (I presume you are a doctor). Did you cut your way past the breastplate first or did you do the pulp fiction thing and have a good whack at it?
hahahaha
it doesnt much matter to me whether they are using it as an example of what to do, or what not to do — i just hope medical academia personnel start referring to plunging a needle into your chest as "the pulp fiction method"
That "Myth Was Busted By A Doctor"? What doctor? Even if it was, do we need to bring up the fact that so many people with an M.D. are incompetent?
Ello, Dr Fishgoth here again. In my 10 years medical experience, I've never seen drugs injected directly into the heart. I've assisted during pericardial aspiration, where fluid is drained from inside lining of 'skin' (pericardium) that surrounds the heart. On Mr average, the needle is placed into the 5th intercostal space, mid clavicular line, pushing through muscle rather than bone. Or in otherwords, just next to the left nipple.
In a cardiorespiratory arrest, if we doctors cannot get access to a peripheral vein, we would use a central vein (neck or top of the leg), drill a hole into the bone just below the knee and use the bone marrow (intraosseous injection), or inject a mist into the tube we insert into the windpipe (intratracheal route) before we would inject into the heart.
Seriously, if you want a medical rundown on lists for listverse, I'd be happy to give a (free) opinion on them – consider me a medically qualified fanboy!
what about manually beating the heart- ie: chest compressions! No? I'm honestly curious, does the manual beating not allow the Narcan to perfuse properly? In codes atropine and epi are given IV, but the heart is manually pumped so the medication can get to the heart and take affect . (As in the case of a peripheral line or IO line). Otherwise, wouldn't the administered meds just lie static and eventually just perfuse into nearby tissue?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding? Let me know.