Medical Mysteries

Most recent stories in Medical Mysteries

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  The Washington Post

  

  For days she couldn’t stop getting sick. At first she doubted the probable cause.

  The Washington Post - Sandra G. Boodman

  The vomiting happened with little warning and for no apparent reason. Sometimes it would strike the day after Alice Moon had been out with friends. Often it happened while the Los Angeles public relations specialist was in a car on her way to the airport — or on the plane. The episodes became so …

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  The Washington Post

  

  A teenager’s apparent clumsiness foreshadowed a shocking diagnosis

  The Washington Post - Sandra G. Boodman

  Judy Kalnas remembers thinking that Jessica, the youngest of her six children, resembled the elastic-limbed cartoon character Gumby. As a child, she said, Jessica would topple off her bike and “get up laughing.” In high school, she fell during field hockey practice. Over the years, her worst injury …

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  The Washington Post

  

  His anemia was followed by searing foot pain. Seventeen years later, in precarious shape, a stellar athlete learned what was wrong.

  The Washington Post - Sandra G. Boodman

  Jeff Sipos wasn’t used to feeling wiped out. At 31, the California elementary school principal was an endurance athlete in exceptional condition. Even though he had asthma, Sipos had climbed Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, completed a rim-to-rim hike in the Grand …

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  The Washington Post

  

  All his life, his health was poor. It took more than 50 years to find out why.

  The Washington Post - Sandra G. Boodman

  For as long as he can remember, Steven Knapp never felt well. “That was pretty much true from early childhood,” said Knapp, a self-described “Army brat” who was born in Germany and grew up in Turkey and a half-dozen states, including Georgia where he has lived since high school. Now 61, the …

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  The Washington Post

  

  Her lungs seemed to be a mess. But the problem that nearly killed her lay elsewhere.

  The Washington Post - Sandra G. Boodman

  Why, Gail Multop wondered repeatedly, couldn’t doctors put an end to her seemingly in­trac­table lung ailments? Multop’s problems seemed to progress slowly but relentlessly. In November 2016, she contracted pneumonia. A second bout followed six months later. By then, the early-childhood education …

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  The Washington Post

  

  She began to talk — then mysteriously fell silent. Months later her parents learned why.

  The Washington Post - Sandra G. Boodman

  The July day wasn’t too steamy — a rarity in Madison, Ala. — and her toddler’s physical therapy session wasn’t scheduled for another hour, so Jeannette Vega thought she’d take 26-month-old Tiana outside to play in their yard. Immediately, she was struck by her younger daughter’s difficulty climbing …