being ill

I used to think that amputate (meaning to cut off) meant to heal, or fix. I got the image of lotion and ointments when I heard this, so I was talking to my mom (this was about 1-2 years ago, and I just turned 13).
Me: Why are Grandma’s fingers crooked? (She had athrightious)
Mom: Because she has arthrightious.
Me: Why can’t we just amputate them? (Since healing something is good, amputating must be good, huh?)
Mom: That’s a mean thing to say.
Me: Isn’t amputating good?
Mom: No, it’s very mean.
Me: But… isn’t healing her fingers good?
Mom: Amputating is cutting something off.
Me: Oh.

Anon

When I was a kid, I thought you threw up when the food in your stomach had collected up to your throat and needed to be emptied.

Anon

One time in school I really got embassered cause I always raise my hand (not to brag but I was very smart) when the teacher asked wats a viris I raised my hand thinking wow this sure is easy then I said it's when you get sick and to my horror it was on the computer!! Who kinda thought? lol by the way i home school

Tiara 10

When I was younger I saw a rugrats episode where Chuckie was scared to get a shot and he had a dream that his stuffed bear got one and then it exploded, and after that I got scared I would explode if I got one... I still have this irrational fear.

Sicka

when I was little this kid told me that if you suck on your hair while it's wet (which is something I used to do alot) you would get worms.

Wormy McGee

I used to believe that bruises were mouldy blood.

LLB 91

I read the book "The Velveteen Rabbit" when I was a child. It's a story about a young boy who contracts Scarlet Fever, set in a time when they didn't know much about diseases. They ended up having to burn all of the boy's toys, bedding, and stuffed animals -- including his favourite, his velveteen rabbit. I was terrified for years, even into college, of getting Scarlet Fever. I couldn't bear the though of my favourite teddy bear and pillow -- which have been with me my whole life -- being tossed into a bonfire. Scarlet Fever is still one of my biggest fears,

Scarlet

I used to think that Levitra was an arthritis medicine, and that Viagra was a heart medicine.

Anon

I was terrified of breaking a bone, i thought it was the worse thing that cold happen to you. I would exemine my elbow bone every morning bcos it stuck out (like its meant 2) and i thought there was something wrong with it. i was so scared.
All this changed when i broke my arm and i realised breaking a bone wasn't actually that bad.

Anon

I watched a movie when i was just a young tike and it was said that a charachter had a stroke when they slipped in the shower. So from then i believed that having a 'stoke' meant that you slipped in the shower.

Anon

I knew that people who had cancer frequently lost their hair, but I didn't know it was a symptom of the treatment. I thought it was a symptom of cancer itself. Cue heart attack when I noticed my long hair falling out more than normal in the shower!

Anon

I used to believe that cancer itself made you bald, rather than the chemotherapy treatment!

Maggie

When I was little I used to fake being sick a lot, because then I got to stay in bed and get spoiled by my grandparents, then this guy dressed in white started stopping by every time I was faking, and my gp's would tell me it was the doctor and he was going to operate on me, needless to say all of a sudden I was all healthy and out of bed.

Later in life I found out that the guy was a mason who worked in the same company as my grandfather grrr.

Brian

My mom had me believing that if it was cold outside and I went out with wet hair that I would get a strep throat. The same went for going to bed with damp hair. Even though I know this isn't what causes strep throat, to this day I still stop and think maybe I should get out the blow dryer....just in case!!

Diane

When i was 12, i was very scared of people when they threw up. I was told that bathroms that people barfed in were bad to into, and the barf would come out of the toilet or or the shower, and i avoided bathrooms that people puked in for a long time. When my best friend spent the weekend with me, we ate some chinese food, and she had the salmon, and in the morning, she went to the bathroom, and well, threw up. she told me, and i didnt go there for a year.

Dana