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According to the report, the girl went to the ER after passing out twice. After doctors determined that she didn t have a head injury, they noticed she seemed to have a mass in her stomach. The girl then shared that she had struggled with stomach pain on and off for the past five months, and that it had gotten worse in the two weeks before she went to the hospital.
The doctors noticed that the teen had a three-year history of the hair pulling disorder trichotillomania and trichophagia, i.e. compulsive eating of hair that s usually associated with trichotillomania. Both conditions are linked to anxiety, the report noted. The teen had also lost weight over the past three years.
How Mesothelioma Patients Cope with Having a Rare Disease
How Mesothelioma Patients Cope with Having a Rare Disease
We usually write about our experiences while caring for patients with malignant mesothelioma. As always I cannot remember when I left a patient and didn’t have a new respect for how patients with rare diseases like mesothelioma deal with the impact on their lives. Today I read an article about a woman who had been stripped of her job, hobbies, and her life as she knew it by a rare disease other than malignant mesothelioma.
The unique perspective of rare diseases has always fascinated me – how do people learn to live with their new normal? Some people make it look easier than others as many adapt to their new way of life. A rare disease is defined as one that affects fewer than 200,000 people across a broad range of possible disorders. Mesothelioma is a rare disease that affects roughly 3,000 cases per year. In the United States there are over 7,000 rare disease