A 22-year-old Australian man has been suffering from a mysterious illness that causes his body to feel hot when he experiences cold, and cold when he touches anything hot. Aidan McManus’ troubles began at the age of 17, when he was in his final year of high school. At first, he lost feeling in his feet, telling his mother that they felt “tingly and numbish”. When his feet started swelling, he went to the hospital, where doctors gave him some medicine for fluid retention, but that didn’t help his condition at all.
Things only got worse from there, as the simple act of walking felt like stepping on sharp tacks, and he was diagnosed with post-viral irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which complicated his condition even more. Despite his failing health, Aidan managed to graduate from high school, but then he began experiencing a bizarre sensation in his hands as well. When he touched something cold, his hands felt like they were burning, and when he touched something hot, it felt extremely cold.
“We were told it will eventually go to Aidan’s hands,” the young man’s mother, Angela McManus, told 9News. “We were thinking that might happen 10-15 years down the track, but one night, Aidan came to me and said, ‘Mum, I picked up my can of Coke and my hands felt like they were on fire’. If he holds something cold, it feels like his hands are burning. If he picks up something hot, it’s like it’s freezing.”
Neurologists have been trying to figure out Aidan’s bizarre condition for years; they have run dozens of tests, put him through a lumbar puncture procedure, and even cut a part of a nerve in his foot for a biopsy, but they couldn’t come up with an answer. Eventually, a doctor diagnosed the 22-year-old with a generalised nerve disorder – axonal peripheral neuropathy – which affects how nerve cells transmit signals throughout the body.
“For obvious reasons, he can’t cook. He’s got to be very careful. When I do give him meals, I’ve got to say, ‘It’s really hot, or it’s really cold,” Aidan’s mother said. Unfortunately for Aidan and his family, Australia’s National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has rejected his request for support, claiming that he had not “examined all possible treatment options”.
However, the young man’s neurologist has clarified that he suffered from a progressive neurological condition for which there is no known treatment. “I would strongly support him being eligible for inclusion in the NDIS as I believe that he has an incurable disability and will continue to worsen,” the doctor’s letter to the agency read.
Culled from www.odditycentral.com