being ill

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

I used to believe that my parent was actually stuffing me with tissue when I cut myself.

Colleen

When I got a bad throat, I thought it is going to be like this forever now. So every 5 minutes I tried coughing, and felt disappointed and sad each time.

Abhinav

I used to believe that Alzheimer's disease was called oldtymers disease.

Kelly

When i was around 7 years old my mom told me that we couldn't go to my uncle's house because he was sick. I asked if he was throwing up. (i was deathly afraid of throwing up when i was little) and my mom replied "yah, out his butt" she meant he had the diarrhea, but i took it literally and up until a few years ago i actually thought you could throw up out of your butt.

Mary

One day my husband, toddler and I were taking a walk and my son was walking about 10 feet ahead of us when he tripped (on what I dont' know) and fell. Before I could even see if he was ok, or laugh, or do anything the little bugger ran up to me and kicked me in the shin!
Apparantley he figured I was the one who tripped him, from a yard away, lol!

Anon

When my boyfriend was young he wasn't feeling well one day. He kept whining until his mom finally asked him what was wrong.
He told her that he couldn't see because there was something in his ear.
It wasn't a mistake, he actually believed it!

Anon

I have insomnia and when I do not get enough sleep, I feel sick. My sister and I were both under the impression that this was called "African Sleeping Sickness."

Jen Larkin

I used to think that only Asians could get SARS.

Kellee

I used to think that a yeast infection was when you ate too much bread, because of the food pyramid thing. If you ate too much bread, you didn't have room for vegtables, fruit, meat etc etc. Once I said to my mom (after she offered me a bagel), "But what if I get a yeast infection?" It was only until a few years ago that I got this cleared up!

Clueless pyramid

i used to believe that if something hurt inside, it was because all the germs inside me were swordfighting and one of them missed and jabbed me.

Anon

I use to think i heart attack was when you got stuck in an elevator. I have no idea how i came to believe this

Anon

When I was 2 or 3, my brother needed his tonsils out. Back then it was common practice for the other siblings to have them removed, too. I'l never forget the day, travelling in the car singing "I'm going to the hofala, hofala, hofala! I'm going to the hofala, hofala, hofala!" My grandmother asked me "What's a hofala?" Of course I responded with what I had been told "It's a place where you get jello and ice cream and pudding!"

Tammy

My mom and I were standing in line at McDonalds, I asked her "What are those red dots on that guys face?" I am sure she must have answered acne, but somehow I heard AIDS, and for a long time believed that anyone with red dots on his/her face had AIDS. It must have been around the same time as we had the STD talk because one of my friend's wanted to be blood sisters and I said, "no, blood touching blood can give you AIDS!", and her mom was like, "I'm sure she cant give you AIDS, she doesnt have it," and I was like, "no, I'm pretty sure it is just the blood mixing with the other blood that gives it to you, one of you doesnt have to have it first." needless to say, we werent blood sisters.

Anon