being ill

My father has a sick sense of humor. When I was a little kid, I was prone to cold sores around my mouth. He told me they were herpes, and so when adults would ask me what was on my lip, I would reply simply, "Herpes."

thumbtackthief

When I was a little kid me and my sister would kick the wall a lot and so my mom got really mad and said if we didn't stop kicking the wall we would get the chicken pocks. So we kept doing it than I go the chicken pocks and I got really scared and never kicked the wall again!

Kayla

i used to believe that the disease "alzheimers" was old timers and all old people get it as soon as they hit 50

amanda

When I was little (6 or so), I knew that 'lupus' was a disease, and I also knew that 'lupe' was Latin for wolf; so I assumed - and I think this was a quite reasonable assumption - that perople with lupus were werewolves.

alkahest

When I was a kid I thought that there was no way that I could throw up while going "poop". In my mind, I was making much needed room for the vomit by pooping and would no longer "need" to throw up.

Pixel Pusher

I used to think that when I had a headache there was a fat purple angry walrus in my head sitting at a desk throwing papers around.

Tracey

My sister and I both had minor surgery as infants -- she had a hernia and I had a cyst removed from my neck. I used to believe that they cut my head off, took out the cyst then sewed my head back on...

Not only that -- I also used to believe that EVERY kid had an operation when they were a baby. When I was 4 I was at my grandmother's for the summer. The first day I met another little girl and in an effort to get to know her asked her what kind of operation she had when she was little. I was dumbfounded when she said she hadn't had any! I went back to my grandma's house and she explained the truth to me. I bet that little girl's mother was surprised when her little girl asked her about operations!

Wendy

I used to think an iron lung was actually a lung they put in your body, made of iron. I also thought a pacemaker was a foreign car.

Anon

My PE teacher told us that you could only get 4 concussions. When you got your 4th concucssion, you died. I believed it for years.

concussionless girl

My brother once told me that everyone has to break atleast one bone in his/her life. I eventually asked my mom and got the clear idea that thats not really true.

Sarah

when i was 5 my sister told me my stomach was the size of my fist and i didnt understand that it was an organ and it stretched out when you eat a whole lot. for weeks i tried to only eat what i thought would fit in my hand because i was afraid my belly would explode or i would throw up everywhere. then i got really scared i was always going to throw up, at school, at friends house, in a car...everywhere you could imagine. i think i worried about it so much i created tummy aches very often when i was young.

Kristin

When i was a kid i was told if i got a splinter it would travel through my veins and go to my heart and kill me....i would cry and scream when my older sister told me (i was 5) Nice sister isnt she? lol

Carl

I thought that when you broke a bone, it broke completely off.

gin

when I was young my mom told me that Santa's elf had given her neosporin(the stuff you put on cuts and whatever), and that it was "magic medicine". everytime I got hurt I would ask her for my "magic medicine" and it instantly felt better when she put it on. Ahh, placebo effect!

lauren

I once asked my mother how people got AIDS. She responded, "By being naughty." I was baffled trying to come up with a mechanism by which particular germs could enter my system only when I disobeyed my parents.

Swimmy

I used to think eating raw potatoes would give you "BEZORES".
Our family doctor told me this

Moodycop

When I was very young, my mother told me that if you stood up while getting your temperature taken by mouth, the temperature would be wrong. (probably to keep me from running with a glass thermometer in my mouth) To this day, whenever I take me temperature by mouth, I have to remind myself that it's okay to stand up if I want to.

Overly gullible

For the longest time, when I was sick, I thought I could get rid of the cold I had by blowing the cold air out, and breathing warm air in. I thought this until I was 12.

DarkDan

When I was five, my friend Frankie's sister Kim was admitted to the hospital. I asked him why and he explained that she had "screamed her head off" and was getting it stitched back on. I naively believed him and pictured her doing this in my head. After reporting this to my father at dinner, he explained that was impossible and furthermore he knew she was there getting her tonsils removed.

Incidentally, I heard Kim was again in the hospital again last winter--to kick heroin.

Kinglouie

Being the smarty pants sixth grader that I was, when I got my first cold sore on my mouth I began to research it to find out what and why I had this thing on my lip for. (I still wonder why I even had one) Then I find out that it is Herpes Simplex (I or II, I don't really remember now) But I wanted to sound smart and told everyone who asked what was wrong with my lip that I had herpes, and I said it very proudly, thinking I sounded super smart. Finally a teacher pulled me aside and explained why it was not such a good idea to be exclaiming that to the entire middle school. I was mortified.

Smarty Pants