- We watched another
episode of this show before, but it's time to check out another episode of "Body Bizarre." Let's get started. Pe-yoop! - [Narrator] 56-year-old fisherman and father of two Alejandro
Ramos goes by the name Willy. Four years ago, Willy
suffered a horrifying accident that mysteriously transformed his body. - [Translator] I kept swelling. My arms grew to an incredible size. It didn't go down. - He almost has the phenotype, the body type of someone
who who injects synthol, which is an artificial oil
made to enlarge your muscles, but it's almost like not in his muscles. - [Translator] I was working
at a depth of around 115 feet. A cargo ship was coming,
it went over my air hose, and cut my air hose in two. I knew I had to surface fast,
I couldn't stay any longer. I let go of my lead belt, and
got pushed up like a bullet. I started to lose all of my senses. I opened my eyes. Everything was blurry. - So the neurologic findings
that he's experiencing is basically a diver's disease, or bends, where basically,
nitrogen bubbles, part of the inert gases that you inhale every time you take a
breath, start bubbling up. If you inhale those gases at
a depth of a hundred feet, those gases are inhaled
at a higher pressure. Therefore, when you go into
a lower pressure environment, those gases start bubbling up, and imagine your blood starting to bubble. It causes serious problems, usually in the neurologic
system and your joints. - [Narrator] Willy's
chest and arms ballooned, leaving his torso swollen and deformed. - This is a very, very severe form of it. Usually it's mild, and usually, it is treatable with a hundred
percent oxygen treatment, usually in a hyperbaric chamber. - [Narrator] Using a hyperbaric chamber, doctors treat sufferers by
having them breathe oxygen in this pressurized vessel. - [Translator] I've seen patients who've had subaquatic illnesses, and arrived completely swollen, but with the hyperbaric chamber, these have disappeared
in one to three hours. - Yeah, so he must have
had more severe damage to his blood vessels as a
result of that swelling, where it seems to have become permanent. And you know, when you
damage blood vessels, and they become more permeable, they could start to leak. When those blood vessels start to leak, it could actually create edema in the surrounding structures, which is what he could be having. It's very similar to what happens when you have age-related,
gravity-related swelling in your lower extremities, in your legs. So you stand all day, you're age 60, your veins aren't as spry anymore, so they're a little bit more swollen. Blood starts to pool
there throughout the day, and as a result, they
become more permeable. More edema comes out, and as a result, you have thicker ankles
at the end of a long day, which is why we recommend
to pick your ankles up, to wear supportive compression stockings, et cetera, et cetera. - [Narrator] Willy has
had multiple sessions in a hyperbaric chamber. Sadly, he has not returned
to his normal size. As a result, Dr. Aguado
decided to draw blood and take tissue samples from
Willy to solve the mystery. - I wonder what part of the body he's actually
taking samples from. Is it from the blood vessel, the muscle, the adipose fat tissue? - [Narrator] A month later, Dr. Aguado confirms that
Willy's condition was due to nitrogen being lodged
in his fatty tissue. The next medical step
will be reconstructive and cosmetic surgery to
remove the fatty deposits. - How in the world do they need that test in order to say, "Oh, get cosmetic surgery
and we'll fix it?" I'm pretty sure that would've
been anyone's recommendation, whether or not they knew it
was from the nitrogen bubbles. - [Narrator] Yulianna was born with congenital melanocytic nevus, a rare genetic skin condition, that causes an overproduction
of skin pigmentation cells. - And it not only produces melanin a lot, it produces melanin a
lot in specific areas. So as you can tell, it's
not her entire skin color. It's just sporadic. - [Narrator] Her
birthmarks and dark patches of skin also made Yulianna
sad and self-conscious. - That's very understandable. If you're born, and you look different than
everyone else around you, especially as a child,
it's easy to get bullied, - [Narrator] Yulianna now
posts photos of herself on social media to promote awareness of the issues faced by
people with skin conditions. - I think that's great
in order to highlight that humans come in all
different shape, sizes, colors, and just because her appearance
outwardly looks different, it shouldn't stop her
from living a full life, and it shouldn't stop you from interacting with someone like this. - [Narrator] One out of 10 people with congenital melanocytic
nevus will develop skin cancer. - So basically when you have a type of birthmark pop up like that, essentially you're having
micro-mutations in those areas, because you're having excess production. When you're having excess production, that puts you at higher risk
for cancerous production. - If I will stay at the
sun for a long time, every of my small birthmarks
also can change to melanoma, and it's really a risk, so that's why I need to go and check them. - The way that we check them is through a classification
system known as A, B, C, D, E. Each one represents a specific
criteria that we look at. A, asymmetry; B, the borders;
C, the color; D, the depth; and E is evolving, basically
how it changes over time. That's why if you ever have a mole or birthmark that has changed, that's a good reason for
you to go see the doctor. And this allows us to
understand what risk each of those birthmarks
poses to the individual. If some of them are suspicious, we do send them through a biopsy to pathology to figure
out if they're cancerous. - [Narrator] Dr. Watowski uses cutting-edge digital dermoscopy
equipment to photograph all of Yulianna's birthmarks, capturing their exact positions and sizes, so they can be monitored for any changes. - In her condition, it's a
lot harder to gauge changes, because there are so
many of these birthmarks. And also, look, if I
have two small birthmarks on my legs, and one of
them happens to change, and we're concerned, we can
easily take that small biopsy. But imagine she has many of them, if she can't biopsy her entire skin layer, so for her, it's best to do this through a noninvasive method, and be strict with it like a camera. - This lesion is the only one on your body that it is
different from the rest, and it's a good idea to remove the lesion just for your own safety, and then we'll assess
it with histopathology. - So histopathology is they'll
basically take a slice of it, look it under a microscope, and then, if they do in fact see a cancer, you might have to go for
excision with wider margins. When we say things like margins, what we're actually saying
is that we wanna make sure that at the borders of the
area that you biopsied, there's no residual cancer, which means that you
got the entire cancer. Back to the show in just a second, but first, I wanna talk
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the tallest man in Brazil. - Oh, wow. - [Narrator] Three years
ago, Joelison met Evem. They weren't exactly a perfect match. Evem is just five feet tall. - Maybe that is a perfect match. Perfect match doesn't mean they
have to be the same height. - [Narrator] But there
was an instant attraction. - I'm instantly attracted to that little goat thing that they have. Is that a goat or a puppy? - [Narrator] And the two were married within a year.
- Aw. I love that the cake
decor is true to size, at least true to proportion. - [Narrator] The couple is concerned that Joelison's fertility
has been affected by his condition. - It's important to note that before we start working
people up for infertility, we do give a substantial amount
of time to try and conceive, and sometimes that's a
year, or even longer. - [Narrator] Gigantism
is caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland, the part of the brain
that controls hormones. But by the time he was 21, Joelison had a range of
other health problems. He decided to have surgery
to try to prevent the tumor from causing further
problems as he got older. - I'm pretty sure Tony
Robbins has the same tumor, and was recommended by
doctors to remove said tumor, and declined, because
he enjoyed the advantage that it gave him, and I'm not his doctor, but I saw an interview with
him saying this directly. - [Narrator] Joelison will need to provide a sample of his semen. - Basically, they're trying
to look at the number of sperm cells. They're trying to look
at the sperm motility, as well as other factors
to check if issues with fertility stem from
something within his sex cells, or is it his partner's? - [Translator] Your spermagram test doesn't show the presence of sperm. - [Narrator] The excessive amount of hormones that triggers
gigantism can lead to a reduction in other
hormones, such as testosterone. This has led to Joelison having
underdeveloped testicles. - This should have also been elucidated on the physical exam. That should have been part
of all of this workup. I'm surprised that it took them
finding this out on a test, as opposed to a physical exam. And I wonder if this
condition would be correctable by giving him hormone supplementation. - [Narrator] The couple
is now making plans to move forward with adoption. - Hm. - [Narrator] To complete their family. (Evem speaks in foreign language) - Oh, that's not a goat,
that's a puppy the whole time. It looked kind of goat-y to me. - [Narrator] On the outskirts of the city, there's a boy living
with a unique condition: 11-year-old Li Hang. Li Hang now weighs more than 300 pounds. He suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome. - Hm, Prader-Willi. You know, this is interesting, because this condition is
not something I've ever seen in my patients, but it is something that
is frequently tested in medical school, and on medical boards, where it's a congenital syndrome, where it's a chromosomal
issue, more specifically, it not only affects hunger,
but also cognitive impairment, sleep impairment, many other factors in the development
throughout a child's life. - [Narrator] There's no known cure for Prader-Willi syndrome, which can also cause a
number of physical, mental, and behavioral problems. - His large size would
put him at higher risk for development of early onset, even, osteoarthritis, joint disease, - [Narrator] In a desperate
attempt to help him lose weight, Li Hang's parents are taking him to a hospital that practices
traditional Chinese medicine designed to help people battling obesity. - [Translator] He has a
disorder in the feeding or satiety centers in the hypothalamus, located in the brain. - This is true, but it
it's a genetic issue, so it's at the core of his cells. - [Narrator] The medical
treatments here are unorthodox, but doctors are licensed
medical specialists, and the hospital claims
a high rate of success. - [Translator] We will use
traditional acupuncture, fire therapy, and fire cupping. - This is where I kind of
start getting disconnected from the adjunctive
therapies, like acupuncture, where we're talking about
it for musculoskeletal uses, for pain uses, where there
seemed to be some evidence, and then we start moving it
to just general wellbeing, or obscure cases like this, where you're saying
that needles can impact the neurological structure and the genetic structure
of someone's brain. That seems to be a little bit too far out for me to say that it matches some level of evidence-based medicine. - [Translator] Fire therapy
with Chinese medicine is where we incorporate extracts of herbal medicine that
helps speed up metabolism. We light up the medicine with fire. It is especially helpful for patients with abdominal obesity. - [Narrator] Finally,
Li Hang is given a round of fire cupping treatment. - I don't even know what
that fire therapy is. I'm not gonna lie, it seems
very non-evidence-based, and again, cupping, in general, has very weak evidence for it. But then for myofascial
tightness, for restrictions, again, musculoskeletal conditions, I could see it being valuable, but for someone who's has a hunger issue from a genetic condition, it seems a little ridiculous
to treat it with this. - [Narrator] But the doctor points out that these traditional
remedies can only work if Lee Hang is able to
stop his excessive eating. - If he stops his excessive eating, he will lose weight
without those treatments. That's the core of the situation. So I find it ridiculous
that they're saying that. - [Narrator] There's no
foolproof scientific evidence these procedures are effective. - This is where patients in situations like this are often misled, 'cause they're just searching
for any type of cure. Where science doesn't have an answer, pseudoscience and
misinformation tends to thrive. - [Narrator] Marc may appear healthy, but he actually suffers from one of the world's rarest disorders. - Why is he looking at
the waters so angrily? I'm sure it has something
to do with water. - I have to drink 20 liters
water a day to stay alive. I can last, without water, one
and a half, up to two hours. - I wonder if this is a
form of diabetes insipidus, where he actually is either lacking, or not responding to a specific hormone that prevents fluid loss, excessive fluid loss, through your urine. This is actually an important hormone that your pituitary gland stores, and your hypothalamus creates, in order for you to be
able to balance the amount of water in your system. And that's a very tightly
controlled balance. - I will get very high
fever and dizziness, can't remember things, and I do not know in an extreme
where I am and who I am. - It essentially becomes
a form of dehydration. - [Narrator] Marc suffers
from the rare disorder known as renal diabetes insipidus, or nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. - The difference between
that and the cranial version of it is that the cranial version is your body doesn't produce the hormone, and in renal or nephrogenic is, for some reason, it's not
responsive to the hormone. - I wake up in the night,
and then I go to the toilet, and go back and sleep again. So you can say, okay,
maybe it's 20 times a day. - It's important that we point
out this has nothing to do with diabetes mellitus, which
is a sugar control condition, whereas this is a water
retention excretion condition, or a water balance condition. - Marc's condition is very interesting. It's a very rare condition. Unfortunately, we do not
have a very good treatment for those patients, not
to say we cannot cure it, but we don't even have
a reasonable treatment for those patients. So what can I do for you today? - I love that the scene
goes from him saying, "We have no reasonable
treatment, we have no cure, but what can I do for you today?" - My GP? - [Prof. Spranger] Yeah. - And he found to tell me that diuretics could be useful for me. - I believe thiazide class of diuretics can sometimes be useful here. - [Narrator] Diuretics normally
treat high blood pressure. - Well, not only high blood pressure. There are several indications
for what we use diuretics for. - [Narrator] Less salt in the body could reduce the urge to urinate. It's an experimental approach,
but Marc has nothing to lose. - And there's different
classes of diuretics. There's loop diuretics, which the most common one
that we talk about is Lasix. Thyazide-type diuretics, that are more commonly used
for blood pressure control, are chlorthalidone or hydrochlorothiazide. - [Narrator] After a few weeks, the diuretics seem to be working. Marc doesn't wake up in the night to go to the bathroom quite as often. He's less tired, and he has more energy to
pursue a very active lifestyle. - Always great to see
some treatments working, and I think that there's
definitely progress to be made in these conditions. Check out the absolute worst
medical takes on Twitter. Worth reading. Elon Musk has mentioned
a couple times this one. Huge thanks to Honey for
sponsoring this video. As always, stay happy and healthy. (upbeat hip-hop music)
